Anyone try a 3" track with half the lugs?

[deaner]

Was bs'ing with turbo al the other day. Started talking about the new 3" tracks and how they work. Has anyone tried removing every second lug so it is more like a sand tire? I know, it would be an expensive experiment........but you think it would work? Way less rotating mass and probably less trenching. I dont know. Just curious. Im not sure how much Camo would experiment with stuff like this.

You wouldnt think sand tires would work with how few paddles they have, but do they ever.

 

[polarisdragon800]

I've heard if people doing that with stock tracks. Sipposibly it helps, so why not with a 3 incher? It's defiantly a thought.


Sent from my mobile telephone

 

[oler1234]

would create more track speeds which would move more volume of snow... but more paddles is more volume... why not drill holes in the paddles if your worried about weight. Some dude on snowest had done this mod and says it works like a champ.

My theory, what works better doing your walks...1 shovel or 2???

just like what works better... a shovel with holes in it or a shovel with no holes.

 

[Xtremist]

my 3 inch works real good just the way it is, never thought about "lightening" it up...

 

[deaner]

my 3 inch works real good just the way it is, never thought about "lightening" it up...

Not so much thinking about the wieght. That would just be an added bonus. Thinking of it more from the perspective of a sand tire. The current configuration is like a sand tire with paddles every couple inches. Where real sand tires have paddles every 6 or 8 inches.

Plus you ride an apex.......so of course youre not worried about wieght.

 

[maxwell]

camo has testing alot higher track pitches than you would imagine. after 20+ years of testing they have come to the conclusion thus far that the 3 inch lug spacing is ultimate for mountain riding and deep snow. they started at less than 2" lug spacing and i wouldnt doubt it if they have tested up to 5" for the very reasons your talking about.

i also think by cutting lugs off you are damaging the integrity of the track, layers could start seperating.

 

[Modman]

Not so much thinking about the wieght. That would just be an added bonus. Thinking of it more from the perspective of a sand tire. The current configuration is like a sand tire with paddles every couple inches. Where real sand tires have paddles every 6 or 8 inches.

Plus you ride an apex.......so of course youre not worried about wieght.

Your analogy to sand tires works on paper but application in real life I think is different, I have a couple in the garage and have used them on the hillclimb bike, they do not flex at all. They are a very stiff shovel. The Chen Sheng ones are much softer than others, but the Skat Track ones we have used are a kevlar re-inforced paddle that are designed not to flex. In sand on a dirt bike you are literally trying to "dig" through the sand, so you want a stiff paddle that will not flex. Standard sand tires only have a few paddles because they are designed for everything from a 125cc to a 450cc, so there is a bit of a compromise when they make them. Smaller bikes will not pull a 10 paddle through the sand, they just don't have the power. Most guys don't know but you can order your bike tires with up to 24 paddles on them and you can get BIG paddles, so they can be "paddled up" a lot more if you have more power. See 2nd pagle of this PDF Edit: click link to "Tire Products Available" under Tire Section and it will give you the PDF.

Sled tracks are trying to climb/float up onto the snow as well as paddle through it, so they have to flex to bend and float on the snow, as well as maintain some rigidity on the paddle. The rigidty keeps the paddle standing, as well as supports the pressure on it and the other paddles around it. With half the paddles, you would see double the pressure on the remainig paddles to support the same weight.

Guys started cutting off paddles years ago on the 2.52 pitch tracks with the same theory, but you don't move the same volume of snow. the 3" pitch track was born when the lugs got taller than 2 inches. You could not have a 3" 2.52 pitch track as the paddles would be laying over on themselves, so they had to increase the pitch length.

Sled tracks actually bend backwards duriing rotation, so the lugs are flexing. Some tracks are clearly evident of this issue, the Yammy Maverick was too soft and flexed too much, the Ski Doo Camo Lite was too hard and did not flex enough. Both suffered in powder because they could not get the right paddle combination of floatation and and climbing. The Camo Lite was a trencher (stiff shovel) and the Yammy track just spun (flexible shovel). I think Camo has been the most successful with the Challenger because it has the best of both worlds. The top portion of the paddle is flexible for float, but maintains a certain stiffness for digging and there is enough paddles to support each other.

As Maxwell said they have tried lots of combos and found the 3" the best. I've speculated in the past that what Camo found with the 2.52 pitch was that the 2" tall lugs and taller, were flexing enough that they almost filled in half the space to the next lug, resulting in a reduced ability of the next lug to sink all the way to its base in the snow. The 3 pitch track added spacing between the lugs, so when the lugs did bend, there was still enough space for the track to sink in and the next lug to better penetrate the snow. This is why the 2.5" tracks in a 3 pitch format work so well. I could see the 3" tall tracks going to a 4" pitch maybe? down the road maybe if this is feasible, but I think the issues of separation from the 3" lugs on the tall tracks might still be an issue. You also need the support of the other lugs to keep the track standing upright, so with too few lugs the added pressure on the remaining lugs might just cause them to bend over so a 4" pitch might not be enough. You can remove more paddles on a 3"x 3.0 pitch but you would probably spin the track too easily, just not enough "shovel" volume as oler indicated and they would probably just lay over without the support of the other lugs. I don't have the money to experiment with $1000 tracks though, anbd put these theories to the test.

 

[oler1234]

side note.... 2.52 was dropped after the 2" lug height due to weight primarly. When i say this it is because there was so many lugs on the track. the older 2.52 tracks came in around 60+lbs and that was only for a 2"height, where as my 3" comes in at 65lbs ish. Personnally 2.52 pitch is superior to the 3" as there are more rods in it allowing it to flex better around the drivers. A camo engineer will confirm it, hell i even seen it in a articale from a camoplast engineer. Sorta sucks really cause i was a big Predator track fan.... only if they made a 162 version