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IMP C4?

mtmudrunner

Active member
GOLD Site Supporter
What's the good,bad, and the ugly on this setup, what are the advantages or disadvantages of an auto?:unsure:
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
from what I hear the auto and c4 is a cool set up for a smaller cat. the only down side is having to hold both steering laterals back to shift it into gear a foot actuated drive line brake would be nice for that
 

jp11

New member
Well.. the C4 is known as being

1. More expensive than an OC12
2. Rumored to be not as strong as an OC12. I can't comment on the true innards.

I think that an automatic transmission is a GREAT insurance policy for a weaker rear end. Steady power, no clutch popping.

That being said.. I had mine rebuilt by a professional bulldozer restoration shop. While it was certainly very expensive.. it's a 46 year old snowcat that's still running strong. I guess it can't be too weak. Grooming trails with mine this year. Goes great.

JP
 

mtmudrunner

Active member
GOLD Site Supporter
Well.. the C4 is known as being

1. More expensive than an OC12
2. Rumored to be not as strong as an OC12. I can't comment on the true innards.

I think that an automatic transmission is a GREAT insurance policy for a weaker rear end. Steady power, no clutch popping.

That being said.. I had mine rebuilt by a professional bulldozer restoration shop. While it was certainly very expensive.. it's a 46 year old snowcat that's still running strong. I guess it can't be too weak. Grooming trails with mine this year. Goes great.

JP

My fault for being a new-b, I'm still learning the lingo c4, oc4, oc12 rear end and a c4 ford auto, I should of been more specific in my title:doh:, but it is good to know all the configurations keep them coming, thanks.
 

jp11

New member
Well.. it is confusing.

there is no such thing as a OC4 brake steer rear end.

it's a C-4. came in a cle-trac dozer. Clark Model 70 I believe it's also called.

Olliver Clark made the OC12- brake steer rear end in snowcats as well.

There is some other transmission known as a C4 as well I believe. Is that what you were asking about?

JP
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Think of this...

Your on a steep grade, and it is night time. You start up, and realise that your going to need to down shift...

With a manual, you may miss the gear, and in an instant your going very rapidly backwards in the dark of night.... You suddenly feel the need to wet your pants and or take a dump there to.:whistling: Been there done that.:ermm:

With the Auto, the down shift takes place seamlessly. You never knew what would happen if you missed the down shift. And your underpants are clean and dry...:biggrin:

Class dismissed.:wink:

Regards, Kirk
 
Kirk is right on and gives a good example. I've driven both extensively and would not want to go back to a manual transmission again. I see no down side to the automatic.

Randy
 

mtmudrunner

Active member
GOLD Site Supporter
Well.. it is confusing.

there is no such thing as a OC4 brake steer rear end.

it's a C-4. came in a cle-trac dozer. Clark Model 70 I believe it's also called.

Olliver Clark made the OC12- brake steer rear end in snowcats as well.

There is some other transmission known as a C4 as well I believe. Is that what you were asking about?

JP

Yes, that's the one.
 

mtmudrunner

Active member
GOLD Site Supporter
Think of this...

Your on a steep grade, and it is night time. You start up, and realise that your going to need to down shift...

With a manual, you may miss the gear, and in an instant your going very rapidly backwards in the dark of night.... You suddenly feel the need to wet your pants and or take a dump there to.:whistling: Been there done that.:ermm:

With the Auto, the down shift takes place seamlessly. You never knew what would happen if you missed the down shift. And your underpants are clean and dry...:biggrin:

Class dismissed.:wink:

Regards, Kirk
Great explanation, I can even understand that:yum:
 

Nikson

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
To run anything under 5000lbs and tracks no wider than 32in, I think both C4 and OC12 will do just fine... beauty of the C4 (or I called it the OC4) is that is not just axle, its a transaxle, thus providing you 4 more gears on top of what your "engine's" transmission might provide...

I mean, common... even larger cats like Spryte's ran the C4 with drop boxes...

Its all about how abusive you going to be... :) there will always be a weak link no matter what you run/use...
 

mtncrawler

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Well.. it is confusing.

there is no such thing as a OC4 brake steer rear end.

it's a C-4. came in a cle-trac dozer. Clark Model 70 I believe it's also called.

Olliver Clark made the OC12- brake steer rear end in snowcats as well.

There is some other transmission known as a C4 as well I believe. Is that what you were asking about?

JP

I don't agree with this. Oliver and Clark were never merged, rather Clark was a component supplier. There was no Olliver-Clark OC-12 steering differential. What most people mean when they say OC-4 rear end is the steering differential which was commonly used in Oliver OC-4 crawlers. And that differential used a Clark SF70. The OC-4 crawler evolved from the Cletrac HG series which continued production after Oliver Corp. bought Cletrac (Cleveland Tractor) as the OC-3 crawler. The OC-3 crawler used a smaller differential and the Clark SF70 was not used in Cletrac machines at all. The Oliver Crawler line started with OC-3 and went to OC-18. OC-12 was about a 10K pound machine.
 

zspryte

Member
Site Supporter
To add to the confusion, the Clark Equipment Company pages in the 1404 Imp manual call the transmission in the "OC-4" rear end model number S70FS on the Maintenance Data sheet and model S70F-12 on the part numbers and exploded view pages.
 

loggah

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
Those Clark differential units were also used in the Case 310 and 350 crawler tractors.They had a final drive box added on them,they were a great little logging tractor,high clearance and power to both tracks at all times. Don
 

mtmudrunner

Active member
GOLD Site Supporter
:boom:Wow, here's my issue I can't decide what would fit my problem(all be it a good problem to have) . I am looking at a 1200 series Spryte 5 man cab with OC-12 diff and a 4 sp manual, a Super imp full cab with a C4 auto and OC-12 diff, and a Tucker 1544, and a 1643.

Mostly I will be in no more than 2-3 foot of snow some packed and since the wind blows a ton around here in places the road will be bare, there won't be much side hilling either. I will need to haul some supplies to my cabin I am building along with occasionally the wife, kid, and a few dogs. I might build a small trailer to drag some supplies also. Sometimes my wife might need to drive it if we have more people and I will take my Bearcat sled:doh:. I know this is a loaded question but I would like some input.
 
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redsqwrl

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
I own or have owned most of your list.

You may want to consider a Snow trac.

Mike
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
like mike said, don't rule out the snow trac. they are agile ,and drive like a car, vw parts are plentiful and inexpensive. I haven't owned a tucker but I do own a Thiokol with an oc-12. they are bullet proof as long as you don't put too much horse power to them. if there is one thing I don't like is they leave a lot of garbage hanging low. I have run snow trac's successfully for several years now in the conditions you describe they work well and just sip the gas at about a gallon per hour snow trac's are about 7 feet wide and only weigh in at about 2500 pounds the sprite is wide and heavy requiring a deck over trailer to tow. I think unless you do like Nixion did you will find a snow trac easier to get in and out of too.
 

mtmudrunner

Active member
GOLD Site Supporter
Snow trac sounds interesting I haven't done much research on them are they hard to find, what's the price range?
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
I know of one right now needs a little pimping but it was a reliable runner last winter the owner wants about 8 grand for it.
 
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