How Do I Choose the Right Track Shoe Width, and What Does It Affect?

Shoe width influences performance through four paths: ground pressure, tractive force, turning radius and axle loading. Each 100 mm step reduces ground pressure and increases tractive force, but enlarges the turning circle and raises machine weight and cost. Working back from the surface is most reliable: 0.08 m²/t for hardened orchards and greenhouses, 0.10-0.12 for vegetable fields and nurseries, 0.15 for general farmland and earthworks, and 0.20 or more for mud, marsh and riverbank work. In soft ground, if only one parameter can be sacrificed, sacrifice turning radius, because recovering a bogged machine costs far more than a wider swept circle.