DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH-SPEED, HALF-TRACKED TRUCK WITH METAL-CORELESS RUBBER TRACK

A high speed half-tracked truck using a new type of metal-coreless rub ber track for traveling and load-carrying both on- and off-road was de veloped. In this application a conventional embedded-metal rubber trac k was examined in a first step, and was found to be unsuitable because of its chain-type structure. Then a new type of positive drive metal- coreless rubber track with endless spiral cable reinforcement was deve loped to meet all of the desired performance, i.e. low driving resista nce, low heat build-up due to flexing, low noise, low vibration, light weight, good flexibility, low wear, etc. The development of this trac k, along with the use of properly matched undercarriage and suspension , has renewed interest in the use of half-tracked trucks. This truck i s based on a conventional four-wheel-drive dump truck of two tonnes pa yload with its rear wheels converted into rubber tracks. Both high mob ility off-road and traveling speed faster than 60 km/h on-road are obt ained without detracking of the rubber tracks from the undercarriage. Therefore, the truck is capable of transporting its load between on- a nd off-road without transshipment. An identical driver's license for t he same category as the original truck has been granted by the Japanes e Ministry of Transportation since 1992. In this paper, the structure of the truck, the metal-coreless rubber track developed especially for high-speed traveling, the test results, and some market applications are reported. Copyright (C) 1996 ISTVS.