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Whats this tucker 1742 worth?

treeeman00

treeeman00

Member
Hey guys im new to the snow cat world. I posted earlier but I think I poseted in the wrong section so I am posting here. I only own a bombardier jw 69. I am looking to get a older tucker snowcat because they are my favorite style. Anyways I found a 1979 tucker 1742. Detroit diesel engine /Allison automatic transmission / Front blade / Long tracks/ Very clean / Good condition / Present owner has reconditioned this vehicle / Good to go for snowmobile trail grooming. That is the ad and its listed at 7500.00 I know since it doesnt say the hours and stuff its hard to put a prie on. Ive heard that this has the desireable long track system. IS that 6 bogie wheels. Is the detroit diesel better than the 318 gas? Well any help is greatly appreciated.
 

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the road oiler will be heavyer and leak oil on the plus side should be more troubble free than the 318.if you don't know how to work on road oilers find a good 2 stroke detroit mechanic governer adjustments are critical as is keeping the cooling system full the detroits will crack the heads if the coolant get's below the fire deck. the 318 will come with th finicky carb and an ignition systen that will need to stay dry one other thing about the detroit is those old road oilers were always somuch easyer to start cold than other diesels of their vintage.
 
Road oiler is a generic term for Detroits. They are a great engine if certain maintenance is done regular. They do start easy in cold weather. I would for sure keep a jug of oil along in the vehicle. As far as better than gas that would depend on the application.
 
I have been told if one keeps the crank case vent tubes clean, the oil leaks can be kept at a minimum. As dds said they should never be run low on coolant. Fuel effeciencey would be better, IMHO than the 318, especially with a groomer behind.

In our community as a kid growing up we spend many hours grinding ear corn for cattle feed. The local Grinder mixer was a guy who had put a large one on the back of a tandem truck. It had it's own 4-71 Detroit to run the grinder/mixer, and drag. Used to love to hear that 4 cylinder that sounded like a V8 pulling back under load...That motor was always clean and dry too....

I wouldn't be afraid of a known good one. Heads are getting harder to find these days, I have heard.

Regards, Kirk
 
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Treeeman00.....I know I know....you love those Tuckers, and so do I, but here is something that would be much easier to maneuver around our mostly tight, and twisty trails here in Mich. insted of a loooooooong Tucker.
 

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I've never owned a 1742, or any of the ME (mid engine) Tuckers, so take this with a (large) grain of salt.

The 1700 series machines are a heavy duty version of the 1600 series Tuckers and have the long tracks. They are accordingly somewhat heavier.

The cab of mid engine models of the vintage pictured is essentially a one person cab with a jumpseat for an observer.

Tuckers were typically sold to government agencies, utility companies and to various entities (such as ski areas) as groomers. I've heard from several sources the most desirable are the ones formerly owned by utilities and the least desirable are ones used as groomers. My own experience (I've owned one of each) confirms this.

Based on the cab configuration I strongly suspect this machine was used as a groomer (why else would you order it that way). For me that brings about a significant reduction in value as does the mid engine and cab setup.

I can't remember his name (snowcruiser or something like that) but there was a forum member who had purchased a mid engine Tucker and re-bodied it with a 1960's era Chevrolet van body. It looked pretty cool and, as he had several children, suited him well.
 
that front engine dd powered tucker has got to be a noisy ride them things are loud out side i can only imagine what the echo chamber is like on the inside. the detroits do need to keep the air box drains clean for a reason as the engine requires a mechanical blower to run there are a lot of little seals that will leak oil in to your induction system, if you were to get too much oil in the air box the engine could run away . the reason for having a competent dd mechanic doing a tune up on it is when a dd goes in to ful fuel you cannot shut it down the only way to shut a runaway diesel down is cut off the fuel supply with vice grips or a shot into the air cleaner with a co2 fire extuinguisher. i know that detroits have the little trapped door on the blower in most cases they just slow it down
 
Yeah I've had diesel runaway in my '92 1.6D Jetta.
It's a tiny motor yet scary. Thing to do is turn off ign. switch
solenoid quick and stall it with brake. If I had a large rig / truck / cat would fab up an air filter trap door / cable control for sure.

I do like the sound above though !
I guess earplugs are mandatory in that thing.
 
Laurentian said:
Yeah I've had diesel runaway in my '92 1.6D Jetta.
It's a tiny motor yet scary. Thing to do is turn off ign. switch
solenoid quick and stall it with brake. If I had a large rig / truck / cat would fab up an air filter trap door / cable control for sure.

I do like the sound above though !
I guess earplugs are mandatory in that thing.
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detroits have that the problem is they normaly don't seal good enough to shut down the engine and when doing a tune up all that stuff is removed usualy i had one eat through half the manual with the door shut before i could get to the back of the m113 to shut the fuel down.also took out the seals in the blower one squirt from a co2 fire extuinguisher would have fixed it with no damage
 
weatherby, something like that would be ok but or something like a bombi would be okay except for around here you simply do not see anything like that around. And for the price of a bombi I would rather buy a tucker. I dont really have anyplace to go in michigan thats why I was wondering if they had any dedicated CAT trails anywhere. Is the reason groomers are lower value and less sought after because of the hours that gets put on them?
 
treeeman00 said:
I always thought on a run away diesel to shut it down is block the air intake
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That is the usual method, as it is usually easier to do than shutting off the fuel. I once saw a heavy winter coat save a 8-V71 DD when it ran away shortly after being started. It was in a cab over IHC semi tractor, and the intake was behind the drivers door. He got out and stuffed the coat in the air intake scoop. Enough fuel and oil had accumulated in the crankcase at the blower and intake port area to cause it to be picked up and ran through the engine, providing the fuel for the run away condition. I have heard if they survive this rush of fuel and air they will slow down on there own. Trouble is they usually hurt themselves running way to high of RPM before the fuel-oil has purged itself.

Excessive idling anytime but especially in cold temps is not a good thing to do with the Detroit two stroke diesels. They were originally strickly a generator set engine, in the beginning. Little if no idle time for that duty. If they alot idle in very cold temps it will puke very fowl black fuely mess all over your machine....:sad:

Good motor for some applications, and yea ear protection required....

Regards, Kirk
 
treeeman00 said:
I always thought on a run away diesel to shut it down is block the air intake
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shutting air down is the way to do it problem is you put so much suction on the induction system you can cause damage to seals and boost tubes the co2 des the same thing with out the damage grab a co2 extinguisher some time and try it its cool those extuinguishers also work good for cooling beer and automatic choke stats when adjuing chokes on older cars
 
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