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Mad River 1500

About this Mad River Glen Tucker… What’s the consensus of the forum at large on this machine?

Admittedly it’s a little rough; in the general “rode hard and put away wet” state. But for the sake of conversation if we take it at face value: It’s got some wheel problems (I even see one missing outright), and it doesn’t hold it’s fluids over the long term – even though they say keeping them topped off has been a practical approach to that issue. They say it runs strong and doesn’t have any massive drivetrain troubles.

At the end of the day the questions would be… Is their price close to where it should be? And – is there some likely trouble to be afraid of from a machine in this state?

I would love to hear some qualified feedback from anyone who knows more about this than I do, which I expect would be most everyone on this forum.
 
From my experience any groomer cat including mine has lots of gremlins and volunteer repair jobs to address. Maybe ski mountain groomers a little better maintained than snowmobile club groomers.

Myself I don't like leaks and bandages so this would be a mechanical go through for me. Lots of seals, bearings, and wheels, and maybe a motor and trans rebuild while you have it apart.

If you are just going to run around private property and like giving back to the dinosaurs run as is. To take out in the back country full go through. Thousands!

I would want to drive it and see how it goes through all the gears and turns.
 
For what ever it is worth, each buyer seller agreement is unique and I have seen folks pay more for less.

the more experienced folks here would mention prep and overall condition in regards to SAR activity in the outback (emergency situation, Lives at stake). less experienced enthusiasts might not care about the overall condition as long as the machine is mostly complete and operational "these folks will deal with whatever comes up broke or inoperative as a life lesson in a new hobby" even embracing a night in the outback as a necessary evil.
I would never recommend a WI tucker to a mountain Guy for Search and Rescue. Our machines are pounded from all the grooming and pulling.

I have a similar tucker in much better condition and much less money..... When I was looking for cats to work on Apple Creek snowmobile trails, the price of this one was outside of my justification.... (whatever that means)
 
I've owned four Tuckers. One of them was an ex-ski area machine and it was by far the roughest. Personally, unless the machine was an "incredible deal" I wouldn't buy another snowcat that was owned by a ski area, or otherwise used as a groomer, and this machine isn't an incredible deal...not even at half the price.

Tuckers of this era are really pretty simple machines, but parts add up uncomfortably fast. Everywhere you look on this Tucker there are "issues", and these are the ones you can see. I'm virtually certain you'll find other problems once you get into it. Look at the quality of the workmanship on the repairs. The wiring is atrocious. Look at the fuel line coming out of the carburetor. Does that look like someone took any pride at all in their work? Now extrapolate that "quality" throughout the rest of the Tucker.

RedSqwrl mentioned this already, but I totally agree with him that different people have different uses for their machine, and different objectives. If you don't care what it looks like, and you're always going to be close to home and are content to have mechanical breakdowns, you can get by with stuff others would replace. If your goal is to have a machine restored to original condition, or one you are going to take deep into the backcountry, this would be a very expensive specimen to start with.

Either way...I'd pass on this one. I genuinely believe you would be better off with a different machine. It might cost a bit more to purchase, but it should be in much better condition and needing much less reconditioning.
 
Hello again!

Thanks to everyone for the input on this. That was about perfectly what I was after: a couple reasonable responses representing a couple different viewpoints. I found what I was looking for in there.

I know I’m looking too hard at these square hooded rubber tracked Tuckers – they just have my heart right now for whatever reason. An Imp or a SnoTrac is closer to ‘practical’ for what I’m thinking – but if ‘practical’ was really the order of the day… I wouldn’t be talking SnoCats at all.

Love your forum, and I’m just gonna’ keep lurking around here. Thanks again for the opinions/advice!
 
There's a lot of snowcat knowledge and experience on this forum and you're wise to seek that out.

I don't know how much time you've spent lurking on the forum, or looking for a snowcat, but I'd suggest frequently looking at the ksl.com classifieds for snowcats. Enter "snowcat" in the keyword box at the top left of the classifieds page and also look at the "snowmobiles-used" category, then list the items in price from high to low. "Snowcat" is frequently spelled as "snow cat", "sno-cat", "sno cat" and "snocat".

ksl.com usually has a fair number of machines listed. It has listings from a surprisingly large geographic area. Especially at this time of year, if you find something you like at a good price don't dilly-dally, or the machine will be gone. There are some frequent sellers on ksl.com who flip snowcats, and I'd be leery of just about anything they say.

Good luck!
 
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