1.5" thick repro UHMW crosser (elevated-belt) with 1/8" steel insert

[kghills]

Buzz, I need something to do when I'm not all excited about bigger Vendetta tires, (I'm driving to get a set this weekend so I have them before the Alaska Mudd-Ox dealer) besides it's easy when the stuff your using works and you have video. Adair has done a ton of testing of the different blends. Mr first set of Adair tracks on my Argo Bigfoot was not reprocessed and chipped much worse. The mushrooming does help traction and I know it sounds odd but its sort of like how you overlap the side plates on my Adair mud and snow tracks to have the edge up. Tim also found that if you debur the outside edges on new grousers they offer less traction. I know mine did feel a little more slippery when they were new, especially on asphalt. The mushroomed fuzzy edge just sort of stays that way, that's how it works.

I look forward to seeing your different inserts. I would not be so fast to dismiss the reprocessed UHMW however. I hope to be trying some urethane inserts also soon and after seeing your results may intermittently place some steel ones in the mix. Depends how the urethane works on ice. It's about 1degF here now so I might go outside and try to slide a dead blow hammer around on the ice.

Keith.

[MAX IV Mark]

I have to give it to you for being adair's #1 shield of defense. Maybe you're getting a cut elbow-elbow. I wouldn't worry so much about trying to protect...something. Wish I could put my finger on it.

Its not just Keith, I would say its almost everyone of Adairs customers. They are a Great vendor, with great product and great service. I have read lots of complaints about others but in 4.5 years on this forum, you are the first one with bad things to say about them I can remember. Logical people will look at almost everyone saying good things and only person saying bad things and wonder what the motivation of the loner is. Of course others will look at it and think the lone person is the only one telling the truth and everyone else is covering up, this tendency is usually strongest in the mentally ill population...................so lets put on our tinfoil hats and talk conspiracy theory............

[Buzz]

now that's funny

[Buzz]

I'm not writing-off repro uhmw material, just seeing if a different grade is tougher. Seems simple enough. It could end up like the steel crossers.....a guy ultimately comes back full circle to what he tested first because it's the best bang for the buck. Instead, I'm after what works the best for me and ultimately share the information. If others need or require it, well then they'll know. Instead of passing judgement, I would encourage others to put their money where their mouth is and do some testing...it's fun. We all have our hobbies, and I've done most of the other stuff up here.

[Buzz]

be honest and helpful, not protective of sales. That's what this forum is about. Remember this thread was to try and share this style and thickness of crosser with specific width/thickness steel insert. It's natural for someone with other tracks to come in and diminish the potential benefit of a new design. But before I'd recommend this or any other design to a friend, I'll test it myself first.

I'd like to commend a few of the previous offenders for being more honest lately. I mean, you'll hear occasionally about some chain noise, or poor swimming on a particular machine, or of a machine whose tracks came off twice...and they were told to increase psi very high.....
and that stuff just gets wisked away. You gotta have all the info and consider all factors so you're not disappointed.
This forum is as biased as ever, and some of us know that. We take it for what it is. Sometimes you can talk until you're blue in the face. Luckily common sense always prevails and the more information shared the better.

[rockrewls]

Personally I just don't only want to hear about how good a track is, I want to know the good the bad and the ugly.
I don't have tens of thousands of dollars to invest in 3 or 4 sets of tracks so I can pick the one that suits my area and ride style best, that's what this forum is suppose to be about truthful information so a person can make a proper judgment based on their environment and ride style.
I've grown tired of seeing and hearing stories and seeing edited videos with half truths, if a person isn't going to be completely honest about there experiences they should not be in here, your only hurting this community by giving only half truths or info based on half truths that you've seen (edited vids) or heard (biased gossip)
I personally want facts all of the facts without anyone protecting their purchase choice. I was that guy watching vids and going on hearsay to some extent, for that I apologize to this community, it doesn't help someone make a proper decision when your only presenting part truths or situations where you've edited only the good about something but failed to share the negative or possible down sides you've experienced.

Rock

[kghills]

Personally I just don't only want to hear about how good a track is, I want to know the good the bad and the ugly.
I don't have tens of thousands of dollars to invest in 3 or 4 sets of tracks so I can pick the one that suits my area and ride style best, that's what this forum is suppose to be about truthful information so a person can make a proper judgment based on their environment and ride style.
I've grown tired of seeing and hearing stories and seeing edited videos with half truths, if a person isn't going to be completely honest about there experiences they should not be in here, your only hurting this community by giving only half truths or info based on half truths that you've seen (edited vids) or heard (biased gossip)
I personally want facts all of the facts without anyone protecting their purchase choice. I was that guy watching vids and going on hearsay to some extent, for that I apologize to this community, it doesn't help someone make a proper decision when your only presenting part truths or situations where you've edited only the good about something but failed to share the negative or possible down sides you've experienced.

Rock

OK, my Max IV came with old style rubber waffle tracks. They sucked. Had to watch the tires super close because if the tire pressure fell a couple pounds the track would wander and slice a big groove in the body. If you overinflated the tires an end axle would break leaving you sort of screwed big time where ever it happened. Performance in mud was OK but I could go farther in the marsh in front of my house with AquaTorques than I could with the stupid rubber tracks plus the things DID NOT SWIM AT ALL. They worked OK on ice and light snow as long as your tires were at the "perfect pressure".

Plastic Argo tracks on my Attex might have worked OK if I could have made it more than a few feet before the old plastic broke near about half a dozen hinge pins. I gave them away.

My first set of Adair tracks were used non hardened chain 14 inch wide. They were pretty awesome. Made my old Argo Bigfoot an unstoppable mud machine. A little slippery on side hills, and not much floatation in snow but did swim slowly. Had to shorten the tracks a couple of times by removing chain links but never lost a track. Sold that machine because I hated the nose heavy Argo. I got to where I could no longer stand getting catapulted every time I crested an obstacle with a tracked machine.

Max IV with Adair 18.5" mud and snow tracks works for just about everything I encounter. Here is an unedited video from my YouTube account in snow.

I do not think any of the videos of my Max IV on my Youtube Channel are edited. Just raw footage. I run these tracks pretty loose lately so I have come close to driving out of them a couple times but have not been able to fully throw one. I have run the tire pressure as low as 3PSI but am at 6PSI right now because I am too lazy to take a link out of the track. I will when I have them off next week, at least l am saying I will. They swim OK on my machine but my Max IV is "special" with the larger Rawhides and lifted body.

I follow and contribute to this thread because Buzz does an excellent job of presenting what he is doing with tracks on his machine and he doesn't seem to get all bent out of shape when I question him plus what he is saying in this thread is interesting and informative. I have learned a lot about the elevated design and the steel grousers for Alaska. Just wish he would add more video when he can.

Keith.

Oh forgot to add any reference to chain noise, don't know...have you heard my exhaust?

[Buzz]

I too never get tired of watching videos

[rockrewls]

Nice vid Keith what depth of snow was that??

[kghills]

Nice vid Keith what depth of snow was that??

Here is a video taken during the tail end of what they called a blizzard with 16" of sort of wet snow.

The temperature really dropped so the next day was cold and the snow had kind of dried out a bit. That's the previous video. Here is more. from the end of the storm. They claimed 20" but if you look at me running around the yard it was mor in the 12-16 when it settled.

Here is a longer more boring video from around the property 4 days later or 2 Christmases ago after I had run around seeing what was what for snow depth everywhere. It is also unedited.

Now I will say that this year all the snow here is extremely light and fluffy. I don't have video but I found a deep section of snow where it drifted without really packing to about 20" deep or so. It stopped me cold. I don't have video so this is just hearsay I guess but super light fluff around 20" deep snow I can't seem to stay on top of. I was able to back out, that wasn't a problem even after I dug myself in I just did not have the power to go forward. The Max IV seems to suck the stupid light fluffy snow inside the engine compartment and the belt and aluminum CVTech clutch get all funky an do not work right. Even happens when plowing the really light snow. Wonder if any other Max IV people at higher altitudes see this problem.

Keith.

[Buzz]

thanks for the videos -

I have another one uploading as we speak. Re-used the slotted crossers spookum style 25.5" wide on mudd-ox w/o track tuners. Took off the dual tracks, spliced them together into a single longer track, switched to larger tires, and off we go!

[Buzz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHTmQuTRxO8

here we are

[rockrewls]

Thanks for the vid! They seemed to perform well, what are your thoughts on them buzz??

[Buzz]

Thanks for the vid! They seemed to perform well, what are your thoughts on them buzz??

well, these particular crossers have now been tested in dual-track form and as a single track. The single track as expected is able to put more traction to the ground and would have more floatation in the deep stuff. The 25" tire on a 9" rim also rides nicer than a 24" tire on a 12" rim (used for the dual tracks). So I enjoy the ride more on the single track. Next time I plan to run a much taller UHMW cleat for strength/wear and add an even taller cleat to the outer half of the crosser. The thought is to have the best of both worlds w/o clearance issues. Taking a note from Escargo....more bite is better if you really want your machine to take you there. These ones did pretty well climbing and mowing over trees at the same time, but that's one spot where you have to have some bite. We had some steep hills today, and as you know it always looks less steep on camera.

[kghills]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHTmQuTRxO8

here we are

That is a very good video Buzz. The Mudd-Ox really worked those tracks. I thought the background views in the 2 minute plus range were spectacular. Very impressive what you were able to climb.

Thought I would add another design for you to look at.

This is one of Adairs hybrid elevated grousers. The stainless steel plate goes on the forward side of the grouser. This track will be installed on the new Adair series Argo Frontiers. The first one will get a shakedown run in 3-4 weeks at the Mud Nationals and if everything looks good will ship up to Alaska is my understanding. Brandon always takes a lot of videos at the event and will be with the group again this year. Among the many special features of the Adair series Frontier are custom wheels that are reversible. When the tracks are installed the wheels are reversed over the center wheels to be the correct offset for use with the track tuners. You can remove the tracks and track tuners and just flip the center wheels if you want to run just tires. I thought that was pretty clever. I think there are like 15 machines in the first run all with Adair elevated tracks but not all will get the steel faced version of elevated or "classic" track but all do get the elevated disign for gear reduction and a low gear trans.

Keith.