All I can say is that after reading your eval of the snowcats at the JJ Kane Auction I am glad they didn't let me bid as it seems like I would have made a "purchased sight unseen" mistake, but then again they did go with trailer at around the $4k mark so the mistake may have been about $1K too high. My thought still stands that $20+K, even for a machine that has been completely redone is too high, especially for a 40+ year old machine. If I buy this for my business I would rather spend $40+ K on a newer machine. As a hobbiests I would rather spend 5-10k on one that needs some love and get to know the machine, which in my mind put the value of a redone machine in the $15-$20 k range depending on condition and if it comes with a trailer. These are just my thoughts, I don't mean to devalue anyone's property, and in reality want to hear other opinions. Feel free to attack me lol
Rodre, I'm not "attacking", but hopefully adding information so you're more informed. These prices are several years old, which means current prices are undoubtedly higher. My experience is solely with Tuckers, but I have no reason to believe Tucker is an outlier in their pricing.
In terms of the track system you have four rubber belts per track, and of course four tracks, so 16 total. Belt pricing (from Tucker, there are other sources) depends on track length. Belts for long track machines were $220.00 each.
The steel grousers last a long time on a machine that's not abused. But if the machine was run frequently on low snow/no snow conditions the grousers will wear prematurely. One new grouser was $170.00 and on a long track machine there are 124 of them. Admittedly, you'd never buy a whole set of new ones, but I mention the price for educational purposes.
The idler wheels (some call them bogie wheels) are $250.00 each and on a long track machine there are 20 of them. The rear-most idler wheel is made from a harder compound and it's called a "De-icer" wheel. Those are $350.00 each, and there are four.
If you have the damper wheel conversion you have 3 damper wheels per long track (2 on short and mid length tracks), so 12 and 8 total respectively. They run $160.00 each.
There are also drive sprockets, two per track, eight total, that are $250.00 each.
I could very easily picture a rubber tracked Tucker listed for say $8,000 with a lot of hours, that needed work on the tracks. Add up all new belts, say five idler wheels, three sprockets and eight grousers. Let's say you find some used grousers at $50 each. All those parts add up to $5,920, plus shipping, which would put the total over $6K.
Your $8,000 Tucker is now $14,000, and changing out all the belts is a significant amount of work: remember the 124 grousers? Each one is held on by two studs and six bolts...call it a thousand fasteners to be removed. I virtually guarantee you'll be fighting with a bunch of 'em, and you'll likely make the decision to buy all new bolts, washers and nuts. Since you've got all the idler wheels off, you decide to repack the wheel bearings and install new seals. Not all that expensive, but a bunch more time.
The $8K Tucker, with medium to high hours, (and especially if it was used as a groomer) probably has some poorly done mechanical repairs that might need to be addressed. It may also be in rather poor cosmetic condition, so perhaps some new seats and a paint job. Three thousand bucks there?
We're up to $17,000 and you've spent a chunk of your free time on this machine. You've got all new track belts, several new idler wheels and sprockets, but a bunch of the others may only have two seasons left before needing replacement.
Perhaps that "overpriced" $20K cream puff isn't such a bad deal after all...
I'm not a Thiokol/DMC/LMC guy, but from what I understand there's a world of difference between a standard track Thiokol Imp 1404 and a wide track DMC 1450. They made changes over the years that improved the machine's capability significantly. The point being you have to fair in comparing pricing on different machines.