Timbertahoe
New member
Hello everybody, I’m new here but have been on the hunt for an LMC 1500, or 1800 with a blade. This groups seems to have a ton Of info so I thought I would ask you all.
thanks!!
thanks!!
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Anybody have an LMC 1500 or 1800 for sale
- Thread starter Timbertahoe
- Start date
I believe Wasatch Snowcat has two for sale, but I don't know if the website is up to date (no affiliation).
Timbertahoe
New member
Thanks I will definitely check it out! What is average fair price let’s say for a rig in ok condition all the way to excellent ready to work condition
I realize you think that's a simple question, and at face value it would seem so. However, there are so many variables I don't think there's a good answer.
For example some friends of The Infamous WBJ1 just bought a used Pisten Bully with 650 hours for north of $100K. I think that's an outrageous price, but they obviously didn't.
Some people want a machine "now", and they basically pay a premium for that. But if you're patient AND look hard for a while, you can often find a decent machine at a reasonable price. That said, when a nice machine comes along at a fair price you need to be able to jump, and jump now, because those machines usually get snapped up. Right now is also the worst time of year to buy a snowcat....
For example some friends of The Infamous WBJ1 just bought a used Pisten Bully with 650 hours for north of $100K. I think that's an outrageous price, but they obviously didn't.
Some people want a machine "now", and they basically pay a premium for that. But if you're patient AND look hard for a while, you can often find a decent machine at a reasonable price. That said, when a nice machine comes along at a fair price you need to be able to jump, and jump now, because those machines usually get snapped up. Right now is also the worst time of year to buy a snowcat....
I've been told that Peterson has this 1500 coming up for sale for around $45K. I believe this is the tippy-top "Beartrac" model with an injected Ford 300. McKay Wilson provided the info to me: mwilson@petersonequipment.com
While not a 1500 or 1800, there's also this full-cab 1200 in Ohio. These machines are very well liked and preferred by many on this forum.
Thiokol Spryte Snowcat Model 1202WT - heavy equipment - by dealer -...
Thiokol Spryte Snowcat Model 1202WT s/n TPA-1744, Ford 3.3 Diesel Engine, C-12 Rear End, 45” Tracks, 3-Speed Automatic Transmission, Hydraulic Steering, 232 Hours, Heated Cab, 6-Way 10’ Meyers Snow...
dayton.craigslist.org
LMC 1800, no blade, looks rough:
LMC 1800 All Terrain RTV Track Machine Crawler Carrier Caterpillar Diesel | eBay
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The blade setup is concerning to me for several reasons.While not a 1500 or 1800, there's also this full-cab 1200 in Ohio. These machines are very well liked and preferred by many on this forum.
Thiokol Spryte Snowcat Model 1202WT - heavy equipment - by dealer -...
Thiokol Spryte Snowcat Model 1202WT s/n TPA-1744, Ford 3.3 Diesel Engine, C-12 Rear End, 45” Tracks, 3-Speed Automatic Transmission, Hydraulic Steering, 232 Hours, Heated Cab, 6-Way 10’ Meyers Snow...dayton.craigslist.org
View attachment 141453
Snowcat blades are meant for grooming NOT plowing. As such, they are much lighter duty than snowplows designed for plowing snow, and pushing snow into snowbanks. That means they also weigh less than blades made as snowplows for pickup trucks or other vehicles used for snowplow duty.
A wide track Thiokol 1200 snowcat is a wide machine. Snowcat buddy/partner-in-crime Scott has a Thiokol 1200C wide track and it's wide and heavy (hence its name, "Porky"). Here's a pic on a trailer.
I'm almost certain that trailer is eight feet wide. My guesstimate is that it overhangs the trailer by roughly a foot on each side, so call it ten feet wide. Doing a little Meyer snowplow research, the blade on the Craigslist snowcat looks like a HML model. At full angle it's 103" wide, almost 18" narrower than the snowcat's width. Incidentally, that same spec sheet lists the weight at 1,029 pounds!
Now look at the mounting system. That blade is mounted well forward of the front of the snowcat and that distance acts as a lever, adding weight to the front of the machine and decreasing weight on the back of the machine. While we often think of weight, track area and flotation, that weight should be balanced, and this blade installation seems especially bad.
In photo 8 look at the shoes at the end of the blade. Shoes are design to ride on a hard surface and hold the cutting edge slightly above the hard surface. How exactly is that going to work in snow? I'm thinking not well. They have very little surface area to support the weight of the blade, so the blade will basically be hanging off the front of the snowcat unless it's on a hard surface. But snowcats depend on snow for traction. If you plow the snow down to bare ground, the grousers will have no snow to grab and won't get much traction.
While we're looking at the mounting, note the seller claims this is a 6-way blade. The number of "ways" is the different hydraulically powered planes of motion the blade, or in some cases parts of the blade, moves through. A typical six-way snowcat blade would be power up AND down, angle left and right, and tilt left and right; so you could cut a level path across a sidehill. When I look at this setup I see a lift cylinder and chains holding the blade which means gravity down and not power down, I see angle cylinders, but no tilt cylinder. By my way of thinking, that makes this a three-way blade, not a six-way as the seller claims.
I have no doubt that the snowcat portion of this setup is very capable, but I think the blade setup adds nothing.
He speaketh the truth! I would ditch that plow blade. It may work in midwestern farm country for clearing farm roads, but not in snow country.
Timbertahoe
New member
Thank you all for the info
And the other side of a wide blade discussion. when hitting drifts on side hill roads the steeper the angle of the blade the less HP the push requires and frequently only half the blade is in use. But, to get the width necessary to pass the cat at that angle, you have to have a big honking wide blade out front To get away with this also requires a heavy, stable cat that resists side slip.
check Snow Grooming Equipment for Sale https://www.facebook.com/groups/513423092129226/
If you have questions I have two friends with LMC 1800 in SLC UT, they like it but its heavy 8 k and hydrotstatic drive vs LMC 1500 light 5k and mechanical break steer drive. LMC 1500 snowtrans was selling for about 35k. LMC 1800 u can find around 20k since they are used for grooming vs rec use.
I just bought this exact machine! The Wyoming Department of Transportation traded it into a Dealer in NY (Mohawk Industrial Werks). Its being shipped back to Wyoming where I live next week. I paid way less than 45k!
That sure as heck looks like the same machine, Landon, right down to the unique mud flaps. It looks like someone removed all the LED lights from the top of the ROPS since last year. Look at the white hydraulic cylinders in both pictures below - quite unique.
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