1957 thiokol 4VS

[redsqwrl]

Kind of a rebuild thread. Remanufactured implies restoring. Ill be rebuilding what i can. Restoring what i need to.

Thanks to a moose for the honor to foster parent this rig.

4vl for comparison

 

[vintagebike]

is this one of those picture puzzles where you try to find the 6 things that are different? Two 4VLs here in McCall.

 

[redsqwrl]

Nice. Kind of like this guy. I call it the frandee-wanna-be

Not much info on 4vs on the interwebs.

That L was at tracked outdoors in WY.

 

[redsqwrl]

Todays effort

 

[Snowy Rivers]

A very interesting path that Thiokol took in their cats.
The Thiokol story is sort of a convoluted journey...

Then came John DeLorean and more interesting twists and turns

This little Kitties journey back from the valley of the shadow will be a great one me thinks.

Looking forward to following this Build.....rebuild....restore....Rebirth

 

[DAVENET]

Definitely a much cleaner starting point than you are accustomed to . . .

 

[redsqwrl]

Definitely a much cleaner starting point than you are accustomed to . . .

Amen to that! This was just a stuck engine, stuck trans a fair amount of dissasembly.

 

[redsqwrl]

A very interesting path that Thiokol took in their cats.
The Thiokol story is sort of a convoluted journey...

Then came John DeLorean and more interesting twists and turns

This little Kitties journey back from the valley of the shadow will be a great one me thinks.

Looking forward to following this Build.....rebuild....restore....Rebirth

This one is early for sure. F head 134.
T90E transmission

I even took steps to utilize a generator! Im going to source the handful of missing vintage bits. And if you know me THATS NEW.


I had some fun saving a kitten the past few years and this is the follow up or encore. (Kitten will be its own thread someday)

This 4vs is currently running and driving with a couple more unknowns to sort out then its onto tracks.

 

[redsqwrl]

4 vl

is this one of those picture puzzles where you try to find the 6 things that are different? Two 4VLs here in McCall.

Is on my list.



I have a ff buddy and our machines are one number apart and like tuckers there are a fair amount of differences!

I submit gas tanks.

His is like the more common 4vl mine literally smothers the engine

 

[redsqwrl]

Current state.

Smoke is the transmission fluid finding its way out of the engine, carb ect

 

[redsqwrl]

New threads! (Photo)

Got the missing glass reinstalled. ( no photo yet)

Random though of the pre-senial here, The beauty part of getting old hangs with or on, your kids.

I bought rolls of rubber gaskets for a snow trac project years ago. In my head they are on a rack near where i cut glass and do panel work.

So the gaskets for the missing glass were present in the parts pile. The latch or zipper part was not.

Made templates. Cut glass had local shop sand to perfection. In recent days and weeks i went to and from the cl laurence area of the workspace, only to not find the roll of zipper. (This used to piss me off, who moved my stuff?)

Having found a short brittle piece i went ahead and attempted to put the glass in. NOPE not having it. The gasket is too stiff and im not willing to crack new glass.

With my son stopping by ironically to return a borrowed tool, i said "hey hold this" he is not dumb, in quick order the glass was in.... and our brief conversation reminded me of his 2 to 5 man cab build.......


Review photos of an orange 5 man on any of the midwest cat clowder threads and you will find @overlandsnowcats 5 man A model spryte..... with freshly installed glass and gaskets.....


Im not forgetful, im just dumb.

 

[redsqwrl]

It's stupid humid, stupid hot, so i putz in the shop spaces and scoure classified adds for various parts.

I was able to locate a implement wheel for the project. 4 hole, correct build, correct offset!

Mounted up the spare. Im running tps sensors and something did not feel right when i did this one.

The video is 2 days after i mounted it. Im roaming around the yard and hear psssssss...

I am like what the hell air hose let go, where!, why!

Only to find the SPARE!

WELL today will be the third time i mount, dismount and remount this cursid wheel.

 

[redsqwrl]

Also. To active ff members....( lurkers im not sorry.)

Ill be listing a snowcat widening kit in various social media venues. Enjoy my style of humor. Ironically i have done this before...

 

[redsqwrl]

 

[redsqwrl]

Big day today. Im hot off another snowcat recovery, tired and a touch hungover from a wedding last night.

But there is a willys jeep parts pile forsale 2hrs from home, rumor has it it was a willys sedan, those were generally 2wd and the one last missing part , could be there. Thats right.

The speedo drive could be in hand today!

 

[Snowy Rivers]

ROAD TRIP.....Good luck on the find

 

[redsqwrl]

Well that was a bust. Im going to look else where. (Frustrated buyer rant with held)

But check this out. (Look ma, no boat tank.

Its idling, sucking gogo juice off a straw out of its own tank.

Onto the temp Gauge !

 

[redsqwrl]

Is the trans 2wd?
Is the speedo drive gear in it?
Is anything stuck?
Is it complete?

Drove 2hrs.

Seller was a cool person, but i am not sure he understood the assignment.

 

[redsqwrl]

Stalled on rebuild, got the throttle and choke cables routed. The gas tank consumes to area directly in the lap of the operator. I needed to fit some tubes past the tank to allow the cables to slide.
Needed to drag this home for parts.

 

[DAVENET]

Looks fast.

 

[Thefatsquatch]

I am extremely excited you are doing this one and documenting it! This will help a ton as I rebuild mine! I haven't posted much on it. I will start a new thread as soon as I actually do some work on it.

 

[Thefatsquatch]

Couple friends I have run extremely low pressure in snow-wheeling rigs, and they say the secret to keeping air pressure in old wheels is: *plays fanfare... Two wraps of duct tape where the bead seats. It seems to work.

 

[redsqwrl]

Couple friends I have run extremely low pressure in snow-wheeling rigs, and they say the secret to keeping air pressure in old wheels is: *plays fanfare... Two wraps of duct tape where the bead seats. It seems to work.

Im open to anything but as long as the bugle is playing I have a tube in that tire. I have a finite amount of skill and often times I misplace some it . I am good for messing up a tube at a rate of 1-10

 

[redsqwrl]

We had a crap winter and i forgot i shot some content of this cat. Right after the co jamboree a fellow ff member and i had a discussion about adjusting the clutch packs. (Rear diff) and when we had a little snow a month ago i took to the yard for some testing

 

[Yancey]

Nice. Kind of like this guy. I call it the frandee-wanna-be

Not much info on 4vs on the interwebs.

That L was at tracked outdoors in WY.

The 4VL pictured is mine and lives in Sinclair, WY. Tracked Outdoors was helping me with finding some parts, they are a great team to work with.
Mine is S/N GSA-25 and I know S/N GSA-30 was in Casper, though I am not sure where it is now as it was for sale. I would love to see some of the differences between versions. If there are any within a few hundred miles of me, I might be willing to take a short road trip to look at them.
Almost every odd part I have found seems to have come from some piece of 1940s or 1950s farm equipment. So if your looking for parts look at International harvester, Ford, Case, and etc. (What do you expect they were made by the agricultural department.)

 

[redsqwrl]

Yancy, i agree! The group at tracked outdoors is great. I chat with them here and there swapping KSA (knowledge , skill and ability.)

Early 4v thiokols are pretty neat designs

 

[Yancey]

is this one of those picture puzzles where you try to find the 6 things that are different? Two 4VLs here in McCall.

1. The drivers seat
2 The gas tank
3 wood vs metal grousers
4. side door shape
5. rear door, or rear side door?
6. exhaust pipe
7. paint colors
8. 4VS vs 4VL

There are lots more