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Gmoose Adventures

DAVENET said:
A 350 on that?? I'll politely step back. Lots of different forces at work there than with an opposed 4/6 cyl aircraft engine.
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With all the LS rage going on......maybe a 5.3 aluminum LS......OH YEAH......A real rocket sled.....Variable pitch prop for those hard "hole shots" :lmao:
 
I just finished fabricating ramps so I can load and unload the kitten into my 2001 F350 long bed without the trailer attached. Previously I had to use the trailer to load the kitten. I would load the kitten onto the trailer using the trailer ramps, then move the ramps to make a bridge between the trailer bed and the truck bed, then drive the kitten into the truck bed. Since I wont be taking the trailer to the Kitten Love In next week I needed ramps to load directly into the truck. Here they are in use, work pretty good, in fact better than loading from the trailer.


They are 8 ft long and after use fit between the platforms in the bed of the truck which the kitten sits on since the kitten is wider than the wheel wells.
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GMoose said:
I just finished fabricating ramps so I can load and unload the kitten into my 2001 F350 long bed without the trailer attached. Previously I had to use the trailer to load the kitten. I would load the kitten onto the trailer using the trailer ramps, then move the ramps to make a bridge between the trailer bed and the truck bed, then drive the kitten into the truck bed. Since I wont be taking the trailer to the Kitten Love In next week I needed ramps to load directly into the truck. Here they are in use, work pretty good, in fact better than loading from the trailer.


They are 8 ft long and after use fit between the platforms in the bed of the truck which the kitten sits on since the kitten is wider than the wheel wells. View attachment 145187View attachment 145188
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you and your kitty will have a meow good time, good snow on the ground with about another foot plus on the way, going to epic kitten fun
 
I think I have FINALLY figured out the problem with the Frandee starter. When I first completed the restoration of the Frandee and took it out in the mountains a few times I had the starter lock up with the flywheel. Last year I pulled the starter and replaced it with a new one and a new drive. I used the same drive that it had, a 10 tooth gear. The new starter has never locked up on me like the previous one, however it would bog down and just didn't turn the engine over consistently. Had to jump start several times with 12V on the 6V system. I cleaned all the connections again hoping that would help, but it did not. So today I checked the starting solenoid, it has a voltage drop, enough to make a small difference at the starter, so a new one is on order. I also was going to replace the starter again, just in case that was the problem. In looking for the correct starter (which does not come with the drive, it has to be purchased separately) I found that the starter is suppose to have a 9 tooth drive gear to mate with the 114 tooth ring gear on a straight six Ford 254ci. Obviously the original 10 tooth drive gear was wrong, this is the gear used with the same starter motor but on the smaller engine (226ci) with a 112 tooth ring gear. I believe this miss sized drive gear is part of the problem, if not all of it. My guess is at sometime in the cats life the starter was replace with the one that had the wrong drive, I just followed suit. A new drive is on order. However the starter drive nor the solenoid will be here in time for Sun Valley Serenade, but what is in there will work, just not as good as it should and a few jump starts may be necessary to force that gear through. I do not have a photo of the starter drive, but here is the ring gear on the engine just before it was installed in the cat.

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Help needed. Can anyone tell me what I have here. Are these OC4 rear ends? Please educate me, I know nothing about these drives. These are from two different cats, are they the same rear ends? They look similar but different.

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4VL? Pretty sure the 4T's came with the Power Selector with two pickup differentials in the rear. Not sure what those differentials are, but they look the same as what @mkntrakes has in his 4VL.
 
PradoTDI said:
4VL? Pretty sure the 4T's came with the Power Selector with two pickup differentials in the rear. Not sure what those differentials are, but they look the same as what @mkntrakes has in his 4VL.
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One of these is a 4VL, the other has no model number on the tag.
 
GMoose said:
I think I have FINALLY figured out the problem with the Frandee starter. When I first completed the restoration of the Frandee and took it out in the mountains a few times I had the starter lock up with the flywheel. Last year I pulled the starter and replaced it with a new one and a new drive. I used the same drive that it had, a 10 tooth gear. The new starter has never locked up on me like the previous one, however it would bog down and just didn't turn the engine over consistently. Had to jump start several times with 12V on the 6V system. I cleaned all the connections again hoping that would help, but it did not. So today I checked the starting solenoid, it has a voltage drop, enough to make a small difference at the starter, so a new one is on order. I also was going to replace the starter again, just in case that was the problem. In looking for the correct starter (which does not come with the drive, it has to be purchased separately) I found that the starter is suppose to have a 9 tooth drive gear to mate with the 114 tooth ring gear on a straight six Ford 254ci. Obviously the original 10 tooth drive gear was wrong, this is the gear used with the same starter motor but on the smaller engine (226ci) with a 112 tooth ring gear. I believe this miss sized drive gear is part of the problem, if not all of it. My guess is at sometime in the cats life the starter was replace with the one that had the wrong drive, I just followed suit. A new drive is on order. However the starter drive nor the solenoid will be here in time for Sun Valley Serenade, but what is in there will work, just not as good as it should and a few jump starts may be necessary to force that gear through. I do not have a photo of the starter drive, but here is the ring gear on the engine just before it was installed in the cat.

View attachment 146149
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Well feeling pretty stupid today. Started working on replacing the starter drive. I guess I can't count. I had mistakenly counter 10 teeth on the drive, wrong, both that I have are 9 tooth, so I have the correct one. Maybe I just wanted to find the problem to badly and counted the first tooth twice. Back to the drawing board.
 
Unlikely that Utah State developed the 4VL rear end for its earliest Trackmasters. But then where were they sourced? One of mine came with a new set of plates and discs but the previous owner had recently passed away and no one knew where he got them.
 
vintagebike said:
Unlikely that Utah State developed the 4VL rear end for its earliest Trackmasters. But then where were they sourced? One of mine came with a new set of plates and discs but the previous owner had recently passed away and no one knew where he got them.
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Thanks for the info.
 
Took the Frandee out today, 24 miles, running great. Lots of fresh powder and a blue bird day. Adjustments I made to the engine and carb really helped the power and the starting. Found that I had been using the wrong timing mark indicator all these years. Added Frogzskin on the air filter which kept the snow fluff out of the carb, this really helped when flying through the powder. No more engine dieing.

Good times, good times!!!
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Frandee 37 broke one of her legs loading on the trailer a couple days ago. Near miss, this could have happened at the Alpine Cat Jamboree where I had just come from.

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Snowy Rivers said:
This does not look good......

Replace the spindle ?????

Looks like the axle tube is welded to the chassis ?????
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I will make a fixture to keep the spindle concentric with the seal which is still attached to the cat. Then grind away to make a weld bevel, then weld away. About a days work, but it has been snowing here a bunch, is very cold, is windy, and I don't have a place in doors yet to work on the cat, so kind of procrastinating on fixing it. However, I want to take it out and play so soon I will jump in with both feet and get it fixed.
 
Copy on the indoor work place

Can you remove the old spindle from the Square tube and replace it with a new one????

Should be a standard spindle
There are many places online that sell universal spindles that can be welded onto square tube axles....
 
Got a good snow storm yesterday morning so I took the Frandee out and my friend came along with his side by side with tracks. He captured this photo of me headed west in the early evening. I absolutely love this picture, the Frandee breaking trail in a foot of new powder. We had a great time, got back to the trucks just at dark thirty. Discovered that my truck was stuck in the new snow, of course after I had loaded the tow truck (Frandee). So my buddy pulled me out with one of those new yankum ropes, man did that thing work incredibly great. Anyway good times were had by all.

Breaking Trail Elk Meadows.jpg
 
Hey I know a couple people that have experience repairing that on sight. Takes them about an hour, includes chips and snacks.
Oh, one of them just responded above me.
(and I can't find the picture I want of them repairing our local search and rescue cat when it sheered off the axle)
 
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