I spent 27 years in a tool room/ machine shop fabricating jigs, fixtures, tools, racks, and carts of all types and I'm still amazed at the smarts and ingenuity that come out of so many backyards and garages. Well done.
Great DIY! I have a walking tractor I'd wish to convert to a tracked vehicle for plowing. Wanted to use a chain and weld on flat bars. Your track design seems much better. thanks so much for sharing!
Thats some genius work my man. I have made a few inventions and this just gave me some ideas for the one im working on now. Thanks and keep the DIY innovation coming God Bless.
great idea and I love the design, though I think if you spent a little more time welding you could make it stronger and less likely to fail under stress
Regardless of what the strength ratings are for that cable, I seriously doubt it will hold up for long. One thing you should have done to help was to put a bevel at each end where the cable slides though. This would at least help give it a rounded edge instead of whats more of a blunt edge which will most likely start cutting into the cable
Nice job... lots of ideas not just for a track system, but in my case a type of conveyer system for handling heated materials such as rock and asphalt for a small stationary A.C. plant.
multiple quarter inch bmx sprockets & chain, cheap easy to get or service, bicycle tires cut into sections could be good cheap tread on your track sections. wire bead makes good attachment points
Interesting, but attaching into chain like connection links as opposed to cable would give it more durability stability and prevent sideways movement in the track itself which on uneven ground could cause it to skip off depending on how fast you were going/wanted to go
i hate to be negative because you actually building this is far better than me just sitting here WISHING, but..... here is my two cents. i would think that a significant amount of torque will be applied and i foresee that each of the treads will slide along the cable when you give more throttle.
The steel cable between the plates is no good if the plates are tightened by bolts. They're likely to slip. It would have been better if it had spacers with the cable inserted between the plates, then you can be sure that the plates retain the space between them.
Its way cool. I farm and that would work so good on the farm. I live in North Western Wisconsin . And last summer was the wettest year I've ever saw at 55 . We had 28 inch's of rain over the summer till frost and it was so bad you couldn't even get around with tractors. Unless they were Four wheel drive . They are company's that sell track set ups for farm equipment but at a Hugh cost. I'm a machinist /farmer . And I'm always try n to think of thing to make jobs easier . I like your attention to detail. Very good job making your video. Thank you Roger Wagenius Grantsburg Wisconsin
Do tell us how they're holding up? Many times I've thought of using cable as the linking parts of a track set. Big conveyor chain is ridiculously expensive to make a "real" set of tracks plus having to buy of make the sprockets for it to run on would put a feller in the poor house. I have been hating myself for driving off when a man next to me at the land fill dumped several broken rubber skid steer tracks beside me. They had plenty of track left and was 2 sets of them. They must have been vantleized because each one looked to have been cut with a chainsaw. But for a machine like you're building a splice could have made the perfect set of tracks.
+Phil Lowman They have not broken yet but I am still working on the vehicle so I have not used it much.There is another person on RUclips using chains I am curious to see how they work His channel is Prancstaman
Beaut piece of craftsmanship. Patience, persistence, and perserverence. Now you can scale over Mt. Everest and the Great Wall Of them Chinese folks on the way back home while drinking Busch Ice out the 24 oz can or two or more and not care a damn about geting a flat tire doing so. Forget about the air pump. Cuzz you got metal bars to treck you over the stars.
I see now. Are you going to need a spacer in between the track plates? Those plates look plenty strong, how thick are they? I had to put cleets on mine because the plates were to thin not to. Thats why I put the bolt head on the outside plus to get my chain to move up and down I had to notch the sides which works out since I weld the bolt head all the way around it strengthen that area back up. Can't wait to see how you connect the track ends up to each other.
Oh man! I forgot to show the master track for connecting the ends!! Its like the other except I drill a 1/2 " hole in the middle of the 3/8 rod and then on each end I put one of the lock bolts. The cable ends come up and exit out the top of the 1/2" hole and the lock bolts keep it from slipping back out. I will show that on a future video. The flat plates are 3mm thick. I think they will be strong enough. I also may still add the center guide on every other track but I am going to wait until I can try it to see if its needed.
I see, Thanks for letting me know on the master track.I figure each track plate should hold 1/4 the weight of vehicle. For mine I have 800 lb limit on my vehicle because of tires are plastic with max weight limit of 50 lbs each with 16 tires, so me standing on the track plate in center and held up on the ends without buckling should be good enough for me. I'm about 250 lbs. For track guides on yours you could probable use 1/2 or 3/4 flat stock on the tubing and extend them up that way, and keep the center where the wheels are clear like on a sherman tank track.
I wonder whether it would help the longevity of the tracks if you coated with linex? I have no experience with this, but it jumped into my head, and into this comment.
Call me naive I'm new to the idea of making tank tracks however I was wondering if anyone had ever thought of using mini excavator tracks? You can find used ones for a decent price and not as heavy as a person would think. Plus incredibly durable. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
so i'm assuming that you are using the bolt/nut configuration to lock down the plate so that it won't move on the cable, if that is the case then i question the durability of the cable at the point where the bolt contacts the cable, that much stress on such a small point will cause failures very quickly
I tighten the bolt onto the cable. Each track has one bolt on each side. The bolts go all the way through and are able to tighten onto the cable so it can not slide. Thanks for the comment.
Kevin Hornbuckle I thought about that and thought that by leaving it flat there would be more surface area in contact with the bolt and the cable.Also when I drilled the holes for the bolt I drilled through a little on the other side of the cable so when you tighten the bolt it can lock the cable in the hole better.
Kevin Hornbuckle I have watched a few videos by Tankman. He makes his tracks with conveyor belts. He says its important that the tracks cant stretch so not to come off when making turns. I have some Spectra / Dyneema cord with is stronger than steel cable and does not stretch I was thinking of using this but I figured I would try the less expensive steel cable first.
Sorry I forgot to show the master link. Its the same as the other links except I drill two extra holes in the 3/8 bar and bring the the cable ends up and out and then crimp them. I will make a video on it in the next progress report.
Dawid Kozlowski I have a link in this video on the master link and a finished track. Its under Progress report 10 A. Sorry I did not include it in this video.
its pretty basic to make a jig to use with drill press to drill straight holes? years ago i made one for drilling the centre of a .303 projectile to make them hollowpoints :)
Good prototype. Next version make some sprockets for your driver wheels and make standard tracks. Then you will have a badass school shooter fighting vehicle
I have watched several videos on tacked vehicles with similar designs and there suspension seem to be able to handle bumps and driving over obstacles without a problem. I will have to see. I guess the only time I see a problem would be if it would go fast enough to catch air and compress both suspension arms at the same time when landing. I don't think it will be able to do that. But we will see. Thanks for the comment.
Hello dear friend. For some time now I have been following their work. I would like to ask for help, want to use part of its project to build a chair, because I have a friend who had a health problem, with his daughter, and now she is no movement of the waist down. I've tried to buy the mats, though prices are absurdly expensive. I had lost hope until you see your video. Well I want to ask you some photographs, and measures of how you made the mats. And I wonder how you are doing the curve, it is necessary to stop attraction of the mats to change the direction. Well in my project, I plan to use an electric motor, and only one engine, I see some chairs that use two engines. Now your project will help me solve this problem. I look forward for your information. Thank you very much. I'm sorry I do not speak English'm using an electronic translator.
Evanildo Almeida I am sorry to hear about your friends daughter . I think if you could use two electric motors one for each track would be better and easier to make controls for. As for the tracks you could make them any size you would like, You could find some smaller guide wheels instead of what I used. maybe it could be better to use a motorcycle chain welded to the tracks and sprockets for the guide wheels since the chair will not be going that fast. If you want more information I will try and help.
Cable on an overhead hoist flexes a lot and much more load during the flexing. I would think that the cable in this application would be sufficient for a few years. However, moisture within the individual strands of the cable will certainly decrease the life unless it can be dried and lubed appropriately!
Why don't you use mechanical tube, its very strong and I'm sure you could find a size to fit your cable. Even though its expensive I'm sure the cost would less than all that drilling. Just seems like a great deal of unnecessary work.
saxonforge Unnecessary if you can find a metal tube the exact size of the cable. Not everyone lives in the U.S where you can buy anything you can dream up.
This i sall amazing to see and all, but theres one thing i dont think i saw when you explained making it. how do you keep your plates from moving on the wire? i know it has the bolts in it, but how do those keep the plates from moving on the wire? i'd really like to know. making my own personal tank and trying to get this thing to work track wise has been driving me insane. I wanted orginally to do converyor and steel, but then came the issue of not knowing how to attach steel to rubber
The cable fits perfectly through the hole in the metal plate, the hole I drill for the bolt gets threaded and the bolt is tightened down onto the cable to keep it from moving.
what if I wanted to do this for an SUV car for off-roading fun, do I need to change the chassis of the car and the arms? and do I need to use a bigger rims? what did I forget?
Midget It would be allot of work but you could do it. You would have to lock the steering wheels in front and cut the body so the tracks would pass across the top of the wheels. There are a few on You Tube that have done it.
hello. iv been watching your videos. im currently trying to design a simular vehicle. would you by chance have a video of it moving. jw how it work. looks like a good design.
i see someone made the track with pipes cut in halves screwed to 2 bicycle chains.... do you think its a good idea i need to make it for mu trolley so i can use it climbing stairs
+zact lee I am in the same predicament right now in trying to construct a build that can climb stairs. I saw a tutorial about a guy who used bike chains to construct the track. Have you tried it and was it able to climb steps?
I spent 27 years in a tool room/ machine shop fabricating jigs, fixtures, tools, racks, and carts of all types and I'm still amazed at the smarts and ingenuity that come out of so many backyards and garages. Well done.
+SuperSaltydog77 Thank you . You do what you can with what you got . Thanks for the comment.
I am right now making a tank and, this is the best video about it in RUclips
Outstanding job with the video and explanation! The custom jigs are a great idea.
Jason Geer Thanks
Love all the different jigs you can up with. great job
+BigSlimmyD Thanks for watching.
باندك امريكاا وابناء بطلالي وبانمسل هلجموع الرافضيه
Great DIY! I have a walking tractor I'd wish to convert to a tracked vehicle for plowing. Wanted to use a chain and weld on flat bars. Your track design seems much better. thanks so much for sharing!
Joseph Nzomo Glad you liked it. Thanks for watching.
Awesome work, it really took my breath away
shout out ko min nic good build homemade tank
Thats some genius work my man. I have made a few inventions and this just gave me some ideas for the one im working on now. Thanks and keep the DIY innovation coming God Bless.
great idea and I love the design, though I think if you spent a little more time welding you could make it stronger and less likely to fail under stress
Simply amazing!!! ill have to try it out someday!!!!
Thanks for watching.
chris manning
chris manning
Regardless of what the strength ratings are for that cable, I seriously doubt it will hold up for long. One thing you should have done to help was to put a bevel at each end where the cable slides though. This would at least help give it a rounded edge instead of whats more of a blunt edge which will most likely start cutting into the cable
I've been A Engineer for Meny Years Vary Nice Kid I'm Impressed Good Luck And Gods Speed
Nice job... lots of ideas not just for a track system, but in my case a type of conveyer system for handling heated materials such as rock and asphalt for a small stationary A.C. plant.
+Brent Smith Thats great! Glad it helped.
multiple quarter inch bmx sprockets & chain, cheap easy to get or service, bicycle tires cut into sections could be good cheap tread on your track sections. wire bead makes good attachment points
Very cool! Great engineering.
Very interesting stuff Aceman307! Thumbs up!
This is amazing man. Very useful and informative!! Subscribed and liked video.
Awesome video, brother!
Perhaps, give some type of warning to the viewers who may be surprised by the sudden brightness of the welding
Awesome design!
Interesting, but attaching into chain like connection links as opposed to cable would give it more durability stability and prevent sideways movement in the track itself which on uneven ground could cause it to skip off depending on how fast you were going/wanted to go
Thumbs up for ingenuity!
that's cool, I really like the gigs you made too.
mowguy fudd Thanks
I really like your design looks good so far it will be cool to see you take it for a drive
Thanks, I hope to have another video up in the next week or so. Thanks for watching.
Interesting.... love to see how well it works...
+xzqzq Thanks still working out the bugs. Check out my latest videos.
Lookin good. Thanks for sharing. Nice well-explained vid.
Thanks.
Impressive work
Done at summer me and my dad will make a tank!
Good idea with the angle grinder too
This is totally worth watching because I'm going to build this
Go for it!!
Outstanding, nice work.
+Chuck Pringle Thanks
Very good there Aceman307, hope soon to see it finished . ........................................Ken
+Kennethe Miller Me too!! Thanks for watching.
Amazing!
i hate to be negative because you actually building this is far better than me just sitting here WISHING, but..... here is my two cents.
i would think that a significant amount of torque will be applied and i foresee that each of the treads will slide along the cable when you give more throttle.
Nice jig, smart thinking. I had to do something similar but different for mine.
Thanks
The steel cable between the plates is no good if the plates are tightened by bolts. They're likely to slip. It would have been better if it had spacers with the cable inserted between the plates, then you can be sure that the plates retain the space between them.
nice done job sir
Looks cool
wow. lot of work. way cool.
Thanks for watching
Its way cool. I farm and that would work so good on the farm. I live in North Western Wisconsin . And last summer was the wettest year I've ever saw at 55 . We had 28 inch's of rain over the summer till frost and it was so bad you couldn't even get around with tractors. Unless they were Four wheel drive . They are company's that sell track set ups for farm equipment but at a Hugh cost. I'm a machinist /farmer . And I'm always try n to think of thing to make jobs easier . I like your attention to detail. Very good job making your video. Thank you Roger Wagenius Grantsburg Wisconsin
just a suggestion on attaching the pads to cable take a sledge hammer and crimp cable in cross piece would have better holding and less work.
Incrível muito bom 😱😲😲👍👍👍👏👏👏👏👏
Wow excellent
Pretty bad ass. The cable looks like it'd wear out though.
LOL right! he's bad ass though****
And stretch.
Браво! Спасибо!
i like your idea, the steel wire does not bend enought, according to the diameter of the steel wheel, resulting on steel wire long service.
Nice design
Thanks. We will see if it works.
Excellent idea product
Keep it up also try
Sum cheaper Collection
that works out amazing
really? no one knows yet until he actually puts them to work.
great pre planning
Do tell us how they're holding up? Many times I've thought of using cable as the linking parts of a track set. Big conveyor chain is ridiculously expensive to make a "real" set of tracks plus having to buy of make the sprockets for it to run on would put a feller in the poor house. I have been hating myself for driving off when a man next to me at the land fill dumped several broken rubber skid steer tracks beside me. They had plenty of track left and was 2 sets of them. They must have been vantleized because each one looked to have been cut with a chainsaw. But for a machine like you're building a splice could have made the perfect set of tracks.
+Phil Lowman They have not broken yet but I am still working on the vehicle so I have not used it much.There is another person on RUclips using chains I am curious to see how they work His channel is Prancstaman
very cool im planing on making somthing similar soon
Ready to invade North America?
from land and air !!
Love your idea im working on a hot air balloon made from showe curtains. Lol
You are genius... ^_^
Beaut piece of craftsmanship. Patience, persistence, and perserverence. Now you can scale over Mt. Everest and the Great Wall Of them Chinese folks on the way back home while drinking Busch Ice out the 24 oz can or two or more and not care a damn about geting a flat tire doing so. Forget about the air pump. Cuzz you got metal bars to treck you over the stars.
I see now. Are you going to need a spacer in between the track plates? Those plates look plenty strong, how thick are they? I had to put cleets on mine because the plates were to thin not to. Thats why I put the bolt head on the outside plus to get my chain to move up and down I had to notch the sides which works out since I weld the bolt head all the way around it strengthen that area back up. Can't wait to see how you connect the track ends up to each other.
Oh man! I forgot to show the master track for connecting the ends!! Its like the other except I drill a 1/2 " hole in the middle of the 3/8 rod and then on each end I put one of the lock bolts. The cable ends come up and exit out the top of the 1/2" hole and the lock bolts keep it from slipping back out. I will show that on a future video. The flat plates are 3mm thick. I think they will be strong enough. I also may still add the center guide on every other track but I am going to wait until I can try it to see if its needed.
I see, Thanks for letting me know on the master track.I figure each track plate should hold 1/4 the weight of vehicle. For mine I have 800 lb limit on my vehicle because of tires are plastic with max weight limit of 50 lbs each with 16 tires, so me standing on the track plate in center and held up on the ends without buckling should be good enough for me. I'm about 250 lbs.
For track guides on yours you could probable use 1/2 or 3/4 flat stock on the tubing and extend them up that way, and keep the center where the wheels are clear like on a sherman tank track.
I wonder whether it would help the longevity of the tracks if you coated with linex? I have no experience with this, but it jumped into my head, and into this comment.
Excellent ;)
fantastic
Thank you.
gracias por el vídeo. me gusto.
could use snowmobile tracks right? Or you wanted it more heavy duty like a real tank?
so cool!!!!
Very Good Friend;)
Call me naive I'm new to the idea of making tank tracks however I was wondering if anyone had ever thought of using mini excavator tracks? You can find used ones for a decent price and not as heavy as a person would think. Plus incredibly durable. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
@jujitsuman68 even new ones I've seen are pretty reasonable in price
so i'm assuming that you are using the bolt/nut configuration to lock down the plate so that it won't move on the cable, if that is the case then i question the durability of the cable at the point where the bolt contacts the cable, that much stress on such a small point will cause failures very quickly
so, after 5 years, did everything hold up like expected. would you make any changes?
Wouldnt it be easier if you used a rubber tire by cutting out sidewalls then connecting a couple together with kevlar industrial belts or something.
How do you get the metal track bits to not slide back and forth once you have made the spacing and put the cable through.
I tighten the bolt onto the cable. Each track has one bolt on each side. The bolts go all the way through and are able to tighten onto the cable so it can not slide. Thanks for the comment.
Aceman307
I wonder if you could grind a point onto the end of the bolts. The point would dig into the cable rather than just trap it in the tube.
Kevin Hornbuckle I thought about that and thought that by leaving it flat there would be more surface area in contact with the bolt and the cable.Also when I drilled the holes for the bolt I drilled through a little on the other side of the cable so when you tighten the bolt it can lock the cable in the hole better.
Flat will probably work better. I wonder if anyone has ever used nylon strap in this application.
Kevin Hornbuckle I have watched a few videos by Tankman. He makes his tracks with conveyor belts. He says its important that the tracks cant stretch so not to come off when making turns. I have some Spectra / Dyneema cord with is stronger than steel cable and does not stretch I was thinking of using this but I figured I would try the less expensive steel cable first.
Cool idea. How do you tie the ends together?
Sorry I forgot to show the master link. Its the same as the other links except I drill two extra holes in the 3/8 bar and bring the the cable ends up and out and then crimp them. I will make a video on it in the next progress report.
Did the cable hold up or did it break?
Could you have used DOM tubing to run cable through? Should be cheaper than drilling round stock.
Great Job !! I have just one question - how are you connecting tracks to make one functional piece?
Dawid Kozlowski I have a link in this video on the master link and a finished track. Its under Progress report 10 A. Sorry I did not include it in this video.
So the bolts hold the steel rope? Can't it slide forward or backward?
its pretty basic to make a jig to use with drill press to drill straight holes? years ago i made one for drilling the centre of a .303 projectile to make them hollowpoints :)
great job! how many credits did you use?
Good prototype. Next version make some sprockets for your driver wheels and make standard tracks. Then you will have a badass school shooter fighting vehicle
Nice project. How much did the machine shop cost? It may justify you buying a small metal lathe.
about 2000.00
Класс! Очень подробное видео. Круто!
yep use wood to finish up! excellent ...BUILD RIP SAW 427 C.I FULL BLOWN
How are you going to take up the slack in the track when you g
Go over bumps
I have watched several videos on tacked vehicles with similar designs and there suspension seem to be able to handle bumps and driving over obstacles without a problem. I will have to see. I guess the only time I see a problem would be if it would go fast enough to catch air and compress both suspension arms at the same time when landing. I don't think it will be able to do that. But we will see. Thanks for the comment.
I rewatched the videos and saw that he dose have a way to take up the slack.
good job
that is some mad max shit right theret
Hello dear friend.
For some time now I have been following their work.
I would like to ask for help, want to use part of its project to build a chair, because I have a friend who had a health problem, with his daughter, and now she is no movement of the waist down.
I've tried to buy the mats, though prices are absurdly expensive. I had lost hope until you see your video.
Well I want to ask you some photographs, and measures of how you made the mats. And I wonder how you are doing the curve, it is necessary to stop attraction of the mats to change the direction. Well in my project, I plan to use an electric motor, and only one engine, I see some chairs that use two engines. Now your project will help me solve this problem. I look forward for your information. Thank you very much. I'm sorry I do not speak English'm using an electronic translator.
Evanildo Almeida I am sorry to hear about your friends daughter . I think if you could use two electric motors one for each track would be better and easier to make controls for. As for the tracks you could make them any size you would like, You could find some smaller guide wheels instead of what I used. maybe it could be better to use a motorcycle chain welded to the tracks and sprockets for the guide wheels since the chair will not be going that fast. If you want more information I will try and help.
I can't see this working. Its an interesting idea but I think the cable would break relatively quickly.
If you look at Ripsaw It looks like it uses steel cables for it s tracks.
Does it? I did not know that. I would think that the constant flexing would really be hard on the cables.
Cable on an overhead hoist flexes a lot and much more load during the flexing. I would think that the cable in this application would be sufficient for a few years. However, moisture within the individual strands of the cable will certainly decrease the life unless it can be dried and lubed appropriately!
your got that right he will spend a lot of time fixing this
Great vid! Question: is there a way to cover the tanks with tire retread? Keep up the good work👌
A channel with rubber , some bolts
Looking good.
Thanks Shawn.
Why don't you use mechanical tube, its very strong and I'm sure you could find a size to fit your cable. Even though its expensive I'm sure the cost would less than all that drilling. Just seems like a great deal of unnecessary work.
saxonforge Unnecessary if you can find a metal tube the exact size of the cable. Not everyone lives in the U.S where you can buy anything you can dream up.
i am planing on making a steam powered tank for the more than likely emp attack on the USA, have any pointers?
+plague Doctor Just store your spare ignition parts in a steel garbage can.
that does seem like a more realistic plan, so i will do both.
+plague Doctor better use some older diesel engine, they don't need electric components to work :P
+plague Doctor Hey...I`m a steam engine feller,.If you have questions,just axe.
I'm making a small wooden tank. Would ABS conduit sheets be suitable for a lightweight version of this??
I dont see why not. Thanks for watching
Can u make some vid of u off roading or just driving in it i love it
+Nathan Little I will try and get a video out soon. Thanks for watching
+Aceman307 COOL GREAT JOB
The magnets can mess up your arc if the magnet is to close to the arc
Thanks for the tip I did not know that. I did not seem to have a problem this time when welding the shoes.
I love this idea. Where did you get the metal plates? And how much were they? thanks!
This i sall amazing to see and all, but theres one thing i dont think i saw when you explained making it. how do you keep your plates from moving on the wire? i know it has the bolts in it, but how do those keep the plates from moving on the wire? i'd really like to know. making my own personal tank and trying to get this thing to work track wise has been driving me insane. I wanted orginally to do converyor and steel, but then came the issue of not knowing how to attach steel to rubber
The cable fits perfectly through the hole in the metal plate, the hole I drill for the bolt gets threaded and the bolt is tightened down onto the cable to keep it from moving.
ah, okay i see now. thats pretty freaking cool. thank you so much.
yoshimitsu0614 just drill two holes in the rubber and steel track and then bolt them on with nylon lock nuts use grade 8 bolts so they don't break
How much did this cost to make altogether? (As in the whole tank combined) was thinking about making one.
what if I wanted to do this for an SUV car for off-roading fun, do I need to change the chassis of the car and the arms? and do I need to use a bigger rims?
what did I forget?
Midget It would be allot of work but you could do it. You would have to lock the steering wheels in front and cut the body so the tracks would pass across the top of the wheels. There are a few on You Tube that have done it.
what size is the track 4cm by what and how thick
+Aceman307 How do you calculate the stops that you welded to the rim so that they transmit the power and fit just over the caterpillar ... ???
Is cable will survive if we use them like that?
*We lost a track*
drill solid rod at a machine shop. Can't you get heavy tube where you are. Easy to cut!
hello. iv been watching your videos. im currently trying to design a simular vehicle. would you by chance have a video of it moving. jw how it work. looks like a good design.
What rpms will your drive sprocket be turning at?
Do you mean what is the reduction from the rear drive sprocket to the front drive sprocket? Its about 2.5-1
i see someone made the track with pipes cut in halves screwed to 2 bicycle chains.... do you think its a good idea i need to make it for mu trolley so i can use it climbing stairs
+zact lee Sounds like it could work.
+zact lee I am in the same predicament right now in trying to construct a build that can climb stairs. I saw a tutorial about a guy who used bike chains to construct the track. Have you tried it and was it able to climb steps?
Could have bought two long snowmobile tracks ?