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Astro van cat conversion

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Weather is crappy...half snow here at the ranch.

Did some snooping around for the bearing retainer rings..

Nothing....custom part only...

So I decided to go on the snoop for some steel seamless tube close to the right size.


Nobody had any short pieces, and one outfit had a 5 foot (Must take it all)
$370

NO WAY......I do not need 5 feet of that stuff laying around the shop.

Another big steel supplier did not have any seamless tube, buttttttttttttt...did have a 3 foot scrap of 3" 4140 round bar in the drop box

FREEEEEEEEE WAS A MIGHTY GOOD PRICE....30 MILES ROUND TRIP

Gonna get that bad boy in the cut off saw and chop off about 10" . 4140 machines very nice, far better than regular cold roll or hot roll mild steel....some of that stuff is like machining mud....nasty rough finish...


That will fit nice in the lathe and then I can start whittling on it.

Wont take much to trim the OD down to 2-3/4"
Drill a hole in it....I think I have a 1-1/4" drill.....anyway, big enough that I get a boring bar in and get it out to size.

I am thinking about .004" to .005" smaller than the shaft size.

Warm that bad boy up with the torch and drop it on behind the new bearings.

Would have been nice to have a seamless tube, but ya know what they say about "GIFT HORSES"

I am very happy to get this chunk of bar stock......3 feet of this is HEAVY TOO.

I was a bit rough on the old one...sliced it on both sides and then heated it up good to get it off...

A real nice pretty new one will be sweet though :thumbup:
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Weather is crappy today....Arrrrrrgh

BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT..
After breakfast I'm going to get that big chunk of steel in the saw and chop off a piece to work with and get started making the new retainers.

Be really sweet to have a CNC....But around here we have to do things the old fashioned way......
My little machine shop is cramped, but with the mill and the lathe many things can be readily whipped up..

Found the mill on ebay back in 2004 and grabbed it quick before I discovered it was in LA...OMG...ROAD TRIP

All manual 9 x 42 Max mill.....
I ran Bridgeports when I was in the mill industry, and this little clone is every bit as good......

The guy who owned it before me made Soap box derby car parts....certainly no stress on the mill.
Also, most old production machines will have the ways all worn out in the middle.

This one is good all the way across.....

So now it gets to make snow cat parts.

The lathe would be better if it had a longer bed....
I would love to have a rig with an 8 foot bed to be able to do drive shaft work..

Ah well....such is life.
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Got started making some bearing retainers

Got two ready to bore the center hole.

The little Jet saw is OK but it's not a production shop saw for sure.

Chewing on 3" 4140 took some time.

Two ready now for the center bore.

1.964" (Bearing is 2.9685 and the shaft is 2.968")

Cut six parts while I was at it.

Going to finish 2
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK

Good weather has graced us for a few days and it's time to get the cab tilted up on the 2100 and work at clearing out the junk in the belly.

The old C6 tranny is nearly full of water (Dip stick left out) so that thing is pretty much a junk pile.

It needs to go away.
Once the tranny is out that will open up a lot of room to start cleaning stuff up.

The belly is chucked full of oil soaked long pine needles and any sparks from a grinder or a torch would set the entire cat ablaze...

I Do not want to burn my prize to the dirt.....

I got the cab rigged with a nylon strap and ready to hook the "Li'l Red tractor to up to the beast and see if we can tilt it full over.

The restraining arm on the rear is still in good order.....so the cab should lay over easily.... I HOPE

After breakfast I will give things a go and see wassssssssup....

I will get some pix as this unfolds.

I gave the cab a tweak with a big pry bar and it seems to be free to move.

Some good skunk piss on the big hinge likely did not hurt things either.

See what happens......
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
OK
It was a good day.
Cab tilted (An easy job with the Widdle tractor)

Sorting through the mess.
I need to try and sort out the hydraulic hose routing and such for the blade.

I have a fella who wants my blade and I want to make life as easy as possible so the routing of the hoses will go smoothly.

The entire belly is a mess.

The clowns that yanked the engine could have cared less about much.

To get the tranny out I need to remove the double mico cylinder foot brake system..

Then I can get at the rear tranny mounts.

Unhook the safety brake cable, tranny cable, and a few other items and the gearbox can be plucked out with the tractor bucket.

Got the drive shaft out...looks good...someone will want it..

Same with the Foot brake system...

Got the fuel tank off as well. WITH THE BANDS IN USABLE CONDITION :clap:

One piece at a time...

Gotta get my "Monkey suit" outta the closet.

This beast is just filthy...just getting close enough to see things will soil the clothes up real good


Bunch of Pictures

Anyone looking for specific parts from a 2100 PM ME.....
This beast is getting gutted except for the OC12.
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Today was another lovely day to work on the cat.

The plan was to get the dual foot brake setup out and then the emergency electric hydraulic pump unit out.

This cleared the way to to be able to lift the tranny out.

After digging into this cat.....it is becoming ever so obvious that this cat is A MUTT.

Way too many things have been modified and likely added to this cat after it left the factory.


The dual foot brake setup was one such item

No way would Thiokol have built such a cobbled up mess....

Looks like it worked, but the bracket was a mixture of things all bolted together.

Finally got the goodies away from the tranny and worried the bolts out of the rear tranny mount..

With the tranny lose and the park brake cable unhooked it was time to get the little tractor up here and try a lift..

Bucket too short....had to mickey mouse a wooden piece to give us a tad more length of reach.....

Rigged the tranny up and it came right out.

A pix of the tranny with the added deep sump pan.

The park brake assembly added to the rear of the gear box is quite the unit.

A shot of the special WIRE AND HOSE REMOVAL TOOL :thumbup: (Tree trimmers)

A bucket load of trash for the garbage.

Hauled away nearly a full bucket of crap out of the front of the belly pan.

And the booty.

Found a lovely little PROTO short double end wrench buried in the goop....DEEP

Used to belong to Alonzo....mine now...

I had scraped up a double handful of oil soaked needles and crap and tossed it at the bucket on the tractor....CLANG...Hmmmmm...went snooping and found the wrench...


Tomorrow will be time to start yarding out hoses.

Gonna be an oily mess.
I got pans and buckets to catch all the we can catch....

The one cooler up front was for the tranny, but had been unhooked and the POS hung on the head ache rack used..

The second cooler up from was from the Diffy cooler/pump setup.

That entire cooler unit is headed for the trash.

Looking at the cab hinge.....a bit of grinding as some idiot welded the hinge in a few places to the cab...

Once the hinge is free the cab can be lifted off easily with the Skid steer.

Some lumber in the bucket to shield the cab from damage and run a strap over the cab and tie off to the lift ring on the rear of the bucket..

Remove the hinge bolts and that bad boy will be off....

I am thinking about leaving the hoses from the cab controls hooked up to keep water out of the valves....

Starting to get a lot closer to what I need for the van cat......

Kitty and Li'l Red all tucked in for the night.....
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Got busy today and decided to clean up and have a look at the one axle spindle that had the hub laying loose when the cat cam home.

Lucky we even got the hub.

The bearing races were on the spindle and things are good to go.

Bearings were totally chewed to rat crap...

But the hub and spindle are usable.

The seal was a wadded up mess.

Took of on of the others to get the numbers off the seal

Factory seal C/R 17616 single lip seal.

I did some snooping and am going with a 17607 which is .438" wide instead of the .359" wide on the stock seal.

The 17607 is a double lip and should help keep water and crud out better.

The other hub I pulled off had the seal in there....but the seal surface rubber was gone..
Just the metal ring that holds it.

All the bearings are going to need to come apart.

I needed a dust cap too..
NAPA STORE HAD THEM IN STOCK 730-2411
I will likely replace all the old ones with new, as some are beat up from a clown hitting them with a hammer.

A tool to install these WILL BE NICE....ALUMINUM DRIVER RING SEEMS REASONABLE

The caps are $2 at NAPA

Using the thicker seal will get the seal onto nicer metal....and having two lips will help....
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
UPDATE ON THE 17617 SEALS

After doing more snooping on these seals...there is a difference in seals depending on who makes them.

The number 17617 crosses to several manufacturers and many seals that are the proper size are not the best choice.

The original seals were a heavier body construction and the lip could be aimed outward which would keep more crap out and allow the hub to be greased using the zirk fitting.

Installing the seal in this fashion will require making SURE that the edge of the seal surface on the spindle that faces toward the bearing is rounded slightly and smooth to allow the seal lip to ride over the spindle seal surface properly.

When I pulled the second hub off the cat to get a number I noticed that the seal rubber lip was gone.
This was likely the result of someone just slamming the hub on and not paying attention to what was happening....

The wider seal I am getting today has 2 lips...this may be a better choice BUT greasing the bearings with the zirk will not be an option due to the lip seal facing inward... THE SEAL WILL NOT ALLOW GREASE TO ESCAPE and pumping in grease could push the seal out..

Any of the seals the proper size can get you by...but water entry from being immersed in the fluffy snow (Melts and can seep into the bearing) can be an issue with the lip facing inward.. *****I think Thiokol had this figured out as further looking reveals two of my wheels have the lip seal facing out *****

MORE INFO TO FOLLOW AS I GET ACTUAL SEALS IN MY HANDS AND GET A GOOD LOOKY SEE AT THEM.

Both the cast lug stud style hubs and the Alloy wheels have grease zirks to allow adding grease.

GREASE COMING OUT...WATER NOT GOING IN....A GOOD THING...

I never gave a thought to snow causing an issue with water entry....Years ago we raced drag boats and were always dunking the trailer to float the boat off...

Wheel bearings were always full of water by seasons end....A CONSUMABLE ITEM...

Losing a wheel bearing out in the bush, miles from the truck...or ???? could be an ugly situation...

A season end practice....
As much of a PITA as it will be to drop the tracks and service the bearings....a great idea though me thinks.

https://www.motionindustries.com/productDetail.jsp?sku=01300246

Look at this link
The seal cross section is shown well. NOTE THE WRITE UP MENTIONS "FOR MAX EXCLUSION FACE LIP OUTWARD"

This seal tech applies not only to the Thiokol cats, but anything that has bearings and seals and runs down in the slop and slush/snow

I remember seeing a post "Rusty the spryte" and the fella was dealing with a torn up spindle...Rusty bearings that finally failed and the beast ate the spindle up......
 
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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
OK
I got the C/R 17607 SEAL IN MY HOT LITTLE HANDS.

This seal has a nice outer lip to shield against water and the inner lip faces the bearing.

Pack these bad boys with a good waterproof grease and they should be good to go.

Just lube the seal and the spindle well and life will be good..
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Snooping around looking for a wheel hub for the cat.

Finally found them.

H25-555F IS THE PART NUMBER

Agriculture type 5 hole on 5-1/2" circle
Same inner and outer bearings and seal
All dims are correct....cast iron hub

The complete kit comes with
The hub with races installed
Both bearings
The seal
5 lug nuts
The dust cover too.

Found one on ebay for $45 and free shipping.....Came without the bearing cones and the seal.
Lug nuts came with it.
I am excited to get my hands on it and make sure there is not a caveat somewhere.

The little blue print shows the same dims as my used one (except what roughed up on mine)


Prices vary online...$60 is about average

Once it gets here I will get the new one close to my used one and take pix....

The number on the old hub 104683 is a good number and crosses over to the new ones

My hub is just rough enough in the seal bore that I do not want to try to mickey mouse it.

Too hard to see the seal once the tracks are on the machine.... and even more misery if it fails out in the field.
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Snowed last night...cold outside...but spring like weather in a few days.

A few pics of the messed up hub.

Will be nice to have a new hub on that spot.

As the weather gets nicer the cab is coming off and the belly of the beast is going to get a super wash job.

One at a time each wheel hub gets to see a good wash job and either the bearings washed up and repacked (Or replaced) and a new seal installed.

Once the cab is off it will be way easier to get at the tub.
After a decent wash job ...then the head ache bar is getting the chop....

Once we are into more decent weather the OC12 gotta come out and get ripped apart.

Good weather will definitely make this far more enjoyable..
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Got tired of listening to all the doom and gloom about the Corona virus...

Headed down to the machine shop and went to work doing something constructive.

After finding a piece of 3-1/2" shaft in the corner I cut off a chunk and started whittling on a repair ring to fix my one hub.

I just could not stand seeing it sitting on my table in an unusable condition.....

I turned up the ring a bit heavy and finished the bore to allow the seal to JUST FIT with thumb pressure.

I will go ahead and bore the cast iron wheel hub out to give about enough room to accept a ring with a tad over 1/8th" wall thickness.

Gonna turn the ring down so we have .004" interference fit on the cast hub.

Gonna press the ring in and then machine off the excess in the mill.

Sadly, without a bunch of fooling around I can't grab the hub in the lathe.

There is not any finished surfaces that I can grab, and it would take machining up some plugs to press into the bearing bores and then insert a shaft in to drive the hub....Too much work.

Just mill off the excess....good to go........

Got the shipping notice on the new hub I ORDERED..... :thumbup:

Maybe tomorrow I will finish the repair work.

Cats are sooooooo much fun. :thumbup:
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Been a tad under the weather.

Slipped going down the stairs on the frozen slop left from the snow we had over the weekend.

Wrenched my ankle bad....
By the end of the day working on the repair for the hub I WAS HURTING.

Laid low yesterday and did zip.

Feeling better this morning....we'll see how the ankle feels after I get to moving a bit more.


I really want to get the hub bored out and the new ring in place.

I am thinking that a better plan will be to heat the hub up good and hot and drop the ring in..

Less chance of distorting the thin wall ring that way.....

Weather is getting a bit better too.

Looks like the new parts will be here by weeks end.

I really want to get the old Hydraulic hoses yanked out of the cat and the cab pulled off.

As soon as that's done I can get after hot washing the beast up so things can move ahead.......

All the Corona virus brew ha ha is depressing.
All you here on the TV is about the virus and ALL IS LOST...

A good day of Snow cat therapy is in order :smile::smile:
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
OK TROOPS

Got after the bad boy hub.

Drove out a couple of the wheel studs so I could tie the hub on the mill table.

Got the boring head off the shelf and in the machine.

****This is an ebay special, over seas made boring head****

I have used the top end Bridgeport boring heads, and this little goody works as good as any of the $$$$$$$$$$$$$ Bridgeport tools....It was CHEAP TOO

Indicated the bearing bore in and locked the table down.

Started the boring head up and aimed at a finished bore of 3 inches.

Finished after it cooled at 3.0015" cooled off.

Decided to make a weeeeee change....so I machined a new ring and modified the dimensions a bit.

The seal was just at a thumb push.

Machined the OD of the ring to give .006" press fit.

I did press the ring in with the hydraulic press.

Tossed the hub back in the mill and trimmed off the excess ring.

(If I could have grabbed the hub in the lathe chuck it would have been sweet...

But that was not gonna happen....

So just cut the excess off with a fly cutter and then debur'd it with the die grinder and a whizz wheel.... Good to go...

Seal will drive in as it should now.....

A piccy of the ROTOPHASE (Gives me 240 3 phase power to run the machines..... Sweet little gizmo....


Used an easy out to dig out the broken grease fitting from the hub.

Aside from a bit of residual rust, this old girl is ready for prime time once again.

Some live action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqshzhVpHBc
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
OK TROOP

I got one of the new hubs today.

Measured that bad boy up...

The critical dimensions are all good to go.

The hubs are a slight bit different if you look closely, but the inside of the inner bearing to the outside of the outer bearing (Cone) are right where they need to be.

The casting is a slight bit heavier and uses a tad longer studs....but these bad boys are a well made replacement hub....

The pilot register is a bit thicker height wise, but the diameter is the same.
I am going to slip the hub assembly onto the spindle tomorrow to get my final assessment of the hub with the bearings instsalled.

Here are some pix
 

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KickerM

Active member
Site Supporter
GOLD Site Supporter
I think I need to learn some machining skills from you! I have an lathe and mill but I don’t know much about them other than I keep them lubed and clean! Nice work and I wish you could show me a few tricks
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Kicker

Thank you

Be happy to, but we are a tad far away for an afternoon class :smile:

I worked in the machine trade for a lot of years....until a badly messed up back said NO MORE long stints on my feet.

Went into Dump trucking for the remainder of my working career.

What type of machines do you have ????

Post some piccy's

I always seem to find that my machines are a bit too small.

As with this project, the hub was a bit too big to grab in the chuck of the lathe.

I could have made some "tooling" to be able to get hold of the hub and drive it, but that was going to entail buying more materials and fooling around a lot.

The mill is a nice size at 9 x 42 inch table (A common size for a vertical mill)

No CNC STUFF HERE....I'm old school....

Actually I would love the new stuff, but the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ are high, and for hobby stuff it is just not going to happen.

I wish my lathe was a bit larger... It will swing 16" but the bed is too short for stuff like drive shafts.

What would be sweet is an 18 x 96 inch Lathe... A bit big for the wee stuff, but for the big stuff it would gitterdone nicely.

Trying to do stuff like cats really calls for some serious tools
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Got the new hub all greased up and installed on the axle.

This will keep the spindle in good shape.

I hated seeing the spindle left open.
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
A couple buddies stopped by and admired my 2100 today.....

The idea was passed around to stuff a 454 Chevy with a Turbo 400 behind it into the cat..

Add some 5" chrome side pipes down the length just under the van body.....

The idea of getting a van with a dead engine and stripping out the entire drive train...

Really would not be all that much more work than what I am looking at now.

Change the big rat over to a vertex Magneto and a simple holley 4 barrel carb to deal with the fuel needs.....

SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE BIG OLD TORQUE MONSTER....

One of the older 454 engines.....92-93 engines from a BURB and swap in a carburetor fuel system....and the magneto.

Mount the body so it can be rolled back to service the engine....

That might be an awesome rig.....

What say yee cat freaks ??????
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
I spoke with my son in law last night about the idea....and we beat it around some...

The tub in the 2100 is quite open, especially when all the hydraulics are all ripped out....

Modifying the motor mount to allow the GM engine and tranny to fit in will be an easy task....

The drive shaft from the 2100 can be modified easily to fit a long shaft TH400

Actually the shaft has a 1410 heavy slip yoke on it mated to the disc brake assembly...this can be adapted to a TH400 that has a non slip yoke output....

This plan will eliminate the need for the goofy drop box and a few other work around's that I have been planning on.

The engine in the belly (Like stock) will lower the CG as well.

Mounting the Radiator in the van chassis will likely be the best plan as the nose of the 2100 is pretty narrow..... "Subject to change as time goes by"

I have plenty of work to do getting the frame, axles and the OC12 ready to go...so a lot of ideas can be hashed out in the interim.....

Making the Cat a separate entity and not taking our existing van will not really hurt my feelings much.

Day before yesterday my tenant that rents the lower level of my home (Separate apartment that was my folks...long ago) had her Jeep Cherokee give trouble....she is a care giver and has to work her butt off to make ends meet....I wrenched on the Jeep and loaned her my Van for two days.

Seriously messed up battery cables (Crimped and not soldered) and a broken wire in the malstrom had caused the charging system to stop working....except when the AC compressor would kick in.....

Anyway...having the Widdle Red van was a nice thing...


I digress...

Many things to think about.....
I slept on the idea last night and decided to go a step farther.

I placed a want ad on Craig's list to see what sort of Dead Astro can be scared up for as little $$$$ as possible....Free would be a good thing.

There was one a few weeks ago listed as "Haul it away please"

I had mentioned in another persons thread about "Change orders" in projects...

Right now I have not soaked a lot of $$$$ into things that will be wasted.

Fact is I still have the manual master cylinders I scared up for the steering from when I started this project back a few years.

I have not purchased the electric air pumps yet that were planned for the steering system. They are not cheap...

A great time for a revision as things are not buried in $$$$$ as yet.....

Looking over the specs on the engines and comparing weight and size between the 391 ford and the GM Rat motor....very similar....


Last night the idea of using a GM 6.2 diesel came into the the picture.

I have owned several 6.2/6.5 diesels and they served me well....not a real rocket....but a good little engine.

I still like the idea of a Rat motor....

A rock solid foundation....marry it to a TH400 tranny and the combo is bullet proof....


All the electrical connections for instruments, ignition and such will all work quite easily between the van and a big chevy rat...

I am also thinking about a bit earlier van to allow getting away from the OBD2 electronics 1993/94/95 were still OBD1 and this system is not as big a pain to modify stuff and not have to deal with issues.

I would like to keep things OLD SCHOOL and simple.

Simple fuel system, simple igintion...

I mentioned a Vertex magneto..... These are great....but ya don't find parts in every corner NAPA store.

An old style large cap HEI... One wire will make it go...The second wire will give you a tachometer.... any more than that is just trouble waiting to happen... IMHO

Sounds easy enough....

We* shall see what crops up on my Craig's list ad and what can be scavenged in the way of a big Rat motor.

Ideas are always welcome....

This is Bow tie country here at the ranch.....:th_lmao:
 

rdynes01

Active member
I've held my tongue as long as I can on this going on 3 years long thread and I must say fish or cut bait! There are 17 pages worth of input and replies on this project and I see little progress on it in all that time. 17 pages of long winded replies that much of which has nothing to do with progress on the project itself. I',m sure I'll get heat for this post but I come here for useful info snowcats but so much of this thread has nothing to do with that. Some people like to hear themselves talk and I guess some people like to read there own postings.Sorry but I'm just calling it as I see it.....Bob
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Good for you....I can accept all the flack you want to toss my way.

But the fact is..up until a very short time ago I did not have a cat to work on.

NOW THERE IS A CAT SITTING OUT HERE IN FRONT OF THE SHOP.....

If I had wanted or could have bought a running cat....I would not have.

I have a specific idea in mind and that's the way I am going.

Money is a big factor......

I do not pay people to do my work....
I machine what I need, fabricate the same way....
Unless a huge windfall of $$$$$ lands at my door this project is going to crawl along relatively slow for some folks....

You just call all the flack you want......I have broad shoulders

Mr TOP WELDER called all sorts of flack and insults down on me for the same reason
Ahhhhh....

You see the 2100 sitting in front of my shop.... well that is HUGE PROGRESS BUD.

I can't go out and drop many thousands of $$$$$$$ on this thing....at least not at once...

I actually gave up on the idea due to the lack of a Cat at a price I could deal with.... Late January saw this change and the 2100 came my way....
Reasonably priced and 30 miles away....not 1000 or more.

So if you want to see faster progress.....grab your deep pocketed check book and C'MON over and help.

Sorry if you do not like my style or my speed.....but that's how it is.

I am always willing and able to help others with issues...be it advice or if they are close by I have no issue with driving over and swinging a wrench.....

So.....??????

If you do not like me and my posts/project....I am not at all worried....
I do not have any animosities with anyone in here..and I do not feel one way or the other about how much money others can spend..

Relax and enjoy life...too much hate and discontent not to.....
 
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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Hey

I can understand a bit of the direction this other guy is going..

When you are just rebuilding a given known quantity it take far less time and zero engineering.

My project is basically AT THIS POINT a ground up design and engineering project.

For a long time it was only a dream.

Now with the 2100 here to work on things can move ahead...

But not in the same way as a fella who is grinding off old paint, welding up cracked frame pieces or installing new grouser on the tracks.

Anyone who thinks this project is a how to on fixing their snowcat is in the wrong place.
I love all makes of Cats..

But this thread is not about how to fix your Tucker or ??????? cat.

Sure, some things may help...
This is a down and dirty FRANKEN CAT build..

Make it up as you go.... KEEP IT SIMPLE AND AS CHEAP AS IS POSSIBLE AND YET RELIABLE....

But the decisions to make changes are best done before the $$$$$$$ are spent....

Hey troops

I am heading down to the shop to drag out a front motor mount cross member from a big block Burb to get an idea on whats going to be needed to change the existing engine mount in the 2100 tub.

Back later.
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Got the digging around done...

Found the GM truck engine cradle I went looking for.

It will need a tiny bit of trimming to fit into the tub.

A pair of steel angle rails down the inside of the tub will allow the factory Chevy mount assembly to drop in and be either bolted or welded to the tub

Not going to get real crazy on this right now.....I think it's best to wait until what ever engine presents itself to see what will be the best way to go.

The after market hot rod industry makes some very nice mount kits that are priced in the affordable range ($80)

The mounts are clean, neat and do not take up a lot of room, at least not as much as the GM factory piece
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Hey there MR BOB

Maybe I can be long winded.....yuuuuuup

But I try to make things interesting....

What sort of Cat do you have ???? GETUMUP A PICTURE....SO WE CAN SEE.

I have been waiting for 52 years to finally be the proud owner of a snow cat.

How long have you wanted and then finally been able to make a dream come true ????????????

It's fine to call smack on folks.....just be sure you have a real good case......before ya step up with the 5 gallon bucket and a trowel to lay it on with.... :smile:

I wanna see your cat......
 

vintagebike

Well-known member
Keep the snowcat dream alive and your story going! Like John Jerome with "Truck" or Fred Haelefe with "Rebuilding the Indian". Two classics from the late 20th century... and then into the early 21st
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
I am trying hard....

I feel that if one is going to hang out at a forum like this.....you should share what you are doing..

Maybe one day you sit with a pad and pencil figuring on an idea, and the next day you are standing at the lathe or the mill machining on a part...
Maybe that part is nothing spectacular....but it's part of the project.

These ground up Franken projects take far more thought and "Imagineering" than they do actual work in many cases...

To some folks the nitty gritty details may seem like boring drivel....but to others it is informative as well as entertaining.

I love the threads with all the details and the tons of pictures.

You can see what the person who shared it has in their mind.

And no matter how much number crunching and measuring you do...along with hours and hours of thought....at times things change and ideas change...

Many times many $$$$$ will be spent and wind up sitting in the corner in boxes because the plan changed.

A dream of purpose is not an easy giddyup go....


You can't in many cases just toss money at it and make it happen....you have to have the dream, and then make it happen....and in between reality sets in and you find out something will not work the way you want it to.....

Been there many times......

Ahhhh yesss
 
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