Winter Argo Trip (Conquests)

[Rock Doctor]

I managed to get away for a night with my Conquests. Didn't get into any real technical stuff, not much snow on the ground and none on the lake. Parts of the trail are super icey which made it interesting on plasti tracks. One machine is on Supertracks (with bolts through the pads for extra traction), the other machine is on 14" Adair Tracks.
The difference between the two is so great that it's impossible to compare them, and I DON'T mean one is that much better than the other (at this point).
Keep in mind here that the Adair Tracks have NO Pics, Studs, Cleats, ect. NO traction enhancers at all.
The Adair Tracks performed great in Loose, fresh snow, and in places with minor snow, leaves and sticks(eg. Under big Spruce Trees). They had a bit of a hard time on hills with compacted snow trails. If you spun a track, you were DONE.
The Supertracks performed well in loose fresh snow, and great on packed trails, even hills. BUT if you spun the snow out from under a track and hit frozen ground........you were DONE.

I couldn't believe the places I could go with the Adair Tracks and could not go with the Supertracks, but on the flipside, I had to have the machine with Supertracks pull the one with Adair Tracks up the hills with compacted snow trails
Truth be told, I found the experience just a bit wierd.

Anyway, I didn't get much vid, cause we didn't go many places. I did get enough to give you a bit of an idea what we were doing.

I drove up and down this trail a couple times with the Adair's and never slipped a track. We never did get the machine with Supertracks up here (yes we could have winched or pulled it, but that's not the point)

Trip in to the Cabin:

Trip back to the truck. We had to make a new trail up out of the creek, the other trail was to narrow for the Supertracks and too slippery for the Adair's. The Adairs came up out of the creek with no problem in the NEW spot, but we had to blaze a trail and hit it about 6-7 times to get the Supertracks up. Then we had to use the Supertracks to pull the Adair's up the next hill

RD

[pcmark]

In those conditions, how do you suppose just tires would have handled the terrain?

[BARE]

Do you think with some studs screwed into the adairs that would have got you up all the hills that you had problems with.

[Rock Doctor]

In those conditions, how do you suppose just tires would have handled the terrain?

My experience with tires in snow makes me think it would have been bad. They would not have made any of the hills, and would have continuously fallen off the snowmobile trail we followed. Some places would have been fun on tires, like the lake, lol.

Do you think with some studs screwed into the adairs that would have got you up all the hills that you had problems with.

Honestly, the camera does no justice to those two hills. What you think they look like on camera, you could probably triple in your mind.
I can tell you from experienc that if there had not been a packed trail, the supertracks would not have made it up ( I believe that the Adair's would have though, like the hill out of the creek).
Depending on the length of picks/studs, I think they would have made it, but am not sure. With the cleats that I have coming, I believe they would have made it up as easy as the supertracks. I have to keep this in perspective, the Adair tracks are quite narrow at 14" and brand new, without a scuff on them ( they are litteraly as smooth as glass).
The supertracks not only have all those bolts through them, but are also very scared up with thousands of gouges, scratches, and bits of sharp plastic edges. It may sound strange, but it all helps get traction on packed snow.

RD

[smog]

Some of the trails are quite tight, are you sure the adair snow track extensions will go between the trees ?

[North Country Tough]

Thats some great vids RD,jeez not much snow for this time of year,them Adairs will be awesome when outfitted with biters,look forward to your ongoing test and tune,thanks for taking the time to post up all this great info.N.C.T

[Rock Doctor]

Some of the trails are quite tight, are you sure the adair snow track extensions will go between the trees ?

On this trip, there was only one shortcut that would be too narrow for any Argo, other than one that is standard width. The one trail at the end where I broke off to the right, slipped through, and made it too the truck 5 min before the other machine. That trail was made by snowmachines, for snowmachines. Actually, I thought I was going to have to back out of that one.
With the Supertrack assembly adding almost 10" to the machine width.............It would not have made it through there, neither would wider Adair Tracks.................Unless I fired the chainsaw up again

Thats some great vids RD,jeez not much snow for this time of year,them Adairs will be awesome when outfitted with biters,look forward to your ongoing test and tune,thanks for taking the time to post up all this great info.N.C.T

Thanks NCT, glad to be of help. When I consider that this was my first attemt at running Summer Tracks in the winter, I was more than happy with the results. It was very much like running Summer Tires on a truck in the dead of winter........it worked, but could be made better.
As for the snow? Well, this is the LEAST amout that I have EVER seen around here in December. I heard that this is an El Ninia yr, supposed to be COLD with less than normal snow levels. Low snow levels seems to be true so far, but the temps are not as cold as predicted........It's actually been very nice.


RD

[smog]

I consider that this was my first attempt at running Summer Tracks in the winter

a guy who got a set here in Quebec told us to forget about plowing a paved driveway on those tracks but he is also happy with the lightweight and overall performance.


but I wouldn't expect anybody telling they made a 4800$can mistake

[Rock Doctor]

[QUOTE=smog;105234]a guy who got a set here in Quebec told us to forget about plowing a paved driveway on those tracks but he is also happy with the lightweight and overall performance.

but I wouldn't expect anybody telling they made a 4800$can mistake[QUOTE]

What's the $4,800 mistake?

I would agree with him, no way would you be able to plow a paved driveway with smooth plastic tracks. Tires would be much better

RD

[mightymaxIV]

Rd, I appreciate you taking time to post up the videos. I enjoyed them very much. I can't wait until breakup to see how your machine performs in all the mush.

[BARE]

My experience with tires in snow makes me think it would have been bad. They would not have made any of the hills, and would have continuously fallen off the snowmobile trail we followed. Some places would have been fun on tires, like the lake, lol.

Honestly, the camera does no justice to those two hills. What you think they look like on camera, you could probably triple in your mind.
I can tell you from experienc that if there had not been a packed trail, the supertracks would not have made it up ( I believe that the Adair's would have though, like the hill out of the creek).
Depending on the length of picks/studs, I think they would have made it, but am not sure. With the cleats that I have coming, I believe they would have made it up as easy as the supertracks. I have to keep this in perspective, the Adair tracks are quite narrow at 14" and brand new, without a scuff on them ( they are litteraly as smooth as glass).
The supertracks not only have all those bolts through them, but are also very scared up with thousands of gouges, scratches, and bits of sharp plastic edges. It may sound strange, but it all helps get traction on packed snow.

RD

I will be using mine in an area that gets no other traffic other than mine so I don't think I will get a lot of packed trail. If it gets packed from my use I can always take a different line to find some snow for traction I guess. I do have some pretty long steep hills to climb but they are on the road in and it is pretty wide. I will most likely do the 2" extentions to the outside of the track for the deep powder. Worse case I may have to add some cleats. Also this test is comparing 18" tracks to 14" tracks.

[DanDANthefisherman]

You could do this to your super tracks, unless you have some tight spots that you need to get through ?

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

[North Country Tough]

You could do this to your super tracks, unless you have some tight spots that you need to get through ?

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

Wow Dan that is awesome,no question that would work,holy smokes nice mod.

[Obsessed]

You could do this to your super tracks, unless you have some tight spots that you need to get through ?

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

super great looking 8x8 Dan...havent seen many tops that fit as nice as yours...im starting to get excited about our trip out west... :-)

[DanDANthefisherman]

You could do this to your super tracks, unless you have some tight spots that you need to get through ?

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

I can't take credit for it !!! Had it done at Ikes Rocky Mountain Argo in Craig, CO