Mini Abrams...

[eckherl]

Right there are indeed steel tracks in use which have rubber pads attached to them.

BTW, if the ground is very bad or snowy we replace some of the rubber pads with steel claws (Does somebody has a better name?).
How is this increased contact to bad ground achieved when using rubber tracks?
Is there a tech which allows similar attachements to rubber tracks?

I believe they are called track cleats. On U.S tanks we would reverse the center guide on every fifth track block for traction purposes if driving cross country or on dirt roads.

 

[Wooki]

Could it be that there is two different types of tracks, rubber for training purposes and steel and rubber for combat theater of operations.

Honestly? Not when I was looking at it. You basically have a souci track with parallel metal ropes (cables) running down the length of a segment of track. Much the same way as steel is used in steel belt radial tires.

There are benefits to using metallic wire rope as opposed to a composite material and its mainly to do with stretch, not strength.

But the problem I was alluding to was (if somethng goes wrong) having to replace a whole segment or section of track rather then just one shoe or "link" as you can do now.

Now the old "White" US Army half tracks had interesting rubber tracks. You can see the center guide was made up of a continuous series of corrugated steel plates.

 

[eckherl]

Honestly? Not when I was looking at it. You basically have a souci track with parallel metal ropes (cables) running down the length of a segment of track. Much the same way as steel is used in steel belt radial tires.

There are benefits to using metallic wire rope as opposed to a composite material and its mainly to do with stretch, not strength.

But the problem I was alluding to was (if somethng goes wrong) having to replace a whole segment or section of track rather then just one shoe or "link" as you can do now.

Now the old "White" US Army half tracks had interesting rubber tracks. You can see the center guide was made up of a continuous series of corrugated steel plates.

What is the average weight of the sections, maybe a equivelant to the weight of one or two tank track blocks. But yes it will be chore having to changeout a complete section of tracks, especially out in the field in uneven terrian. Current M1 series tank track sections come in 8 block sections and it takes 4 tankers to carry it and line it up, this may be one of the few benefits I see with this concept, weight savings. I never realized that the old half tracks had that much rubber material designed into the tracks. You learn something new every day.

 

[lobbie111]

Hers is my Suggestion to the problem, as you can see on the watch picture there is an attached a piece of steel zigzagging in between each watch link. This is where you can mount the little pointy things that grip to the tanks roadwheels (someone help me out here). now the outside of the watch links could be made out of titanium but the inside could be rubber, acting as more of a shock absorber and a weight sver than an actual track piece. Have the pads bolt in so its a sinche to replace the rubber. Im sure there is a way to replace the metal bits on the outside, nothing comes to mind though.