Military surplus sand tracks

[O1SalsaX]

Great, glad to hear that they are about 1/8" thick. I'll do the calcs tomorrow at my office to find out how much of a point load they can take. If they are pretty strong to begin with, then 1x1 box tubing the entire length will be More than needed to make them into bridging ladders. Depending on calcs, I might use steel angles to reinforce them in lieu of the 1x1's. The steel angles will take up less space making them a little easier to store. I'm just thinking out loud again. Doh!

How much was shipping? Grand total for (2) five footers?
How long did it take?

Thanx Chris, I greatly appreciate it.
L8r
Ken
01SalsaX

[Kerensky97]

Originally posted by O1SalsaX
Depending on calcs, I might use steel angles to reinforce them in lieu of the 1x1's. The steel angles will take up less space making them a little easier to store

Good Idea!

I've been thinking of ways to store them, that would help.
How thick would the steel angles have to be though. You want some safety margin so they dont collapse just as you're crossing a gap.
(I'm thinking of how will they would work across the Golden Crack, hopefully with more ease than this guy.)

[Chris_McCracken]

The total charged to my credit card was $60.70. I was also thinkin about using angle iron instead of square tube. I would guess (and I'm just guessing here) that 2" x 3/16" would be good. The weight would be a major issue. I was planning on putting them on the roof, but once you weld on some reinforcements, that would be extremely heavy. Even storing them in the truck, they would be difficult to handle. I wouldn't want to imagine what they'd weigh if they had 1.5 or 2" square tubing welded on... I didn't get a chance to get into them last night, but I will tonight and post pics.

[O1SalsaX]

OK. I started doing the calcs for the bracing. This is the start of it.. The finished dimensions of my bridging ladders will be (+/-) 12" wide by 48" long. The reason for these dimensions are.. Weight (key factor), the widest tire people are running are 11.5s. My tires are 31X10.5s, and I want to put then on my safari rack (i.e land rover). I know that the rover bridging ladders are 5' long BUT they are only 12" wide including 1"x1" box tubing, Theirs are also Aluminum!! I dont trust Alum. when it comes to bridging a 4000+ lb. truck.
The 4' length allows you a higher point load before failure (i.e. smaller unbraced length). So, by adding small steel angles to the entire length it'll do the trick.
Next comes the fun part, Sizing the actual Angles..I'll post it later, if I figure it out, otherwise I'll oversize it and avoid the calcs and the headache.
Any Engineers here?! Not the ones who operate trains.

$60 is a hell of a lot better than $429. I'll suffer with the added weight. No biggie. As far as mounting them to the rack, thats a different animal. I have a little idea I'm toying around with on my X. Hopefully I can cut that stuff with minimal effort.

L8r
Ken
01SalsaX

[Chris_McCracken]

Ok, I finally ripped them open and played. Photos are in my HXOC photo album (click photos for larger versions). They seem to be pretty sturdy. The weight is not as bad as I thought when you pick them up individually, but still substantial. The surface rust is fairly thorough, but a wire wheel removes it quickly, and the steel seems to be in good shape. They seem to be 1/8" steel sheet that was stamped or pressed into shape. They have two "channels" down the middle (for strength I'm assuming), and all the holes you see are actually pressed through and stick up about 5/8" on the other side. Between the circles and the channels, it will be difficult to attach angle iron and nearly impossible to attach square tubing. They have "hooks" along the sides that seem to be to attach multiple tracks together. They snag on everything, and I would recommend removing them. I will be doing this soon (I'll be getting a cutting torch Dec 25, imagine that...). The only way I can see to strengthen them is to attach angle iron with the "V" over the existing channel. That would limit you to 1.5" or 2" angle iron at the most, it would need to be thick (3/16"). They WILL need the reinforcement to use for bridging. I put one end of one on jack stands, and started to drive up (RTI ramp?). It bent. Luckily, it bent back after driving over it on flat concrete. I think the length is just about right after seeing them in scale with my tires. The width will be about right after torching off the tabs on the sides. I'll post more after I find some lengthy (and beefy) angle iron. I took photos of most aspects of this writeup, check out the album referenced above.

*Edit: UBB code works better than HTML for posting links

[O1SalsaX]

Thanx chris. I did a little research on sizing the Angles and finding out what kind of point load or impact load these can take, and by my estimates it is not much at all. As far as bracing.. I think a C-channel is a better idea than an angel or a piece of box tubing, But Im more concerned about weight, So. My conclusion is as follows.. I think I'll be using my Ladders as Sand ladders and I wont even attempt using them for bridging ladders, unless I have a brick or something to put in the middle of the span. I will hopefully use a Plasma cutter, or torch to cut them, if I can't get access to either, then I'll try an Air Whiz wheel, or sawzall, ugh. In light of this new info from Chris, I'll be Definitely trimming them down to 4' by 1' just so they're easier to use, mount, store and of course finish. Maybe ths guy can cut them for me so I can save some money of shipping. Hmmmmm.
Now I understand why the Land Rover bridging ladders are aluminum, and $429. Aluminum has a strength to weight ratio 7 times better than steel. So the rover ones weigh nothing but can still support a heavy truck over a 5 foot gap. Interesting..
Screw Im sticking with steel.

[ToeJam]

Originally posted by Chris_McCracken
They have "hooks" along the sides that seem to be to attach multiple tracks together. They snag on everything, and I would recommend removing them [/b]

The hooks may be there to "snag on everything". It looks like the hooks angle down, which could help them get some traction in the sand/mud/whatever. I'm guessing, but taking them off might increase the risk of them spitting out the back when you're trying to "de-stuck" yourself.

[Kerensky97]

The hooks are there because they weren't originally used as sand tracks.

When you connect 10,000 of them together in a clear area you get an impromptu air strip. Back in the day when you didn't need a 6ft thick runway to land you could bring down fighters, and bombers on those tracks.
Since the USAF doesn't use anything like that anymore they stack these in piles to rust. Why do you think their so cheap?

Find a book about WWII and look at the pictures of fighters landing on Pacific Islands and if its at a forward base you'll likely see one of these quick-fab runways.

[biguns]

You could always get one of those big millitary trailers to haul them on or just take them and drop them off at your camp site in case you need them send some one back to get them that kinda sounds like a dumb idea tho. Do you think you could make a rack mount and would they be to heavy to be throwing up on the rack.

[Toy Man]

You might check the following web site for ideas on building your own bridging ladders.

Bridging ladder

I also saw a site that had aluminum landing mats recently but I can't remember where it was.