You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. Looking forward to seeing you in the forums and talking about AATVs!
actually since you weld, you could probably make a simple jig and use a small 10 ton bottle jack and press those all in one stage. you only need to bend each end ( 2 bends ) . just start with the right length piece of steel. bend the one end then the other . j.b.
John, I'm gong to be using 1/2" belt and will be 4" on the inside and thinking 6" on the outside. I haven't laid it out yet to see how wide it will make everything. I can get the belt in either width.
Just an update. While waiting for Info on the dimensions I played with bending again and have the bending figured out. This one is almost perfect and I think it will work. I also think I can duplicate it. No cutting and re welding. I just needed to set up the bender differently and with a modification to fit inside the channel. This way the steel won't move and I can hit the same spot every time. Going to give it a few more days then if no info I'm going to commit to this one.
9" across the bottom, 3 3/4" along the angles, 3 1/2" tabs. The belt will be 1/2" thick and the top of the belt will be 4" from the ground. If I use 4" wide belt on both sides the tracks will be 21" wide.
dex..looks like you have it perfect !! great job. are you bending them cold or heated ? your design and jig and measurements will probably motivate others to build their own tracks. thanks , johnboy va.
This one looks good. Just took me a little more playing with the bender. They are bent cold. I have to set some stops on the bender and I should be good to go. I'm going to wait a bit more to see if anyone with the actual tracks gets back to me but if not I'm going to go with this one. My brother is pushing me to get a set done. He was out on his property and is pretty sure he's going to need this type of track. He wants me to test the tracks on mine before I'm sure he'll be wanting a set for his Argo.
Just a thought, but when I was considering building my own channel style tracks I had planned on using skidoo tracks for the belts. Cut some take off snowmobile tracks into 4" wide belts and the lugs would give some extra traction on the hard/slick surfaces when they make contact. Probably a lot cheaper than a commercial belt too.
I'll have to see if I can find a place around here that would have old snowmobile tracks. I can get the conveyor belt that I need for either all 6" wide or 2 4" wide and 2 6" wide for about $200. Would be interesting to see what the snowmobile tracks would go for. Thanks for the idea.
Up here you can get good 2nd hand take off tracks from dealers for $50-150. You'd get 2 belt widths from the center of each if you avoided the windows.
I was thinking about using sled tracks also, free to get where I am as the shops just toss bad ones out but perfect for this, Only thing is that you would have to cut some of the lugs off depending on where the grouser will mount to insure they are all flush with the track, not a big issue just more time consuming. I want to build channel tracks also time permitting...
Well, its been awhile since I've posted on my channel tracks attempt. I would like to take this moment to say that I have just finished them and they are on the max ll. The only thing I need to know now is about how much sag I should have. I would like to thank Rapidroy for his help by sending me pictures of his with measurements. It made it much easier for me to get the dimensions. I will say that mine are different but I bent them for a 20x10x8 tire. I know in the beginning I would have been happy to buy the tracks from Marcell and tried to make it happen. Unfortunately that wasn't possible. I was able to make them for my Max ll for about $450 in materials and a whole lot of my time. Between the cutting and bending and drilling all the holes plus a more than a few hours of assembly its a good thing my time is free but I think I could do the next set if I have to make them for my brothers Argo alot faster. The biggest thing I did wrong was make the axle extenstions before I really new what I needed. From researching tracks for the Max I got stuck on the idea from Richards website that I would need 5" extensions. I actually made me a set of them. After putting them on with the new tire and rim it turned out that I only needed 2" spacers to get the clearance I needed for the tracks. I ended up getting the 2" extensions online for $14 each. Thanks everyone for your comments. Here are some pictures of the process. Once again, if anyone out there has these kind of tracks on a Max ll and could tell me how much sag I should have let me know. I have them bolted together right now with extra belt still on but as soon as I get the sag figured out I will be putting the conveyor hinges on it
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
