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tracked vehicle build up

1M views 1K replies 181 participants last post by  87manche 
#1 ·
well i started about a year ago getting information about building tracks for a truck and always like the mattracks design but the price was umph... out of my well... you know... so i decided on building a set of my own so after looking everwhere on the net and other formus this was what i came up with......
 

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#283 · (Edited)
Very nice set of tracks and very interesting thread
We've been running Atv Tracks on our Suzukis back east.. New Brunswick
for the past 5-6 winters, some winters were better than others, different snow
conditions I guess, found that we need something a bit bigger, Track size, like a
15" x 121" track to hope to be able to go where a Bombardier B12 would go.

Atv tracks,, we mostly all use Tatous, aren't that steeply angled and have slides
like a snowmobile, and are better in snow than the without slides
it is also true on the 4wheelers, better with slides than without
also true for a B12
A B12 wouldn't go in snow deeper than 12" with the original Bombardier setup
so a couple of my friends designed slides instead of wheels and it's like night and day
where you can go with them B12's

We looked at American track truck and found their design quite simple to make
so a friend of mine is building a set with 15" x 114" tracks, hopefully will be long enough
He's using 2 slides per track like American tracks, but only 4 Boggey wheels, 2 on each end of the track, the front angle is I think 15deg. in the front
and the rear is 10deg. but would have to check to be sure...

If I can find out how to post pics, I'll post some of what we have, might give you some ideas
 
#291 ·
There you got me, for some reason wheels alone aren't as good in snow
Back in the days, snowmobiles where all wheeled suspension, wish was
ok in snow, but when they came out with slide suspension, snowmobiles
were 10 times better.
If you look at American tracks you'll see they have slides and alot of wheels
the number of wheels is only for hard pack surfaces or open roads
so the slides won't melt, but in snow, you don't need as many wheels
since the slides act the same as for a snowmobile.

I have several of my friends with B12 snowmobiles, and they were all wheeled suspension, they were getting stuck in 12'' of snow
one of them thought of building a slide track for his, just to see what
it would do, well be damned, now you can't get it stuck anywheres
it will go thru snow as high as the windshield and not get stuck.

Guess you have more support with a slide, thus better flotation than just wheels alone... On Atv tracks, the TJD tracks came without a slide,
and we couldn't go anywheres, one of the guys had got Tatou tracks
with a slide and we couldn't follow him, so we installed a slide on the TJD tracks and just like magic we could go where the Tatout tracks went.

The only problem with the ATV tracks on our Suzukis is that your footprint isn't big enough to support a Suzuki, if my memory is right we have like
12.5lbs per square inch footprint and on a 4 wheeler you have like 6.5lbs per quare inch.
A B12 gets like 4lbs per square inch.

If I were to build a set I would make them the same as American, but with wayyyyy less wheels
 
#288 ·
the first picts are of the completed drag ready to go waiting for the truck to be completed which is close few more days and i will have it done. the front is the same set of tracks as was on the durango i built last year the rear is different i welded the diff to the frame and am using a skid frame on springs the pict is what it will look like almost done one they will mount under and i should have about 5' on the ground with 20" wide that is 1200 square inches on the ground per track so the rear has 2400 the front has 630 each track so 1260 on the front together it is 3660 square inches on the ground the truck cut down cant weigh anymore than 4000 so i am guessing around 1.09 psi.
 

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#290 ·
i will have more picts i got them under the truck last night and i think the two springs are overkill they are rated for 1250lbs a piece and i have 4 of them so that is 5000 lbs and i dont think i need that much and when i set the truck down they didn't even squat and when jumping on them they dont move at all. i think i will be removing one of the leaves to try and see what happens that should not hurt anything, i would like some sort of shock absorbing.
 
#295 ·
yah, cause you combined a massive track with your cut-down truck-thingy :D

A Tucker weighs like 10k - but has about 1.5 psi with it's large track units.


You might find the front tends to sink a bit, as your front tracks are small-ish (in comparison to your rear) while most your weight is up front with your engine. Weight distribution is another factor - I ignored it on my Zuk calculations.

I was surprised to hear the Bombi B12 was so high a psi.
 
#297 ·
What are the bus type things:



?
 
#300 ·
Buddy of mine just built himeself a set of tracks just like mine for his TJ but he used some snowmobile bottoms instead of rollers like I did. Here in about a week and a half, we are going up into the snow to do a side by side comparison to see how much better the sliders are to the rollers. He has put about 20 miles on his with no problems.

I do know that his ride smoother then mine as the bogey wheels run accross the gaps in the track.

I'll post up pics and results when it happens.
 
#304 ·
put mine all toghether last night for the last trial time and drive it back 6' and ahead now i ripped it all apart to weld in everything solid and paint then add the wheels and sliders and away i go picts to follow later tonight if i get into the house at a fair time, ha ha been spending a lot of time out there last few days it is getting near and i want it done.
 
#308 · (Edited)
:D this is turning into the mother of all tracks threads :D

I look forward to your "stage II" rig. :smokin:



More from Bearsden - and I've added all I have so far to my "snow track" folder. I should gather ALL the tracks pics I have and put them there.

This stuff from Bearsden just goes to show - not EVERYTHING is on the 'Net - at least not yet :D.


B12 on slides





homebuilt critters...






and again, the gallery of snow tracks - up to 196 pics, 50k hits....

http://www.supermotors.net/registry/7029/62149
 
#305 ·
Hey Bearsden, got any pictures of your buddy's setup on the bombardier? Must look different with slides instead of bogies.
You'd think that it shouldn't make much difference, (bogies/sliders) because square inches is square inches, but if it does, it does.
I always assumed that the earlier bogie style snow machines didn't go well because they were heavy, underpowered, and had too small tracks. (Sliders of course weigh next to nothing, which helps with the weight thing, not only because they're light, but because the tunnel can be lighter.)
I havn't had anything to do with B12's in over twenty years, but I wasn't impressed with them then. As you said, get stuck in not much snow. Hot and noisy too. I went about 150 miles in one one time, 30 below zero, couldn't keep the widshield de-iced, but the people in the back were stripped down to the limit of decency because it was so hot in the rear of the passenger compartement.
I wonder if the front drive sprockets piling the slack track up between the bogies in deep snow could be the problem that the sliders solve? It would have made more sense to me to have the sprockets in the rear and the slack side of the track on top, but I guess it didn't make sense to M. Bombardier. Maybe it would compress the bogie suspension when pulling hard if it was like that.
 
#306 · (Edited)
Sure I have pics, not detailed but I have some
just e-mail me and I'll send them, nbbearsden@hotmail.com

I think that slides spread out the weight evenly all thru the track
instead of wheels where you have numerous pressure point
where the snow can go up between the wheels, hope this makes sense hahaha

Back then they had a flat head 6, 3shift standard tranny, wich was ok, but you lost time between shifts
thus loosing precious momentum,, most of the guys change that to v6 automatic transmissions and slides
One of my buddies is restoring one right now, going with a 350 fuel injected, automatic, double exhaust, power steering etc. etc. etc.
should be ready for paint this week sometimes.....

LOL yeah know what you mean about the eat back there, it can get really hot, especially in the spring, but in winter
they mostly all installed a secondary heater in the front to keep that windshield de-iced and a double school bus heater
in the back, wich you can set a little better than the old heaters they had..

We had a sno meet last winter, and a couple guys from Quebec came down, one of them is married to
Joseph Armand Bombardier's daughter, he's the guy who helped building the Bombardier Museum
he was in charge of finding all the original parts for everything that is in the museum
anyhow, I don't have to tell you that his sno is original from wheels to heater, and he had a hard
time following us, and it was all because of the slides.

The same is true for our tracks on our suzukis, but mind you that we have a quite a bit of snow
here in winter, it doesn't really make a difference in 12'' of snow, or on a hard packed trail
but in deep snow, where one with wheels gets stuck, the other with slides goes around him.
 
#311 ·
see post #229 in this thread - beware of thinking the rating of a hub applies to when you use it for a track assembly, with it's MASSIVE off-set - you'll be hard pressed to over-engineer the hub.




This is a 1750lb hub - the guy who built my tracks "ran the numbers" and selected it - but remember, it's rated with a nice, narrow-offset trailer rim/tire combo, not a 250lb, 15x30 (or more) track assembly swinging off of it.
 
#315 ·
that sounds like a good deal, well not getting as far as i hoped i am the best man in my friends new years wedding social and it is taking up some time no big deal. well i got one side all together painted and assembled wating to do the other side to put the weight on the track. here are some picts so far..
 

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#318 ·
Well, you know more than most about how tracks slip with tension :D. My arm-chair view says you may have trouble - but you've actually worked with that type of drive already, lol.

Perhaps look into building cogs that would drive in the track windows, in case it does become an issue - they handle slack much much better.
 
#320 ·
some more picts tonight when i get back out ther to work on it, yah i am going to be driving internal on the track just dont have the time and want to drive it. i took it out for about 40 miles the other night and no problems just had a front wheel bearing that went stupid sealed unit wheel bearings, and needed replacing which i ordered and came in today and i will be installing right away. oh yah and the box is in the process of getting installed.
 
#321 ·
here are the most recent picts i got the box on turned out pretty good it is 5' x 4.5' square flat on the bottom no wheel wells to worry about on this truck. just working on the reciever hitch for the rear and maybe the plow on the front. more picts tomorrow in the daylight when i take it out.
 

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