Tires sand/snow hacks

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Tires sand/snow hacks

Postby Mistral33 » 15 Jan 2021, 19:23

Hi

I'm using a Permobil F5 as I need precise positioning with my muscular dystrophy, so it need to keep that wheelchair. If my arms aren't in the right place, I ll lose all strength to use the joystick. If it's too cold, I m quickly loosing my hand control, and I m not already accepting the idea of an helper 2nd stick.

I want to ride my local area beaches (French south west atlantic coast), poorly equipped for wheelchair users (there are some matresse if I was going for a swim).

How can I do it by hacking my F5 300-8 standard inner tubes or rim ?

Maybe 3d making fast coupling for second+third raw of 300-8 low pressured tires ? + Skids for freewheels
Or settle 3d printed plates to the tires so it increases ground surface ?

Image
Miaaaaawwww
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Re: Tires sand/snow hacks

Postby martin007 » 15 Jan 2021, 23:24

Wheels aren´t friends with beach sand.
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Re: Tires sand/snow hacks

Postby Yennek » 16 Jan 2021, 08:11

Not sure what the beaches are like in France, but if it is really soft sand, your options are basically wide low pressure tires or tank treads. And don't forget your casters too, they sink quick in the sand too.

There are people out there who have done conversion kits for the beach (likehttps://hotshotproducts.org/product/power-chair-beach-wheel-knobby-tire-quick-change-adapter-kit/). Not sure how local your beaches are, but it seems like this would be more suitable for if you were going to spend the full day at the beach, as opposed for just popping down the street to the local beach for a half hour. I also would worry about how much those bigger tires are working the motors on those chairs, since it gears them so much higher.
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Re: Tires sand/snow hacks

Postby Burgerman » 16 Jan 2021, 12:57

You may be able to widen the rims to allow you to fit wider tyres as I did recently. But this wont help in really fine sand. It helps a good bit on soft ground. 120mm. 0r 5 inch wide tyres instead of 3.00 or 75mm. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10151
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Re: Tires sand/snow hacks

Postby MikeGrok » 21 Jan 2021, 00:13

I am making a traveling beach wheelchair for my wife, or glorified wheelbarrow ;)

My plan is to have a little square platform that I can attach the axel to with some U bolts on the bottom. On the top will be a folding bass fishing seat (they are folding and have aluminum frames, which contribute to her security. For handles I will use locally sourced wheelbarrow handles, Home Depot stocks standardized sizes, and I can order for local pickup ahead of time (as they will not fit in my luggage).

For the wheels, I am going to use a technique like this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKw50xNhDpU

but use a pair of plastic harbor freight wheels for the outer wheels instead of plywood, and I have not figured out the inner piece, but I may just use sections of 4 inch PVC pipe. I will reply with pictures when I get it done, which may be a couple of months (it is winter now).
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Re: Tires sand/snow hacks

Postby Clif » 21 Jan 2021, 05:16

the only thing that will work on soft sand are large soft wheels. You can't have your standard castors. All wheels have to be oversized to stay on top of the sand. I have tried the very large back wheels with large front castors like Burgerman uses. The back wheels are fine but the front castors are too small for my soft sand and basically stop the chair. The best result I had was with the Magic Mobility X8 4 wheel drive wheelchair. No problems even up hill on the softest sand you ever saw. A very overpriced chair. The biggest problem with the X8 is corrosion. It is a four wheel drive outdoor wheel chair but it has no waterproofing. The manual says not to hose it off. The motors are not sealed well at all. The corrosion I have from taking it to the beach about 10 times is severe. If you get an X8 I would suggest frequently spraying the steel parts with a product called Boeshield. It is available on Amazon. Look at the chairs that work for your purpose before trying to design something. The chairs mentioned in the post above are good and so is the X8. There are the tracked machines but they have issues .
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Re: Tires sand/snow hacks

Postby Burgerman » 21 Jan 2021, 12:14

The back wheels are fine but the front castors are too small for my soft sand and basically stop the chair.

Move CG back so theres little weight on the 3 inch wide caster tyres.
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