CAT 931

Going to look at a CAT 931. Supposed to have a good undercarriage, good engine, good transmission and hydraulics. Owner said one side of the steering clutches needs adjusted.

It is a low ground pressure model, not sure if that has any benefits or if it is a disadvantage for standard use.

What do you guys think. What is one of these worth?

Its hard to figure a price, well you can look on machinery trader and similar, though those prices seem to run high, with those pads on, I'd guess lower and these run locally from 5k to 10K and maybe a little more, which really does not mean all that much. There is always mention of the 4 in one bucket making them more valuable, or it has to have one to be useful, the latter of which depends on the use its needed for, I have ran plenty of 955's and 977's none had the 4 in one, got by just fine doing full time work 6 days a week.

The pads, they are swamp pads, and I don't ever recall seeing them on a crawler loader, nor have I ever seen a crawler loader working in those conditions, nor a factory LGP crawler loader, again that might not mean squat either LOL ! Interesting you posted a photo though. Unique and maybe there is more to that than I have seen.

I don't believe those would last long on hard ground, or in regular soils, depending on the use, more so if its not used on soft ground and I question how well this would work anyway, having a standard front bucket. Most LGP dozers will have a light blade, same model but not LGP will have standard pads and standard size blade, be it 6 way or whatever else may be available to fit the tractor.

The rule of thumb is to use the most narrow track pad that you can. Preferable width is what matches the work you want to do, hard ground = narrow, soft ground = increased width for wider weight distribution. For this tractor if its to be used in a gravel bank, clearing, miscellaneous use, demolition, etc, should have standard double grouser pads that most of these tractors came with anyway. Amazing they are on this tractor as it may not have been designed to allow for much extra width on the pads. I have seen dozer track pads on these, where slippage was an issue, same with excavators in harsh conditions.

I'd offer less for it, if its in decent shape and you can find a set of pads or a complete track chain and pads that are in decent shape, you could have both options for the tractor, or sell the other set to defray the cost of putting what you want on. I would check the rollers, and sprockets for wear and see whats what before changing anything or considering making an offer. It might be a matter of removing the pads, installing new bolts and good used pads. Be nice to find a set of tracks and just change those out, will save you some work on changing the pads, and that is if the track chain is standard just with swamp pads, likely to be just that or so I would think.

I believe the 931 is based on the D3 frame.Is this machine power shift and pedal steer? Hydraulics come into play on those steering clutches.
As Billy said I have never seen swamp tracks on a loader---i would think they would not last long on hard ground and also put extra stain on the rest of the track frame,rollers and idlers if you do any amount of loading with it.

I have seen the tracks left by those pads on a site where they were reclaiming a gravel pit. I think those are to help prevent washout ? Or so I was told but did not see the machine so I don't know if it was on a loader.
Whenever I see "steering clutch needs adjustment" a red flag goes up because if it was going to be that simple or cheap they would of already did it.

Kind of what I was thinking on the steering.

Thanks for your insight. We will see what it looks like when I see it in person, but I am still as skeptical as a I was before I posted this about those tracks.

Japan if full of those loader with the pyramid pads. Not worth a darn in hard ground. And if you have stumps you are going to break the ends or twist the rail. Best thing you can do is look farther, unless you have some wet ground to dig.

I've had several of these wide pad track loaders (though not with
pyramid pads). they are great on soft ground. These machines have
dry steering clutches and brakes so very often when adjustments
are needed the adjusters are seized. This whole concept is very
sub-standard compared to that of 941, 951, 955 & 977's. If an
early 931 (which this is) has a lot of blow-by from the engine it's
time for an over haul.

Did you go look at this machine? I called on it too and was wondering what you thought of it. Thanks.....Cliff (Marion, NC)

(quoted from post at 07:23:17 02/20/15) Going to look at a CAT 931. Supposed to have a good undercarriage, good engine, good transmission and hydraulics. Owner said one side of the steering clutches needs adjusted.

It is a low ground pressure model, not sure if that has any benefits or if it is a disadvantage for standard use.

What do you guys think. What is one of these worth?

Click to expand...

JM is right, swamp tracks are no good on hard ground and they cause extra wear on all the related components plus the fact that they are more likely to come off,a machine that size without a 4 in 1 is very limited in what it can do,the steering that only needs adjusting probably has a bigger issue or he would have done it,other than that the machine looks presentable but much cannot be seen of the vital parts.
AJ