The continuing saga of Niksons 1402 IMP sn 129

[turbinator62]

This is why we need a lot of defrost power in eastern Washington. We get a lot of ice fog in the Kittitas valley and Table mountain area. It will create a layer of ice on whatever it touches. It is a real problem when snowmobiling as it will coat your helmet visor very quickly. The snow in the picture of our cabin is not snow. It is fog that has frozen onto everything and created a natural flocking on the trees. Notice there is very little snow on the roof.

I threw in a couple more winter pictures just to help get in the mood.
The mountain view scene is from Lion Rock on Table mountain looking west to the Stewart range. This area is all burned up now from the Table mountain fire of 2012.

I plan to post a lot of winter pictures of the cat in use later. I just got a new camera. My old one crapped out.

 

[Cletis]

The pictures worked! Puts me in the mood for lots of snow!

Cletis

 

[Nikson]

Now I'll have to definitely visit you with my DSLR, get some killer shots, as well as do some aerial with my quadcopter & GoPro...

 

[turbinator62]

Took the cat to the cabin a couple of weeks ago and test drove it up and down the mountain on 6 November. Everything works as designed. No leaks. The temperature was in the 30's and the cab was comfy inside. The engine cowling is working as planned at keeping the cab from getting too hot. Engine temps stayed normal. There is plenty of heat available for defrost and cab heat on the colder days. We rarely have temps below 10F so we should be ok.

We only got about a half inch of snow so I only got to drive it on gravel. We'll be back on Thanksgiving so I'm hoping there will be some snow then. I am keeping it in a friend's shipping container at the bottom of the mountain at the end of the plowed road.

Hope to get some snow pictures soon.

 

[turbinator62]

This is our miserable excuse for snow. These pictures were taken on 29 December. Last year at this time we had 2 feet! I would like to drive this thing a little bit before we go the Snowcat jamboree!

 

[JimVT]

ALRIGHT, you got a vintage license!!
Just build or buy a newer machine and this light snow happens.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

looking at those pics I saw one of those old fwd gmc motor homes in the corner of the frame. are you planning to make an urban assult vehicle like the one in stripes?

 

[turbinator62]

That is a 1976 GMC motorhome that I completely restored a couple years ago. It has a remanufactured 455 olds engine upgraded to GM tbi fuel injection and about every moving part replaced, rebuilt or modernized. We use it all the time and have a lot of fun with it.
Our GMC club has a rally about every 2 months. It is one of my favorite vehicles to drive and I have to be careful to not get a speeding ticket. I have never had the throttle on the floor. It is like a 12,000 lb. hot rod with plumbing.

 

[nikos]

Hey Turbinator62

That is a 1976 GMC motorhome that I completely restored a couple years ago. It has a remanufactured 455 olds engine upgraded to GM tbi fuel injection and about every moving part replaced, rebuilt or modernized. We use it all the time and have a lot of fun with it..

I think that you forget to complete this edition. THE SNOW Motorhome GMC, to use it ALL the time in the winter + the 1402 1MP.

Sorry about the sketch, I make the lines and the colors in few minutes.
You know what i mean ok.

regards Nikos.

 

[turbinator62]

If I did that, I would have some 'splainin' to do to my wife!!

 

[turbinator62]

We just got back from the Snowcat Jamboree in Leavenworth Wa. yesterday. There was no snow but everyone still had a great time. We hung out in the parking area with good friends, good food and plenty of adult beverages. The hotel even let us have a campfire in the parking lot. 12 cats made it this year.
Check out more pictures at http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?t=61614

 

[turbinator62]

FINALLY!!! We got about 2 feet of snow at the cabin in the last 2 weeks and 6 inches while we were there. We actually have more snow now than normal. We made it the 2 1/2 miles up the mountain ok, but the 1402 with 30 hp is a little slow. Some of our hills are pretty steep, and combined with deep snow requires low gear. Still, we got all of our gear up in one trip, as opposed to 3 or 4 with snowmobiles. We were warm and comfy on the trip down in heavy fog. The defrost and wipers work great. There were some clutch issues, something went wrong with the locking dogs and I had to hold the clutch lever continuously by hand. I'll fix that when I bring it home this spring. I may also try a set of springs with a higher arch to give the cat more ground clearance. All in all, it did the job I needed it to do.

 

[JimVT]

it is good to see snow on it. Thinking back many years I remember a spring tied to our handle.

 

[Nikson]

I did put in a new clutch disc, and had it pop out at the beginning few times, but kept adjusting it to the point where it stopped popping out.

Higher arches on the springs? Why do you want more clearance, these seem to float over snow fairly easy...

 

[Nate b]

Looks awesome. I rode my snomobile by that area on Friday to see if I could spot you and say hi. But I didn't see the cat anywhere.

 

[Northcoast]

Can't think of a better cabin access machine! Thanks for the pictures.

 

[turbinator62]

I did put in a new clutch disc, and had it pop out at the beginning few times, but kept adjusting it to the point where it stopped popping out.

Higher arches on the springs? Why do you want more clearance, these seem to float over snow fairly easy...

I adjusted the clutch about three times but it kept popping out of gear when under load, or uphill. The last time I adjusted it, the adjustment hit the limit, and something popped inside and wouldn't lock at all. It was still drivable by holding the clutch handle back. I am guessing that the locking cams were worn out and finally broke. I'll pull the engine when I get it home this spring and fix it.

We get a lot of heavy wet snow in our area, especially after a warm spell. The rear end is so low that it has to push a lot of heavy snow under the tub, which uses a lot of power, and this rig doesn't have much to spare. There are springs with the same width and center distance available from SD Truck Springs for 20 bucks http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=331 with a 2" higher arch which would really help matters. They are 1/4 inch thick as opposed to 3/16 but I think I would remove the short helper and just use the two layers. I bought a couple already and will try them when I get it home. I would have to machine new bushings with a 1/2" hole but that is no big deal. This would also increase the approach angles on both ends and tighten the track. New spring above, old one (without top two layers) below.

 

[turbinator62]

Looks awesome. I rode my snomobile by that area on Friday to see if I could spot you and say hi. But I didn't see the cat anywhere.

Our cabin is on the west side of currier canyon in the Sun East area. We're kind of off the beaten path south of the Wilson road. We were there from the 20th to 25th.

I didn't try to go up in the National Forest due to clutch issues. Hopefully we can get together another time.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

turbinator have you thought about about lining the bottom of your imp with hdpe to slicken the bottom up. it is some thing I have looked at with the snow trac, but our wet snow season is so short I just cant seem to justify the expence

 

[turbinator62]

The problem is the rear end hangs down about 2" below the belly pan and creates a dam. It adds to the overall drag unnecessarily. It is also a problem when backing up in untraveled snow. Most other cats I have looked at have considerably more ground clearance than this one. The sink in fresh snow is more than the clearance by several inches so any increase will help.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

that is going to be a lot larger problem in wet snow than dry sugar like I usually operate in.

 

[PrecisionMarine]

I adjusted the clutch about three times but it kept popping out of gear when under load, or uphill. The last time I adjusted it, the adjustment hit the limit, and something popped inside and wouldn't lock at all. It was still drivable by holding the clutch handle back. I am guessing that the locking cams were worn out and finally broke. I'll pull the engine when I get it home this spring and fix it.

We get a lot of heavy wet snow in our area, especially after a warm spell. The rear end is so low that it has to push a lot of heavy snow under the tub, which uses a lot of power, and this rig doesn't have much to spare. There are springs with the same width and center distance available from SD Truck Springs for 20 bucks http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=331 with a 2" higher arch which would really help matters. They are 1/4 inch thick as opposed to 3/16 but I think I would remove the short helper and just use the two layers. I bought a couple already and will try them when I get it home. I would have to machine new bushings with a 1/2" hole but that is no big deal. This would also increase the approach angles on both ends and tighten the track. New spring above, old one (without top two layers) below.

Jeff, thanks for all the great photos, good to see you're having fun with your Imp.
I think you're on the 'right track' with springs, the original 3/16" thick leaves don't seem to be adequate even on a stock Imp, and yours has quite a bit more weight added. When I first rebuilt my 1402 I had the main leaves re-arched and added new secondary 1/4" leaves. Even that wasn't quite enogh, as it's sagged about an inch in the 30 years since then. I'll be interested to hear how these springs work for you, and how they affect track geometry and tension.
Keep up the fine efforts!

 

[turbinator62]

Thanks. I'll post the mods to the springs in a couple of months. I won't be able to bring the cat back to my shop until late April.

 

[turbinator62]

While at the cabin we got about 6 inches of new powder snow. Before we left I brushed off the windshield and a lot of snow collected between the grill and winch. Didn't think much about it. The defrost vent was still open from the trip up. You can see where this is going. When I started it up, all of the snow that was in front of the grill and that had filtered into the cooling air intake came out of the defrost vent and created an instant blizzard INSIDE the cab. Needles to say that item will now be on the preflight checklist!

 

[sno-drifter]

I don't know why snow vehicles that have a top speed of 10 or 20 mph need to have windshields that lay back for Mach 3 speeds. Here is a machine that we modified thirty years ago. The "Bassackward Sno-Cat" still runs fine and the visibility for the six way blade is great. Clearing the wind shield is not necessary unless there is wind. The wiper does not get much use. Looks ugly, works fine. Easy to load as the pontoons are right where you can see them.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

the Antarctic snow trac's were also equipped with frost free wind shields a forward sloped windshield would look pretty cool on my 2100 and make getting in and out a lot easier I always seem to get tangled up in the knobs in the overhead console

 

[DAVENET]

That may be the craziest looking Tucker yet. Can you post up more pics of that and the story behind it?

 

[Northcoast]

What DAVNET said !

 

[JimVT]

no need to turn around in that one. thanks for showing it.

 

[turbinator62]

I got the new springs for my 1402 IMP today. These are a good 2" taller than the originals and are 1/4" thick rather than 3/16. My cat is heavier than it was stock and one of the original springs had broke. Ground clearance will also be improved. (Stock spring is in front.)
I got them from SD Truck Springs. They were only 21 bucks each. http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=331
They would work on the 1400, 1402, and 1404 IMP They come with 9/16" id bushings which have to be replaced with 1/2". I will machine them from 1" delrin plastic.

We just got back from Hawaii on the 15th, on the 16th my computer crashed, and on the 17th I got sick with the flu. What a week! Feeling better now and using an old laptop.

Hope to bring the cat back to the hangar in the next week or so and "Git er done!"