build a Tank: In theory

Reid

Reid

Hasnt Seen Dirt in Years
Joined
Dec 30, 2005
Location
Winston Salem
Hey guys, me and a friend are stock piling parts for some kind of home brew vehicle. not necesarily an on road machine, just something fun.

One thought is a tracked vehicle.

let's brain storm and see what kind of ideas are out there as far as powering the thing.

Keep in mind the premis of this project is to be able to make it out of scrap we get for free or near free.
 
i would start by looking in a boneyard for buldozers and such. just to see what you could make work
 
when i was first getting into this hobby my dad tried to get me to build a half tracked type vehicle based on a ranger (could get one next to nothing) could easily be done with two rear rock-wells on a 2 or 4 wheel drive chassis, 4 wheel drive would be more fun though. all you would have to do is link the two rear rocs and look into putting some type of track together for it.
 
How bout this....
aimg.photobucket.com_albums_v155_loanwolfe_tinkerer_Killdozer.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24n77GgRtrw
Pretty crazy!!! Too bad it ended like it did.
 
LMAO...not quite what i had in mind lbyota!

orange150, that sounds more like what i was thinking.

for turning i was thinking independant left and right braking. i wouldnt want to use rockwells cause i think one would want a selectable locker.

a sinlge drive axle will be fine, but you will want to lock it because you dont want an open diff to send power to one side or the other should you get one side in a non traction situation.

for forward movement = locked, for turning = unlocked

for steering maybe have two sticks connected to two master cylinders (left and right) to turn pull back on stick on the side of the desired turn. for full stop hard pull on both sticks.

i think a foot operated emergency brake would be very necesary so your hands are free to shift into park or scratch your nose.

after thinking this over all day, ive kinda got a minivan on full widths (if not rear rockwells) in my head. kinda like a snow cat.

most of that should be doable in a driveway type setting. any ideas on fabbing tracks?
 
I feel like Ive been under a rock. I had never even heard about the "Killdozer" incident. That was pretty awesome.
 
Premise
 
Hey, I let it slide the first time...
 
you will play hell using brakes to turn...
 
At the threshers reunion this year was an old Snow cat. It appeared to a have a Volkswagen engine for power. The treads appeared to be conveyor belting with angle iron riveted to it. To keep it in place the track was split down the center and the angle iron held the 2 halves together. It had some funky brackets on the inside to keep the treads centered on the boogies which looked like wheel barrow tires.

I also looked at a small home made crawler/ bulldozer. The guy had two levers and each one would brake one side of the diff causing the crawler to turn. Just think of a tractor with cutting brakes. No locker would be needed, if one side lost traction and spun you would simply brake that side causing the other to go. Simple stuff!
 
thanks for the info OBX...i'll have to get down to Denton for the next one.

orange....haha, nice find but they look awful shiney...somehow i think that gonna bust "free or near free" all to hell. lol....unless your trying to hint that you will buy me a pair for xmas!
 
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