Is today stupid question day? HD11 again

I found an HD11G for sale. Fairly cheap. But, the tracks are shot. And probably a few more things in the undercarriage.
Here is the stupid question: Is it real expensive to repair or replace the tracks?

I mean, is the repair cost so high that I'd greatly exceed any reasonable value of the machine?

Looks like Mel is lost for words.....
or he is letting ye think for a few moments...
No old crawler unless very rare is worth what you will put into them to restore....
You need deep pockets an a thick check book, cuzz you will never get back what you put into it... more like a labor of love... an a deep money pit.

Don't try to read between the lines of that last post. Ok, I've been helping teach a Fireline Safety Awareness Class (for private vendors who go to wildland fires) that there are no stupid questions. As an AC connoisseur I also feel there are no stupid questions. So that being said, we need more info.

  The tracks are shot?   (pictures would help)
  What do the pins and bushings look like?
  Rail height/wear?
  Grousers, broke? gone? bent? worn? how many are bad?
 Other undercarriage issues?
  Idlers? rollers? sprockets? swing frames? (they would break and be welded up from abuse) pictures would help.
  What kind of work are you hoping to achieve?
  Those undercarriage parts are expensive and becoming hard to find. However some of this could be pretty worn out and depending on what you want to do,might go a long time.
 Post some pictures, you'll get way more info than you can use.
  We have an HD11G in our collection, (very poor condition) that will be restored eventually. 

Oh! Wait! that's an optical illusion. The track plate is there, it's some kind of strut or brace sticking out of the back of the machine. The treads might be o.k.

Ok that posts when it's not supposed to. Looks like it might be a good specimen. It did have a ripper at one time. You could probably do way more work than you could need with that tractor (but still can't see the tracks and undercarrige)

Only other picture I have so far. Looks to me like the tracks were painted along with the rest of the machine, a long time ago. 

what engine does it have in it, the exhaust pipe is on the wrong side, looks like a GM

Yes, I think donoman is on to something. It looks like it could be a Detroit 471 judging from what appears to be the muffler. That would have been what was in the HD9G. In the early Buda engine days if they burped, some people went back to the Detroits(they fit back in pretty easily) and that's still not a problem for you, there easy to work on and parts are still easy to come by.

The craigslist ad says it is in good condition. $3,500 is a reasonable price to pay even if the undercarriage is bad. Look at the machine and see for yourself how it starts, runs and turns. Run the bucket down to raise the track off the ground. Check the truck wheels for wear. If the chain links are worn on the sides near the pins then the trucks are worn too deep or the rail height is low. You can tell a lot from the position of the front idler on the slide bar. If the idler is in the middle of the travel the track is 50% worn. The sag in the track can be removed by adjusting the idler forward. I hope you were not thinking the track is shot because of the sag in the track.

A track loader has 2 advantages over a dozer for removing trees. You can dig and remove dirt. You can push higher on the tree.

Thanks, Dozer on the heads up for what to look for.
The comment I made about the tracks was an error on my part, I misinterpreted what I saw in the picture. The seller had this machine listed several months ago for $3000.00.
I'm hoping he'll come down a bit on the price. It's 450 miles to get it to my house.

DiyDave

Or yesterday - when you didn't ask it