Questionable track

[Danzig...]

264

[JoeRainville]

Paul,

Glad you are OK, and sorry to hear you lost your track at high speed. Add that to the list of reasons I don't like BlunderCats. Another close friend was reving his up on a stand and blew the heavily studded track apart. His track did not go out the back. It wadded up in the front of the tunnel, trashing the cooler, bulkhead, carbs and damaging the tunnel. I have seen the damage in person, and was pretty shocked. Yup, there is downside to all that torque, it's killer on older studded tracks. He had to replace the entire bulkhead of the sled to save it.

On a T-Cat, tracks are like crank seals. Need to replace them at least every 8 to 10 years or so. Not so much an issue with 48 hp sleds, but I replaced the orginal 15" cleated Goodyear track off my rider 340/s because it wasn't going to survive the winter.

Be careful with that thing.

-Rainville

[S_Kyle]

I was talking to a friends dad that did the same thing on a heavily moded 78 340 LF flat out on a lake. One hell of a ride. I have been luck the only track I have seen come apart was a 70 sno jet at 20 MPH and piled up. Made for a long day getting it out of the bush.

[deerefanatic]

Sooooooooo....... What exactly is a guy looking for? Heavy cracking? I hear guys talking about rubbing their tracks down with ATF..... Is it just to make the track nice looking or does it really help with longevity?

My 78 track wanders side-to-side when I run it...... Weird..... I've got it tensioned so that it runs in the center "most" of the time..... There's just one spot where it runs over to the left side and then comes right back...

[Danzig...]

deerfanatic-

I would say your wandering problem is in the track mold, it was molded off center or check your drive cogs on the drive shaft, possibly loose or they are not aligned correctly.

As for what to look for....

I would say dry rot cracks, torn out cleats, if studded torn out studs--especially on the outside of the track windows.

Granted I am making close to 170 hp with my sled and the Deeres run under 65hp, this is just a heads up.

[EL DIABLO]

Wow Paul! Eric told me this yesturday, glad to hear you are alright. Must have been a good old time getting it back!

Keith

[JDT]

264??

You must own stock in Woody's.

Whatever happend to 96 was enough?

[JoeRainville]

Todd,

The general rule of thumb is that you need one stud per hp. So 96 studds is plenty for most sleds. However, in the case of 150 to 200 hp you would be more likely to bend and pull out studs if you have less then 150 or to. But then you run into the problem where you have so many holes in the track that it majorly weakens it as the track ages.

When the Watersboy 800 Storm started blowing studs, he wisely did not add more, but replaced the track instead. You can't fool around with those large CC sleds. I do hope the newer sleds with 800 to 1,000 cc twins have stronger tracks than ones from 10 to 15 years ago.

-Joe

[400brian]

Paul, it's great to see you are still doing your own stunts!

[kenwaters]

So Paul,

Glad to hear your OK. The real lesson to learn from this is NOT to be scared of old tracks and getting caught out in the middle of nowhere, especially on the RWTC because there is a bunch of guys with you, but not to stud an old already questionable track. Especially if you have a high horsepower powerplant. I have had good success studding NOS tracks (nothing OEM of course). Age isn't really the issue, somewhat of a concern yes, the real issue is condition. My advice to you Paul is to buy a 1.25" paddle style track, the "traction" tracks don't hold up well. Put 1 stud per HP all in the middle belt, mounting them as doubles with power tower nuts and singles with regular nuts. The double backer studs with the power tower nuts are less likely to window the track or bend over. I would also avoid high speed runs, it is fun, but certainly ratchets up the danger meter (not to mention that your track baloons at high speeds and the studs become a machine tool capable of decimating a bulkhead). Also, pressure test your cooling system, a bulkhead cooler puncture doesn't really want to be the next thread on here.........

[kenwaters]

Paul,

What kind of backers did you have on that track? From the picture it looks possible that they are plastic backers. If so throw them out! Plastic backers don't work on high HP sleds. There is no easier way to tear a track than to push stud nuts back through the track at speed. Here's the scenario.....backer breaks, stud pushes back through track, gets milled around in the suspension/wheels/drive axle, and stud cuts the track by stretching it....everyone gets the picture.

[Danzig...]

Gained knowledge today..yes some where plastic. However these same studs came out of another T-cats track, a 99 1000 cc T-cat to be exact.

[427cobra]

Paul,

Get your sled put back together?? Snow is melting fast ....

[kenwaters]

Paul,

Plastic backers will work for a while, but they eventually break, whereas the steel or aluminum backers won't.

[VintageCatMan]

The person Rainville was talking about was me. I blew the track out. It happens, but I love the high horsepower. FYI Joe, alot of the new sleds are now running single ply tracks. Stud heads are getting bigger.