Plastic Supertracks Swimming

[Canadian_Zuk]

Great video, your terrain looks very similar to what we ride in and the 24" Argo tires appear to be working very well on your machine. I had a set of those on my Max IV last year and I was very impressed with both the water speed and ride quality.

[JohnF]

..., but that only comes into effect in soft stuff. It's on the hard pack where I have a hard time, in which case both types of tracks would be at the ratio given by the tire itself plus the grouser thickness, if that makes any sense. ...

Hey Coast2Coast, That's a common misconception but not the case. The reduction is always there. You can see it if you watch the distance between the grousers; constant in the flat but expanded at the corners. No matter what, the grousers have to travel at the same speed as the belt.

[Buzz]

you are correct JohnF,
the grouser "guides" travel at the same speed as the belt (slower) because they are fixed to it. The grouser "cleats" (centerlines) simply splay out to remain compatible with corner tire treads. So a faster tread speed = slower track speed. The caveat comes in when the grousers come fully around the corner axles and are again "underneath" or "above" the machine. For the length of the machine's wheelbase, the track continues to travel slower causing a reduced ground speed, and both the grouser guide (bolted to elevated belt) and grouser centerline (or cleat so to speak) have the same distance between neighboring grousers. Essentially, the grouser centerlines are no longer splayed out, and the center tires are riding on top of slower moving grouser centerlines, and if the center axles remain connected to the wheels with rigid wheel spacers the center tires simply have to "overdrive" the speed of the grousers that they are riding on top of. It happens easily but does waste some power.
To get the full benefit of the gear-reduction, simply substitute track tuners (free wheeling wheel spacers) on center axles. Normal sizing/indexing of tires requires all center tires to slip to some extent before the corner axles receive power and ultimately drive the track. So disconnecting center axles removes any "power suck" that is present 24/7 even during unchallenging driving conditions.

[Rock Doctor]

do you have a picture showing your tub clearance above your tire? The track belting would be driven slower than the speed of the 24" tires anyway, basically at the speed equal to a 19" tire. So long as you use track tuners, you will get the full benefit of a lower torque requirement to drive the track. So if you had the tub clearance above the tire, your axles would require the torque to drive a 19" tire to make the track work, and you would get the ground clearance and bouyancy of the 24" tire. Just depends on your tub clearance. It's one of my favorite conquest set ups, although not every tub can do it. You can even put 22" tires on the corner to simulate a banana frame like the newer machines and give a bit more clearance between axle #1 and #2, frequently a tight spot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8fqoPTu9Ek

this simply mod worked better than some of the other videos, unfortunately the view is from the driver's perspective, and I'm a crappy cameraman

Buzz.
Here is a Conquest pic with 24" Frontiers mounted

[IMG][/IMG]

[SHOTGUN]

The Chanel tracks or Escargo tracks will get you in and out of the water better than your tires ever would, I would do a rough guess like twice as good. Only difference I could see is if you need to run the 22's you will have a little less ground clearance and a little less floatation in the water. I would still give the tracks an advantage over tires for getting in and out of the water plus all the other benfits on land.