Reproduction UC Track availability?

[RichardT10829]

Matt i think folk may want to see a set run on a machine before parting with monies, that way any problems can be iron'd out before parting with a few grand as it were. well i say people.....i actually mean me not sure how anyone else feels......my thoughts being that if there is an issue during casting which would go un noticed until the tracks are run ie they dont mesh over the sprockets correctly etc etc

[Marc van Aalderen]

Hello All,

Having watched this topic with interest I have some ideas to share with the Forum.
At W&P I was approached by a Dutchman, like me, who asked me if I would be interested in repro UC track. My answer was yes, offcourse. He then talked about some ideas he had for the links and pins to extend their life-time. One of his ideas was to make the pins a bit softer so they would wear more in comparision to the original pins versus the links. By replacing partly worn pins for fresh ones you would restore the original pitch to a certain degree was his reasoning. Also he had been told that with the hard road surfaces we have nowadays the part of the link in contact with the road wear at an alarming rate. This information was received from a Dutch Carrier owner who measured specific links in his track after driving. He therefore proposed to oversize the height of the links to extend their life span. What do you knowledgeble people think of these ideas?

Cheers,
Marc

[Snowy]

Marc's comment about soft track pins seems to hold true. I know someone who has a Bombardier snowmobile (coincidentally almost exactly like the military one in another thread here) who uses soft iron bolts as the pins through the piano hinges in the the track belts. Just the cheap hardware store type used in woodworking projects, the bolt shank being long enough to pass through the hinge. The rationale is the bolts wear more quickly than the harder-to-replace hinge part, and are commonly available. As far as I am aware the Bombardier is used regularly as as work vehicle carrying passengers every winter so there must be some merit to it.

Steve.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Snowy

Marc's comment about soft track pins seems to hold true. I know someone who has a Bombardier snowmobile (coincidentally almost exactly like the military one in another thread here) who uses soft iron bolts as the pins through the piano hinges in the the track belts. ...

Steve.

Bombardier is an active Canadian company, with many more parts and divisions than just snowmachines. If you contact them in Valcourt, Quebec (it is the one business in that town), and politely ask about drawings or steel specifications for some of their very old equipment, you never know what luck you might have. I see some of their crawler vehicles regularly used to lug small drill derricks and rock drills around, so that part of the entreprise is still functioning.