Snowy Rivers
Well-known member
Hi all.
My name is Snowy and I'm a retired machinist, welder, fabricator, field service engineer turned truck driver.
I played with Snowmobiles years ago and on occasion drove the clubs Thiokol groomers.
I always wanted to own a Thiokol Spryte, but never seemed to have time to gitterdone.
Well, after retiring from trucking (Local heavy haul sand and gravel ) I have bounced around and have been bored to tears.
Recently while surfing the net I ran into some info on Snow cats and some of the mods that folks have done.
I decided that at 64 yo it was now or never if I was going to have a cat now was the time.
My days running the Groomer left a permanent impression of how few creature comforts were in the Thiokol Spryte.
With the idea of comfort in mind I set out to do some snooping to see what had been done by others and what tickled my fancy.
Also there was the issue of COST $$$$$$$$$
The project must be affordable on my retirement $$$$
I found all sorts of Cats out there that had been modified, tweaked, tricked and on and on.
I wanted LOW COST, easy to find parts and something comfortable to drive when it was finished.
Decided to go with the Spryte 1200 series, or at least in that direction.
The finished rig needs to be no more than 102" wide MAX so I can take it down the road without being over legal width.
Now for creature comforts ???????
We recently sold a GMC Safari van and purchased a Smart Car for every day stuff (real cheap to drive)
I loved the van as it had great forward visibility and was easy to get in and out of.
The Safari's are plentiful and can be had CHEAP
So
Next I started a search for a used cat and a Safari van.
CRAIG'S LIST
Placed some want ads and sat back to see what shakes out.
Only took a couple days and a pretty good looking 1992 Safari AWD became available.
A fellow called me and we made a super deal.
Great little van that runs out nice and a full tank of fuel for $250 (Not a misprint)
So
With the body issue taken care of the next hurdle is finding a cat.
After looking at a few used cats and the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ cost for them and most were in sad shape ??????????????????
It became real obvious that buying a used cat and tossing most of the thing on the scrap pile just to get the frame and such was just a bad idea.
I decided to build a custom frame to allow the use of the GM 4.3 V6 and the 4L60 tranny.
The few cats I looked at had cracked frames, cracked axles and were just a mess.
I also decided to build my own axles and instead of using the Torsion rubber device on the trailing arms, to build simple articulating trailing arms and add a small air bag to each one with positive up and down stops
.
This set up will alleviate the twisting on the axle and frame and the tendency to break things.
My search has turned to finding a rear diffy (An OC12 or a C4)
We shall see what shakes out.
I am no stranger to gear boxes so rebuilding the box is all in a days work.
I am looking for a good used diffy now.
With the find of the diffy the rest can take shape readily.
The plan is to mount the Safari body on a set of parallel rails on the main frame that will allow it to roll rearward far enough to fully access the engine for service/repair that would otherwise be a real pain through the hood or dog house access.
An access panel in the rear floor area of the body will allow access to the diffy for service of the steering cylinders and ?????
The plan is coming together slowly, but we are moving ahead.
The next item will be a set of the 3 foot Spryte tracks.
A rear diffy and tracks will get this beast off to the rodeo.
Looking forward to this build.
Gonna be a slow go me thinks.
I will be in and out and add what I can as it happens.
Snowy
My name is Snowy and I'm a retired machinist, welder, fabricator, field service engineer turned truck driver.
I played with Snowmobiles years ago and on occasion drove the clubs Thiokol groomers.
I always wanted to own a Thiokol Spryte, but never seemed to have time to gitterdone.
Well, after retiring from trucking (Local heavy haul sand and gravel ) I have bounced around and have been bored to tears.
Recently while surfing the net I ran into some info on Snow cats and some of the mods that folks have done.
I decided that at 64 yo it was now or never if I was going to have a cat now was the time.
My days running the Groomer left a permanent impression of how few creature comforts were in the Thiokol Spryte.
With the idea of comfort in mind I set out to do some snooping to see what had been done by others and what tickled my fancy.
Also there was the issue of COST $$$$$$$$$
The project must be affordable on my retirement $$$$
I found all sorts of Cats out there that had been modified, tweaked, tricked and on and on.
I wanted LOW COST, easy to find parts and something comfortable to drive when it was finished.
Decided to go with the Spryte 1200 series, or at least in that direction.
The finished rig needs to be no more than 102" wide MAX so I can take it down the road without being over legal width.
Now for creature comforts ???????
We recently sold a GMC Safari van and purchased a Smart Car for every day stuff (real cheap to drive)
I loved the van as it had great forward visibility and was easy to get in and out of.
The Safari's are plentiful and can be had CHEAP
So
Next I started a search for a used cat and a Safari van.
CRAIG'S LIST
Placed some want ads and sat back to see what shakes out.
Only took a couple days and a pretty good looking 1992 Safari AWD became available.
A fellow called me and we made a super deal.
Great little van that runs out nice and a full tank of fuel for $250 (Not a misprint)
So
With the body issue taken care of the next hurdle is finding a cat.
After looking at a few used cats and the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ cost for them and most were in sad shape ??????????????????
It became real obvious that buying a used cat and tossing most of the thing on the scrap pile just to get the frame and such was just a bad idea.
I decided to build a custom frame to allow the use of the GM 4.3 V6 and the 4L60 tranny.
The few cats I looked at had cracked frames, cracked axles and were just a mess.
I also decided to build my own axles and instead of using the Torsion rubber device on the trailing arms, to build simple articulating trailing arms and add a small air bag to each one with positive up and down stops
.
This set up will alleviate the twisting on the axle and frame and the tendency to break things.
My search has turned to finding a rear diffy (An OC12 or a C4)
We shall see what shakes out.
I am no stranger to gear boxes so rebuilding the box is all in a days work.
I am looking for a good used diffy now.
With the find of the diffy the rest can take shape readily.
The plan is to mount the Safari body on a set of parallel rails on the main frame that will allow it to roll rearward far enough to fully access the engine for service/repair that would otherwise be a real pain through the hood or dog house access.
An access panel in the rear floor area of the body will allow access to the diffy for service of the steering cylinders and ?????
The plan is coming together slowly, but we are moving ahead.
The next item will be a set of the 3 foot Spryte tracks.
A rear diffy and tracks will get this beast off to the rodeo.
Looking forward to this build.
Gonna be a slow go me thinks.
I will be in and out and add what I can as it happens.
Snowy