Product Overview

A crawler crane puts its whole working weight into the ground through the track shoes bolted around its chain. Each shoe is a cast alloy plate that spreads that load across a wide contact patch and bites in with raised ribs, so the machine stays level on soft ground and keeps its grip when it tracks along a slope or swings a load on hard standing.

This one is the replacement plate for Hitachi KH-series crawler crane undercarriages. The bolt-hole pattern, mounting face and overall length follow the original, so it goes onto the existing chain link in place of a worn or damaged shoe, and the raised centre ribs keep the ground-engaging profile the chain was designed around.

Most plates are bought a handful at a time after an undercarriage inspection, or as a full set when a chain is re-shoed. Fleet operators usually keep one or two spares per machine on site, because a single cracked or badly worn shoe can hold a crane out of service until a replacement lands. We work as a crane parts supplier for Hitachi, Sumitomo, Hitachi Sumitomo, FUWA and SANY crawler cranes, so a single order of heavy equipment spare parts can cover a mixed fleet rather than one brand at a time.

Key Features

• Three alloy grades. Plates are produced in 35SiMn, 35SiMnMo or 28CrMnMo, so the shoe can be matched to the ground the crane actually works on instead of whatever single grade happens to be on the shelf.
• Heat-treated running surface. The ground-engaging face is hardened for abrasion resistance while the body keeps enough toughness to absorb impact from rock, rebar offcuts and debris.
• Shot-blasted, then anti-rust coated. Blasting lifts casting scale off the ribs and the mounting face, so the plate arrives with an even matte grey surface and the coating has something to bond to.
• Machined bolt holes. Holes are machined rather than left as cast, which keeps centre spacing true so the plate pulls down flat on the link instead of rocking on its bolts.
• One-piece cast body. Ribs, plate and mounting face are cast as a single body, so there is no welded seam to open up where the plate flexes under load.

Material, Heat Treatment & Surface Finish

Choosing between the three grades. 35SiMn is the manganese-silicon grade used across this class of cast undercarriage part and covers general construction, yard and road work. 35SiMnMo adds molybdenum, which gives a better response to heat treatment and more toughness under repeated impact — the usual pick for quarry floors, slag and demolition debris. 28CrMnMo is the chromium-molybdenum option, chosen where a harder, more abrasion-resistant running face is the priority. Tell us what the machine works on and we will point you at one; between them these grades cover most of what buyers of this class of heavy equipment spare parts ask for.

What the heat treatment is doing. Hardening the running face raises wear resistance where the plate meets stone and grit, while a tough body stops the plate shattering when a rib catches an edge. The two have to be balanced, which is why grade and treatment are chosen together rather than separately.

Surface finish before it ships. Every plate is shot-blasted, which removes sand, scale and casting skin from the ribs and the mounting face. The anti-rust coating goes on afterwards, so the plate is clean when it reaches your workshop and the coating has something to grip on in transit.

Checks before packing. Casting grade against the order, bolt-hole spacing and diameter against the drawing, flatness of the mounting face, and rib profile. A plate that fails any of these is rejected before it reaches the packing bench. If your maintenance system needs material or dimensional records for the file, ask your sales contact what can travel with the shipment.

Technical Specifications

Sizing & Hole Pattern Checks

1. Measure the overall length. Run a tape across the longest dimension of the old plate, ground-engaging side up, and write it down. A plate run to destruction can lose length at the ends, so measure a second one from the same chain if you have it.
2. Measure bolt-hole spacing, centre to centre. Do this in both directions, along the plate and across it. Spacing decides whether the plate pulls down flat or binds on the bolts, and it is the dimension most often misread from a parts book.
3. Count the holes and measure their diameter. A worn hole goes oval, so measure across the unworn axis and compare that with the bolt shank rather than with the oval.
4. Check the mounting face for flatness. Lay a straight edge across it. A plate that has dished or bent will not sit flush on the link and will work its bolts loose even when they are torqued correctly.
5. Note rib height and pattern. Rib height is the wear indicator you will come back to at every inspection, and the pattern has to line up with the chain's travel direction so the ribs bite instead of skating.
6. Sketch anything unusual. If the plate on the machine is not a standard pattern, a dimensioned sketch or a photo with a rule laid against the plate is enough for us to work from — quicker than hunting a heavy equipment spare parts catalogue for a plate that may no longer be listed.

Wear Life & Undercarriage Inspection

Where these plates wear fastest. Hard rock floors in quarries and mining pits grind rib height down and chip the plate edges. Port and yard work on concrete polishes the running face and slowly opens the bolt holes. Bridge and road projects drop rebar offcuts and broken concrete under the chain, which catch the plate and bend it rather than wear it. Oilfield pads add mud and spillage that attack the coating long before the steel is worn. The plate is doing its job in all four settings, but the wear pattern it leaves tells you what to check next.

What to look at during an inspection. Compare rib height on the worn plate against a new one; once the ribs are flush with the body, both grip and flotation are gone. Look for cracks starting at the corners of the bolt holes, holes that have gone oval, and plates that have dished so they no longer sit flat. Run a hand along the row after the machine has tracked — a plate rocking on its link will have loosened bolts.

Replace by section, not one plate at a time. Shoes wear as a group. Dropping a single new plate into a worn set changes the chain's rolling diameter at that point, and the new plate ends up carrying more than its share of the load. Re-shoe across a whole section and keep the plates that still have usable rib height as spares.

Retension after fitting. A re-shoed chain settles in the first few hours of tracking. Check chain tension again once the machine has run, and re-torque the bolts to the figure in your manual.

The parts that wear with them. Track shoes rarely fail alone, so we supply the rest of the undercarriage parts in the same order: track rollers, upper and lower rollers, idlers, drive sprockets and track chains. Mixed fleets can add crane sheaves and other construction machinery spare parts to the same shipment, which keeps wear rates balanced across the machines instead of one component always running ahead of the others.

Hitachi Track Shoe Coverage

• KH series. KH100, KH125, KH150, KH180, KH230, KH250, KH300, KH500 and KH700. The smaller KH100 to KH180 machines run a narrower plate than the KH500 and KH700, so quote the exact model rather than the series.
• CX series. CX300, CX500, CX550, CX650, CX700 and CX900. These use a different chain family from the KH machines, so give the CX model on its own and do not assume a KH plate will substitute.
• PD series. PD7 and PD100. These carry their own undercarriage specification, and the plate is not shared with the crane ranges above.
• Send the serial, not just the model. Hitachi changed chain width and bolt pattern across production runs of the same model, so the serial number is what pins the correct plate down. A photo of the old shoe with a tape across it settles the question faster than a parts list.

Sumitomo Track Shoe Coverage

Sumitomo coverage runs across three naming groups. The SC models — SC350, SC400, SC500, SC550, SC650, SC700, SC800, SC100 and SC1500 — are the classic crawler crane designations, and the plate grows from the SC350 and SC400 end up to the SC100 and SC1500. The LS group is the longest list: LS13RH, LS78RM, LS78RH5, LS78RHD5, LS98, LS108RM, LS110C, LS118RH3, LS118RH5, LS120RH5, LS138H, LS138RH5, LS208H, LS218H, LS218RH5, LS238RH2, LS238RH3, LS238RH5, LS458HD, LS468HD, LS518 and LS528. The SD models — SD205, SD307, SD407 and SD610 — close the range.

Because these groups span a long production history, the same nominal model can appear with more than one chain and shoe combination, which is the usual reason a Sumitomo crane spare parts order comes back with the wrong plate. Quote the machine's serial number and, if you still have it, the number off the old plate. If you are working from a parts book rather than from the machine itself, send the product and we will match the reference for you.

Hitachi Sumitomo SCX Coverage

• SCX300 to SCX900. SCX300, SCX400, SCX500, SCX700, SCX800 and SCX900 — the mid-size machines that make up most of the SCX population in rental and contractor fleets.
• SCX1200 to SCX2000. SCX1200, SCX1500 and SCX2000 run wider plates and more shoes per side than the smaller machines, so the quantity you need for a full re-shoe climbs with them.
• SCX2500 to SCX2800. SCX2500, SCX2600 and SCX2800 sit at the heavy end of the range, where plate width has the biggest effect on ground bearing pressure.
• SCX is not the same as SC. The Hitachi-Sumitomo machines were developed separately from the older Sumitomo SC cranes, so a plate that fits an SC model should not be assumed to fit the SCX machine of a similar size.

FUWA QUY Coverage

FUWA coverage follows the QUY range: QUY35, QUY50, QUY70, QUY80, QUY90, QUY100, QUY120, QUY150, QUY250, QUY320, QUY400, QUY500, QUY650, QUY750 and QUY1250. The number in the model tracks the crane's size class, so the plate that goes on a QUY35 is a different animal from the one on a QUY400 — width, thickness and the number of shoes per side all change as the machine gets bigger.

QUY cranes turn up in exactly the places these plates are bought for: precast yards, ports, bridge erection and general heavy lifting. If you run a mixed FUWA fleet, order by model and serial and we will keep the references separated so a QUY70 plate does not end up in a QUY80 box — the mix-up a crane parts supplier sees most often on multi-machine orders. The surrounding undercarriage parts are available in the same order: rollers, idlers, sprockets and chains.

SANY SCC Coverage

• SCC500 to SCC1000. SCC500, SCC550, SCC600, SCC700, SCC750, SCC800 and SCC1000 — the workhorse class for general construction and rental work.
• SCC1250 to SCC1800. SCC1250, SCC1500 and SCC1800, where plate width steps up and the shoe count per side climbs with it.
• SCC2600 to SCC5000. SCC2600, SCC3000, SCC4000 and SCC5000 — large lifting machines with correspondingly heavy undercarriage.
• SCC6500 to SCC16000. SCC6500, SCC7500, SCC8100, SCC8200, SCC8300, SCC10000 and SCC16000, the largest crawler cranes in the range.
• Quote each machine separately. SANY used more than one chain specification across these classes, so send model and serial for every crane rather than assuming one reference covers the fleet — the same habit that keeps a crane spare parts store tidy when several SCC classes share a yard.

Ordering & Delivery

Field Replacement & Spare Storage

• Most plates come off and go back on at the link. With the chain slackened and the machine blocked on firm, level ground, the worn shoe unbolts from its link and the replacement goes straight on in its place. Nothing is cut or welded, so the job fits into a shift change or a planned stoppage instead of waiting for a workshop slot.
• Plan the lift before you free the bolts. A plate of this size is a two-person lift or a sling off the boom; dropping one onto the link face burrs the mounting surface and the new plate will not sit flat on it. Have the bar, the correct socket, a torque wrench and a wire brush at the machine before you start.
• Torque comes from the manual, not from feel. Tighten to the figure printed for that link and bolt size, working across the plate rather than round it in one pass. If the manual is missing, ask us and we will confirm what the joint should be pulled to rather than guessing on a load-bearing fastener.
• Know when it stops being a field job. Seized or snapped bolts, bolt holes gone oval in the link itself, a bent or cracked link, or chain pitch past its wear limit all mean the chain has to come apart. At that point the crane belongs indoors, where the link and the surrounding undercarriage parts can be checked and replaced together.
• Two spare plates per machine is normal site stock. A cracked plate puts a crane out of service for as long as a replacement takes to reach site, so fleets working remote pits and yards hold a pair matched to each machine by the number stamped on the old plate. That small holding of construction machinery spare parts is cheaper than a lost week.
• Strip the coating from the mounting face only. The anti-rust film is transit protection, and trapped between plate and link it holds the two faces apart so the joint settles and the bolts lose tension. Clean it back to bare metal where the plate lands on the link and around the bolt holes, then fit. Leave the ground-engaging side alone — the ribs wear the film off within the first hours of tracking.
• Re-coat anything you bare. If the plate is going onto the machine straight away, a light wipe of oil on the cleaned face is enough until it is bolted down. If it goes back into store instead, renew the anti-rust coat on that face and on the bolt threads before it is put away.
• Storage decides whether the coating survives. The film is a transit coating, not an outdoor one. Stand spare plates on edge on timber dunnage rather than flat on the ground, so water runs off and the ribs do not sit in a puddle, and keep them under cover or in the export plywood box. A yard stack left on wet concrete will show rust at the edges and around the holes; plates that have to live outside should be kept off the ground, sheeted, and given a fresh coat once a year.
• Check the joint after the first tracking hours. A re-shoed chain settles, so re-check tension and torque once the machine has run. Bright polished rings around the bolt heads, or a plate that has shifted off its marks, mean the joint has been moving and needs attention before the next shift.

Technical Support & Model Matching

Not sure which part fits your machine? Send the part number, the machine model, and a photo of the nameplate or the worn item, and our engineers — each with more than ten years in the construction machinery spare parts business — will confirm the correct reference and quote it. We advise on installation, help trace faults, and answer technical questions before and after dispatch. Since 2017 we have built this support on a supplier network covering FUWA, SANY, XCMG and ZOOMLION, so older and hard-to-find references can usually still be sourced.

FAQ