Does anyone have a simple to make design or ideas for crawler(bulldozer)
tracks. I would like to build a mini dozer for the "little un" but buying
them is out of the question as its to be a tight budget.
Take a cleated tractor tire and cut a ring section out of the middle as wide
as you like. Stretch it over the drive wheels. You could use small tires,
and inflate them to tension the tracks. Or, for metal tracks, take large
roller chain and weld angle iron across the link plates, spaced
appropriately. There is a roller chain made with fastener plates already on
it, but you did mention budget. The rubber track might be safer for a kid,
anyway.
RJ
Get a bunch of really big door hinges (or make them) and bolt them together
end to end for the length that you need and then bolt the ends together. Use
the bolt ends as drive cogs. Take a set of garden tractor rims and weld lengths
of re-bar across them (like widely spaced barrel slats) to mesh with the track's
drive cogs.
How about 3 or 4 parallel v-belts spaced an inch or so apart on each side.
since the youngun is probably gonna want to use this around the house
there'd be less damage to the yard and such.
Set it up as a half track with steerable wheels up front and you'd probably
have a more practical vehicle/toy. That would save having to design and
build a functional braking/steering system.
Harold Burton
(Collum Puniceus)
That's what I was thinking too. Depending on where you are in the
country, there are lots of snowmobile scrap/rebuilding places where one
can probably get old tracks dirt cheap. One may even be able to get
really old ones from the days where snowmobiles often had 2 narrower
tracks about the width one would need for a tractor.
In Seattle, Bent Bike has several old snowmobiles sitting around. I
seem to remember some place in Minnesota having a web site and listing a
lot of trashed machines and parts also.
Koz
j.b. miller wrote:
The Lindeman tractor company in Yakima, Wa used to do
a good business making tread kits for Deere tractors.
I don't think that the company is still in busness, but
the massive press used to make the treads is preserved.
Every summer at the Pioneer Power show in Union Gap, Wa
(just outside of Yakima) a forge is set up and red-hot
plates are run through the press to make replacement
treads for club members.
I don't suppose it helps you much, but if you live in
the Pacific Northwest, you might want to check it out.
: Get a bunch of really big door hinges (or make them) and bolt them together
: end to end for the length that you need and then bolt the ends together. Use
: the bolt ends as drive cogs. Take a set of garden tractor rims and weld lengths
: of re-bar across them (like widely spaced barrel slats) to mesh with the
track's
: drive cogs.
--Hey, this is a really neat idea; go to the local steel yard
and you can buy "piano hinge" in any size and length. Cut a long one up
and it's weldable stock, too.
--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : "The Faceless Conglomerate
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : you can trust...
"Mark Higham" wrote in
message news:bu8g4n$n4l$ snipped-for-privacy@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk...
crawler(bulldozer)
Back on 1/16/04 Mark Higham asked how to make simple crawler tracks
for a bulldozer. I remembered a site that had a few different ways of
acomplishing that but could not remember were it was since I didn't
save it. I came across it again when I started looking for a way to
make such tracks for a "snow cat" I want to scratch build.
I'd like to build something that would be a one person vehicle. It
would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 to 6 feet long with a 2
feet wide chassi and 2 feet wide tracks. It's to be powered by a 4
cylinder engine the drives a hydraulic pump that then drives
individual hydraulic motors for each track. It will also have a cab
with heat and a snow blower attached to the front. In case you haven't
got a picture of what this looks like, think of the snow cats used on
the ski resorts minus the blower. Something along that line but
smaller. Why? Ever try to start a diesel tractor when it's -10 and
then ride it around without a cab. It's a bit cold. You guys that live
in western upstate New York can attest to that in the last several
weeks. Bascially what I'm looking to do is build an enclosed snow
blower with tracks. I'm open to suggestions as it won't be till this
summer that I'll start on this project and I don't need people saying
it be faster to buy something like this. After all we do metal working
don't we? It's always fun to design something and then build it. And
now for the site that has great info for tracks.
formatting link
These guys build scale tanks to the 1/5, 1/6 and 1/8 and other scales.
Great info if you want to build tracked vehicles of any kind.
Regards,
Bernd
Right but if one were to do that, then the next step would
be to make a bigger one, and then you would just *have*
to start driving it around the neighborhood. Just for fun
and all.
Next thing ya know, the homeland security folks would
get their panties in a major knot....
Jim
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