Video for Anyone with a Frontier considering tracks.

[mightymaxIV]

Here is a video of an Argo 480 frontier tracks. Anyone with a Frontier, ask yourself if your machine would have pulled up this creek bed with just tires.

[Noel Woods]

[QUOTE=mightymaxIV;78984]Here is a video of an Argo 480 frontier tracks. Anyone with a Frontier, ask yourself if your machine would have pulled up this creek bed with just tires.


The answer is: heck no! The tracks accentuate the machine and give it capabilities far beyond what a wheeled vehicle can do. The tracks are a quantum jump in AATV technology.

[mudbug3]

Dan

That Argo 480 Frontier , with the Adair tracks on it , is a impressive machine. Because of its light weight , the 480 Frontier swims really well with these tracks on it. Most people consider the 480 Frontier really under powered with the 15 hp motor in it, but when you install a set of Adair tracks on it, it becomes a very capable machine! I,d love to see how well this machine would perform at river run in the swamps and thick mud

[mightymaxIV]

[mudbug3]

I noticed as I watched the video of the Argo 480 driving in and out of the ditch, that the sandy bank on either side was not as steep as when the Mudd-Ox first drove through it , because the sand had been pushed away.

[Model Citizen]

Enjoy the videos, but are you saying that an Argo Frontier would not make it up those banks with just its tires? I could see where it might be hard to come out of the water approaching a bank like that if you were floating, but you're not floating. The sand should not be an issue unless you sink into it. Since we ride in a lot of sand/sandy conditions, I'm confused.

Bridget

[mightymaxIV]

Enjoy the videos, but are you saying that an Argo Frontier would not make it up those banks with just its tires? I could see where it might be hard to come out of the water approaching a bank like that if you were floating, but you're not floating. The sand should not be an issue unless you sink into it. Since we ride in a lot of sand/sandy conditions, I'm confused.

Bridget

It would have been difficult to do with tires, the tracks make a lot of difficult situations look extremely easy. When I was at river run I didn't realize how hard several situations were until i saw the wheeled vehicles around me stuck or not moving. The first time I went down a mud lane lane I thought there was nothing to it and turned around and Mudbug in his MaxIV and Robert in his Argo stuck in the Mud behind me. A high lifted quad tried it about a minute later and got badly stuck.

[brophymd]

Enjoy the videos, but are you saying that an Argo Frontier would not make it up those banks with just its tires? I could see where it might be hard to come out of the water approaching a bank like that if you were floating, but you're not floating. The sand should not be an issue unless you sink into it. Since we ride in a lot of sand/sandy conditions, I'm confused.

Bridget

I agree, crawling up a steep bank from floating is unlikely but I'm certain my wheeled Max IV would could have followed that argo without hesitation.

[George]

It would have been difficult to do with tires, the tracks make a lot of difficult situations look extremely easy. When I was at river run I didn't realize how hard several situations were until i saw the wheeled vehicles around me stuck or not moving. The first time I went down a mud lane lane I thought there was nothing to it and turned around and Mudbug in his MaxIV and Robert in his Argo stuck in the Mud behind me. A high lifted quad tried it about a minute later and got badly stuck.

So why not include video of those machines following and getting stuck? As stated, this obstacle is hard to appreciate from this perspective...if we saw other non-tracked machines following and getting stuck, then I guess it might be easier to see the increased performance provided by the tracks.

I'd also like to see them swimming. I might be mistaken but it appears the tracks did not lose contact with the riverbed in these videos.

[Model Citizen]

I really,really, understand how tracks where you ride might help immensely, particularly in deep mud, but the comments about the videos you posted (which weren't in mud) sound like a stock machine with tires would not be able to climb those banks & I'm 99.9% sure most will. At least if you go into it slow & then give it some throttle. The only time I had a problem with banks like those, even when the SS had a 14 hp Briggs in it, was if I inadvertently, because of the incline, did not hold the sticks tightly forward. (I have short arms ) So, sometimes, it's my own operator error. Most of us that ride a lot know that we don't always drive these things correctly all the time . Who's all in on that one? I just think that newbies considering this hobby should know that they really are extremely capable, fun machines, even stock with just tires.

Bridget

[Roger S]

The tracks are good, and probably almost always better than just tires, but that particular vid shot, hehe, it was shallow, and all us wheeled guys would have given it heck, and I assume, made it with little problem. But, video can be deceiving..

[Noel Woods]

Yes, its difficult to get perspective when all you see are tracked vehicles & they just amble over the obstacles like its not really a challenge. I've seen the Adair tracks mounted on several Argos and a Mudd Ox. My Max 2 and Super Swamp fox diesel are both capable vehicles, however the new style tracks give a significant advantage to the tracked vehicles in the outtings I've been on. If you pull up the video from the October River Run ride you will clearly see the tracked vehicles going through obstacles that the wheeled vehicles either had a hard time on, or bogged down in. In fact there are several instances where you will see the tracked vehicles towing wheeled vehicles out of predicaments like it was nothing. When I was in military there was a saying that a capable wheeled vehicle will go 90% of the places a tracked vehicle can go. I've found that to be the case most of my life. The issue is when you want to get to the places the other 10% of the time, then that's the time the tracks come in handy. The other issue with the Adair tracks is that you don't have to thrash your vehicle to use them, in fact my observation was that with the tracks your axles, bearings, chains and sprockets are probably under less load and stress than they were on the wheeled vehicles that had to be pushed to stay going.

[racerone3]

Enjoy the videos, but are you saying that an Argo Frontier would not make it up those banks with just its tires? I could see where it might be hard to come out of the water approaching a bank like that if you were floating, but you're not floating. The sand should not be an issue unless you sink into it. Since we ride in a lot of sand/sandy conditions, I'm confused.

Bridget

I gotta agree with the model citizen on this one... with the running start that he had i could have gotten my garden tractor up that bank.

i can certainly see that tracks are a HUGE advantage in a lot of situations, but the first video in this thread wasn't enough to "wow me".

[Model Citizen]

Noel, your Super Swamp Fox runs awesome. With or without tracks.

Bridget

[Obsessed]

i agree Noel, both of your machines are pretty well unstoppable, and there are not many places that Rogers hopped up 8x8 wont go either, but im not so sure about that garden tractor making it up the bank (ha-ha)...when it comes right down to it we are all just pretty much splitting hairs and any of these machines weather old or new, 6x6 or 8x8, tracked or untracked, name brand or off brand (he-he), etc, etc, etc are pretty impressive or none of us would even be here visiting about them and sharing our thoughts, photos, and video… (speaking of which…my friends and i have had the unique privilege of getting to ride a lot and drive some really awesome machines and i can tell you that the best way to judge the true difficulty of any of our videos is by the size of the drivers smile)...

that said, every setup is going to have its upside, and it downside, even if the downside is just cost and bang for the buck...most of us started out with a used 6x6 at one point or another and just kept dreaming of how it could possibly get any better, that’s where most of the fun is... the difficult part might just be balancing cost and value of any machine and its options for where we each ride and how...not many of us actuall "need" one of these awsome toys

a bunch of my friends and i did the same thing with snowmobiles 20 years ago and used to have a ton of fun in our own back yards until our newer machines took all of the challenge and adventure out of it and eventually even week long trips to the mountains with those new hi-tech machines couldn’t continue to provide the challenge we first fell in love with...

history tends to repeat itself and i think that it could be the same here...part of the fun of playing in a mud puddle all day is the challenge of doing it better than your buddy, but when everyone just walks thru it, is it still fun??? we used to play all day on that river trying to make it a mile up stream with our 25" wheeled machines, but now we struggle to find areas that represent much of a challenge at all and we can cover miles of that river in an hour of time…David, i have even noticed that you have hung up the hip waders in your latest videos.

i think a lot of us enjoy this type of recreational riding...but then there are those who will simply own one of these machines for the very specific purpose of just getting there and back with the least amount of "adventure" possible...they are the ones that might benefit the most from those of you that thrive on pushing the limitations of the sport and splitting the hairs

keep it fun :-)