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Astro van cat conversion

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Good things happened this morning....:clap:

No physical work....but went to see a local company that handles the Flexco belt lacing.

I get there and the folks are very polite and helpful....but soon it became obvious that they did not have the 550 series lacing in stock....or so they said.

We talked about options and I brought the conversation back to the reality that I want/need a lacing that can be easily dealt with in the field without special tools.

Riveted lacing was not gonna happen.

Thiokol had used the flexco lacing on the 2100 and the 1200 and the 550 series was what was used.

OK...MAYBE THERE ARE BETTER OPTIONS....BUT I AM NOT GOING ON A DAMNED FOOL CRUSADE TO FIND OUT EXACTLY WASSSUP WITH SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

The Flexco 550 was on my machine and obviously had been for a long time.

THEY WORK......

The conversation drifted back to the 550 lacing and the salesman says "WE can order them.

$125 per set for a 12" belt.

I comment..."So you don't have anything for "Touchy feely eyes on"

The other sales rep say "Just a minute" he heads into the warehouse.

Comes back with a nasty badly trashed box of parts.

There are enough pieces to connect three of the 12" belts.

Thiokol used 3/8" bolts....Flexco uses a special 1/4" bolt with a goofy head and a special nut


3/8" hex bolts it is.....

So the bottom line....

Fella offers me the entire box of parts for $50

This is a no brainer....Grabbed that deal in a heart beat.

So we now have enough to do 3 belts.

The card comes out and Missy in the corner handles the paperwork......

Conversation heads into the belting arena and I give the sales boys the dims.

12" wide and 187" long nominal..

We discuss the specs on the belting.

The lacing is rated at 300 PIW (Pounds per inch of width)

The belting he is showing me is 3/8" thick 3 ply at 330 PIW

The original belting used by Thiokol was 3 ply...... no PIW available at this late date..

The next jump up is a 4/500 (4 ply at 500 PIW )

The lacing is rated at 300....no reason to go that far beyond the lacing rating.

Now for the best part

The 12" belts at 287" long $140 each.

This is not a bad deal at all.....

I am pleased with where this is going....and the outfit is 30 minutes away and they have the belting in stock.

Next chapter in this project is gonna be to build the tooling to layout and drill the belts....and to assemble them STRAIGHT AND SQUARE....:thumbup:

So far..... my plan is to make a jig that can drill about a 3 foot section in one setup.

Index the end of the belt and drill 8 sets of holes....re-index and indicate off the last holes...go again.

I want to make damned sure that we do not end up with CREEP......poor pitch measurements are gonna suck.

Do not want the tracks climbing off the sprocket
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Doing some snooping online looking for the Flexco 550 belt lacing.

Like most stuff....you look and shop and you can get some good deals.

The stuff I got yesterday was an OK deal....but I still need 1 more set to complete the track pair.

I found this outfit that sells the Flexco 550 hinge

These are available in many lengths as a continuous strip....the strip is scored at intervals all along the strip....simply grasping the strip with a couple long nose pliers and bending carefully will allow the needed length to be snapped off.

I am using 12" belts....a 36" strip will give me the last piece I need PLUS 2 extras for spare parts.

These guys have great prices on the stuff too
http://www.emurdock.com/375xj12ncsteeljointwithnyloncoveredsteelcable-3-1-1-1-1-1.aspx

Stock lengths are available from 18" to 60"

These hinges will work on many cats with rubber belts that use the hinge type lacing.

Carry some spares in the tool box....An 18 volt impact drill, some basic hand tools and a proper repair could easily be accomplised in the field.

I noticed that several of the hinges on my track were cracked badly at the "hinge nose" where the load is.

Flexco normally uses a plastic coated cable as the hing pin.

The normal for the Thiokol was/is a long bolt.....

The water in the joints from the snow likely lubricates the joint sufficiently to negate the need for the nylon sleeve over the cable.

Flexco also uses a special fastener .....Most cats are going to use 3/8"-fine thread bolts through the hinge.

The prices at Murdock are far and away cheaper than even the ebay sellers....

I will order up a 3 foot piece here in a few days...

Hope this info is useful...
 
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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
More work done today.

The track is 1/2 apart now

Changed my plan of attack a bit....Got the hose right on the belt and flood the belt with water and then burn off the bolt heads...then flush with water to cool things quick...

So far only found one broken grouser.....

The tire guides all seem good so far.

As soon as the track is apart and the one belt is off.....then the attention turns to building the tooling to drill the new grousers and the new 12" belts.....

Going to be a fair amount of number crunching to be really sure everything comes out correct as far as the pitch goes.

Tomorrow I think I will get a couple pieces of the 1-1/2" angle and some 1-1/4" box tube and start building a couple grousers to my specs and see how they look...

Prototypes.....:thumbup:

The weather is going to close in in a few more days.

Once the weather drives me inside....I can work on grousers and remove tire guides off the old grousers.....

Ah yesss


This snow cat stuff is a disease ya know.....nobody in their right mind would go through the pain and misery we do with our cats....
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Pulling hair....screaming and making obscene noises :shitHitFan:

Decided to do the math on the length of the track belts.


72 grousers on a 4" pitch is 288 inches...

I kept getting odd measurements on the actual track belt.

Finally started checking the actual bolt holes in the belt


Started seeing an error show up within 3 holes its is showing that the belts have shrunk....

2 inches over the length of the belt.....


Anyway...now we know why the numbers did not crunch
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
A clear head this morning and a few cups of coffee later.

Then...forget about how long the old tracks are/were or might have been.

72 grousers on a 4" pitch is 288"

The one response I got on belt length was 287"

Accounting for a small trim and the belt lacing the actual number is 286-1/2" of real belt length......

Dug out a nice heavy poster paper sheet and drew the connection and other dims up a bit ago.

The numbers all crunch now...... :thumbup:

A piccy of the drawing.

Not per drafting standards....but the data is all there......

Yesssss...I think we should use something better than a pencil for the hinge pin

Likely will use a 416 stainless steel rod (Low galling properties)

Getting a bolt long enough to do these bad boys is proving to be tough.....so I will make them inhouse....
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Went after the tire guides on the grousers.

I need all of those bad boys....

So far there are 14 of them off and on the bench.....


The impact wrench is pretty much a waste of time.

Toss the grouser in the mill vise and drill the bolt heads.

3/16" pilot drill and then a 3/8 drill.

Grade 8 bolts are tough than billy hell.....but care on the pressure and speed and I can get two or three guides off before needing to sharpen the drills....


Tomorrow is another day and will see how many more can be done....


I want to get these all off before the weather goes sour....
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Plugging away at removing the tires guides from the track.

Got a total of 25 off and on the table.

Not hard work....just slow and tedious.

Drop the grouser in the table vise in the mill.....Line up the 3/16" drill with the center of one of the tire guide bolts and drill the pilot hole below the bolt head...then swap in the 3/8" drill and bottom it in the hole.

Get the drill out of the way and then snap off the bolt head with the breaker bar.

Do the other one.

Do it all again.

The pile of grousers from the first half of the track is getting smaller.

Just no way to make this job go FAST :hammer:

So far the tire guides all look good.

It is obvious that tires have gone flat and been allowed to run over the tire guides some.....Some wear that should not be there....but no biggy....


Tomorrow will see more bolts drilled out.

I think that I am going to pick up enough materials to build a couple prototype grousers.....

Now that I have some tire guides off I can fool with some fitting of the guides to the grouser...

Decided on going with 5 bolts on the 12" belts at the grouser and 7 bolts on the lacing grouser.

One helluvalota bolts for sure.....

Will stay with the two 7/16" bolts on the tire guides....that has seemed to work fine for the design.


And on we go
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
OK TROOPS....

POSSIBLE CHANGE ORDER COMING.

Looking at the room in the cab on the Frankencat and how much area I have to work with.

May possibly go with the hydraulic steering instead of the air.

Many reasons...biggest one is the availability of a reliable compressor at an affordable price.

Also the air chambers will need to be behind the OC-12 and Very vulnerable to damage from behind unless guarded well.

I have a pair of the 1" master cylinders like the ones used on Ford Econoline vans that have been laying around on the shelf.

MY question.

On the Spryte or other rigs using the OC12 with manual steering.....
What is the length of the steering lever from the pivot pin to the hand grip spot

Approx how much force do you need to exert on the lever to lock the band well.

The 2100 requires 400 psi oil pressure at the slave cyl's on the diffy

I have been running through the calculations for brake master cylinder pressures and to achieve 400 psi nominal at the slaves needs

Distance from pivot to cyl bore 2"
Cyl bore 1"
Lever ratio 15:1
Pull force approx 20 pounds

Lever would need to be about 30" from the pivot to the hand position on the lever.


So what say ye troops

What is the magical number on these cats as far as the rod length from the pivot and how much ooooomph to get the band locked ?????


Thanks in advance:thumbup:
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
That would be sweeeeeeeeeeet

Length of the lever from the pivot to the top of the handle.


Today got off to a ripping start.

Had breakfast with friends and I got a phone call.

I had designed a custom wheel center so I can build some new wheels for FrankenCat.

The outfit called me to say the prototype was ready.

Absolutely sweet looking....

The shop has a water jet cutter and that thing is a really nice machine.


The plan is to order up some of the Heavy duty 12" wheel blanks from Hey Wheel Company

These are a tad thicker than normal 12" wheels.

The centers are 3/8" plate..

They will not buckle and deform at the lug nut area like the factory ones.


The new design puts the plate close to the edge of the drop center.....

Weld these bad boys in on the 5 spokes.....and see what happens.

I have had welded heavy spoke wheels with some huge tires on 4x4 trucks before and beat them to hell and they never had issues.


I plan on keeping the alloy wheels with foamed tires up front.....and if these new ones come out good I will replace all the others with the one I am building in house.....

There is not one wheel on the cat that is in great shape.

Between the nasty rust and the wobbled lug holes, bent centers.....junk ...all of them.


A few would get ya home....maybe.


The steel on the new wheels is 1/8" thick.

5 good welds /both sides of the spokes should give things a helluva go....
 

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PJL

Well-known member
Overall length. A little over 26 inches.

Pivots on the upper holes.

Master cylinder pushrod on the bottom holes.
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Thank you a bunch.....:clap:

Any idea how many pound of pull is needed on the lever to lock the band.


Thiokol specs on the 2100 calls for 400 psi as optimal pressure at the band slave cylinders.

400 psi is easily achieved with the hand levers on the master cylinders.


Looking at cab interior and where the steering cylinders will need to mount on the floor.....the levers are going to have to be such that they pull off the main portion with the pivot and placed out of the way so the operator can get in and out of the cab....

Not real handy......but workable.......

There may be a possibility of mounting the RH lever/cyl to the right of the operators Right leg....
I need to crawl into the cab and get comfy and see what might work and be comfortable.

Having the LH lever by the driver door may work...Just need to pull the one lever to gain egress from the cab.

I am not nearly as happy with the layout as with the air controls......but the air presents issues that are starting to bother me....

The KISS principle comes to mind VERY MUCH SO


I have thought about using the power steering pump and arranging two control valves to feed 400 psi to the steering slaves....

These types of controls could be mounted on the column the same as the little air valves.....

Now is a great time to really beat on this area and see what can be done...

The power steering pump can deliver more than enough oil and a few valves and a pressure regulator and it would be sweet....


Butttttttttttttttttttt.....The manual lever system is totally simple.....


Here is a piccy of one of the master cylinders I have.


More time with the engineering hat on and sitting in the cab with a pad and pencil me thinks
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Did some serious looking at the steering issue...

Using the factory steering cylinders or a new set.

The Chevy power steering pump will supply plenty of pressure and volume to suffice.

A pressure relief valve set at 400 psi feeding oil from the pump to a flow divider and then to a pair of 12 volt solenoid actuated 3/2 hydraulic valves will get the needed oil to the Diffy cylinders

To keep all oil out of the cab and to keep the operator station uncluttered a pair of simple lever actuated momentary switches mounted on the column work station should make life easy and simple.


Change orders......:bolt:

Gotta love these.

A stock Chevy power steering pump is easy to find and it bolts right onto the engine...

A good oil cooler will be needed since the oil is going to be blowing through a relief valve.
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Been getting the winter heating fuel in since we are about out of good weather ( I will post over in the "not cat forum"

Back to the FrankenCat tomorrow.

Spent some time looking over the basic hydraulics needed to do the steering on the cat.

Need two 4/2 way 12 volt valves with sub bases.

One Flow divider
One pressure relief ( Set to 400 psi)

A few fittings and some of the "Build on site" Aeroquip hose with the "Wrench on fittings"

Two N/O Joy stick SPST switches


Two heavy 12 volt relays to handle the valves and keep the heavy current off the joy sticks.


The GM power steering pump will be quite sufficient to operate the Slave Cyl's on the OC12.

This plan is a real change from the air system....but the end result I do believe will be a better choice.

Using the factory type cylinders set to factory pressure will make for less worry.....:thumbup:


The parts are not break the bank costly and the parts are easy to find off the shelf stuff.....
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Good day today
Met up with one of our members today
“The Fat Squatch”
We did some horse trading

He had some extra wheel guides and a couple tire/wheels
I had all the grousers from my one track and a couple hubs
So we both got some things we need

The tire guides are a real plus for my build
Now I can think about the second track

Ahhh yessss
Fun stuff
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Dragged the goodies outta the van this afternoon....:clap:

57 good usable tire guides......

Got feelers out for 15 more guides.

Now....the question.

Are the guides on the 3700 the same as the 2100?????????

The LMC 1500 guides will fit but are a different style

Any input will help....

Gonna toss these Rusty gold goodies in a tub of vinegar and that will make them look great.
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Wet soggy day around here.

Got busy on the mill drilling out more of the bolts that hold the tire guides onto the grousers....

A slow process....about 15 minutes each to get the guide off.

Looking over the stuff I got recently I discovers 4 odd tire guides.

These are later model 3700 guides..

Some inquires produced a lead on a bunch more 3700 guides.

The plan is to mix the 3700 guides into the mix @ one 3700 guide and then 6 2100 guides.....the 3700 guides are the same bolt pattern.....just beefier units with a tad more room between the uprights.

Snooped through several pictures of used 2100 and 3700 cats and they all showed a mixture of the two types.

The later 3700 guide is definitely a better stronger design.......
I believe this was a design change that came along and can retro in place of the earlier design.....

The pics show the different guides.

The two on the table has the 2100 in the foreground and the 3700 behind

Quite a bit different guide....but the width and bolt pattern are the same....
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Got a bit of time this afternoon to fool with the new grouser design.

1-1/2" x 3/16" angle
1-1/4" box tube insert to stabilize the tire guide..

The tube gets cut on each end on a 45 degree angle to allow access to the mounting bolts.

Tube welds to angle.

This setup should be quit enough for the cruiser.

A few different aluminum grousers were used on the 2100 as well as the big beefy J steel grousers.

The angle design should be fine.

The outer corners get rounded off the help them navigate bare ground.

We shall see......

Getting the weight mass down a bunch is the goal....

Should come in about 850 lbs per track.
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Been busy the last couple days...and it did not include much cat work....

Today is a lovely day with cool temps and clear skies.....

Took a look at the final 1/2 of the one track.....

This sucker needed to be cut up and the grousers stacked up so I can drill out the tire guide bolts.

Got out the trusty Sawzall and went after the beast.

All cut up.....one piccy shows the last few left where they fell and the Monster that gave them their last ride together....

I am very happy not to have to bend over and cut any more rubber belt...:clap:

Got a plan figured out to build the new belts.

I need a 2 x 12 x 12' to act as a guide of sorts and a portable work bench.

Next comes a drill jig (3/16 steel x 12-1/2" wide to be the drill jig)
36" long with holes to manage 9 grousers .

Will see exactly how this shakes out....but something close so we end up with accurate pitch on the grousers.....
 

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Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
you would have got more life out of a porta band saw if I can avoid the sawzall for metal now days I do.
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Sawzall beats the crap outta the operator.

But I own it and have plenty of blades.

Been thinking about a portable band saw though....

Harbor Freight has one for $135

I bought one of their compound miter saws and it has been great.

I have an old one of their horizontal band saws I got at a garage sale and have run the crap out of it.

Been great.

Got a much newer Jet band saw and it is OK....

The old HF saw just keeps on going...


I am trying to make up an excuse to buy the hand held band saw :thumbup:
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Stop tempting me :clap: :thumbup::hammer::hammer::hammer:

It will happen......


Today was an experimenting day .....

Grabbed up one of the 3 foot angle pieces and went to work on finishing GROUSER NUMBER 1

Stuck the angle in the mill vice with the legs down and cut a slot through the edge.

This allow me to weld the 1-1/4" box tube along the spine.

Also allows the tire guide to fit as the guide has a pretty good radius in the bottom.

Set up the old saw to cut the 1-1/4" tube ends on an angle (Allows the bolts to be stuffed into the hole)

The 7/16" bolts are it.....the 1/2" will not allow access for a wrench inside the tube.

Picked up a couple 7/16" x 1" bolts and a couple swage head nuts.

The Jet saw waiting to get after more of the 1-1/2" angle.

Have not drilled the holes for the belts yet....Gonna make a jig so all of them will be the same.

This one will likely be drilled with (7) 3/8" holes for the lacing......This will be the lacing cleat.......

I have a couple mods in mind for the coming grousers to make the fabrication a tad easier.

But this bad boy is looking good.....

A shot of it sitting up on the LH front track wheel......

Just need 143 more of these critters.

Good weather today....went and got a fresh bottle of 75/25 Gas for the mig...

At the bottom of the tank...Gauge stopped wiggling.....bad sign....EMPTY.

Got a steel yard that quotes $1.29 per foot on the angle....must buy 20 footers though.

Will get a few of the 20 footers and start making 3 foot grouser blanks.

Need some 1-1/4" box tube 1/8" wall for the tire guide supports.

I can cut the parts on days it's not raining....

A lot of cutting.....lots of milling the back edge of the angle.
Lots of cutting the tire guide support tubes and mitering the corners.


Gonna be a bunch of very mundane work to get the 144 grousers done.

I am feeling good about the size and weight of the 3 foot grousers.

Should be fine for the little FrankenCat......

Not well suited for for the 2100's original purpose.....blade and a drag...but this little cruiser should do fine.....
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
I ripped off the last one of the wheels that had really rough bearings the other day.

Bearings are shot.....AND some clown ripped out the lug stud splines and then drove in (5) 9/16" studs :hammer:

This is crap....
Ordered up a fresh hub from Trailer parts super store online
H25-555F is the part number.

The kit comes with The hub, bearings, seal, lug studs and dust cover.

All in a nice kit.....$60 plus freight.

Now.....they do supply lug nuts too......BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT....THESE ARE 45 DEGREE SEAT NUTS and will not work with the cat wheels.

The cat uses nuts with a 60 degree tapered seat.

Other than that...good stuff.

I will use the old hub with the 9/16 studs as a drill jig to locate and drill the new wheel centers that are in the works.

Just add a bushing....locate and drill the new holes.....


These hubs are only found in stock at a couple outfits....

They are listed as "Agricultural hubs"

Pretty much the same as the original cast hubs.

Crossing the factory hub casting numbers online brings these up.
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Back to removing tire guides from the old grousers.

Lotssa drilling.....

Got a dozen guides off.

22 left to go to finish the lot.

Grabbed up a nice plastic tub and dumped in 3 gallons of vinegar and a box of salt.

Tossed in several of the recently acquired tire guides......gonna let them suckers soak for a day or so to get rid of the rust.....


Sitting in my little chair outside looking at the pile of recently removed guides...

Then I noticed that there are 4 different styles of tire guides.

Pix show it really well.

The orange one is the original 2100 guide.

Then we have what would seem to be a slightly upgraded design. This one has a slightly different shape on the guide part....Slightly different angle on the outside portion and more weld on the channel....

The next one is similar except the channel portion is deeper.

Then the last one is the guide commonly found on the 3700 and 4700 machines.

These guides are also retrofitted to the 2100.

Much beefier design.

A drilled bolt on one ready to be snapped off.

And the parts ready for the trash.
 

m1west

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Back to removing tire guides from the old grousers.

Lotssa drilling.....

Got a dozen guides off.

22 left to go to finish the lot.

Grabbed up a nice plastic tub and dumped in 3 gallons of vinegar and a box of salt.

Tossed in several of the recently acquired tire guides......gonna let them suckers soak for a day or so to get rid of the rust...

Sitting in my little chair outside looking at the pile of recently removed guides...

Then I noticed that there are 4 different styles of tire guides.

Pix show it really well.

The orange one is the original 2100 guide.

Then we have what would seem to be a slightly upgraded design. This one has a slightly different shape on the guide part....Slightly different angle on the outside portion and more weld on the channel....

The next one is similar except the channel portion is deeper.

Then the last one is the guide commonly found on the 3700 and 4700 machines.

These guides are also retrofitted to the 2100.

Much beefier design.

A drilled bolt on one ready to be snapped off.

And the parts ready for the trash.

Have you tried using a impact to over tighten them and snap them off, I had good luck with that method on a Thickol 603. I had a few that rounded had had to be cut, but most snapped off rather easily.
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Biggest issue with the J grouser is getting a wrench onto the nuts and solid so the impact will do much.

The nuts are 11/16" and getting a socket or a good box wrench down into the area is sketchy at best.

I fooled with some at first and beat them unmercifully ......but things have too much give to get any real action.

Grade 8 7/16 bolts take a pretty good beating and do not want to give up easily.

I got tired of listening to the impact hammering away and the compressor howling.

That was when I cut the belts and started drilling out the guide bolts.

Not extremely fast....but it gets progress....

Down to just 20 grousers left to remove the guides from....

The Fine threaded bolts with the swaged head type lock nuts THAT HAVE RUSTED FOR YEARS are just nasty.....

I am going to use a swage head nut on the new track bolts....but going to go with 7/16" coarse thread....AND USE A COPPER NEVER SEAZE compound on the threads.

Also going to install the nuts on the inside of the belts instead of having the threads out getting beat up in the crap.

Just one of the not so fun parts of dealing with old rusty parts......



Gonna take a peek at the guides that are soaking in the vinegar/salt solution this morning.

My hope is that this nasty stinky stuff will get rid of most of the rust and then they can get a coat of gray paint.


Winter is gonna be a hit and miss thing.

Sadly...without having the cat inside to work on it....weather is a big factor.

The diffy is inside and will remain there until the real need to get it back into the chassis.....

After deciding to scrap the air steering and going back to the factory steering cylinders ...the need to get those cylinders apart is of great importance....

The 2100 uses regular oil in the steering system......as opposed to the Spryte which uses brake fluid in the steering system.

Brake fluid has an affinity for water....water causes RUST and corrosion in the cylinders .....SOOOOOOOOOOOO....With a bit of luck the old cylinders MAY ???? still be in decent shape.

The hydraulic lines were attached and the oil that ran out was clean....LETS HOPE THE PARTS ARE USABLE


The FrankenCat has come a long way this season....From late February until now, and so much has been accomplished.....but still a long way to go.

The drive shaft is all here in the shop...just need to shorten the front section about 8" it looks like....Then add the center support bearing bracket.

Tranny shifter set up
Tranny cooler lines
Radiator, fan, hoses and likely a booster pump to get coolant into the heater (Heater is much higher than would normally be seen)
Still need to scare up a power steering pimp and brackets (Steering)

Rear diffy outboard mounting pad on the frame need TLC (Been cracked and poor repairs done)

Front axle left side is bent a bit....need to straighten it

Wiring from the S10 cab harnesses to the chassis need to be done.
Column wiring needs to be finished up (Wiper and signal switch need replacing) Ignition switch needs to be mounted in the new column mount and connected to the factory harness.

Biggest and most time consuming will be fabricating the remaining 143 grousers and assembling the tracks.

Hydraulic (Grease) track adjusters need to be removed and checked over....

Several new wheels need to be built.
Centers need to have the pilot hole finish bore and the lug stud holes drilled and countersunk for the nuts to seat.

Have one new center (Prototype) and the wheel blanks are readily available.

Need to build some simple tooling (Jig) to locate the wheel centers to put them where they need to be.....WELD IN THE CENTERS......


Fuel tank needs to be soaked with either Vinegar or another derust material..
Not bad...but I want it clean......

Mount tank back to original location and plumb to engine through a large fuel water separator

New Quadrajet Carb needs to get mounted... (Have a fresh unit)
Engine needs a new mechanical fuel pump and a factory type steel line from pump to carb installed.

A slightly longer stock type throttle cable will get the stock pedal connected

Fuel gauge in tank needs to be replaced and connected to the S10 wiring harness (90 ohm gauge)

Overhead light bar needs to be mounted and wired.
Rear lights....signals and such.

Just getting it running and able to do a road test will be the first worries.

Then once the beast will go...then all the extra lights and goodies


Also...Once I know where exactly the radiator will be....The anteater hood has to be fabricated....and the cowl cover as well.

The side steps also need to be fabricated.
We have some nice 12" tread railing for the steps.....
Now that the track issue has been pretty much chiseled in stone I can build the steps to place the steps right over the bogie wheels....(Make ingress and egress easier)

Yeah...Just a walk in the park....:thumbup:

Looking at the amount of work seems daunting......just one step at a time.

And then soon it will be ready to "Gone Catin"
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Got 6 more Guides off the grousers...
The other half said we need to go shopping.....

OOOOOOOOOOOOK... So we did.

Maybe tomorrow I can plow through the last of these bad boys.....

Scared up a bunch more of the 3700 guides from a fella.

Deal still in flux...but should be able to make it go.....

Box with all new lug nuts came today....yessssssssssssssssss.

Most on the rig are nasty looking....new will be nice....
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
muriatic acid works better than anything I have ever used for removing rust give it 5 min wash it and soak in wd 40 it will look like new
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
I have used strong acids before for such things....

I really don't like having it around (Young grand kids get into stuff)


Phosphoric acid works about as good and is far less nasty.

Best part of the Vinegar thing....when you are done with the cleaning project....dump the crap that's left on a bunch of nasty blackberry bushes.

Kills them suckers....pretty much biodegradable too.

I HAVE NOT USED WD40 as a cleaner though.

My fuel tank from the 2100 is in good shape, but has a bit of surface rust inside.....

I want to clean that bad boy before I install it back in the cat.

Definitely do not want to fight a bunch of rust getting into the fuel system.... (Big azz filter)

I would go with an aluminum tank....but the factory tank is sound and it will sit right back into the same location it came from.

I made sure the S10 cab was far enough forward that the tank can go right back into it's old location......

Gonna see just how well the Vinegar does....if it is only does a marginal job then something stronger is gonna have to be used.

Not sure on the story of these tire guides I got the other day....quite a bit of rust......

But they will clean up....and get us going.

So far the availability of these seems to be a tad scarce.

If the current deal comes about I will have enough guides to build both tracks....

I am looking at the possibility of fabricating tire guides.

Sadly this is looking like a major task.

Although not impossible....just time consuming.

Need to start with a 12" piece of Schedule 40 tube and plasma cut off about the top 1/3 (Part makes 2 pieces) ....then Flatten the ends where the part is bolted to the grouser.

Weld on the side plates and then add the actual guide pieces (Fab from rectangle tubing.

All quite doable.....just not what I want to be doing for months on end.

The original guides are a stamping from what looks like 10 GA sheet steel.
The factory stuff is heat treated.....not sure what the steel is....possibly grade 50.

The stuff obviously is weldable and can be drilled/punched

I am not real certain what materials were used.....

The factory likely wanted the best wear resistance and structural strength they could get and still have as much ease of manufacture.


I have heard varying stories about the early tire guides being very costly to produce ??????

The heavy "J" Grousers are definitely a costly item to make.

The aluminum extrusion grousers are probably cheaper to make....but nowhere near as durable especially on non snow surfaces.

Anyway.

We will see how all this "Salvage" operation goes.
 
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