Home made rubber tracks

[smog]

I received numerous PM about it so here is how I made mine.

I got 3 identical snowmobile tracks. I chose the polaris 1.5" as it was easy to find on flebay. So I got 3x 133.5"x15"x1.5" polaris RMK tracks Paid 100$ each + shipping.



You can go see your local snowmobile seller as he could have new take-off in stock.

Then I made my own design of tire guide. I made sure it would be easy to build at home. Then sent the drawing to the laser cut machine :



I made the drawing leaving a very small tab between the sections so it would stay together and bend it 10 at the same time on the hyd press brake. I also chose to make some square holes and use the regular carriage bolts (easy installation)

price for the 148 tire guides : 200$

price for the 300 bolts and nuts : 24$

I chose to overlap the track sections and bolt it together under the track guides; I saved 4 hinges.

overall it was a 8 hours job and I'm please with the result. my cost including the used track shipping was 675$ + 8 easy hours.

[North Country Tough]

Thats a nice job smog,great piece of home grown ingenuity,you Quebecers have a born instinct for snow transportation,I look forward to your field test and evaluation,Joesph Armand Bombardier would be proud.N.C.T

[guyvapeur]

That is a great design and a job well done. Can we get more pics of the tire guides on the track.

Guy

[sherman]

REALLY NICE job SMOG: could you show the inside of the tracks of how you put the guides on??? would like to copy if you don't mind? did you extend out the wheels or did you leave them at the regular axle distance?

[Rock Doctor]

Very nicely done smog, I like them.
I see you trimmed off the inside edge of those Supertracks. What difference did that make, good or bad?

RD

[smog]

REALLY NICE job SMOG: could you show the inside of the tracks of how you put the guides on??? would like to copy if you don't mind? did you extend out the wheels or did you leave them at the regular axle distance?

I had to put a set of argo 2.5" wheel spacers because the track will rub against the Max IV lower tub. An argo can run the same tracks without spacers

Very nicely done smog, I like them.
I see you trimmed off the inside edge of those Supertracks. What difference did that make, good or bad?

RD

I had to trim 1" off the supertracks to clear the Max4 lower tub with the argo 2.5" wheel spacers. Funny but the trimmed supertracks are now on an argo magnum 8x8 without wheel spacer because of the trimming.



(RI are using 5" wheel spacers)

[guyfox]

Very nice job....I do like the design...what are the diemsions (l x w and thickness) of the guides that you made???? How do your machine handle in mud and snow with theses tracks.....How would you rate them compared to the supertracks?

Guyfox

[smog]

I will post the complete guide dimensions later but it's 1.25" wide, 1/8" thickness 44W structural steel.



The tracks were completed 3 hours ago, so it pretty much destroyed my lawn, ran well in the swamp at the end of my backyard... but.... where's the snow ?

Last year I had the supertracks and Martwell had the very same kind of rubber tracks. The performance of his argo 6x6 on rubber versus mine on plastic made the Max4 look like it was on a skating rink with 6 meal trays under the tires. So I waited for Spring, sold the supertracks and start buying all the parts for my own rubber track system.

This video was taken last winter, the plastic tracked argo were not able to climb this old ski slope. You can see Martwell towing Alga. By the end of the video you can see the 18" plastic can't climb on it's own while the 15" rubber never miss a beat. Trust me the video doesn't do justice to the angle of the slope. My max was able to climb but thanks to the brute force of the Bandolero engine yelling all the way up the hill.

[mightymaxIV]

Smog, I am very impressed with your design and ingenuity, very nice job that's looks like it will be perfect for the conditions you run in.

[smog]

Smog, I am very impressed with your design and ingenuity.

I'm a cheap ass who won't pay top dollars for something that can be done at home.

Before buying anything, I always ask myself how much will I get if I have to sell it quickly; if it's less that what I paid then it's just not worth it.

[mightymaxIV]

Here's another video that shows the different abilities of different machines with different tracks, I asume that the 6x6 that made up this hill so easily was Marwells machine with the custom rubber tracks

[smog]

Yes, it was Martwell and his son; I filmed the tracks when he drove close to me.

The main feature of this track set is the 1.5" profile (a bit like why the adair are so good in mud and sand)


and here is mine on 18" plastic and unable to climb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw5MGzpZ36k#t=04m18s

[micmac]

Smog,

What size tires did you end up using? Did you use any bearing extensions?

[sparkola]

Do they swim?

[Akcory]

Do you have a contact number for the machine shop who made the guide?