Idler for undercarriage system having sacrificial wear rings and wear ring for same

An idler for an undercarriage system in a track-type machine comprising:

• an idler body including an outer rim surface extending circumferentially around an idler axis of rotation and forming a centrally located guide flange, an inner surface, a first axial end face, and a second axial end face;
• the outer rim surface further forming a first ring channel and a second ring channel structured to receive, respectively, a first sacrificial wear ring and a second sacrificial wear ring;
• the first ring channel extending circumferentially and continuously around the idler axis of rotation and including an inboard channel wall spaced axially outward of the centrally located guide flange, and an outboard channel wall spaced axially inward of the first axial end face;
• and
• the second ring channel extending circumferentially and continuously around the idler axis of rotation and including an inboard channel wall spaced axially outward of the centrally located guide flange, and an outboard channel wall spaced axially inward of the second axial end face;
• wherein each of the first ring channel and the second ring channel defines a channel width dimension (CW) and a channel depth dimension (CD), and the channel width dimension (CW) is greater than 400% of the channel depth dimension (CD).

A sacrificial wear ring for an idler in an undercarriage system comprising:

• a one-piece metallic ring body including an outer link-contact surface and an inner idler-contact surface each extending circumferentially around a ring center axis between a first ring body end and a second ring body end;
• the one-piece metallic ring body further including a first ring axial side surface and a second ring axial side surface oriented normal to the ring center axis and extending from the outer link-contact surface to the inner idler-contact surface;
• the one-piece metallic ring body is elastically deformable between an installation configuration where a split gap extends in a circumferential direction between the first ring body end and the second ring body end, and a service configuration where the first ring body end and the second ring body end are in abutment and the split gap is closed;
• a ring width dimension (RW) is defined between the first ring axial side surface and the second ring axial side surface;
• a ring thickness dimension (RT) is defined between the outer link-contact surface and the inner idler-contact surface;
• and
• a ratio of the ring width dimension (RW) to the ring thickness dimension (RT) is from 2.5 to 5.0, wherein in the service configuration the first ring body end and the second ring body end are attached at a welded joint.

An idler for an undercarriage system in a track-type machine comprising:

• an idler body including an outer rim surface extending circumferentially around an idler axis of rotation and forming a centrally located guide flange, and an inner surface;
• the outer rim surface further forming a first ring channel upon a first axial side of the centrally located guide flange and a second ring channel upon a second axial side of the centrally located guide flange, and each of the first ring channel and the second ring channel extending circumferentially and continuously around the idler axis of rotation;
• a first sacrificial wear ring seated in the first ring channel;
• and
• a second sacrificial wear ring seated in the second ring channel
• wherein each of the first sacrificial wear ring and the second sacrificial wear ring includes a one-piece ring body having ring body ends attached at a welded joint,
• wherein each of the first sacrificial wear ring and the second sacrificial wear ring is removably attached to the idler outer rim surface.