Left track not turning

[lttljhn]

Hey everyone, been reading lots of helpful stuff here, and so am wondering if anyone can help with this. We have a response, 18hp vanguard, and are running plastic tracks in a very silty flowing river bed. The last trip out, the argo was getting stuck very frequently, and it was noticed the track on the left side wasn't turning. The right side spins fine. Putting it in the parking lot up against a power pole, we got both tracks to spin, then got just the left track to spin. This argo has sunk twice (track mods rubbed holes in the tub, dumb us, didn't figure it out the first time ), and we cleaned out the brakes, motor oil etc, but just noticed that the transmission oil has water in it. It's on our plans to change it this week, but while we are in there, can anyone think of something else we should check on why our tires won't turn on one side with no brake applied, and throttle wide open? Thanks!

[rentalrider]

I'm not as good with these as the experts that will chime in soon but that's not uncommon. If it turns right without issue I would say everything is fine. Unless conditions are perfect where the resistance is uniform left to right only one side will spin. If this happens again, pull the right brake and see what happens.

[Rock Doctor]

RR has it. Your trans is nothing more than an open differential. Power goes to the side with the least resistance. This is where experience comes into play, you can add resistance to either side with your brakes to simulate traction. If you are spinning on the left, add brake to that side. With practice you can add/subtract "traction" as needed, to keep both sides turning.

RD

[Obsessed]

It's also possible that in those conditions, when you look down at a track that's not turning it might be that the tires are spinning inside of the track ...

Best of luck

[lttljhn]

Used the advice, and have learned to brake the track to send traction to other side. It does help! Does anyone know a good repair shop in Texas? We have found we have several problems more serious than we want to work on ourselves, mainly due to lack of shop space.