Finally enough snow

I just bought this 1344 Tucker from Snotrans. We finally got enought snow that my wife could drive the Tucker & I could drive my Spryte to our cabin to get at least a couple pictures of the two prior to me selling the Spryte. Any snow we've gotten the last 2 winters hasn't lasted any longer than 2 weeks. That's why I'm selling the Spryte, to much track, no snow.

nice picture.
did your wife get there first?

Teamster,

I went to a climate conference this morning. Europe has had several years of nasty winters..And we have mild winters here. This is about to reverse, as it does at regular intervals. This next interval that should give us winters of old will be with us for the 20 years or so. Much more snow for 20 years!! Not every year, probably, but most...This period we have been in is much shorter in length than that...

Food for thought...

Best regards, Kirk

My wife didn't get there first, but it was here first time behind the wheel of the Tucker. Here comment was that the Tucker is rougher than the Spryte. I explained that if we had enough snow to at least lift the machine off the ground it would smoothen out. On another note I loaded up the Tucker and hauled it 2 hours north to we're there's 5 ft of snow. Fortunately I did read enough of the owners manual that tells you not to spin the tracks when the machine is not moving forward. I left the unload site, crawled over a grader ridge that really impressed me. I then proceeded to travel up a small incline with 3 1/2' of "sugar" then a 6" crust on top of the sugar, then 8" of powder on top of that. I never made it 100' and the Tucker wasn't moving forward any more. I backed up and tried 2 more times. I got out of the machine and offered it for sale to 3 guys on snowmobiles. The Tucker would break thru the crust and had to keep chewing to try to get on top. My Spryte never would have broken thru. The Spryte has 45" tracks. After a little practise I found out that 3rd gear and 2500 rpm works better. The Tucker will crawl over a 8' high grader ridge that the Spryte wouldn't even think of crawling over, but the Spryte will defiantly walk on top of the snow better. For my area the most snow we've gotten here in 30 years was 3' that actually stayed around. The Tucker stays and hopefully the Sprtye can go to someone that has more snow than 6" at one time.

Teamster,

Your discussion of the relative deep snow performance comparing your wide track Spyrte to a 1344 Tucker is very intriguing but it's really "apples to oranges".

Let me explain:

I live in northern Utah and snowmobile a fair amount (though sadly not this year due to lack of snow). My snowmobile is a 2013 Polaris Pro RMK 163. That machine is designed specifically for operation in deep powder. The track is 15" x 163" with 2.4" deep lugs. A machine designed for the mid-west or east coast has a track that's 15" x 121" with 1.25" deep lugs.

That machine would do horribly in deep snow here. Conversely, it would absolutely eat my lunch speed-wise on a packed trail.

A Spryte has a standard track width of 36". Yours are really wide at 45". My understanding is the length of Spryte tracks is the same, so the only variable is the width. (They also offered a 26" wide track.)

Tuckers are available with different length tracks and there is a wide track option as well. A 1344 has the shortest and narrowest tracks available.

So your comparing one machine with the widest tracks and surface area available from that manufacturer to another manufacturer's offering with the shortest and narrowest tracks they offer.

Here's some math on the Tucker. A 1344 has four tracks that are 28" wide and 69.5" long. Upgrade to a 1500 series machine and the tracks go to 28" x 76". Move up another step to a 1600 (or 1700) and the tracks grow to 28" x 92". That's nearly a 33% increase in track surface area!

But that's with standard width tracks. Tucker had a wide track option that increased the width from 28" to 38.5" which is another 37.5 % larger still. So a Tucker with wide tracks (I believe they only came on long track machines) has tracks that are 38.5" x 92" long.

Tucker's wide track machines have a whopping 82% more track area than a short track 1344. I think that would be a fair comparison to your Spryte.

I agree with you 100%. It is apples to oranges. I bought the Spryte thinking it would be a great machine to haul my 8 grand kids around, not thinking that we don't get enough snow to effectivly run it on. I fixed it all up, even took off the old aluminum grousers & went to the "J" style. I bought the 1344 because I felt it would be a good fit for the conditions we have. Max 3' snow, steep hills & the appility to tow a small groomer thru the bush to keep my sleigh trails for my horses in good shape. When I brought the Tucker home we had 3" of snow, I was so excited to try it out, I hauled it to a place were there was some actual snow, just the wrong conditions for it. If there won't have been the 6" crust we would have never slowed down. My grand kids & my wife are a little "ticked" I'm selling the Spryte. I've had 16 kids in the Spryte, they don't think I can jam 8 in the Tucker. Summer project, cabboose to haul more kids.

Teamster,

I think eight grand kids along with Grandma and Grandpa in a four-door Tucker would be reeeeally crowded. 16 kids would be like one of those "How many people can we pack into a VW bug" contests.

I don't know your grand kids, or what I'll call their "demographics"; ages boys/girls, etc. I'll assume they're pretty young, and at the stage they like some "adventure".

There's a local outfit called the Viking Yurt . They have a yurt on Park City Mountain Resort where they take people for a very fancy dinner. They use a large specially made sleigh towed behind a snowcat to transport guests up the hill to and from the yurt. http://www.thevikingyurt.com/

Guests in the sleigh are out in the open and, assuming the weather is halfway decent, it's a nice ride. (They have heavy blankets for the ride back when it's cold) I would think the grand kids (and their friends) would find that a ton of fun...

I been given instructions from the grandkids parents that the "caboose" will have to be enclosed. I failed to lock the door on the Spryte & the 2 year old grand daughter took a header out the side of the Spryte one day. She decided to open the side door. Fortunally I was on enough of a side hill that she landed beyond the tracks. She just laid there in the snow until I picked her up. I would like to build a caboose that looks like a Tucker, able to seat about 6 people, with a storage area under the engine hood. Any ideas?

Teamster,

Scary story about the two year old!

As far as an enclosed "caboose"...that could be quite a project. Are you planning on skis or a track system? I would think you'll need to incorporate some type of heating and ventilating system for it, as well as some windows which open.

I really think you should solicit opinions from Nutsster and Nikson for their thoughts on design. Those two have are very creative and I'm sure their input would be very helpful.

As for snow, I could sell you some! In the UP of Michigan we are ass hole deep, and it still keeps coming. Actually, I don't mind the snow more fun with my toy. It just been very cold this winter too.