Tracked craftsman

well guys heres the pictures of what i started with, and what i hope for it to look like






the picture with tracks is what im going for. i know im going to need something in the middle to help support it so when i go over uneven ground it wont bend stuff

i may run smaller wheels... let me know whay you think!

That looks pretty cool!

if i were to use 6 front wheels of other mowers, all the same size, how could i get the stock front hubs to work on the drive axles in the rear? there isnt key slots in them so i cant do that, drilling and or welding onto the wheel motor axles will weaken them... any ideas?

Might be easier to stay with the 8 inch rims that will be keyed to the drive axles. Maybe find a way to take the tire off the rim and fill in the center of the rim with some sort of flat rubber so it will be even across the rim. Should be able to bolt the flat rubber to the rim also. The outcome will probably be almost the same size as a 6 inch rim with a tire on it.

well unfortunately its going to be a long time till this get done, i ran into some money troubles recently, but im still puttering on it. it shouldnt be to long till i can start ordering parts seems its only gonna run me about 1000 or so for both wheel motors and the flatstock to build the guides with. i will try to post pics of any progress, all i did in the last 3 days was remove the running boards and took some dents out of the dash panel.. anyways more to come!

No rush, I been working on my Scorpion for a little over 5 years. Something like this takes time. You never know what's  going to come up. Maybe between now and the time you have the money saved, you'll have a welder to make it easier.

not much progress. still waiting on $$$$ but here are some pictures of it mocked up with tracks. im loving this build! last 2 pictures show how the rear was stoved in, took about 1.5 hrs to remove that huge dent to my liking's, i also removed minor dents





in the hood and grill

Pretty good job on that dent. It was huge and squished tight!

This thing is going to look mean, LOL.

so i was thinking the other day, i wanted to take some 1/4 steel and make sprockets out of them 4 sets for each track, on in front and one in back, that way i wouldnt need track guides... but i was thinking, what about taking 4 car rims that have a width of the slots in the tracks? cut triangular shape notches in them to act as teeth? if i made 4 of these then i wouldnt need guides because the rims would act as sprockets and keep itself aligned.. any thoughts?

I could see the 4 sprocket idea working but never seen it done for that purpose. I heard of a German tank, I think it was, use the rear sprocket for the drive sprocket and the front sprocket for the brakes. I can see your idea working just as long as the tracks are kept tight. On mine during testing, when the front idlers were not set right and the track was running to one side, I have guides built into the sprockets and it took alot of tension to keep the track on the sprocket without the track guides jumping off the sprocket. Would be good to bevel the triangles on the tips to help kick the tracks back into position when wanting to go to the side. That way the sprockets don't cut into the tracks.

Making the sprockets to fit the track is the hard way of doing it but doable. You can't just grab any rim when doing it this way because the teeth won't mesh up with the track. It will end up like; your starting point on the rim, the teeth are made to fit in the track, as you go around the rim mounting the teeth, when you get to the last tooth to mount on the rim will not fit because the space is too small. The rim will always have the wrong diameter when done this way.

It takes geometry and math to design a sprocket for tracks. If you was making the sprocket first then the tracks to fit the sprockets then that's a different story. I looked through the build thread on my Scorpion, on page 3, in the middle is where I made the sprockets. To give you an idea on how you need to do it. When I designed my sprockets I never new the primary diameter of the sprocket, and still don't.

Do you have the snowmobile sprockets still? It would help alot in the design of the sprockets if you want bigger ones.

i dont have the sprockets no, but i measured the distance from each run of sprocket holes in both tracks and from center of hole to center of hole is 9 inches on both tracks... i think thats standard for most snowmobiles. im looking for 4 9 inch wide rims, maybe i can find 9 inch wide tractor rims but i doubt it. and i know what you mean by the teeth, i will more than likely get all the way to the end and not have room on the rim for the last tooth.... but would it really make a big deal to be missing 1 tooth?

ok so scratch that idea off the board. i just went to our tow yard and its gonna be hard to find 4 of the same 9 inch wide rims that dont weigh a ton... back to making track guides...

Camdg2010 wrote:

i dont have the sprockets no, but i measured the distance from each run of sprocket holes in both tracks and from center of hole to center of hole is 9 inches on both tracks... i think thats standard for most snowmobiles. im looking for 4 9 inch wide rims, maybe i can find 9 inch wide tractor rims but i doubt it. and i know what you mean by the teeth, i will more than likely get all the way to the end and not have room on the rim for the last tooth.... but would it really make a big deal to be missing 1 tooth?

Yes, it is a very big deal for the sprocket to fit in the tracks right. If one tooth is spaced wrong then it will pop the track off the sprocket completely and when it goes back into the teeth then it will damage the track from the shock, every time the sprocket makes 1 turn.


here is a link to a webpage that will give you an idea on the sprocket. click on the picture of the gears, then watch the video for the chain and sprockets.
http://woodgears.ca/gear/index.html

Looks like the tires fit inbetween the holes on the tracks. Leave the tires on the rims and have the track guides be bolted on the track on the outside and bent to fit through the holes going in maybe 2 to 3 inches. If the tracks are tight then the tires shouldn't slip on the tracks

well, after thinking today while working... what if i were to use the current transaxle instead of hydrostatic wheel motors? and make a brake lever for each side that would have a section of car tire carriage bolted to it as the braking surface? so when you pull the handel back it presses that "brake pad" adainst the drive tire to stop that one side? i took a ratchet strap and put it around my lawn mower rear wheel, and hooked it to the frame and sintched it tight, then put it in drive and it started to turn... but the front wheels wouldnt allow it to completely turn. so it would be a skid steer?? think it would work?

Camdg2010 wrote:

well, after thinking today while working... what if i were to use the current transaxle instead of hydrostatic wheel motors? and make a brake lever for each side that would have a section of car tire carriage bolted to it as the braking surface? so when you pull the handel back it presses that "brake pad" adainst the drive tire to stop that one side? i took a ratchet strap and put it around my lawn mower rear wheel, and hooked it to the frame and sintched it tight, then put it in drive and it started to turn... but the front wheels wouldnt allow it to completely turn. so it would be a skid steer?? think it would work?

Yes, You have the right thinking. What you are proposing is called Differential Steering. A lot of WW2 tanks use this type of steering, like the Stuart tank to name one. Another tank is a Brent gun carrier (British troop carrier), this tank used a rear axle out of a heavy truck because it had a monster differential in it and used the drum brakes on the axle for steering. This kind of steering uses alot of power though, going to need atleast a 10 hp motor. Anything with only 2  tracks is basically skid steer. It would be way cheaper to build too because you are using a regular drivetrain just in a different way. Your brake idea should work too, but be hard to steer when wet since anything wet on rubber is a lubricant.

ive already got the 18.5 hp briggs in the ole girl ready to mark the moutning holes.. ive got golf cart tires i want to use for the front that have golf cart rims with the 4 lug holes, and there is a old jetski trailer at work in the back yard that has the same lug dementions, so i already have the front axle figured out! just need to figure out how im going to do the differential steering. like i said above, i already have 3/8 1 1/2x 1 1/2 square tubimg i want to use as the mounts for each hand brake. but i had to remover the foot clutch so i was wondering, if i were to order a centriugal clutch off BMI carts with the 1 inch bore and v belt pulley on it, i should be good right? so what i want to do i put a hand throttle on it so you just let off the hand throttle on the right brake lever to shift from F to R... not sure if it will work or not
https://youtu.be/z3Jeyi_Eqs8
this is my original idea.. but with snowmobile tracks...

Camdg2010 wrote:

ive already got the 18.5 hp briggs in the ole girl ready to mark the moutning holes.. ive got golf cart tires i want to use for the front that have golf cart rims with the 4 lug holes, and there is a old jetski trailer at work in the back yard that has the same lug dementions, so i already have the front axle figured out! just need to figure out how im going to do the differential steering. like i said above, i already have 3/8 1 1/2x 1 1/2 square tubimg i want to use as the mounts for each hand brake. but i had to remover the foot clutch so i was wondering, if i were to order a centriugal clutch off BMI carts with the 1 inch bore and v belt pulley on it, i should be good right? so what i want to do i put a hand throttle on it so you just let off the hand throttle on the right brake lever to shift from F to R... not sure if it will work or not
https://youtu.be/z3Jeyi_Eqs8
this is my original idea.. but with snowmobile tracks...

For skid steering, you could get by with smaller brakes, you will just need some leverage.  

This fella uses two independent brake jackshafts that go down to each transaxle halfshaft via a chain reduction.  It might help keep snow and mud from slipping the brakes as well.


On my old renault tank, I had a 7:1 reduction after my brakes on a peerless 5 speed. I just used 6" go kart rotors and that baby would just pirouette at the slightest lever pull! I have also used tractor final drives on my latest tracked machine with good success.  

In my opinion, with skid steering at least, final drives/reductions really help in the end from a usability standpoint.   Should be a cool machine in the end!

I got a centrifugal clutch on mine, Hiliard heavy duty V-belt for the 1 inch bore, just so I wouldn't have to deal with a clutch pedal. I wanted all controls on the handle bars. Paid like $90 for it. Yes, to switch gears you just have to let go of the throttle, you got the right thinking there.

For my engine, is a 11 hp flattie.

For brakes, maybe go cart drum brakes might be strong enough if you can find them big enough. I'd say a 4 inch drum would not be strong enough on each wheel. Or maybe a drum from a little car at the junk yard. Or maybe the shoes pushing directly on the rims. Might have to get creative with the brakes.

well guys. im stumped.... i picked up a cub cadet zero turn, same thing ive put tracks on before. i tore it down, started mocking things up and the wheel motors wont fit inside the frame.... > , so.. my options are, just put the zero turn back together and put tracks on it and run it like that, or cut the zero turn rear half off, narrow it down a little to where the wheel motors still mount on and weld that under the tractor. if i were to do that, then i think it would all work... except my levers are going to be on the outside of my "mini dozer" instead of in the middle like i wanted them. i also thought of just taking the body panels and mounting them on the zero turn, turning the wheel motors around and putting the seat on where your feet go.. it would be wicked wide if i do that... i gues i could cut my tracks down and just use the centers of the tracks.. i dont know what to do here guys... what do you all think? i really want the mini dozer look. i mean ive spent hours on this tractor body getting dents out, sanding the rust off by hand, sraightening the body. i could probably make it work but putting the seat where your feet go and welding the tractor body to the zero turn.. i just dont know.. there is no point in reinventing the wheel if its already turning... let me know

I thought you said you didn't have a welder? If you do, then make your own body from the 2. Wider is better for tracks because it will turn easier. Your preference though.

i dont have my own, my boss has one i can use. i decided to go the 3rd route and mount the MW body on the cub cadet frame. Ive turned around the wheel motors ad mounted the engine back on after doing a deep cleaning of it. the previous owner of the zero turn didnt clean this much so there is a bunch of dirt and grim all over it.... or there was. i hope to upload some progress pics when i have a min, ive been working non stop for the last 3-4 days and getting home around 8 pm so i have no time to work on it. i think it will be pretty easy to convert and should look pretty cool. fingers crossed!

here it is guys. let me know what you think, im going to narrow the tracks down and just keep the center sections. almost time to test drive. ive turned around the wheel motots so forward is forward and reverse is reverse. i need to mount the levers, the linkages, put a belt on, and make the track guides. oh and paint it
then its plow blade time

Coming out pretty good.