And the Wheel Goes 'Round and 'Round

[Tom Bishop]

We used 8.5 X 2 inch Skyway Beadlok wheels on a 4WD system and they have plenty of traction. Much more than the kit wheels. It is very important that your wheelbase (distance between front and rear wheels) is less than the track (center distance from side to side) or your robot will "dance" when it turns IF it turns at all.

[EricH]

Two classic methods: teams a) put lots of zip ties on the wheel or b) screw belting onto the wheel.

Problems: With method a), you need to have a lot of zip ties as spares as well as on the wheel, and you don't seem to get quite as much traction. With method b), it's harder to turn the robot.

Team 330 has often used method b), and it works really well. we grind about half the tread off a Skyway wheel, cut a strip of whatever belting we decide to use to length, and screw the belting down. After we finished all the wheels, we cut more belting, as it can get very chewed up.

Other methods include using odd wheels or using tank treads.