I have had the idea of taking old car tires, cutting them the width and length of each section of track and bolting them on using carriage bolts and the holes where the ice cleats install to give the tracks some rubber grip so they can be better used on rocks or pavement. much like how the military tanks have solid rubber pads bolted onto their tracks to aid in traction on paved surfaces. has anyone ever tried this? I have access to plenty of junk tires and cutting them with a circular saw and drilling holes for the bolts in them is pretty easy, although time consuming, and there isn't going to be any clearance issues between the tracks and the body. My only real concerns are the weight of the added rubber? will it have any benefit on rocks in the mountain vs. leaving the tracks off and just using the wheels?
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Supertracks, modifications for mud and rock use in the mountains of Tennessee
Hey Guys I would really like to know if anyone has ever made or tried some kind of rubber, wood, or plastic cleat on the Super tracks to make them effective in any terrain other than snow. My Argo dose wonderful in the mountains with just the wheels but when I purchased it, it came with a set of Super tracks that I would love to put to use. we maybe will get a day or two in the winter of snow normally no more than 3" deep but we do get a lot of ice and I have ice cleats to use if I need to. Most of my ridding is done in the mountains where there is a lot of rocks, rock ledges, creek beds, deep mud, loose gravel, and steep inclines. I have put many ATVs, Side-by-Sides, rock crawlers, and mud trucks to shame with my little ARGO Response Going places where they all struggle. It almost like a real life Tortuous and the Hair, they pass me on the trail and tease me but when they are stuck at an obstacle I just role through like nothing is there and wave as I pass them. lol
I want to find a way to preserve the plastic of the tracks from ware and damage and enhance the traction on a smooth surface and for climbing over obstacles. Any Suggestions?
I have thought of taking soft pine boards 3/4 x 3 x 18 and attaching them to the tracks with carriage bolts they will ware quickly but its just cheep pine, im not sure how well they will grip rocks.
Another idea was taking old tires and cutting them into strips and using some sour of adhesive and carriage bolts to attach them, it would be heavy but it would definitely grip well on rocks.
I saw an old post about a guy who owned what I believe was a KIDD? who had plastic cleats made much like how I want to do with the wood ones and attached them to a set of steel tracks. he did well in mud and sand and on pavement but if anyone knows how would that handle in the woods with logs and rocks and hard terrain to go through?
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I like the kidd idea with the addition of the hdpe cleats. the cleats would take most of the abuse and presevre the bulk of the track section. I also don't think it would add alot of weight either. I would think that the wood route won't hold up very long. I ended up going with the Adair tracks and they seem to hold up well under the conditions I generally ride in which is pact trails with lots of embedded rock. I keep my supertracks stricly for the snow. The Adair tracks I have also don't have any extension to them which is a plus as I would think the supertracks being so wide might cause for a considerable amount of twist and wear of the tracks.
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There is that composite board that is sold for decking it is made out of recycled plastic I wonder how it would hold up. I would absolutely love to have a set of Adair tracks but they are completely out of my budget. unless any one out there wants to trade for a set of decent supertracks with ice cleats that have never been used.
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you may be good with polycarbonate white delrin, tensil strength is excellent and impact strength good also. comes in different sizes of rectangle bars ( 2'' wide, 1/2'' thick for example ) and in 1 foot lengths. i used it on my homemade tracks. worked great. not sure on just ice though. or white nylon. same stuff, less cost. check out mcmaster carr website. hope this helps. johnboy va.
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That omposite decking won't hold up long. I would bet that it would fail at the fastener point. Builging decks and using self tapping screws, I have seen it crack under too much force from the screw fasteners. I have seen the video of the KIDD with the strips applied to the tracks and it seemed like a viable option. A piece per segment would raise the tracks of the trail and the strip takes the bulk of the beating. It would also give enough of a slicker surface to ease the turning of the machine that I would imagine the supertracksmay not provide which will prove easier on the bearings and tracks themselves.
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Keep in mind that our (yours and mine) versions of mountains differ:
If I know I will be on anything mountain, including snow just deep enough that I make a belly pan impression and excluding ice, I much prefer tires. Mine are BKT AT108 and they rock the rocks in the Rockies. For deep snow and ice I prefer the supertracks with ice cleats.
That said, when out playing in the snow you will sometimes come across bare spots and I have found that the ice cleats do okay in the rocky areas. I would be afraid of making a track that is too "sticky" because it would work to defeat the skid steering.
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