Field report - track comparison

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Thread: Field report - track comparison

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Thornton, CO
    Posts
    646

    Field report - track comparison

    Time: Wednesday Dec. 28 2011
    Place: Snowy Range Wyoming
    Field office: Cabin at Snowy Mountain Lodge
    Conditions: bit windy, mountainous, snow in area had been blown and was drifted along tree lines and in all tree covered valleys. The tops of exposed ridges had very shallow snow covering with exposed rocks. The large open meadows were fairly shallow snow - sometimes rolling drifts where you could barely see the tops of the weeds through the top of the snow and sometime the rocks showed. Snow depth varied but I do know that some places I dug to the top of my tracks and wasn't yet on the ground.

    I have a basically stock conquest. I have done the clutch modification as described by RockDoctor. I have BKT AT-108 22x11x8 tires inside supertracks. My tracks had Kold Kutter ice cleats screwed into two track ridge intersections per section. I have the G transmission. That's G for granny...

    Dan also has a conquest. He did say that his clutch has been modified for higher elevation and I think he is running lighter weights. I do not know what transmission he has but I suspect his is higher geared because when flat out on the level he could pull away from me. His tracks have angle iron cleat extensions that carry what looks like a 6 inch bailer belt for a 24 inch track. I would venture 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch angle.

    Tim has a new HDI with new Adair tracks. I think they were the 22 inch variant with the shorter extension on the inside. He is testing a new larger bolt and he also has what looks like Kold Kutters on the surface of the grousers. He said that this machine has not had the clutch modified. He also is geared higher than be because he too runs away from me. I can tell he is in low because when he does a full 360 in front of me I can tell the inside track is stopped/barely going backwards.

    I think my machine makes a great baseline.

    When we first leave the parking lot heading for higher country there is a highway cut bank across the road. It is really steep. Dan popped out ahead of me and then climbed it. It was on heck of a display. This is where I could look at the sky and spin my tracks all day long. He later mentioned that he nearly ran out of power at the top. From my vantage he did not spin a track, his tracks stick really well and most of the time I see him fail a climb it is because he is power limited. I was clearly traction limited and maybe flotation limited. (Hard to tell because I would spin than sink.)

    I can tell that I do not float as well as either if the other machines. On one hill climb I am following Tim and his track is on the surface of deep snow. This snow was granular with a good crust. I tried following him up but everytime I had to really climb I would spin the tracks and cut through the crust and be sunk. I tried a few different approaches to see if I could climb on top to no avail. This is a traction failure for me but after breaking through I could not float back up. I did see Tim deal with a nearly identical situation and his machine would "swim" the snow which raised his front end and he could sometimes get back on top.

    On deep powder the belly impressions were sporadic. Sometimes I could make out the raised belly of the HDI and most times I couldn't. Dan rarely dragged his belly either. I did a couple circles on myself to see if I was and believe I dragged my belly more but sometimes (especially in high) in powder that I imagine had to drag the belly I wouldn't. This was powdery stuff too, if you made a turn you would pile a huge drift to the outside of the turn.

    Dan would sometimes take different routes in the trees I assume because of width. He could generally go anywhere. On off camber climbs where I would spin a bit and slide downhill his tracks simply stuck and he chugged right up. He very rarely spun a track and when he did I think he was trying to. I think his tracks are the gold standard of this field trial.

    Tim tracks way out performed mine. This is even adjusting for the power difference of the machines. Nearly on par with Dan's. Tim lead the way most of the time and I got to watch. I never had the impression that he was in danger of being stuck.

    I did have that feeling only once for myself. Usually before I ventured to follow the guys I made sure that I had a backup route. Unfortunately we didn't have machine to machine communications because some of the things I was doing that looked like struggling really wasn't; I knew I had an out. This one time though I followed time down into a ravine that was steeper than I had imagined. Usually, if I stuck climbing out of the stream bed at the bottom I could back out. This time I went to climb out and spun the tracks right at like an inch from the top. I backed and spun trying to climb back out. Uh-oh, that hadn't happened before. Tried it all again with the same result. I felt, dang if I just had a little more momentum... Shifted to high and ran at it. We teetered at the top and just barely broke over. I saw Tim fist pump and away we went. Didn't know Tim was looking for an excuse to break out the new tow strap so I probably ruined that moment for him. Sorry man.

    I learned that if you are climbing and still moving, no matter how slow, just keep into it. I crept up some really steep snow slopes with the tracks spinning away. Also, I could use high gear a lot of the time. On the flats I floated much better at the higher speeds. (and this gave me a way to catch up to the other guys.)

    I am super impressed with the supertracks despite the amazing capabilities of the tracks the other guys had. I was in some amazing stuff. Near the end I stopped on this drift and had the notion to jump across to Tim's machine to have a conversation. I stepped out on my track and then stuck out my foot to search for the ground; I never found it. Tim drove closer so we could talk.

    It would have been cool to have a rubber tracked machine along. (and maybe cool to see the standard tracks.)

    Oh yeah, At one point I had some ice build up on one of my tracks. Kawump... kawump... I threw some off on a flat in high gear but eventually had to get out and kick it off. Sorta wished I had a small hammer along for that but my point is that I didn't see the other guys dealing with this.
    Last edited by JohnF; 12-30-2011 at 03:40 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Montreal, Canada
    Posts
    471
    Quote Originally Posted by JohnF View Post
    his machine would "swim" the snow which raised his front end and he could sometimes get back on top.
    LOL !!!


    great review, thank you
    2008 MAX-IV 500T 30hp Bandolero

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Colorado
    Posts
    113
    Hey John,
    Did your plastic windows make it back to Thornton in one piece ? Mine didn't !

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Northern BC
    Posts
    2,990
    Awesome, thanks for the info.

    I like those track extensions on Dans machine, but I think they are too wide for my conditions.

    With regards to your Clutches. If you did the mods, like I do, then you will end up with a lower top speed, as well as slower acceleration. However, you're Primary will engage at a slightly higher RPM and you will Downshift faster.

    As for the Ice Buildup, I have a small Sledge Hammer in my tools, and use that to smack the Ice off the Tracks Pads if required.

    Cheers
    RD

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Thornton, CO
    Posts
    646
    Quote Originally Posted by DanDANthefisherman View Post
    Hey John,
    Did your plastic windows make it back to Thornton in one piece ? Mine didn't !
    I'm sorry to hear that. Yes, mine are okay.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rock Doctor View Post
    ..., but I think they are too wide for my conditions.
    Mine too, they won't fit on my trailer.

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