I guess its about time for an update. Made it to the jamboree last year for our first and only trip of that year. Had to rent a trailer and have a friend tow it up which sucked (the trailer was open in the middle and my friend had time constraints) was pretty happy over all with the performance. Was turning pretty well and maintaining good speed, floated in the 6' of powder no problem. Though we did overheat at the top of a good hill after trucking along for a few miles. Problem was the fans were wired into the factory harness for the jeep which doesn't turn them on until 218*. Since then we wired them into a switch, and we've learned you really can't forget to turn them on if you want to retain your antifreeze.
Anyway we stayed the night up there with some friends, my brother and I and our 2 dogs slept in the cat and our friends dug a snow cave. Had to get out of there the next day to get the trailer back. Though there was another persistent problem. Going down hill in particular sounded horrible and even had resistance/ drag when you let off the throttle. We had discovered it on our previous trip the year before but weren't sure about what it was for sure but suspected the differential. It had been reheated and the guy who installed them did not have clearance to get a good pattern (pinion would run into the carrier if it was deep enough for a good pattern). So we limped it out slowly that day. Overall a success since we got out on our own power unassisted. Also snagged 3rd best in show for the jamboree which was really nice.
Fast forward another year, bought a pos 99 f350 for $1800. Had no title, needed a tranny, added air bags, found broken leaf springs and replaced them, new ball joints, steering ends, tranny, trans cooler, gas tank filters cleaned, new brakes, rebuilt t-case, hpop, turbo, egr tube, boots, fuel and oil cross over mod, got it titled, registered, and insured. Then bought a pos trailer for $1300. Replaced/ upgraded the axles to 6k instead of 3.5, widened it, reinforced some areas, new deck and lights, tires and new goose neck coupler (hacked the old off and welded a new one on). Went to take it to the jamboree this year for our first outing but the truck was still lacking power. So decided to play it safe and stop before jumping over the long and steep pass. Oh our brake controller only worked manually and only if you weren't using the trucks brakes. Luckily we stopped at a place that we could take the cat for a little spin. We pulled 2 stuck cars out to start, they got stuck no more than 10 minutes after we parked. Went up through some switch backs, wasn't turning the greatest so we tried tuning in the steering bar tightness and track tension. Wasn't having much luck so turned around and started the trip back. It was real unhappy coming down again (loud and lots of drag) wasn't great but managed to limp back again. The truck struggled on the way home, got real hot a couple times and had to stop to let it cool down. Ended up using low range for the final climb into our neighborhood to keep temps down.
Immediately ripped both vehicles open (truck needed headers and up pipes for sure, still not sure what else yet) got a new ring and pinion (4.56 instead of 4.27, they were warrantied but out of 4.27's, also hoped 4.56 might allow a little more clearance to get it set up right). Found half the inner pinion gears had chewed into each other and replaced all of them, the pinion had run into the carrier again which very slightly concave the other inner opinions so decided to just do them all. Also learned the inner pinion gears are supposed to be "timed" and they weren't so we made sure to time them this time. New bushings and bearings throughout again to be safe. We set up the ring and pinion this time, ended up shaving the front of the pinion about 3/16 for extra clearance (still has about 1/8 inch) erred on the side of slightly shallow pinion depth as we heard these flex a bit. Figured it will flex forward and into perfect depth instead of ending up too deep and possibly contacting the carrier again with the pinion.
Got it all back together and tested it out this week. Was driving nice, and turning well again. But toward the end of the day some strange noise appeared. Came hope and opened it up to take a look and everything seemed normal. Tightened sprocket nuts and cleared a bunch of ice onside the tracks and the noise seemed to be gone (moving it back and forth on the trailer. Went to do a test drive again Friday and blew the radiator in the truck on 3/4 of the way there. Limped home, replaced it yesterday and went for another test run. All in all it he snowcat seems mostly good to go but possible some minor kinks to work out. The truck still feels a little under power but is getting better, Also got a new brake controller. Also over the fall we picked up a tig welder and learned to weld aluminum, built a nice bed for the back to cover the motor and store gear.