Dan's son is featured in many riding videos. He is an excellent rider. In this particular footage an excellent rider was limited by the technology on the machine.
Sorry I eat my words, He is a very good rider. He know the machine and know how to push it. We do not have mud like that around here. We push our machines to get from point A to point B. Mostly as a tool, And if we can get around a problem we will. Its obvious our ridding is a whole lot dif then yours.
Now on that note. I sure like the idea of tracks with a little suspension. But I take it we all dream of the machine that has it all.
Oh I dunno...you can turn with current tracks on Argo's and so forth..so why not those if they go full length of machine?
I am not nessasarily speaking about RUBBER tracks, I'm talking about a track frame with boggies and some suspension there is NO reason an adair or channel track or escargo track could not be made to work with a boggie setup like the ones pictured..
Just as I said thinkin out loud
MUSCATEER 6x6
Kubota 14hp 2cyl diesel engine, Hagen/Rooter transmission Comet 780 Drive/770 Driven 22x12x8 Bearclaw tyres
Soon to add on a ... RHB31 Turbo..guess that would make it a
MUSCA TUR BOTA then eh?
94 F350 4x4 7.3 IDI ZF 5sp
90 Bronco..awaiting a rebuild like no other = Tons and turbo diesel
Okanagan Similkameen BC Canada
Al "Camo pants"
It could probably be made to work with Adair style hard plastic tracks because they are soooooo much easier to turn then the Tatou style. But the grouers that run through the boggie wheels would have to be tall to keep the track on the boogie wheels during skid steers. The Boogie wheels could be run below the tires on a subframe with two sets of Boggie wheels side by side running through the grousers as they currently exsist. In my opiom all you would gain is ground clearance.
The Adairs already offer so much traction they will drag a smooth bodied Argo through the mud when the tub is littally floating on mud: witness the video.
Seems like to much effort with to little gain.
there is/were lots of cushman's up here but many of the owners eventually ended up with argos. For an amphibious rig, over the wheel style tracks let you keep buoyancy. Fewer parts, many track options, and some drive-redundancy in the event you have some major problems with your tracks. Suspension would be nice, but these machines only have HP enough to go sloow through much of the terrain they were designed for anyway. At least if you're carrying or towing anything significant. A custom machine, well that's a different story altogether.
After a lifetime amphibious atvs I think that the best solution to the scenario is a hard plastic track, maybe with snow cleats for winter. They give good all around utility with minimal upkeep.
In terms of suspension, that's where additional cost and complexity kicks in. Probably prohibitive for recreational users anyway. An airbag seat or thickly padded seat with built in suspension is a fairly inexpensive work around. Look at the seat system from the Hoot for inspiration.
Maybe someday a bright person will come up with some inexpensive alternatives. For now we have what we have.