Snowmobile

[BrianG]

I'd like to build an R/C snowmobile, but have some questions:

1: I've never really looked at how a real snowmobile is built. Do they have a rear suspension? Ideally, a diagram showing cutaway views would be great.

2: Are there any tracks/treads out there that will handle fairly high rpms and be durable? I've seen some tank treads, but they don't look all that good and look like they would fly apart.

I'm thinking 8th-10th scale in size. I have several BNIB MM and MMPro ESCs laying around, so I'd probably use one of those coupled with a decent 60-70mm motor running on 4s or 5s. Top speed around 25-30mph would be plenty.

There are probably kits already out there, but I want something very durable with easy/plentiful parts replacement access.

I have lots of spare parts floating around (chassis, diffs, bulks, arms, tons of different shocks, etc) but I'd almost rather stick to Traxxas parts since my LHS has a good inventory of those parts. Sucks having to order stuff online when experimenting and then waiting again when that idea doesn't work and have to order something else.

One idea I had was to use an 8th scale diff with VERY thick oil in it (>200k) and then use only one side of the outputs to drive the track. The other side would be unloaded, but since the oil is so thick, it would act like a slipper. Or, just fill it with putty or JBWeld.

Another idea is to tear my Slash apart and use the FLM tranny and whatever else from that vehicle. This would allow me to keep the motor in front and put the battery in the "seat".

I've seen several skis I can use, and the front can use Revo shocks for the suspension. I'm thinking a fairly narrow setup like a Slayer/Slash or an 8th scale buggy (minus the driveshaft/diff). The body could probably be easily made from a chopped Proline truck body or something similar.