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tucker 1542 and trailer for sale

I looked at the listing and carefully at the photos. One thing jumped out at me as a potentially major concern.

Originally Tuckers only came with manual transmissions. At some point (in the 1970's I believe) they started to offer automatics. Initially they used the Chrysler Loadflite transmission and later added the Allison AT-545 as an additional option.

The Chrysler Loadflite is derived from their Torqueflite transmission and is a heavier duty version. It was offered with either a long tailstock housing or a short one. Tucker used the short versions. The Allison AT-545 is a four speed non-overdrive transmission for medium duty trucks. It was very popular for many, many years.

A couple of years ago I had a conversation with Jeff Godard at Tucker. He was then the parts and service manager (now he's in sales). Our conversation drifted to automatic transmissions. He thinks they're a good option but had nothing positive to say about the Torqueflite. A few years ago they had a customer who had a broken tailshaft housing. (It's basically an aluminum casting that gets machined in the production process.) Anyway, they couldn't find a replacement anywhere, at any price.

Jeff talked a bit about automatics in Sno-Cats and said in an automotive application their duty cycle consists partially of coasting and partially being under load. But when installed in a Sno-Cat it's basically being used full time under load. That's much harder on the transmission and means one needs a heavier duty transmission.

So, back to this cat...

If you look at the shift lever in the cab it's the traditional automotive P-R-N-D-2-1. An AT-545 would have R-N-D-3-2-1. (The AT-545 does not have a parking pawl in the transmission. You leave it in neutral and use the parking brake.)

[Some AT-545's came with an option called "double neutral" There it would be PB-R-N-D-D3-D1, but Tucker did not, to the best of my knowledge, use the double neutral setup. In the PB position the transmission itself is in neutral and either a mechanical cable or electric solenoid operates the parking brake.]

Some Tuckers come with front blades and some are used to pull drags in a grooming application. In both of those instances the transmission must work harder. This machine was owned by Arizona Public Service, an electric utility so I doubt it was used to pull a drag. You may be okay with the Loadflite transmission especially if you don't add a front blade or pull a drag, but at least you now know about the potential problem.
 
Good advice and very observant, Blackfoot. Unless one is prepared to replace the trans at some point, then this has to weigh significantly in determining the Tucker's "value".
 
Hi Vortex, welcome !
I too was bitten by the sno cat bug. I got all excited earlier this year
and just had to have one now ! I calmed down somewhat
once I read up more.. Thing is either you buy cheap and do a ton of work
or you pay high for a good tight low hour rig.
I came to the conclusion I just have no time for an overhaul
( I run my own machine shop 75 hours a week ) and at this
point too tight for cash ( just bought a few pieces of new machinery )
So basically I'll wait for a deal to pop up my way in Québec,
maybe go scouting over the summer at the ski hills or scour at the local
ads time to time. Just saying, my health comes first.
Lots of knowledge and advise here, keep asking.
 
Hi Vortex Welcome I have 4 snow cats 1 2100 6cyl std w/blade and 8x14 drag 1 2100 6cyl wauto and no blade and 10x20 drag 1 v8 2100 w/ blade that I am going to recab and a 3700 with a blade the auto is the only way to go put two clutches in the std in 3 years and is a pain in the butt on real tight trails it gets very busy in the cab but that is only my thoughts good luck!!!
 
iwouldn't worry about a load flight behind a 318 remember that trans would stand up to a hemm.i on a drag strip they were also used quite successfuly behind a cummins diesel with 400 ftlbs of torque, once it was discovered that the front pump needed a volume up grade to make up for the lower rpm.higher horspower cummins engines necessatated upgraded torqueconverters and flexplates i'm of the opinion that it would work just fine in a snow cat with the addition of a large oil cooler to keep the transmission coll heat is your largest killer of automatic transmissions.
 
Hi All,

Thank you all for the welcome, so far i am struggling to even find a cat and model to zone in on. i really like what i have read about the tuckers ride and the fact they have a steering wheel would make it a bit easier for my wife and kids to drive, my only problem is the fact i would like to be able to carry six passengers in it, maybe three rows of two seats i am thinking, so some kind of modified cabin i guess. i also really like the idea of the classic cats but the steel tracks look like they could be very expensive to keep going. i live on Vancouver island so it wont get used a lot but when it does it will have to be reliable, there was a 1542 tucker that was on this site with only 443 hours on it, do i have to find some thing like that to get the reliability ??
I am very mechanically inclined but having the time to do a full rebuild may be a problem, especially since i already have my sons nova on a rotisserie in the shop and its probably going to be another year to get it finished.
well as you can see i am just starting down this path and it normally takes me a long time to make a decision, but now that i have found this site it should make life a whole lot easier. if you guys have any thoughts on running a particular cat on the west coast please feel free to let me know your thoughts, i would also like to here some thoughts on thiokol versus tucker out here.
Hey Laurentian, beautiful province you have back there, i had the privilege of doing a couple weeks work out of Havre-Saint-pierre several years ago and i would love to come back some day.
thanks for the input every one:smile:
 
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