Exceptionally well said!!!
-
Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/
Best use of a snowcat?
- Thread starter 1boringguy
- Start date
T
Anyway, it is way to easy to be 'busy' in life I think.
Thanks BFT, I appreciate the compliment from someone who is actually well spoken. Joking with Jackie, I told her maybe that would be my contribution to Buddhist sayings; Make Then Happen
Anyway, it is way to easy to be 'busy' in life I think.
We got a late start to Warswick Hotsprings yesterday so by the time we got done playing with the shovel, we didn't make it clear into there. That's ok, any day in the SnoCat is better than most others.
I'm blaming it on operator error.
Snow conditions were about two feet of mildly consolidated with two feet of sugar snow underneath. Once we broke though there was no base until you hit dirt. I think we broke through due to getting a track into that snowmobile rut.
and so we breakout the shovel. Hows the saying go? There's two kinds of snowcatters; 'them thats been stuck, and them thats going to be'.
Dug out once and almost made it down to the road. Couple guys on sleds stopped and grabbed their shovels to help. Not all of them hate us 
All's well that ends well, right?
I feel for you on this one. We started out doing well the other day, by 2PM the 4ft of snow was turning to slush all the way down. All in all a good ride, but not what I wanted..... The snow tracs failing is the steering isn't positive, and once it got soupy changing course out of a rut was problematic.
Attachments
Hadn't thought about that of the variator system. Definitely an issue if you're buried deep. Each style of cat is different. Any two track is going to high center on the belly way before a Tucker. Tougher if you have to dig it out, maybe easier if you pulling it out with another cat, like a sled.
You eat better than we do that's for sure.
Yea you better get healthy first. By summer we'll jeep up to your place.
The wife does a great job in the picnic basket competition, 3 cheeses, 4 meats, crackers and grape juice. Like "lunchables" but so much better. Normally we do a hot sandwich and soup, but this was perfectly fine.
28 inch wide tracks. These are the 200 inch long tracks so probably eighty some inches on the ground. I think the weight around 8500-9000 lbs the way we have it here.
Travler,
Thinking about your question. Your 1200 with wide tracks is probably about half the psi ground pressure as my 1644. Less weight more track. My Patrol has about the same track as the 1200 but as a hydrostatic unit it weights about 9k too. Over twice the 1200 I think. The pontoon tuckers are light too and perform very well. I watched a 443 out climb my 44 inch tracks one day, weight is a huge factor. Bunch of different physics going on with pontoon tracks though. Anyway i would think your 1200 should perform very well in deep snow.
Thinking about your question. Your 1200 with wide tracks is probably about half the psi ground pressure as my 1644. Less weight more track. My Patrol has about the same track as the 1200 but as a hydrostatic unit it weights about 9k too. Over twice the 1200 I think. The pontoon tuckers are light too and perform very well. I watched a 443 out climb my 44 inch tracks one day, weight is a huge factor. Bunch of different physics going on with pontoon tracks though. Anyway i would think your 1200 should perform very well in deep snow.
I think you are right my 1200 weight is about 6200 with full fuel , I was up in McCall today it was heavy wet snow all day , I am sure the avalanche warning were very hi also , we have had a lot of snow this year , I went out for about a hour this afternoon, the Snow has to be 6 ft deep in places , I was on the belly pans a few times but didn’t get stuck , just a side note I guess the Valley county Sheriff’s have 6 or 7 snow mobiles now to patrol the groomed trails , PS I only crossed one groomed trail the rest was all NFS
120km run yesterday. I lead was cat running around 30 minutes ahead of the second cat. He ended up having air filter issues and could only run half speed.
1BG,
It looks like you had a lot of shoveling to do! (I'm going to have to re-think the shovel that I carry, because it's way undersize for the task you had.)
My impression is Tucker's claimed weights are not very accurate, and I suspect the same for Thiokol family machines.
On the way home from CMM 2023 we had a blowout on the trailer and Scott was then curious as to what the trailer loaded with Thundercat actually weighed. He weighed it when he got back to SLC and the total weight of the trailer, including tongue weight, was 13,900 lbs. Supposedly the trailer weighs 5,100 (according to the manufacturer). That puts Thundercat at 8,800 pounds. The Tucker data plate says 6,310. Yes, our modifications added some weight, but nothing like 2,500 pounds.
I'm not familiar with Travler's LMC, but Scott has a Thiokol 1200C wide track, two-door machine and it's no lightweight. In fact, it was christened "Porky" when he tried to load it on a trailer attached to a friend's Dodge pickup.
The pic. Tires on the trailer didn't much like this, and note the rear of the Dodge lifted off the ground.
We abandoned that Dodge/trailer combination and Scott loaded it on another trailer and pulled it with his crane truck.
It looks like you had a lot of shoveling to do! (I'm going to have to re-think the shovel that I carry, because it's way undersize for the task you had.)
My impression is Tucker's claimed weights are not very accurate, and I suspect the same for Thiokol family machines.
On the way home from CMM 2023 we had a blowout on the trailer and Scott was then curious as to what the trailer loaded with Thundercat actually weighed. He weighed it when he got back to SLC and the total weight of the trailer, including tongue weight, was 13,900 lbs. Supposedly the trailer weighs 5,100 (according to the manufacturer). That puts Thundercat at 8,800 pounds. The Tucker data plate says 6,310. Yes, our modifications added some weight, but nothing like 2,500 pounds.
I'm not familiar with Travler's LMC, but Scott has a Thiokol 1200C wide track, two-door machine and it's no lightweight. In fact, it was christened "Porky" when he tried to load it on a trailer attached to a friend's Dodge pickup.
The pic. Tires on the trailer didn't much like this, and note the rear of the Dodge lifted off the ground.
We abandoned that Dodge/trailer combination and Scott loaded it on another trailer and pulled it with his crane truck.
Black foot , after looking at 1BG’s Tucker I need to find a youngster to work the shovel , when I picked up the 1200 I weighed the trailer on our scales we weigh the hay trucks on then weighed it again when I got home , I would almost bet no two of them are alike
BFT,
I weighed the 1644 early on when I got it, seem to recall it was right around 9k. My tag leads me to think I might be a little light on my guess. Don't have the blade on, but gear, tools, bike, ect probably more than make up what the blade weights. Not sure if curb weight includes full fluids. There is 500 lbs of fluids.
This snow even in the top couple feet that you can see chunks of, was very low water content thus no strength (think rime ice and you get the idea), and below that even less so. It was light so the big grain shovel was good. In heavy wet snow 'I' would definitely be taking small bites with a big shovel. But then you're not exactly in Sierra Cement country either ..... most of the time. This one is aluminum with fiberglass handle so very light.
It really wasn't as bad as it looks, we were back on the road in about an hour. And the snowmobile guys were there for just that last five feet. If we were 200 yds out in a meadow or down below the road, it would have been a much different chore. But we were where we were by intention.
I weighed the 1644 early on when I got it, seem to recall it was right around 9k. My tag leads me to think I might be a little light on my guess. Don't have the blade on, but gear, tools, bike, ect probably more than make up what the blade weights. Not sure if curb weight includes full fluids. There is 500 lbs of fluids.
This snow even in the top couple feet that you can see chunks of, was very low water content thus no strength (think rime ice and you get the idea), and below that even less so. It was light so the big grain shovel was good. In heavy wet snow 'I' would definitely be taking small bites with a big shovel. But then you're not exactly in Sierra Cement country either ..... most of the time. This one is aluminum with fiberglass handle so very light.
It really wasn't as bad as it looks, we were back on the road in about an hour. And the snowmobile guys were there for just that last five feet. If we were 200 yds out in a meadow or down below the road, it would have been a much different chore. But we were where we were by intention.
Last edited:
Fallowing a bunch of tuckers with a Snow Trac is not as much fun as one would like. Multiple passes in the same tracks make two
quite deep ruts in a big hurry. Tuckers eject a lot of snow from the path they run. Multiple machines in line with one another is problematic.
Of course, when asked the operators kindly varied their paths, and left a much better trail to follow.
Something to keep in mind at Snow Cat gatherings.
quite deep ruts in a big hurry. Tuckers eject a lot of snow from the path they run. Multiple machines in line with one another is problematic.
Of course, when asked the operators kindly varied their paths, and left a much better trail to follow.
Something to keep in mind at Snow Cat gatherings.
BREAKING: Two buried, injured in Morgan County avalanche
Two people were rescued after being buried in an avalanche Tuesday afternoon.
content.jwplatform.com
It's spring snow time, but the amounts and and conditions of this year's snowpack is still leaving some pretty hazardous conditions in places. It's one thing to get stuck, it's another to be grateful that your cat has a good ROPs. Be careful out there.
Those tracks and weight puts your PSI at about 1, thats why you got stuck in those conditions. Having powder under the base should be against the law.
I seem to recall reading around here that .5 psi or under is considered a true deep snow machine. Not to many of them are that I don't think.
We've had some great trips this winter. But ........ it ain't over yet.
The Sawtooths and the Salmon.
Not that we couldn't have, but we just unloaded and rode on in.
As long as you're becoming an expert at riding ....
What's life without a Hotsprings right?
Switzerland is almost as beautiful
Fish and Game said the Steelheads have just arrived. They might have taken their cue from these guys.
We took my niece and her friend up Sunday to make some turns.
Might be our last trip this year. Maybe.
The Sawtooths and the Salmon.
Not that we couldn't have, but we just unloaded and rode on in.
As long as you're becoming an expert at riding ....
What's life without a Hotsprings right?
Switzerland is almost as beautiful
Fish and Game said the Steelheads have just arrived. They might have taken their cue from these guys.
We took my niece and her friend up Sunday to make some turns.
Last edited:
GREAT pics 1BG! Thanks for sharing.
Yes, happens fast.1BG , little Capt is sure growing
Well we managed one more trip on Sunday. Past SV participants will recognize the Couch Summit run. It gets up high pretty fast so I figured the last best snow. From last week until this the snow below 6,000 feet is going fast. Above that still quite a lot of snow, but old man winter is definitely losing the battle to the Sun.
Slide from earlier in the season. One of those 5 risk avi days no doubt.
Hard to tell from this pic but I'd guess we were sitting on about 6 feet of snow there.
Headed back in a snow storm.
Stopped in Fairfield for a roadkill pattymelt, Lil Capt checking out the caboose.
Working on those riding skills every chance he gets
Slide from earlier in the season. One of those 5 risk avi days no doubt.
Hard to tell from this pic but I'd guess we were sitting on about 6 feet of snow there.
Headed back in a snow storm.
Stopped in Fairfield for a roadkill pattymelt, Lil Capt checking out the caboose.
Working on those riding skills every chance he gets
