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Air Force 600 series Thiokols

wesley

Member
Has anyone ever done the research on how many 600 series Thiokols the Air Force ordered? I have one that has a plate marked USAF REG. NO. 63C1363. The plate is located on the engine cover just below the shift plate. There was no data plate so I don't know the Thiokol serial number. From what I have been able to understand, they were originally ordered to be used on the DEW line. I would think they would also be used in most AF bases that were subject to periods of heavy snow. I know that there were two stationed at K.I. Sawyer AFB near me.
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
from what i could gather from both my Dad who was in the airforce at the time and several others involved with snow cats in the airforce. the 600's were ordered specificaly for the dew line to replace snow tracs that were ordered for the dew line support the airforce wanted a larger more powerful rig the early models had a porer devider to steer but were prone to locking sticking when steering and were later changed out to the oc diferentials that were more reliable and easyer to work on. my Dad worked in occupational health during the time of the thiokol change over and there were several serious rollover accedents involving thiokol 600's and later it was determined that special training was required to operate them as they are designed to operate in conditions and terrain that would stop other vehicles the only weak spot on your thiokol is the the axle spindles are kind of weak nad won't stand up to a hard pounding also the square grousers don't work well on hard snow or hard ground the 600's were kind of like the snow tracss and intended for soft snow there are 2 600's here in nome owned by the same person.there is also a sprite at stella creek that caught fire and burned to the ground.
 

wesley

Member
I was big into weasels before I made the thiokol upgrade. One thing I learned from operating weasels was track care. Weasel tracks are notorious for breaking and were originally designed to be replaced as a unit if damaged. Not repaired. The old saying among weasel owners was you don't buy a weasel, you buy a set of tracks with a weasel on it. Because of this I decided, that even though both could be run year around. I operate mine exclusively on snow. With my narrow logging trails and rocky terain I really worry about the long square grousers.
 

pirate_girl

legendary ⚓
GOLD Site Supporter
Heres a link to another site specializing in millitary trucks. This thread discuses some millitary sprites and contains a link to a millitary tucker. The person who started the thread "rangerbob" seems to know alot about millitary snowcats and might have sprite information. You may have to register to see the pictures, i'm not sure.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/motorcycles-atvs/97269-might-military-snowcat.html



Gosh, someone there looks mighty familiar...:whistling:
 
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