Quick Connect Wheels
Introduction
LifeTrac wheel couplers suffered catastrophic failure when used with tracks.
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The key on the motor shaft sheared. We put on thicker couplers, and LifeTrac currently works - but we will not take it through destructive testing prior to testing splined motors.
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It is suspected that the 4-wheel drive, when coupled by wheel tracks, makes the motors fight each other.
The new splined motors are these from Surpluscenter:
Removing Tracks, Adding Quick Connect Wheels
To remedy the failing coupler, we will remove the tracks as the first step, and run the motors in series to simplify control valve requirements. That means that a 3000 PSI pump can deliver a max of 1500 PSI to each motor. This puts a low limit on the pressure, while delivering 6525 in lb for each motor - which makes this still higher torque than the 5000 cu in former 31.88 cu in motors used on LifeTrac I-III.
The rough concept of a quick connect wheel is this:
Implementation
To design the quick connect wheel, complete LifeTrac Frame geometry must be considered.
See frame views:
Peer Review
This page should be peer reviewed by hydraulics specialists, such as at hydrauilics forums.