making argo tracks and a diesel repower

[dryice000]

I bough a 1991 ,to the best of my knoledge, argo vanguard 8x8 with a B&S 16HP V-twin last winter with a set of 13 inch argo plastic tracks. but over the summer we had a huge forest fire the claimed many cabins and even came so close to town we had to evacuate. during all that I lost everything I had stored at my fathers cabin, Cabin survived luckily as it was only built the year before, everything I had stored was my winter fleet which was 4 snowmobiles and my argo tracks!

so my latest project is the argo, I am using three 20" snowmobile tracks with wheel guides for tracks and I will be swapping in a 3 cyl kubota diesel that is 22-24hp (cant remember which) I had this engine in my alpine snowmobile but latter put a 2 stroke back in due to weight, that was one of the ones that burned so I'm glad I did that now.

here is the diesel, I wont start that swap until the tracks are done.


here is the argo last spring cutting some wood with the dogs.


for the guides I used 1.5"x3/16" flat bar 9" wide and 4" height. I bet them in this rig with a small sledge hammer




they are spaced 7.5".


jig made for drilling holes.




marking and drilling the tracks.




the length on the track roughly to the gas can.


next I added a flare to the guides to help them stay onto the tires. made a quick and crude brake.






and today I managed to get the argo into the garage and bolt up the guides.


wrapped the track on to get a final length measurement.




with the snow this went threw with 13" tracks I cant wait to try these 20" tracks! winter is very long up here and the argo gets used more in the winter then summer so good tracks are a must for me.

[thorn]

Nice work! You are probably going to need that diesel to turn those bad boys.

[hydromike]

hey dryice...,


Very cool looking project. I like the idea of the Kubota in there. I don't know if I've seen an Argo with a diesel repower, but it sure looks like a heck of a neat project. Where is "up here", anyway. I'm going to guess Alaska, because there's about zero chance that folks in Canada would let Coors Light across the border.

[riotwarrior]

....
I'm going to guess Alaska, because there's about zero chance that folks in Canada would let Coors Light across the border.

Ya we have Coors light here too, trust me used to drink it lots!

Nice work and I cannot wait to see how that repower with the Kubota goes.

I've got my eye on an older Alpine ski-doo as well, stock, I would like to get a hold of it and have some fun in the winter.

Where did you get 20" tracks those are awesome...From a WT Skandic?

Keep up the good work and pictures and posting!

[dryice000]

I need to update my profile, I am a Canadian and I live in a small mining town in Labrador called wabush. Since around mid December it's been hovering around -35C dropping to as low as -55 but we had a few warm days to -20c or so.

Two tracks shown there are off Polaris wide tracks, the third is a skandic wt but I'm hoping to get another Polaris to have all matching thread. YouTube "diesel alpine moves" it's the machine I posted above with the diesel in it for whoever is interested.

The coors light is my fathers choice of beer, I prefer a good dark beer that actually has flavour haha

[Sol]

That is like way cool!

[eightwheeler]

Good job!! Keep up the good work

[dryice000]

well I got the argo out for a test run the other day and it threw the track almost instantly, so I made a few changes. one row of the drive lugs inside the tracks were riding on the tire cocking up the track a bit so I cut them off, I took 2.5" out of the tracks length and upped tire pressure from 3PSI to 6PSI. took it out today and I couldn't get the track to throw so work on the second track will commence.

I took a video, its not the best argo video on youtube but its the best I can do. driving an argo one handed doesn't work to well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhXrF...ature=youtu.be

[thorn]

well I got the argo out for a test run the other day and it threw the track almost instantly, so I made a few changes. one row of the drive lugs inside the tracks were riding on the tire cocking up the track a bit so I cut them off, I took 2.5" out of the tracks length and upped tire pressure from 3PSI to 6PSI. took it out today and I couldn't get the track to throw so work on the second track will commence.

I took a video, its not the best argo video on youtube but its the best I can do. driving an argo one handed doesn't work to well.
testing track for argo vanguard - YouTube

For best results when using tracks the psi in your tires from rear to front should be 7,6,6,5.

[ANDY]

How do you attach the tracks together at the seam? How are the steel tire guides against the tires?