Travel Motor and the Final Drive, Same Part?

We get a lot of calls here at ConEquip from people needing a final drive for the excavator or bulldozer.  Customers often say one side of the unit is fine but the other needs to be replaced.  The thought is they can save money by simply replacing just the motor or the reduction.

In theory, this seems like a reasonable request, in reality, this is usually not possible.  First, we'll break down each part of the final drive.

The travel motor powers the planetary gear system to move the tracks.  The hydraulic pump provides the fluid that actuates the travel motor. The travel motor provides the torque to the sprocket.  When looking at the function this way, the final drive is primarily the planetary gear system.  This is where the confusion tends to come in.

The term final drive is usually used to describe the entire unit, planetary gears and travel motor.  For the most part, that works because a majority of the time when someone needs to replace a final drive they need to replace the entire unit.  Aside from a small percentage of machines, matching a new travel motor or planetary gear system to a used unit is not advisable if possible at all.

Technically, the term final drive and travel motor are not the same.  However, when dealing with an issue with the drive, it is best to be specific as generally a final drive refers to both parts.

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