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

摘要

A high speed half-tracked truck using a new type of metal-coreless rubber track for traveling and load-carrying both on- and off-road was developed. In this application a conventional embedded-metal rubber track 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 developed to meet all of the desired performance, i.e. low driving resistance, low heat build-up due to flexing, low noise, low vibration, light weight, good flexibility, low wear, etc. The development of this track, along with the use of properly matched undercarriage and suspension, has renewed interest in the use of half-tracked trucks. This truck is based on a conventional four-wheel-drive dump truck of two tonnes payload with its rear wheels converted into rubber tracks. Both high mobility off-road and traveling speed faster than 60 km/h on-road are obtained without detracking of the rubber tracks from the undercarriage. Therefore, the truck is capable of transporting its load between on- and off-road without transshipment. An identical driver's license for the same category as the original truck has been granted by the Japanese 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.