A Snow Cat Tour

[Snowtrac Nome]

I'm not smearing there name . I am responing to another posters post . I really don't give two hoots who it belongs to . It is piss poor chaining . You can like it or hate it . I could care less but the fact is whoever owns that rig has it chained incorrectly .
If you don't believe me take that picture down to the Highway Patrol truck scales and get a 2nd opinion . It only needs to fail one time to prove my point .

you are right they should know how to secure a load and jj keller puts out a fmsca guide that will spell out how to secure a load on a flat bed also keep in mib=nd that thar s7r groupe is likely made up of volenteers much like ours is and they probaly dont have any truck drivers in their groupe how ever IAW ak state law that rig wiuld likely ecceed 21500 pounds which would require a cdl knowing that a bv206 weighs in around 10k stripped and you add the weight of a trailer and 1 ton truck and presto

 

[the old trucker]

Anyone know the gross weight of the unit on that trailer? Big Al, if that machine is chained incorrectly, what is the proper way to do it??
Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think that unit is sitting on the trailer better than Weatherby's is on his tlr. I'm not saying it's secured right. Weatherby has his machine stuck up above the deck about a foot or more, putting the center of gravity higher up. With this tlr the machine is sitting right on the deck. Less chance of ramps tipping over. Sorry Weatherby, you have an awesome machine & all with a lot of green backs invested into it, but if it were mine I would feel alot more comfortable hauling it on a tlr like that bv206 is sitting on. Weatherby, if you plan on hauling that beauty around on any tlr, I would invest in four (4) grade 70 5/16" chains about 12 ft. long or so, plus four (4) quality chain binders. For hauling pieces like these around I prefer chain over a strap anytime.

The Old Trucker

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

assuming they had the proper chains and the steering locks were in place it would be properly secured my dod standrads but dot. requires 1 chain set every 10 feet of load and they only have 2 also in round figures the bv 206 depending on its configureation weighs between 10 and 15000 pounds heavy rig for what it is.the main reason i can see that this is secured wrong is the fact it can still flex in the center with out the air deployability locks on the cylinders at the coupler and i would bet they didn't get theirs because this one here is also missing them along with the BII items to service the track.

 

[BigAl]

assuming they had the proper chains and the steering locks were in place it would be properly secured my dod standrads but dot. requires 1 chain set every 10 feet of load and they only have 2 also in round figures the bv 206 depending on its configureation weighs between 10 and 15000 pounds heavy rig for what it is.the main reason i can see that this is secured wrong is the fact it can still flex in the center with out the air deployability locks on the cylinders at the coupler and i would bet they didn't get theirs because this one here is also missing them along with the BII items to service the track.

Can't tell by the picture but you also need grade 70 chain too .

 

[weatherby]

Anyone know the gross weight of the unit on that trailer? Big Al, if that machine is chained incorrectly, what is the proper way to do it??
Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think that unit is sitting on the trailer better than Weatherby's is on his tlr. I'm not saying it's secured right. Weatherby has his machine stuck up above the deck about a foot or more, putting the center of gravity higher up. With this tlr the machine is sitting right on the deck. Less chance of ramps tipping over. Sorry Weatherby, you have an awesome machine & all with a lot of green backs invested into it, but if it were mine I would feel alot more comfortable hauling it on a tlr like that bv206 is sitting on. Weatherby, if you plan on hauling that beauty around on any tlr, I would invest in four (4) grade 70 5/16" chains about 12 ft. long or so, plus four (4) quality chain binders. For hauling pieces like these around I prefer chain over a strap anytime.

The Old Trucker

Anyone know the gross weight of the unit on that trailer? Big Al, if that machine is chained incorrectly, what is the proper way to do it??
Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think that unit is sitting on the trailer better than Weatherby's is on his tlr. I'm not saying it's secured right. Weatherby has his machine stuck up above the deck about a foot or more, putting the center of gravity higher up. With this tlr the machine is sitting right on the deck. Less chance of ramps tipping over. Sorry Weatherby, you have an awesome machine & all with a lot of green backs invested into it, but if it were mine I would feel alot more comfortable hauling it on a tlr like that bv206 is sitting on. Weatherby, if you plan on hauling that beauty around on any tlr, I would invest in four (4) grade 70 5/16" chains about 12 ft. long or so, plus four (4) quality chain binders. For hauling pieces like these around I prefer chain over a strap anytime.

The Old Trucker

The Old Trucker....I agree with you on hauling my cat the way I did, I also felt very insecure on transporting it in that fashion and do not plan of making a habit of moving it that way, however I did take into consideration my route which was very flat, smooth, & straight. Had my route been worse I probably would have hauled it on the trailer that I brought it home on which is a 24' tri-axle deck over. Aside from "possibly" not complying with the DOT I seen no way it could move, and it didn't in the 300mi trip. My straps were rated at 33 hundred lbs each, I used 4 straps on a 5,500 unit and the ramps are bolted to the floor. I seen no difference rather the deck was above the tires or not in this situation, because the cat would still be at the same height above the wheels. Aside from adding "over kill" I couldn't see any reason why OR how you could tie it down any safer, YES I could have added extra tie downs in case one of the primary tie downs broke but I wasn't even close to exceeding the limits of my straps, and my straps are in good shape. Here in Mich the DOT requires a wheeled vehicle to be anchored with four separate straps OR chains anchored to the four corners of the trailer in a triangle fashion. Relatively speaking, this is not that heavy of a load OR that complicated of a load to tie down on a 12000lb capacity trailer with all four brakes working, being pulled with a 5600 hundred lb diesel. I also see "nothing" wrong with the way those Huggens are tied down, without creating over kill, how can those things come off or even move providing everything is bound down tight and assuming the correct strength of chain is used. I am no expert in rigging BUT I don't think you need to be to tie a snow cat down. If I'm missing something PLEASE educate me, I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I would really like to learn something here if I do not understand everything.

 

[the old trucker]

assuming they had the proper chains and the steering locks were in place it would be properly secured my dod standrads but dot. requires 1 chain set every 10 feet of load and they only have 2 also in round figures the bv 206 depending on its configureation weighs between 10 and 15000 pounds heavy rig for what it is.the main reason i can see that this is secured wrong is the fact it can still flex in the center with out the air deployability locks on the cylinders at the coupler and i would bet they didn't get theirs because this one here is also missing them along with the BII items to service the track.

So are you saying there should be three chains on this machine?? What configuration should the chains be in? What about the strap in through the wheels. Do that count as a restraint??
If you had steel plate stacked for a load & it was 6 ft. wide & 8 ft. long with a total weight of say 30,000 lbs. would it be legal if you had only two chains?? Please tell me how the chains are to be installed to make that machine legal to run down the road!!!

 

[Mainer]

Yea, now this is the kind of good passionate exchange the forum is so ripe for! Woo-hoo! Tie-down religion, CG's, DOT's, Fuzz, Straps, Triangles, Truck size, etc...

We all gots the fever and don't want no cure.

back to loading pallets.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

So are you saying there should be three chains on this machine?? What configuration should the chains be in? What about the strap in through the wheels. Do that count as a restraint??
If you had steel plate stacked for a load & it was 6 ft. wide & 8 ft. long with a total weight of say 30,000 lbs. would it be legal if you had only two chains?? Please tell me how the chains are to be installed to make that machine legal to run down the road!!!

first take a close look at the chains they are 1 chain front and rear and rapped through a pin on the front and pintel in the rear not 4 seperate chains and i dont see the cargo strap doing any good and also a set of tie downs between the front and rear car to stabelize the 2 sections from moving is how we did it in the military finaly the load rating for your ties must 1/2 times the weight of the load simply put 2 ties every 10 feet of cargo with a minum of 2 straps see393.102 for specifics and exceptions by the regs it is tied down wrong my personal experiences with that type ov vehicle if the park brake is set it would likely not fall offeven if it wern't tied down.

 

[utahwilson]

I miss bobcat I know he is out there...waiting...

 

[Mainer]

You want the truth that Bobcat will Speak? You think you want it? Y'all can't handle the Bobcat truth!

 

[the old trucker]

first take a close look at the chains they are 1 chain front and rear and rapped through a pin on the front and pintel in the rear not 4 seperate chains and i dont see the cargo strap doing any good and also a set of tie downs between the front and rear car to stabelize the 2 sections from moving is how we did it in the military finaly the load rating for your ties must 1/2 times the weight of the load simply put 2 ties every 10 feet of cargo with a minum of 2 straps see393.102 for specifics and exceptions by the regs it is tied down wrong my personal experiences with that type ov vehicle if the park brake is set it would likely not fall offeven if it wern't tied down.

Two chains plus four binders can be used to get the same results as what he has done on that machine. Truth be known the way he has the strap hooked is illegal. Example; if you had a load of lumber tied down with the straps outside the rub rails & someone sideswiped you there is nothing keeping your load secure. I have hauled just about everything to & from Texas to as far as you can go east in Canada for the offshore industry Out of curisoty if those tracks on that machine had metal touching the floor & the floor was metal, how would the military secure it for transport?? According to you, straps don't do any good!!

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

Two chains plus four binders can be used to get the same results as what he has done on that machine. Truth be known the way he has the strap hooked is illegal. Example; if you had a load of lumber tied down with the straps outside the rub rails & someone sideswiped you there is nothing keeping your load secure. I have hauled just about everything to & from Texas to as far as you can go east in Canada for the offshore industry Out of curisoty if those tracks on that machine had metal touching the floor & the floor was metal, how would the military secure it for transport?? According to you, straps don't do any good!!

in the military i only delt with vehicle movement as i worked in the motor pool but in the last 15 years of serving with the alaska army national guard i have been transportes large numbers of bv 206's and always with 6 chains and binders to prevent up and down front to rear and side to side movement and we tied down to air craft and rail cars the same way each vehicle had a placard with its tie down instructions and cg location and it's also located in most of the technical manuals to i would have posted it but that part is missing out of the man's how ever i do remember the placards on the inside of the front cabs like i said befoer i had one with water frozen in the hull and i culdent skid it with a 966 so i dont see it falling off unless you are driving on some crappy roads and between the middle east and roads in alaska i have seen some i have seen some of them roads brake spindles and flatten new tires.not to say i have the miles under my belt that you do but i do have a few quality miles.

 

[Chetdb]

So when I used to load my pickup inside the silage racks, set the brakes put it in gear and down the road I would go. Legally secured because the racks were taller than the pickup. I have also slid a D6 off the side of the lowboy as I was loading it on a wet deck on slight side hill. Steel on steel is not good. Steel cleats on cats with no cross bars are made to pull forward and backward not sideways.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

you are right about the cat and not just on steel ice frozen ground and rock can all send you side ways in the right conditions especialy in turns.

 

[the old trucker]

I REST MY CASE !!!!!

Thank you all for the input.

 

[mtntopper]

My Featherlight deck over trailer came with a metal beaver tail and ramps at the back. I modified the rear portion of the trailer with 2X6's bolted across the tail to get traction with the metal cleats when loading. The deck is wood so I have no problems with it sliding after loading. This setup makes for a safe and effective way to not make a run at the ramps to climb on the trailer but just ease up and climb up to the deck slowly...

And yes the chains are just looped through the back on the BR in this photo as I moved it just a short distance in my drive out to the main road before the trailer was snowed in at home.

 

[MNoutdoors RIP]

Here are a few pictures from cats in the land of OZ

 

[the old trucker]

Boggie do you know what they are doing with those old bombardiers ?? Do they use them now & how can I save these pics to a piece of paper ..

The Old Trucker

 

[couchloafer]

WOW! Gotta love the Antarctic Snow Trac with the slanted windshield!

 

[MNoutdoors RIP]

WOW! Gotta love the Antarctic Snow Trac with the slanted windshield!

He has two and they both have the Porche engines.

 

[MNoutdoors RIP]

Boggie do you know what they are doing with those old bombardiers ?? Do they use them now & how can I save these pics to a piece of paper ..

The Old Trucker

OT they are using the buses still for transport they have 4 in total

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

i keep thinking about those frost free windshields on the snow trac's they are ugly but if i didn't have to scrape frost in the morning it would be worth it to be ugly.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

any one know the difference between the bug motors and porche engines other than carburation and carbs.

 

[pixie]

Recently seen in Quebec.

 

[pixie]

And a mystery cat.

 

[longbed454]

Sure looks like a modified "Bombi" to me just by the tracks and rear hood


That's just my 2cents

 

[benz9]

I don't see as many sno-cats around where I live, but when I do, I stop and take pictures... First is an SW-48 for sale, was used to pull ice fishing huts off the river back to solid ground (hope he didn't go on the river with it...) Second is a japanese model, forgot the name, no suspension, 12 tons fully loaded! Was in the field doing soil samples??? Some kinda drill rig. Third is a wire puller (new high voltage line installed close to home), looks like something you guys would recognise (not a Bombardier).

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

the utility rig looks like a formost or nodwell and the drill rig is a marooko a miner up here has a couple of them he thinks they are great but i havn't been too impressed they are always jumping the drive sprokets scarry when going down hill slow and don't get much traction in the mud had to walk in and get the d-6 to pouulit out.

 

[pixie]

Attitash ski area in Bartlett NH

This is an older Muskeg. You can tell by the small axles. Side decks have been replaced and guards welded to removeable decks.

 

[aulen2002]

Was in the field doing soil samples??? Some kinda drill rig. .

Looks to be a standard geotechnical/environmental drill rig. 8" hollow stem augers on the front rack (sandy conditions?). Lots of water hose so there must be bedrock there too. Probably a CME or Longyear rig.