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1973 Tucker Sno Cat 1443 New to Me

Don't forget about repacking those trailer bearings . . . or at least that they are full enough for the bearing buddies to grease the inside bearings.
 
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Orange you glad it’s MONDAY!

Very pleased with the final product. Front will be getting the same treatment eventually.

Paint in progress and loving the paint tent! Passenger carrier stripped ready for degrease then weld touch up. The last three matching idlers stripped.

These six steel idlers must have been from the Tucker Harley/AMF years of cutting cost period before the return to Tucker OE cast aluminum glory? Big weight difference.
 
Going to need a vacation after this project.

Degreased the passenger carrier. Did lots of welding on this one. These will come off again in the future for some more improvements.

Welded in the new additional grease zerk bings.

Housing painted ready to hang.

Bearings fit to shafts.

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Marathon day but back on its carriers. Didn't take many pictures today but very happy with the final product. Assembly was smooth. Had to mess around with the axle end play but got it dialed in.

Diff filled, carriers greased, idlers greased. Sprockets, sliders, and step back on.

Few lines of track for breakfast then North to the testing grounds ahead of some SNO worn the kids!
 
Bluebird day, warm with over 2’ of powder which is rare for the North East. Sno was too deep to get up to the T Bar summit. Didn't want to beat on the cat digging up so we were satisfied with the 3/4 trip with MT-Washington and Pleasant Mountain views.

Plan was to track out the trails so the kids could ride their snowmobiles.

We had reverse down a ways slowly and enjoyed the smiles as the back country skiers were ripping by enjoying the fruits of Burnt Meadow MTN!

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Most of the way down I was tracking a turn around for the sleds and then bang! WTF was that. Jr and I hoped out. On his side he says their is a crack in the tube.

Turns out new tie rod was a rookie engineering disaster. I but welded the shortened tubes and that failed. Sorry Davenet yours are tainted as well:(

The two boys hiked down to get a snowmobile. I had the tools to get to work and remove the tie rod. Plan was to take down and weld it. Luckily some club members were at the lodge ready to assist.

Had nice a nice office as I waited for transport and a few more tools.

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So in short order we are back up ready to install the tie rod and go about fun. The tables were out of sink and in deep sno. Tried using the snowmobile and an anchor to winch the front table into alignment. Fail

Send jr down to the bottom to fetch all the tie down traps to hook to a tree. I had to back up to straighten. Started working until I heard “Dad, another piece fell out from under the Tucker”. WTF FML

Hop out and the front drive shaft is on the ground. The full turn prob over extended turn was too much and broke a strap.

Now we had a rear track drive car in the powder. Jr leaned some new language as I assessed. Few maneuvers with him spotting the tie rod and we were back aligned and hooked up.

Last turn of my custom table bolt wrench and it broke.
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Now the cat didn’t want to go up hill and a 3 point turn was not a great idea. The back tie rod is also flawed so I have that in the back of my mind.

Decide to reverse down the 1/2 mile. Thinking was the table trailing the front trunion pivot would keep the non powered front end from hunting which worked well

Got into some drifts toward the bottom and the front tracks started dragging stopping the production. Few maneuvers and we were down.

Loaded on the trailer and headed back to the shop to assess. Boys were on powder overdose and maybe a little spf in J Tucker would have been wise?
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New u-joints, hardware, driveshaft timed and installed.

Front tie rod and table aligned. Added a rear clamp to allow tube pivot but tension for wear. I like to lock down the table side tie rod ends and keep the pivot looser for easy service and visability.

Rear tie rod off. I could kind of see where I welded but used a pic and dowel to confirm. Managed to cut right on my weld.

Rod inserted, welded, ground, and paint.

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Adjusted the track tension on all four tracks. Adjusted all the idler wheels nuts now that they have some run in.

Installed the improved tie rod and aligned the rear table. Few test laps and turns in the shop it seems happy:)

Thanks to Davenet for the decal. Tucker has had weird energy since it came off and happy to identify as Chrysler again.

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