Page 1 of 1

Another way to add 'rubber' pads to your tracks

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2019 10:38 pm
by Jim Reeves
I'm still running plastic tracks on all my tanks. This hasn't been a problem for my Tigers, Pantiger or King Tiger, but it's a PITA for climbing or running on smooth floors for my Abrams or Bulldog. They slip around like they're on ice!
So I had a bright idea (for a change) and picked up a can of PLASTI-DIP, the stuff you can use to put rubbery handles on your hand tools. It cost me 8 bucks at for 14 ounces at the local home improvement store.

I used a foam paint brush and put 2 coats on the track pads of my Bulldog. It's easy to apply, just work slowly, 2 or 3 track pads at a time to get a nice coat without flooding the tracks. The PLASTI-DIP is thick enough that it goes where you put it, but thin enough that it flows to level. And it's flexible enough to stretch with each track segment. I applied each coat and allowed 30 minutes between coats according to the label.

So far it makes these once slippery tracks very grippy! It makes climbing steep objects possible and ends the fish-tailing on smooth surfaces. Time will tell how it holds up to wear and tear but so far so good! One can of this stuff could coat 100 tracks! :thumbup:

Image

Image

Re: Another way to add 'rubber' pads to your tracks

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2019 10:52 pm
by Son of a gun-ner
Oh wow, that's awesome, thanks for sharing :thumbup:

Do you know if it'll also stick to the metal track links?

Edited: because I originally wrote plastic instead of metal :{

Re: Another way to add 'rubber' pads to your tracks

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2019 11:22 pm
by jarndice
Plasti-Dip £17.80 for a 250Ml tin from E-Bay, Freepost. :thumbup:

Re: Another way to add 'rubber' pads to your tracks

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:12 am
by Jim Reeves
Son of a gun-ner wrote:Oh wow, that's awesome, thanks for sharing :thumbup:

Do you know if it'll also stick to the plastic track links?
It's sticking to my pre-painted track links so far, but I'll give it more time and see. Where I flooded the pin joints it just flexed with the bending and is easily cut away. I haven't tried it on unpainted plastic tracks (don't have any left), but I suspect it will be fine as long as the tracks are clean of oils before applying it. I've never prepped my tools before dipping and it's held up for years. If there is any issue with this I'll report back. This should be much easier with the rectangular pads on the Abrams.

A bonus of the application is using a small foam brush. After I was done I just squeezed the brush out on a paper towel and after curing the brush was as good as new!

Re: Another way to add 'rubber' pads to your tracks

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:18 am
by Son of a gun-ner
Thank you. I may just get some and give it a try.

Re: Another way to add 'rubber' pads to your tracks

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:28 am
by Jim Reeves
jarndice wrote:Plasti-Dip £17.80 for a 250Ml tin from E-Bay, Freepost. :thumbup:
This is much more than I would expect, is a equivalent product not available locally?

Re: Another way to add 'rubber' pads to your tracks

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 4:56 pm
by Ragnar
What an ingenious idea, never would have thought of it!!

Re: Another way to add 'rubber' pads to your tracks

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 1:00 am
by BamaCoop
That looks great. I am stealing that idea.

Re: Another way to add 'rubber' pads to your tracks

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2020 9:55 am
by oldowl1953
I'm so glad I saw your idea. I was looking at buying the metal tracks with the rubber pads for my Leopard and I think I just saved $117. Great idea!!