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Sno Cat Recommendations

TooManyIrons

TooManyIrons

Member
Hello - I going to be on the market for a sno cat for access to my property in the Idaho panhandle. I will eventually retire there if all goes as planned. The road to the land is a graded dirt road with a couple of fairly steep grades. It is approxmately 2 miles from my property to the road that is maintained by the state. The area gets an average of approximately 5' of snow each winter.
The sno cat would be used 2 - 3 times per week during the winter and it would need to have room for 2 - 3 passengers and the ability to haul provisions. I would prefer a unit that is liquid cooled and uses standard automotive components where applicable. I would also like to find a sno cat that needs some work so that I can become more familiar with the maintenance aspects of it before I am dependant on it for transportation.
Any insight/feedback would be appreciated.

Thank you,
C. D. Hunter
 
Have you looked at Thiokol IMP, Super IMP and Spryte models? I think all those fit your criteria. They came in different cab configurations with some of them only seating 2 people but other models had 4 - 5 person cabins.

Not water cooled, but fairly common and easy to repair would be the Snow Tracs, and member Pacifica has one for sale on these pages currently. Snow Tracs can seat 7 in a pinch, but more comfortably 4 to 5.

Older Tuckers, like the 442 are often found, and modestly priced.

Where are you located? Seems like Tuckers and Thiokols are more common in the Rocky Mtn area, Snow Tracs in the Cascades and up into Alaska. But all 3 brands can be found in all areas.
 
tomelroy said:
Check out www.snotrans.com

They are located in Weiser, near Boise. They usually have a good selection of Thiokols.

What is your price range?
Click to expand...

Cool site, lots of really neat equipment.

One question, though: Why wouldn't they put pricing on these machines?? Is this some sort of white shoes and plaid-suit, used-car sales technique? If I were seriously looking for this kind of equipment, that would be a real turn off to me. They take enough time to put up a picture of everything, but no prices. :chicken:

Just one man's opinion.
 
He's actually a member here, but only occasionally visits and rarely posts. I don't know why he doesn't post prices, but most people seem to have a high regard for him as a supplier of snow cats.
 
they do have the price for the special of the month! I dont know of any snowcat dealer in my region that post pricing on the web....snotrans, peterson equipment or safetyone. Maybe they dont want each other knowing their pricing?
 
I'm not trying to be a jacka$$ or anything, seriously. I am not and will not talk ill of someone I don't know. This dealer could be a great person to do business with, I don't know.

I just find it really annoying when I'm looking for something (usually the higher ticket items) and the dealers don't offer pricing. I'd think that anyone looking for a snow cat knows that $20, 30, 50K is the norm for a used machine worth buying, so the idea a preventing sticker shock is only insulating against the non-buyer anyway.

Having been in the white shoes, plaid suit, used car business for a while, this is a common thought on how to get customers to come in to the store or call on the phone. I was always told to never give price unless the person is sitting at your desk. To me this is just an antiquated and frankly insulting way of selling.

One man's opinion.
 
I suspect snow cat prices aren't usually listed because of the seasonal nature of their value; cheap in the summer when you don't need one and expensive in the winter when you are now desperate for one. :smileywac

I second a Thiokol as a good choice for you needs and snotrans as a good source in your area. Don't forget to hook up with/PM members couchloafer and Snowcat Pat in your area for advice, etc.
 
Av8r3400 said:
I'm not trying to be a jacka$$ or anything, seriously. I am not and will not talk ill of someone I don't know. This dealer could be a great person to do business with, I don't know.

I just find it really annoying when I'm looking for something (usually the higher ticket items) and the dealers don't offer pricing. I'd think that anyone looking for a snow cat knows that $20, 30, 50K is the norm for a used machine worth buying, so the idea a preventing sticker shock is only insulating against the non-buyer anyway.

Having been in the white shoes, plaid suit, used car business for a while, this is a common thought on how to get customers to come in to the store or call on the phone. I was always told to never give price unless the person is sitting at your desk. To me this is just an antiquated and frankly insulting way of selling.



One man's opinion.
Click to expand...

I have been to Bills place ( Snotrans) and its a first run operation . Super nice guy and snowcats in all price ranges . I have never heard of anyone that was unhappy with his service . I agree with Bobcat that "no pricing " may be connected with the supply and demand depending on the time of the year .
Bill is a good "close by" source of snowcats in Idaho . I'm sure if anyone could help ,he will .

Also watch the local Idaho papers as I see cats for sale by private party all the time .
 
I appreciate all of the replies. I was leaning toward a Thiokol or Tucker.
If I could find a unit that needs some work for ~$5000 or less I would be happy. I am in located in North Bend, WA.

Thanks,
C. D. Hunter
 
Hey Sno_Dawg,

I've bought a machine from Snotrans with success. He's an honest businessman and has no reason but to tell the truth. In my estimate you'll need a budget of $15K if really want reliability. The problem with a machine that needs "work" is that it may be the tracks - this is very expensive so you might as well pay for it up front. I'd also have two snowmobiles handy - really fast and sometimes much easier if you're going alone.

As for the lack of pricing, I agree, it sucks. I wish Bill put pricing on his web site. I asked him once and I don't remember his exact language, but it had to do with the pricing being used in a wrong way against him. With the internet it's always better simply to put some prices up to get the discussion going, otherwise it's hard to get the interest developed.
 
One of the great things about nearly all of Bill's machines is that he is very careful to get lower hour machines...very low hours by industry standard. In addition, he typically sources from places that achieve a high standard of maintenance on a consistent basis...such as gov't and telco's.
Sometimes I see how many he has with like: "106 hours!" and I just shake my head... wild. So, you'll pay a bit more for that but it's worth a cherry machine. It seems he chooses to buy machines that have always been in great condition rather than the alternate end of the spectrum where a machine needs a lot of work and is rebuilt and then sold. In some ways people may prefer the latter method...end up with nearly a new machine on the parts that really matter... who cares if the frame has 10,000 hrs on it... if you drop in a newly rebuilt diff, etc...

Can't go wrong either way... and he's in your area so that's great. Just make him give you lots of discount cuz you're a forum member and an Idahoan! ;)
 
Sno_Dawg said:
I appreciate all of the replies. I was leaning toward a Thiokol or Tucker.
If I could find a unit that needs some work for ~$5000 or less I would be happy. I am in located in North Bend, WA.

Thanks,
C. D. Hunter
Click to expand...

I am in Washington State also. Finding a decent Tucker for under $5,000 is almost unheard of. I got mine for $15K and it was a steal for the amount of work it had done on it. I have a steep driveway also, and my neighbor with a Thiokol won't attempt my hill. If your driveway can be driven by a 2-wheel drive car in the summer, a Thiokol will likely be just fine. My driveway is 4x4 even in the summer.
 
CD,
My dad just recently bought a Thiokol machine at Peterson equipment in Logan Utah. We looked around alot and settled on a low hour Imp. This time of year we did not find anything under about ten thousand and some of those were pretty rough. The Imps are small and light weight so they transport easy, but they are kind of slow. I also like the Super Imps but they are more money and seem to me to be harder to find. Tuckers are popular around here too. Half the fun was looking, I thought. This site is by far the best information I have found about all aspects of snow cat usage and ownership. Just ask questions and you will get alot of answers and perspectives!
 
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