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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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#102 · (Edited)
movie looks great :smokin:

the tracks DO push the corners more. However, the slip in snow seems to make it a non-issue - BUT - I see you have bigger paddles on your tracks.Will a Dakota axle hold up to "fozzy-locker"? My toy axle is fozzied and I like it. I have not run the fozzy with tracks yet - I had the small tracks w/solid welded Suzuki diff, the Una-Tracks w/EZ-locker - but given how my 39.5 boggers work fozzied I think the tracks would do well.

edit: so how much do you weigh? your tracks on a toyota would walk right over those drifts.:D
 
#103 · (Edited)
my paint-cad of how I thought I would set up to use a spindle for a bearing - useful? does it make sense?



edit: the purple part is supposed to be the knuckle and bearing assy of the stock truck - the blue is a rim set up as a track driver - then a spindle from "some 4x4" - I even envision using the normal wheel bolts to attach the track support, rather than cutting all that off and welding the track arm to it.
 
#112 ·
i just read about the fozzy :barf: wtf... who came up with that?!?!?!?

it would be easier to just weld the whole thing!!! spools are not that bad on the street with tires.... i think no matter what, the tracks will put hella stress on the axle... get a 14 bolt fer 100 bucks and its problem solved:laughing:
 
#114 ·
lol Fozzy invented it.



it's not about how "bad" it is, its about a locked rear having a tendency to shove you straight, to resist turns.

Also the tracks don't stress the diff at all - you get geared way down by your effective tire diameter being the diamter of the rim.
 
#115 ·
yah i know if they were on a lighter truck look out!!!!! the durango weighs in at a hefty 5800lbs, i am thinking of bolting them on a six cylinder truck extended cab of something next year for this year it is awsome to be able to haul around 7 people comfortable and go up the trails.... 136" tracks are on the list for next year with raised rails at the rear and also better drives for the rear to stop them from slipping 100% so they can be ran more loose.

yes i will be welding the rear diff more vids on how it works later this week... i will be using a mig pre heat the housing and weld then let air cool. that is how i have done it befor
 
#117 ·
..... 136" tracks are on the list for next year with raised rails at the rear and also better drives for the rear to stop them from slipping 100% so they can be ran more loose.
I thought I would expand on this for the thread. You can drive on the "involutes" - the tabs of rubber sticking down inside the track (the russian tracks have bolt-on nubs) or you can use the "drive windows" and sprockets. It requires more track tension to use the involutes, but most the homebuilts use it because it is much simpler to build. In the video of my Suzuki, my tracks are pretty out of wack - the spindles are tweaked, so not just loose but not aligned well, yet they stay on and work at 35mph.

I do see that Mattracks use involutes - maybe just tight tolerence drive bars on the wheels would be enough.
 
#118 ·
i am running already on the inside knobs (what he said) and i think for the extra insurance i am going to drive also on the windows of the track, maybe just on the one side, some close up shots of your drives for the windows would be awsome (deep mud) and how you made them also how they wear. however i am just driving on the inside 4 knobs just inside the sliders so maybe if the bars i made went across the whole track might be better? Well of course it will be better but might be enough?
 
#119 · (Edited)

edit: too big! resized/rehosted
the sprocket is UHMW plastic. It is cut from an aluminum template with a router - the rear wheels are the leftover from cutting out the center. I'd weld a ring to your rim to get something to bolt to.

getting as many "nubs" in contact as possible might make the difference for now

note that snowmachines use both at the same time.
 
#122 ·
nice picts have you had a problem at all with the support that the wheel bearing is mounted to breaking or bending?
lol hell yes! I thought you'd read my old threads - and chico4by's, where I warned him to get a support roller under the drum.

First problem - too small spindle.
Second problem - built "backwards".



By putting the spindle there, it puts the weakest point right where the track has the most leverage to bend it. Turn it around and mount it as close to the center as possible and there is less offset working on the smallest point. It also puts more pressure on the vehicle axle and bearings they it (and my una-tracks) is designed - since it designed so all the track is held from the axle face out with zero offset.



chico4bys's solution



By starting with a rim you begin with several inches less stress on the axle.

This one is good way to go.

 
#124 ·
It looks like if you took a setup similar to Deepmud's, and added the support rollers from chico4bys you'd had the slimiest bearing setup possible. It'd especially work well for those of us with selectible hubs, and they'd simply be inside of the drive gear assembly (just remember to lock them before installing the tracks!).

We just need to get some AutoCAD plans and a part list made now :D Pirate tracks for all!
 
#126 ·
question to everyone out there that has seen tracks on trucks what size of lugs did they have on them, i am thinking of geting new tracks and might get a deeper lug for more traction thinking like 1 1/4" would it make a large difference on traction?
 
#127 · (Edited)
mine have been pretty small - nearest with big paddles I have seen a LOT of is the Tucker.


However, it's got a LOT more floatation, less "pounds per square inch" - Tucker himself, experimenting in the 30's came up with the idea that you need about .6psi to get around on the really deep stuff in all conditions. I think as you are, on that rig, with the light powdery snow, you'd just dig holes quicker :D -- But if you were on snow that packed under the tracks, then bigger paddles could be great. Maybe when you build bigger/longer rear tracks you could find bigger paddles for them?

EDIT: SPEC SHEET ON A "MINI" TUCKER http://www.safetyoneinc.com/specsheets/tucker.1000.2.html
Interesting - about .9 to 1 psi even w/24x64 tracks 'cause it's almost as heavy as your Dakota.

Oh -

And all the Japanese tracks (I added them to my Supermotors page) also have huge lugs - and they are more compareable as "truck conversions" even tho' their trucks are all so much lighter.





 
#128 ·
well after a bunch of hard trail pounding down the new snowmobile trail we just had brushed for the snowmobile club i found some weak links well not that bad only about 80 dollars to fix ha ha ha oh well i broke 3 front aluminum supports for the idlers wheels and lost one of my center rollers that was bolted to it will go back on the trails with the sled later to find them (idler wheels) just the rocks and no snow was no help at all just punding on the rocks and frozen hummicks, i pulled a drag the whole way and no problems at all with that..... which i am happy with, good thing is doesn t matter about the wheels as long as there is snow i was good to go with the sliders.... other than that excellent operation, kids came with me and had a blast,,,, good reason for building it,,, ha ha ha:smokin::)
 
#131 ·
i will post picts and videos later today of using it as a groomer and also the damage it has had since the build, put on so far 200 miles used as a groomer and about 500 miles total on the whole assembly, really like it so far, later a list of what i am going to do differen't.
 
#135 ·
Serious - think about patent on that anti-roll - Mattracks is pretty aggressive about people who build these for sale - even tho' they may not have patented anything but their anti-roll design itself. Their website used to state something about "patented anti-torque" design - but they have closed down the guy in Main who built the units on the S-10 I put up. Your anti-roll is very different, and I think therefore goes around their patent - but I'm not a lawyer. I just have been nuts about tracks since I first saw them in about 1973-74.
 
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