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There are a number of places to look at when a track is being thrown. 1) Is the track tension proper. Each manufacturer will state that there should be so much slack in the track and it is to be measured from a certain location on the track. Some work off of the top rollers for the measurement and others have you work off the slack on the chain when the side is picked up. Your maintenance manual will tell you what to look for. Too tight track is just as bad or worse than too lose because you will start to break lots of things or cause abnormal wear. When there is too much slack in the chain then mud and other things can pack in around the front idler and you can drive it right off. 2) Look at the Front ilder, make sure that is not badly beveled. On many machines the side walls of the rib are perpendicular to the flanges of the wheel. Make sure it is not wobbeling, and the position of the brackets for the front idler are not past the truck. If they are it means your track is worn out and time to either have the pins and bushing turned or replaced this assumes that there is enough left of the rail per manufacturers spec. Some tractors there is some adjustment of the front idler or the truck so that the front idler and the rear sprocket all follow within the same path. Allis Chalmers had that kind of adjustment capabilty with shims. You looked at front idler wear to see where it was wearing. 3) Look at your rollers. There are two basic types of rollers. Single Flange aka SF and double Flange aka DF. As tracks wear and depending upon how well they were maintained and useage of the equipment the flanges will get worn away and no longer hold the track in line. So when you pivot hard the chain will have nothing to be held against and with enough slack it will ride over the side of the adjacent rollers and you will hear this poping and grinding noise and your next response will be ut oh refro. I lost a track in dam that way once that i was cleaning out and it was no fun. You may have to losen the track and then drive the crawler up on some wooden blocks on one side so you can see underneath there. Always use caution. On some tractors that is the procedure whereby you can change the rollers without haveing to break the track and either raising the truck or removing it to change the rollers. 4) Look at your rear spockets. Make sure the teeth are still in good shape. The important part of a tooth is the root of the tooth. If your teeth are very sharp it probably means that the chain has begun to streatch. Each manufuacturer of a crawler has particular amount of chain streatch before they recommend replacement or turning of the pins and bushings. I hope this helps.
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