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We have an older Edge (2003 or 04, I think) that has aluminum combis. Probably about 4,000 hours on the machine/tracks. The teeth on the grousers are worn down, almost smooth. It has ice calks in place. But the machine is a dog for climbing and sidehilling. On a sidehill more than about 15 or 20%, she just slides all over the place. Even in good snow conditions. And climbing can be quite a chore, requiring up-pressure and very limited blading on anything more than a 40% slope. We get by with it, but it can be a real pain sometimes. When the snow is soft, it augers easily and digs coffins. When the snow is hard, it just spins.

Any thoughts as to the reasoning? Is the machine too light? Are the aluminum tracks inferior in your opinion? Are they just worn too badly? Is this cat poorly balanced? Are we all crappy operators?

Our even older PB300 with steel tracks would hold sidehill and climb 100% better.

I would take a look and insure all of your side hill plates are still in place. Or, if you want you can add more. I don't know of any customers west of the Mississippi that run the steel grouser by choice, outside of the snowmobile market. The durability and serviceability of the Kombi cleat is by far the best on the market. I have never heard a climbing complaint in our region, With out seeing the tracks it is hard to say. As with any track steel or Kombi, a warn track is a serious sacrifice in performance. Contact the GJ office and them swing by and take a look. Hope this helps.

Also take a look at the ice picks on the track. After 4-5 years the steel edge gets worn on most of those tracks. Replacing this ice picks will make a HUGE difference, the side hill clips should also be checked out. Probably 90% of the new machines I sell have to kombi tracks on them, they are better in just about every way. Overall the Edge is balanced well and has the right ground pressure to get the job done, with all the new equipment you've had on the hill at Mt. Ellen it probably seems underpowered. Next time I am in the area I'll take a look at it for you, if you can't wait have Ed or George look it over. See you later.