My Senior design project - a "Swamp Thing" tracked vehicle clone

   / My Senior design project - a "Swamp Thing" tracked vehicle clone #571  
I am seriously considering making some wooden tires over the winter. There's a big pile of good seasoned maple planks up at my mom's house that I could use for making them. A design consideration is I could form the sidewall contours to whatever I want. Got snow in MI Arly?
Some years back I owned a snow machine that was made for the Alps.
It was all Volkswagen based, cool machine.
The first set of wheels were solid versions of the undercarriage and quite heavy.
Throwing a wheel was never an issue.
 
   / My Senior design project - a "Swamp Thing" tracked vehicle clone
  • Thread Starter
#572  
The first set of wheels were solid versions...
Piloon - do you recall what they were made of? I may have mentioned previously that I had planned to make mine by layering glued boards in a similar manner that they make plywood.
 
   / My Senior design project - a "Swamp Thing" tracked vehicle clone #573  
Piloon - do you recall what they were made of? I may have mentioned previously that I had planned to make mine by layering glued boards in a similar manner that they make plywood.
The shells were metal and heavy, possibly filled for weight.
They were shod with regular tires.
Seem to recall it was only the bottom of the front pair that was heavy.
That dozer was a Westmizer (or close), gee I had that like 40/50 years back.
 
   / My Senior design project - a "Swamp Thing" tracked vehicle clone #574  
Here is solid rubber tires on amazon. I of course can't recall the size you need, plus you'll have to do some changes to use pre-made ones of some sort.

2-Pack) AR-PRO 10-Inch Solid Rubber Tires and Wheels - Replacement 4.10/3.50-4” Tires and Wheels with 5/8” Axle Bore Hole, and Double Sealed Bearings - Perfect for Gorilla Carts​



Brand: AR-PRO


List Price for two:
$40.99


amazon.com/AR-PRO-2-Pack-10-Inch-Rubber-Wheels/dp/B08YJJPVMD/ref=sr_1_6?gclid=Cj0KCQiA37KbBhDgARIsAIzce15icVZyZ5m_XBzMAppbEuUr_7aUxbjcU4qntDQBlvHrdZUR5odq1UYaAj7EEALw_wcB&hvadid=174258152586&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9017742&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=7319583368946478915&hvtargid=kwd-4947130965&hydadcr=24658_9648989&keywords=hard+rubber+tires&qid=1668094565&sr=8-6
 
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   / My Senior design project - a "Swamp Thing" tracked vehicle clone
  • Thread Starter
#575  
Sorry Arly, not even close. The OD of those are 10". The trailer tires I use have an OD of 16". I looked around to see if some farm implement used the size I need but no luck.
 
   / My Senior design project - a "Swamp Thing" tracked vehicle clone #577  
Hello all, I am a retired mechanical engineer having stopped looking for a regular job for about three years now. I have been looking to keep my gray matter busy other than working on the regular upkeep jobs around the house. I like to tinker, design and build things; I have a fairly complete machine and fabrication shop at home and am well versed in the use of various computer programs including 2D and 3D CAD. Some time ago, I came across the Youtube video of a tracked vehicle called "Swamp Thing" which was built by an individual named Tom Zervas in Saginaw, MN sometime around 2011. Here's a photo of it and you can see his video here:

View attachment 557589

Swamp Thing by Zervas - STZ Custom Track Vehicle - YouTube

This design interested me and I tried to find out more about it. Unfortunately, Tom Zervas died last year (2017) and the youtube video is all I could find on this machine. Being an engineer, I decided to design and build one on my own. I researched a bunch of threads on this site and more than a few others, and watched a bunch of videos as well. I planned to use a Geo metro engine or similar, but recently came across a cheap Toyota Echo due to it being crashed and totaled. I plan to use that engine and auto transmission. I will use differential brake steering and build my own tracks from conveyor belting and steel channel sections. I spent a few months modeling up various configurations and the following is my current design. Any comments or suggestions are certainly appreciated. I plan to regularly post new photos of the parts I make and keep this thread running while I progress it thru the build and hopefully, testing process. Let's have some fun and a few beers doing it!

View attachment 557592
 
   / My Senior design project - a "Swamp Thing" tracked vehicle clone
  • Thread Starter
#578  
I have noticed that the steering brakes get very warm/hot when I zoom around the yard. This was not totally unexpected as it takes a lot of braking energy to make turns. The brake rotors are vented which helps the cooling but this is only effective when the rotors are turning of course. In an attempt to improve the cooling effect, I recently added a couple of marine bilge vent blowers. The 3" blowers were positioned to suck air thru the caliper vent openings. They are rated at 130 cfm which feels ample for the job. We'll see how they work out.
20230126_131749[1].jpg
 
   / My Senior design project - a "Swamp Thing" tracked vehicle clone #579  
I think the ripsaws have some pretty beefy fans on their brakes for the same reason.
 
   / My Senior design project - a "Swamp Thing" tracked vehicle clone
  • Thread Starter
#580  
I've wondered what the Ripsaw's drive system is comprised of.
 
 
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