First REAL weekend with Adair Tracks

[Noel Woods]

R.D. that bridge crossing was some great footage. Yes, the Adair tracks are slippery on wood and flat steel, but otherwise awesome the other 99% of the time.
Who is your buddy with the HDI? That machine would look great w/Adair tracks too.
Looks like you guys had some fun out there.

[Rock Doctor]

Rock Doctor

You make this muddy trail look really easy when you're driving through it with the Adair tracks on your 8x8, but you know from experience that this trail is not as easy as it looks with tires. After your friends continue watching you take the hardest lines on the trails while they take the easier ones, you'll soon have some Adair converts.

I would say that 60% of the video I shot is useless to me, the tracks made some of the bad places look SO easy that it would be pointless showing it. Might as well be driving down a paved trail.

R.D. that bridge crossing was some great footage. Yes, the Adair tracks are slippery on wood and flat steel, but otherwise awesome the other 99% of the time.
Who is your buddy with the HDI? That machine would look great w/Adair tracks too.
Looks like you guys had some fun out there.

That's my buddy Carl, he was the only other person out at the lake besides my family. He is very interested in the tracks, and was critiquing them on the way in, lol.

There are possitives and Negatives to everything. Another issue I had with the tracks (and it's NOT the Tracks fault), is the extra width. I could not get the machine between the trees in some places. I never got any good footage of myself forcing it down some trails, but you can believe me when I say "I made it go where it never should have gone". Kinda like forcing a square peg in a round hole. More than once I was just riding on the tire guides on one edge of the tracks and the other side guides were doing their best to force my tires off their beads. I am now up to about 25hrs on the tracks, I have managed to get a good portion of the Strech out of the chains. I know this because I DID finally manage to drive out of a track. Let me tell you, an Argo with Track Tuners and no track is very much like a Pig on ice, NOT GOING ANYWHERE. I did answer the question "How long does it take to put an Adair Track back on, after you rip it off the machine on an ugly trail?"
The Mosquitoes were preparing to carry us all off as I stood there scratching my head, wondering what would be the better idea, 1) Abandon the machine, or 2)Light it on fire then abandon it.
I opted to make an effort to get the track back on. I suspected that I had streched the tracks enough that it shouldn't be TOO hard to pull the ends together by hand. I unbolted the Master Links as Diane built a fire to keep the Skeeters off us. Shazam, tracks back on in about 20-25 minutes, air in the tires and back on the trail (After putting out the fire that my wife convinently built right in the middle of the trail in front of me)

Here is a clip of my Pinball Wizard daughter slipping between the trees like some kind of greased noodle. I like to call her "Nutbar" at times like this

RD

[Noel Woods]

Your daughter rocks, that girl did a great job piloting the Argo. I think she needs one of her own.

[Dan67]

Your daughter rocks, that girl did a great job piloting the Argo. I think she needs one of her own.

I have to agree! Your daughter did a awesome job making the trail wider for her poor ol' dad to follow up behind her.

[LarryW]

Great videos!(as usual) I love the up front view. I wonder how the camera mounted in the back facing forward would look?

Looks like they are working great. Might get boring waiting for the non tracked machines to catch up though. Maybe you could bring a magazine with you?

[plott hound]

WOW!those tracks are real impressive.

[kghills]

So, like I mentioned earlier, Tracks are not always the answer. This little incident took me a little off guard, the vid does no justice to how it really felt. Wet, muddy Tracks are VERY slippery on a wooden Bridge Deck. Especially when the bridge has a mean lean to the downstream side. I could literally have pushed the Argo off the bridge with one hand, had I wanted to. Add to it that I am now almost too wide to cross the bridge, and we have a disaster waiting to happen. On my way back out I spiked in some 2x4's to the downstream side to make a kickplate. I could easily still drive over it, but it will keep me (or anyone) on the bridge for now.

I took all my "winter" hardware off the tracks earlier, and now I am considering putting some Ice Picks back in just to give me a little Bite on the wooden deck, it would probably work. I'm just not sure if it's THE answer I'm looking for.


More to come
RD

I would think just screwing in a couple self tappers into each grouser would do the trick.

Keith.

[Rock Doctor]

Your daughter rocks, that girl did a great job piloting the Argo. I think she needs one of her own.

I have to agree! Your daughter did a awesome job making the trail wider for her poor ol' dad to follow up behind her.

Um............. Actually that one IS hers. Mine is the one on Tires

Great videos!(as usual) I love the up front view. I wonder how the camera mounted in the back facing forward would look?

Looks like they are working great. Might get boring waiting for the non tracked machines to catch up though. Maybe you could bring a magazine with you?

I liked the view as well, but it was HELL getting through the trees. I didn't even bother to bring the pole home with me. You have me thinking about the "Overhead Mount" now though

As for the Tracks, I'm going to order another set. I noticed that there has been quite a design change since I got these ones though.........
Which is better any why?
The way I abused these tracks on this trip, I have concerns about running the Narrow Spacers. Would it be possible to rip one or more right out of the track assembly while GRINDING the machine between trees? I have to talk to Tim and get an update on the new design.






RD

[Rock Doctor]

I would think just screwing in a couple self tappers into each grouser would do the trick.

Keith.

I was thinking the same thing, but that bridge is about 5ft off the ground (In low water), and there are not a lot of places to go if I fall off of it. I think a Guard Rail is in order, but I I'll put some Ice Picks back in too.

RD

[Rock Doctor]

RD

[mudbug3]

Rock Doctor

The sun set picture of your wife and three daughters looks awesome! God's country for sure!

[Rock Doctor]

Wife managed to get stuck with the quad a few times. This was one of the more fun experiences. I gota hand it to her she is a Die Hard Quader
The hole I'm in while trying to pull her used to be real bad. More of a Soup than anything, but it seems that the winter has temporarily packed the bottom in. I'm already starting to loosen it up just making a couple passes through.

RD

[mightymaxIV]

Impressive videos Doc, beautiful country. I really enjoyed the second video. Thanks for taking the time to post this impressive showing of your machines.

[Dan67]

On your conquest, do you run 24" tires? I'm guessing your daughters tracked conquest has 22" tires? How would you describe the difference going from 22" to 24" tires?

[Rock Doctor]

On your conquest, do you run 24" tires? I'm guessing your daughters tracked conquest has 22" tires? How would you describe the difference going from 22" to 24" tires?

Yes and Yes
I would describe the difference as Nigh and Day. When I switched over, I had no idea how much of an improvement the 24" Frontiers would be.
It's a bit of a gamble, as the 24" frontier tires are not exactly consistent in size. Some are just too big to fit, most just barely fit, and some are a little on the small size. I can't really run mine at any more than 3.5PSI. Circumfrences need to be measured and the tires might have to be juggled around to get them to fit.
Several of my friends have also switched over.

RD