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Pontoon help and recommendations for 1962 Tucker 443

Mill666er

Active member
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I finally made some room in the shop to repair pontoons and tracks on my 1962 443.

Can someone post a picture showing a nice close-up of the track adjusters on a steel pontoon that are in good shape? Mine appear to be completely worn out and wanted to see something with fewer miles on them to possibly cut out new ones.

Here is what I got, previous owners just kept pushing the tensioner out and when it wasn't enough they made the slots bigger which left no support for the rollers at the lower front of the pontoons.

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The rollers have tore into the sheet metal on all four pontoons and I have a big hole on the left rear. This wasn't a problem going forward but while going in reverse the rollers actually catch the bottom guide and have bent the grouser roller ears and flared them out.

Has anyone been successful in heating the grouser and bending the roller ear back into a vertical position?

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I believe the correct fix is going to a half link as shown here but will require some work on the drivers since they are not setup for a half link. The cat did come with enough parts to run half links on two of the pontoons so I may need to figure out how to fab up some additional sprocket 'teeth'. Adjusters are about half way out with the half link installed, might have to see if I can just drop a link all together.

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Pontoon Princess

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well, welcome to the wonderful world of pink pontoons, might be easier to show you rather than writing the complete epic manual on tucker steel pontoons and everything you need to know and do, come on down and we will walk you through pontoon 101, free lunch included.
 

Mill666er

Active member
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:clap::clap:Great, How's tomorrow?:clap::clap:Thanks for the offer, maybe I can get down there after the new year to see the rehabilitated pink pontoons.
 

MNoutdoors RIP

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
well, welcome to the wonderful world of pink pontoons, might be easier to show you rather than writing the complete epic manual on tucker steel pontoons and everything you need to know and do, come on down and we will walk you through pontoon 101, free lunch included.

That would be great can we bring 200-300 friends for lunch too!:whistling:is it true when you open up the tin cans the tracks run on you find canned ham? Or is it fruit cake ? ;)
 
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Pontoon Princess

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That would be great can we bring 200-300 friends for lunch too!:whistling:is it true when you open up the tin cans the tracks run on you find canned ham? Or is it fruit cake ? ;)

"it's like a box of chocolate, you never know, what you will find"

and to answer the question, what's inside, pure happiness, pretty good day.
 
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Track Addict

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
I know this goes against the Tucker pontoon commander belief but you may have enough wear in the links and griusers to lose a whole grouser and roller setup while taking up all the slack and bringing the adjusters all the way in.

Think 31 grousers is stock. Half link used only one per track to take up some wear.

I'm down to 30 on mine adjusters all the way in. 150 miles that way seems to work with what I have.

Now a trip to the pontoon castle? Well worth it to see the correctest and bestest.

Bring your mind eraser so when you get home and start working on your project your not so sad. Welcome to the steel track !
 

Pontoon Princess

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I know this goes against the Tucker pontoon commander belief but you may have enough wear in the links and griusers to lose a whole grouser and roller setup while taking up all the slack and bringing the adjusters all the way in.

Think 31 grousers is stock. Half link used only one per track to take up some wear.

I'm down to 30 on mine adjusters all the way in. 150 miles that way seems to work with what I have.

Now a trip to the pontoon castle? Well worth it to see the correctest and bestest.

Bring your mind eraser so when you get home and start working on your project your not so sad. Welcome to the steel track !




YIKES, YOU DID WHAT???????????????????????????????????????
 
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Pontoon Princess

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half links have a purpose and most useful and now, you have taken away their reason to exist, think you might just be the court jester in the pink pontoon castle

mill666er, i can help, mr addict, you worry me, not sure i can help you...
 
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Pontoon Princess

Cattitute
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That would be great can we bring 200-300 friends for lunch too!:whistling:is it true when you open up the tin cans the tracks run on you find canned ham? Or is it fruit cake ? ;)

if you want to fly your PRIVATE Boeing 757 all the way out to little olde Oregon, then, I should be able to feed you and your friends,

the seminar cost is $125 per person, will take visa, MC, and or amex, of course cash with three pieces of ID
 

Track Addict

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Here is prototype 30 grouser track. Seems to work somehow.

Can't be picky back east. Yankee ingenuity
 

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Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
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I don't know what is so special about that type 30 track I know where there 2 rolls of it
 

MNoutdoors RIP

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
"it's like a box of chocolate, you never know, what you will find"

and to answer the question, what's inside, pure happiness, pretty good day.

I think when Tucker built pontoons originally they should have placed time capsules in each pontoon so it would be a surprise at time of reskining or better yet say 1000.00 cash inside each pontoon as a bonus for the effort :clap:
 

MNoutdoors RIP

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
if you want to fly your PRIVATE Boeing 757 all the way out to little olde Oregon, then, I should be able to feed you and your friends,

Can't use the jet, Donald has it this weekend. :ermm:

The Seminar cost is $125 per person, will take visa, MC, and or amex, of course cash with three pieces of ID

Ok, only 125.00 that's reasonable. But that's all we can eat and drink :yum:
The only three pieces of ID. I have is my hat,my Glock, and my boots I use the hat to cover my face , my Glock to save my ass, and my boots to get the hell out of there if things go bad. :yum:
 
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Pontoon Princess

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there is gold in the pontoons, just need to know where to look, and yes on, all the food and drink, good on the three pieces of ID, they are acceptable.
 

sno-drifter

Bronze Member
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Hey Rob, here is an unused 300/400 series Tucker adjustable nose section and a weld in drive tooth for same. FYI the floor squares are 4 1/2 inches. PM for more.
 

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Track Addict

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Looks like we can learn this all together. Department of Social Sno-cats called yesterday about some form of tucker abuse they need to investigate and resolve.

Sounds like new rails are in order for both of us! Have a few ideas once we get some dimensions from tuckerville on the rail thickness and width for the 442/3 and the A models which were wider.

Hoping 1/4x3/4 or 1/4 x1" will be the number that works.
 

Pontoon Princess

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think you are busted, sounds like part of your sentence/community service will include attending the tucker seminar on pontoon care and service.
 

Mill666er

Active member
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Hey Rob, here is an unused 300/400 series Tucker adjustable nose section and a weld in drive tooth for same. FYI the floor squares are 4 1/2 inches. PM for more.


Thanks Scott, I didn't think mine looked correct. Without the webbing at the bottom slot to stiffen the rail, the rollers caused it to collapse and damage the pontoon. I think the factory adjusters were removed and these shop made extended adjusters were built when they ran out of travel.
 

Pontoon Princess

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this is the reason for the seminar, mill66er you have the early style and what scott posted was the improved later style, thus solving the problem you have, the hands on learning all about pontoons
 

Mill666er

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Thanks Princess, the factory certainly made an improvement with the new design. I will attempt to make a pattern of the new and improved adjusters to put back on my pontoons.
 

Pontoon Princess

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we have them in stock and could loan you one for making patterns, fyi, left and right also, the rails are made from plow steel
 

DAVENET

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I'll have to jump in & help TA here. I am almost positive that when done I will have 30 link tracks as well. Each of them already had the half link and adjusters are pushing max. So the half link will be yanked and adjusters set back to their starting point, 30 should be perfect. Unlike the picture of your "rack" of grousers that all have nice round holes, mine (and TA's ?) are oblong, so there is plenty of wear to make up for!

On Rob's machine, stretching the adjuster certainly was a, ummm, 'creative' solution.:doh: It's interesting that all of the connecting links are still flat and haven't been bent (or adjusted) to compensate for wear on the sprocket. It would seem that putting non-modified end adjusters back on and removing a link would solve most of the problem. But of course the Princess will guide you!:clap: (request the BBQ ribs :brows::brows:).

Most important- guessing at the amount of wear on your track, be wary of ripping every piece apart and randomly reassembling it. You can read why in my thread here : http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showpost.php?p=523506&postcount=20 I'm sure my first track that was completely jumbled will give me many miles of headaches. The others I have been taking sections, cleaning, greasing, painting & reassembling the same as they came apart. But since your connector links haven't been bent you may not run into the same issue? :unsure::unsure:
 

DAVENET

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I finally made some room in the shop to repair pontoons and tracks on my 1962 443.


"Has anyone been successful in heating the grouser and bending the roller ear back into a vertical position?"


Forgot this- I have just been putting them in a vice and GENTLY adjusting them back to square (in both planes). And even the ones that look perfect are usually off. :hammer:

Beer will be your best friend! :yum:
 

Pontoon Princess

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mill666er, as for your rebuild of the pontoons, first is to open up the pontoons so they can be media blasted inside and outsides when they are blasted ( the inside was never sealed or painted, and they tend to rust from the inside out ), need to start with clean parent material,

the 30 grouser set ups, just mean that everything is well worn, one can make that work, sadly when the grouser and rollers were not serviced and cared for, they simply wear much fast than they should, getting everything back OEM specs just ensures that you have trouble free operation for the the life of the machine, fyi, know of a 1960 tucker that still has it's original rails and rollers that are nearly new after thousands and thousands of miles of use, reason why, they had the correct factory service. always greased and the link pins were kept clean.

building a jig for straightening the grousers and ears works the best in a press not using heat as the cast ends were heat treated
 

Mill666er

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No heat? Ok I will try my jig in the press without the heat but assume I will have to take into account the spring back.

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Track Addict

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Curious if new rollers and rails would be enough to bring it back tension to close enough spec with even minimal link wear? Also curious how many miles it would take a new setup to wear out. Maybe some tuckers get used so little going forward that it will take much longer to totally wear out compared to when it had a real service life. Like my application for example.

What is the best way to lubricate the pins in service to minimize wear?

When rebuilding the rails for to be worth the effort you would also want to run new rollers as well? If not you are just fixing 50% of the problem. Thinking there aren't a lot of new rollers around which is why people push the limits to breaking point or no longer serviceable.

What is the best method for making the adjuster radius without a fancy power roller? Has a jig been tried with heat, bending, tacking? Thinking heat might weaken the steel?

Lots of questions but we are trying to learn now that I am feeling bad about my 30 grouser setup and I have the emotion to share with Rob on repairs.
 

DAVENET

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No heat? Ok I will try my jig in the press without the heat but assume I will have to take into account the spring back.

OK, now you officially have too much free time up on your hillside . . .:wink:

IMHO it is going to take you quite a bit of time getting each side like that, but it should work fine. There is definite 'spring back' when adjusting them. But as well as fixing the 'IN / OUT' orientation, a lot of them probably 'twisted' when the cat was backed up and hit that rough patch.
 

DAVENET

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GOLD Site Supporter
Curious if new rollers and rails would be enough to bring it back tension to close enough spec with even minimal link wear? Also curious how many miles it would take a new setup to wear out. Maybe some tuckers get used so little going forward that it will take much longer to totally wear out compared to when it had a real service life. Like my application for example.

What is the best way to lubricate the pins in service to minimize wear?

When rebuilding the rails for to be worth the effort you would also want to run new rollers as well? If not you are just fixing 50% of the problem. Thinking there aren't a lot of new rollers around which is why people push the limits to breaking point or no longer serviceable.

What is the best method for making the adjuster radius without a fancy power roller? Has a jig been tried with heat, bending, tacking? Thinking heat might weaken the steel?

Lots of questions but we are trying to learn now that I am feeling bad about my 30 grouser setup and I have the emotion to share with Rob on repairs.

I'm betting that if Rob gets the OEM end adjusters and they are fully retracted, he would join the 30 Grouser Club (new beer name?) as well. :beer: That track is pretty stretched.

Cost wise, the 50% fix is probably sufficient. Granted, everything would have been square when it came out the door and now after XXXX miles everything has a 'wear taper'. But, as you mentioned about old Tucker's no longer having a life of service, it's pretty unlikely a replacement would get worn out. But I do agree with you that there would be higher wear on the tapered roller riding on a fresh 90 degree rail edge. A 'seasoned' set of adjusters would fix the problem, or knocking the sharp edges off of a fresh made part. Either way, with recreational use, they would probably be just fine.

Rob's thinking "What have I gotten into???" :doh::yum:
 

Track Addict

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Seems like 1/4x1" was stock on my 442A. Certain areas are down quite a bit in thickness and width. Front and rear radius on the bottom and over the sprocket seem to have the most.

I think if I were to just replace the rails and left the rollers as is I could not get the track back together with the 30. It took all I had on adjustment in and straightening the random links to get that slack. Would have to add a link and half link back in which might be better than close to maxed out but now I have full adjustment.

Seems like a catch 22? When the tracks get worn. 30 or new rails and rollers then how does the link wear factor in?

Sounds like Rob opened up a pontoon of worms on this one and the unfortunate truth comes out that we are screwed unless we can bush and make new links.
 
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