VW half track

[roethle]

Don't know if this has been posted before did a search and didn't find anything. I was out in Patagonia off-roading and I saw a guy with matt tracks on his F-150 and i thought a vw half track would be the coolest thing ever. Did a search found this. http://freerevs.com/car/292074

[jj14u2c2]

t may be cool, but good luck with your clutch. Those Matrax were invented in northern Minnesota where I come from. They were first conceived by an 11 year old farm boy and fully developed by his dad.

The make them for every kind of vehicle, from small ATV's to huge trucks. Last winter the wife and I went on a snow coach tour through Yellowstone Park. They are monsters. The driver said he could drive through four feet of snow no problem

You will get about 2-4 miles per gallon, and fry your clutch every few hundred miles. It may be good for a show car concept though.

[j5josher]

[andk5591]

I have a book about KDF cars by Terry Shuller (SP?) that shows a variety of military VWs and there was at least one half track in it.
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[kyle_pc_75]

Cool idea, but I doubt any of the VW drivetrain bits would hold up to it. There's a Suburban (granted, MUCH heavier vehicle) that has a Corvette engine, solid axles and those tracks in my buddy's neighborhood and he has to replace axles or associated bits every year. It usually lasts about three or four months of daily use before something breaks.

Kyle

[runslikeapenguin]

if you want the track effect you should just make yourself or buy a good set of chains.
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[BajaCowboy]

A buddy and I are actually in process of making a homebuilt set. It'll be lighter then the Mattracks as the Baja's aren't nearly as heavy as full sized vehicles. All we'll use them for is running the deep snowed roads.
We're still roughing out the design, but once we get past a small hurdle it'll start coming together as quick as we can make the time to work on it.
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Chuck
Ashland, Oregon

[Mouthy]

Ran into a guy up the mountain this winter with a samurai and had 4 sets of tracks on it. He said its more for utility and looks. Basically the way he described it was that its not very fun, and its expensive.











Still looks cool though!

[jj14u2c2]

The images of the monsters from Yellowstone Park, didn't go in yesterday, this should do it.

I remember that during WWII the Germans had a car that was used by Rommel that had a half track set-up. It was a little larger version of a Thing and did look pretty cool. They ran it in the desert campaign in North Africa.

[jj14u2c2]

Another concept I saw was to use lighter weight snowmobile tracks. This guy put Polaris snowmobile tracks on a Hot Rod and it looks pretty cool. I think the VW drive-train would hold up much better with this setup.

[XxonValdez]

[BajaCowboy]

The track we'll be using are 121" snowmobile tracks.
I have a collection of images of different kinds of track systems and I always like finding other but for some reason I can't view the images you posted. Is it something just on my end, or did something happen to them?
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Chuck
Ashland, Oregon

[fusername]

i see no images either...

also, tracks are a big HP suck, so you are gonna need a big powerplant, but i would say give it a shot! esp if you can desing and build your own, as most are desinged with big trucks in mind, lots of fat to shave off.
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[vintagemx0]

I was in Greenbush Minnesota working with a brother of the guy who makes the Mattracks. We flew over in his helicopter (these guys have awesome toys) to check out the Mattrack factory. It was pretty cool. We went for a joy ride in an H2 Hummer outfitted with them to a little off-road "proving grounds" they used near by. On the road, the speed was limited to under 40 mph (which seemed too fast) and there was a tremendous hum that tickled your ears and was a little un-nerving. Off-road was awesome! That thing could climb unbelievably steep hills - and stop on them! He said he sells a lot to Saudi Arabia and other middle eastern countries because they are ideally suited for sand. He also said that search & rescue personnel use them a lot in rough, snowy, and muddy terrain. Great people- it was fun vistiting with them.

The photos I have seen of the WW2 kubels with similar tracks look very light in construction. It also appears from the photos that they were intended for use in snow. These things are designed so that all you need to do is unbolt the standard wheels and bolt these on, so it is not a crazy chore to outfit a car for a short-term need. A 4WD vehicle with ample power and one of these on each wheel is an almost unstopable crawler. On a low-power 2WD..... ???? Probably more of a cool looking curiosity than a worthwhile expenditure.

Ken
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[HamburgerBrad]

[BajaCowboy]

Power isn't a consideration as these aren't built for drag racing. The idea is to propel yourself over deep snow, sand mud, so on and so on. Early Snowcats used VW 36hp enigines, as do some airplanes. Those of us with larger tires, 31" mud terrains, notice a lack of get up and go certainly. But the "drive wheel" on these tracks would only be approx 16" in diameter, therefor giving a gear reduction. Yes your top speed would be reduced, but again these aren't for drag racing. If that's what you want, get a snowmobile.
As fore the drive components holding up to the abuse, that also shouldn't be a problem unless you're in the nasty habit of dropping the clutch, but then in that case you're probably used to replacing parts already. The entire of the VW drive-train is very stout. The only instances I've seen where bolts on the CV's were sheared off is from a local friend who converted a bug into an all electric car using a high torque motor with no potentiometer for acceleration control. Cars with high HP engines should also have upgraded trannies and components to handle the extra forces coming at it, if not then things are going to fail eventually anyways.
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Chuck
Ashland, Oregon

[mgirdner]

Here's a Thing:

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[Glenn]

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[vintagemx0]

I came across these;

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[oprn]

I found this old thread and resurrected it. I have been thinking of a half track conversion for my sand rail for quite a while now for winter use. Something that would unbolt and return to normal tires come summer. Skis on the front, tracks on the back.

There are conversion kits for ATVs out there that could possibly be modified to fit the wide five VW bolt pattern I suppose. I don't really want add a whole bunch of extra clearance and make the thing top heavy if I don't have to.

Has anyone done this to their rail?