First drive in the cat

Thanks to the kindness of JimVT and others we were able to take our LMC1200 out for the first time. 3 of us from my office went and none of have ever driven a snowcat before.

At the end of the day we all felt pretty good about operating the cats.

We took the 1200, a DMC 1450 Super Imp and Jim's Pisten Bulley. We took turns driving all 3.

Went up to the radio site at Three Sisters.

What I learned, its actually a lot of work driving a snow cat. Except the Pisten Bulley. That was a nice ride.

If you have to chain up your tow rig to get to the snow, well maybe it's time to take the cat off the trailer and ditch the rig.

A clowder is a group of cats. I thought clowder is when we have more clouds than yesterday.

Except for a stuck float in the carb causing 2 field repairs it ran fine. Tops out out 15 mph at 3600 RPM. Used about 3 gallons fuel per hour. We didn't need the heaters, (it has 3) as the temp was high 30's. The valve wouldn't shut the heat off completely so it was almost a short pants and T-Shirt uniform.


We'll do it again soon. Pics included for the snow deprived east coasters. As I remember they had it all last winter while our ski season lasted about 23 minutes.

(And no I don't know why some pics loaded sideways. It wasn't that steep)

we had a good day and climbed some large drifts.
the yellow one above was just pick up out of navy storage and in excellent shape.
jim

gosh, sure looks like you guys a great time, thanks for the story and photos

PJL said:

Pics included for the snow deprived east coasters. As I remember they had it all last winter while our ski season lasted about 23 minutes.

Click to expand...

Great pics!!

Down here we got two inches last year and people around here called it Snowmaggedon!! hahaha

I recall seeing photos of Atlanta with roads completely shut down. Bet it's hard to find tire chains and snow plows around that town.

Looks like a good crowd for the Snow Cat Jamboree

Those 3 look good together. Sounds like a good day.

I got to drive all 3 of em of too!!

So our mechanics pulled the carburetor apart and found it was chock full of rust and bits of rubber diaphragm material. Filter on fuel pump full of crud, glass filter bowl crudded up as well. And it was just cleaned. He pulled the fuel tank off and found the source. Rust and water in the tank. Tank cleaned up pretty well. Carb went out for overhaul, looking for a new fuel pump.

The amazing part is it ran as well as it did.

Crossing my fingers nothing else major jumps up.

Guess that's what happens when a rig only accumulates 287 hours in 27 years. The gas in the tank is probably old enough to vote.

There was a fourth cat there also, although we didn't get to drive that one. Glad to hear the mechanics found the problem, the last time I went out with a Spryte I had to tow it back to the trailer because of the same problem. The next summer they had the fuel tank coated inside with plastic and that clogged the pick-up tube.
I was impressed with how fast and smooth the quad with tracks is. It was a great day and good snow for being out in the open. It could get pretty cold in the rain and ice. I was surprised how much effort it took to turn the quad in the snow we had.