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Arlow's Factory Manuals

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I received a package in the mail that contains a couple more manuals, on loan from Arlow in British Columbia. He provided some information that I already had, but 2 manuals that are slightly different than any of the other manuals.

For whatever reason, it seems like Aktiv made very slight changes to their manuals even if the actual parts did not change too much from year to year. I could not figure out a date for Arlow's manual, but I would guess them to be roughly 1970. One of them refers to "Track Master" and that name was changed in 1973 to "Snow Master". So we know the manuals are before 1973. The "Track Master" name was first used in 1966. So the manuals must from 1966 through 1972. I have a 1972 manual, and Arlow's is not identical to mine, so that further narrows the date to pre-1972.

What I don't know is when they changed from 6 lower bogey wheels to 4 lower bogey wheels with one large front wheel. I think, but am not sure, that they changed in the late 1960's. These manuals show drawings with one large front wheel & 4 lower bogey wheels.

What I found interesting is that there were 4 different exhaust pipe configurations in Arlow's manual. :confused: The exhaust configurations included serial numbers, so with a bit of digging, I should be able to better date the manual.

Of course it is also possible that his manual, which is not an original, is a composite manual that contains parts of several manuals! In any event, I will be making digital copies of these manuals over the next day or two. The copies will be added to the CD-Roms that I make up and will be available to any ForumsForums member who requests them.
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
I can only wish I could find manuals like this on Kristi . It is great that you Snow Trac'ers are sharing this valuable information on your cats . Keep up the good work !:a1:

Big Al:tiphat:
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
BigAl said:
I can only wish I could find manuals like this on Kristi . It is great that you Snow Trac'ers are sharing this valuable information on your cats . Keep up the good work !:a1:

Big Al:tiphat:

After thinking about that statement I made ,I think I will write my own manuals ! Who cares if it is right or wrong ! I am the only Kristi Guy who is fighting for Kristi's existance anyway ! I do know there is some serious "Kristi factory information" out there on Kristi's that one "Kristi owner" has but for whatever reason has not shared .... I would be more than willing to buy that information if neccessary .
I already got a good start ( pictures and tear down proceedures) on my KT7 and by the time I am done , I should know as much if not more than the orginal builders of Kristi !
Big Al
 

Snowcat Operations

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
See this just proves that KRISTI owners are a bunch of stingy old men! Not the sweet, young and very goog looking men of the Snow Trac clan. Ok Tommo is the exception.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
BigAl said:
I am the only Kristi Guy who is fighting for Kristi's existance anyway ! I do know there is some serious "Kristi factory information" out there on Kristi's that one "Kristi owner" has but for whatever reason has not shared .... I would be more than willing to buy that information if neccessary.

All kidding aside, I would be more than willing to post any Kristi Brochures and other information here too. If you have any manuals, or if any other Kristi owners have a manual they would share with me, I would be happy to make a high resolution digital scan of the manual and send it out free to any Kristi owners. I do this with the Snow Trac manuals now, heck it would be easy to include all the Snow Trac and Kristi stuff on the same CD-Rom and everyone could have this information. I do know that we have SEVERAL other KRISTI owners who visit this site. You are the only active KRISTI owner that I see posting, but others do visit.

The Snow Trac folks have been very generous about sending me manuals, I usually keep them for 3 or 4 days and then send them back their manual, plus a CD-Rom that contains everything else I've gotten up to that point. I'm going to be sending out new disks to all the folks who ordered COFFEE MUGS too. So everyone who ordered a mug will also get the most up to date collection of manuals.

If anyone who owns a KRISTI or SNOW TRAC can provide me with data files, photo copies, original documents, etc. I will add them to the CDs. All the documents you send me will be returned promptly.

The reality is there is very little information out there! Anything we can do to share information and cooperate with parts sources, repair tips, etc is good for all of us. The costs to me are actually very small so I don't mind helping out however I can because I am learning as I go along (and since nobody ever accused me of being to bright, I need all the 'learnin' that I can get).
 

Junkman

Extra Super Moderator
BigAl said:
I can only wish I could find manuals like this on Kristi . It is great that you Snow Trac'ers are sharing this valuable information on your cats . Keep up the good work !:a1:

Big Al:tiphat:

There are........ it looks like this....
 

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BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
B_Skurka said:
All kidding aside, I would be more than willing to post any Kristi Brochures and other information here too. If you have any manuals, or if any other Kristi owners have a manual they would share with me, I would be happy to make a high resolution digital scan of the manual and send it out free to any Kristi owners. QUOTE]

Wow ! That is real nice of you Bob . I am all for it . :applause:

Hey Kristi owners!!! Lets get this Tech information , Manuals and stuff out there so everyone can benifit from this . I am going to contact Safety One and see if they may have some additional information or manuals they would share or I can buy from them .
I am damn near flying blind on this KT7 restoration and a few manuals on the "track drive system" sure would be nice .
Ok ok !!! "GROUP HUG TIME":dancing:

Hey !!there goes a Snow Trac dude! .... Lets go hug him too ! Oh never mind .... its just ole "Mouse Ear" :moon:
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
Junkman said:
There are........ it looks like this....

When I get started on the KT4 restoration you can bet I will come beggin for your help .
Big Al
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I'm almost done with manuals from Arlow.

One is a 1976 parts manual for a Snow-Master / Trac-Master. It includes some photos and diagrams of hydraulics that I have not seen in any other version of the manual. The 1976 manual also includes instructions for some of the grading and grooming implements. This manual also includes 4 different configurations for the exhaust system, broken down by serial number, so you can figure out your exhaust pipe route by the year of your unit. This manual is a good one! It contains some stuff I've not seen anywhere else. :thumb: It is also interesting because it is clearly a manual that is focused only on the Snow Master/Trac Master models.

The other manual is probably from about 1967, it might be a composite manual from a couple differnet years? The cover photo shows a tall cab version Snow Trac and a Trac Master, but the title on the cover says Snow Trac, Snow-Master but we know that the name "Snow Master" is a name that came later in time so the cover should say Trac Master if it was accurate. I suspect the cover photo titled and was added to the book at a later date. The interior diagrams of the tracs only refer to a Snow Trac, but toward the end of the manual the diagrams show the slight body panels differences that are clearly related to the Trac Master or Snow Master. Composite manuals seem common, they are made of bits and pieces of other, incomplete manuals.

My goal is to ultimately build the most complete composite manual available by taking bits & pieces of all the manuals we have been able to collect. It would be very easy to share that manual in digital form. Until then, the best I can do is send out copies of several manuals, allowing you to hunt through different versions for the best view or instructions on any specific issue.

Most manuals are very similar, with many identical pages and with some interesting additions in some that are omitted from others. :eek:
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Snowcat Operations said:
Thank you BOB!

Mike you will be getting copies of Arlow's manuals on a disk in the mail in a couple of days. I included his manuals on the disk that went out with your coffee mug shipment. The box went to the post office 2 days ago. Look for it early-mid next week?

All the Snow Trac owners who bought coffee mugs will get the disk that contains ALL of the manuals. :tiphat:
 
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