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Astro van cat conversion

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Got a couple pix

Still need to get a few things.

Another piece of tube to make the other mount.

Longer bolts to fit the custom mounts

Factory bolts were fine up front.....but not back here.

Ah well.

Metric bolts are easy to come by here in town.

Almost but not quite long enough.....

Need about 1/2" to 3/4" longer ahhhhhh 12 to 19 mm :smile:
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Well now...
Steel yard was closed due to excessive smoke

Turns out that the bolts that secure the cab mounts into the cab are a tad short for the rear assemblies when using the new urethane biscuits....

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH

Had to call up the local industrial bolt supplier over town.

12mm x 1.75 x 100 mm long grade 10.9

In stock and in will call. :thumbup:

Will run over in the morning and pick them bad boys up.

Never fails.....Gotta love this Franken build..... I was quite pleased that the original bolts were in good shape.... oh well.
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Steel yard is still short staffed on account of the smoke from all the fires.

I got the longer bolts for the rear cab mounts...

Also found some 12mm x 1.75 mm x 100 mm FLANGE HEADED BOLTS like the factory cab mount bolts. :thumbup:

About a week out though....but ordered.

With any luck I can get the other piece of tube in the morning and then mill out the big azz hole in the side.

Pretty much still in a holding pattern due to the super dry weather.

The rain did not get this far.....:(

Out there this morning fiddling around and strung a tape across the guide wheels and made a mark on the dirt where the outer edge of the track falls.

OMG......THIS BEAST WILL BE HUGE.....

Actually I was sketching up a plan for a tubular bar up and over the cat to mount side view mirrors on and the overhead light bar/ LED light bar......

LOTSA LIGHT......

Trying to get the plan knocked out so I don't end up with stuff in the way later on..

I don't plan on any lights down low on the grille/hood area.

Just get knocked off.

The anteater hood will slide forward about 6 inches and then tilt up.....

An easy to remove if need be with minimal tools sort of assembly......

This will allow access to the complete engine back to and actually past the distributor some.

So.....
After basically running out of materials to work with I decided to clean up the machine shop.

Mills and lathes can make a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge mess if you are doing much.

After mucking with the broom and scoop came the shop vac....

Damned small chips fly all over.

Serviced the mill....filled the lubricator and pumped the oiler a few times.

Vactra oil is whats used on the screws and ways and I ordered a jug of it a while ago.

Got it yesterday and decided to take care of the machine.

The 9 X 42 MAX mill is a great machine (A Taiwan knockoff of a Bridgeport)
I grabbed it off ebay one night on a BUY IT NOW $500

Guy was going through an ugly divorce.....

After buying it I thought to look and see where it was... Los Angeles Ca

Two day trip down and back.

Was worth it though.

Most used mills have the ways all worn out.
This one had been used to make parts for Soap box derby cars.

Good shape and tight.......

Make good cat parts :clap:

Anyway

As soon as I can..... the welding will get done...

I do not want to burn things down....

Anyway....maybe tomorrow will yield good things.....
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Had a good heavy mist this morning....Decided to weld the front mounts in.

Still need to get them out and finish the welds....but we are getting closer.

Got the piece of tube for the second rear mount this morning and milled the side out of it.

Ready to weld the top plate on that holds the urethane biscuit....

Almost ready to finish the rear mount beam.
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
WE GOT THE MUCH NEEDED RAIN...

T boomers all night and a good bit of rain.


Today may be sketchy as far as cat work goes..... Will depend on how wet it gets.

Got a plan coming together now on a set of steps to get up into the cab.

The two square tubes supporting the cab are the perfect place to hang the steps.

I can get a five foot long step on each side of the cab and have then about midway between the top of the track and the rockers on the cab.

The step material I have was leftover from another project and its a perfect material.

Safety grate 9" wide and about 2" thick perforated grate.

A slip in bracket that can be easily removed from the cab support beams will suffice....

The S10 cab sits a bit higher than the original 2100 cab and crawling in and out would be tough....especially for this old fart......


With the cab mounts coming together nicely....getting the steps built now seems like a great plan since the cab is located.

Once all this stuff is finish welded I can get some paint on it......lest thee pieces will turn ORANGE RUST...


I will try to get a few pix of the step tread material in a while after we get some daylight.....
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
OH YESSSSSSSS

Been very dry here.

The wind storm on the 7th just dried things out terribly.

Last night the forecasters were whining about possible flooding now....especially in the areas that burned.....

Can't win.

But here we have been seeing low intensity boomers and moderate rain/showers.

Today will likely see more of the same on/off showers and maybe afternoon boomers.

Gonna wash out this damned smoke.

The last week or so has been nasty outside....a hour outside would give ya a good hacking cough and ya smelled like a campfire......

Strange weather for us.....

Dry summer...yessss.....80 MPH North winds NEVER.....
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Was wet this morning...but then cleared up a bit.

Yessssssssssssssssssss

Grabbed the tools and went after getting the rear cab mounts finished and welded to the beam (At least partially until I can get the beams out and get at them well)

Brackets welded to the beam too where it fastens to the tub.

Just about to start another little project and I hear a rumble of thunder....then it got with the program.....


Grabbed the tools and tossed them in the shop.

I'M DONE.. :hammer:
 

BearGap

Active member
GOLD Site Supporter
Good pictures of how you made the longer tube isolator. I was wondering how you made it. Very nice work!!
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Thank you Bear

I was not really happy about that plan.

I wanted to use the factory brackets off the S10 FRAME.....BUT that would have left the frame a bit trashed for the guy who bought it.

I ended up getting my cab for free plus I still have the box too. :thumbup:

Ah well

Plan B :hammer:

The 4" tube worked OK

The front mount are cantilevered off the beam, so I am going to add a front brace to stop the Torque action.

I want the ability to be able to get the cab off easily so the engine and tranny can be removed for repairs or ??????

So far the plan is going well "I Think" :thumbup:

Been thrashing about on how to proceed....Think I will get the major work done and get the cat operational....then pull it down to get the paint and such spiffy.


See how it goes.
 

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BearGap

Active member
GOLD Site Supporter
Looks like something a millwright would dream up. Clean and simple,
I worked for a millwright in an old big log mill for 2 years. He was a man of few words. I got my hand stuck in a chipper infeed chute and had to just about dislocate my shoulder to shut if off. My hand was really not hurt badly, just looked like it got run over by a dozer. He walked up and said, looks broke, and walked off. That’s the only thing he said to me in 2 years.
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
I worked in the mill machinery building biz for 20 years.

Ended my career in that field after I messed up my back racing boats....

My last position was as a field service engineer. (Fancy term for a McGyver)

Simple, work well and last a long time......:hammer::thumbup:


Went after a little add on to the front mounts a bit ago.

They all need to be final welded now....but far easier out on the table.....:thumbup:

A straddle support was definitely a good idea considering the cantilevered setup on the front mounts.

Next on the hit list is the two steps that will mount to the cab beams.

I want them done before the cab comes back off.....

The cab will likely be off for the winter.

Still need to yank the engine and weld the engine mounts as they are just tacked.....

Ahh yesssss....plugging along.....

The RH saddle mount uses the same bolt as the battery tray corner.....Why not....it was right in the way....Drill a hole and call it good.

I inserted a thin piece of cardboard between the brackets and the side of rthe tub to allow a tiny bit of room to be able to get things apart....:hammer:
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Weather is great and things went together perfectly.

Got the cab back up on the timbers and the mounting beams out of the cat.

The front one was a sweeet treat...came right out and up over the distributor and carburetor without any issues (As it should be able to do)

Got all the welding done and things cleaned up...wiped off with prep solution and painted a black satin color.

Let the paint dry good in the sun and carefully stuffed these bad boys back in.

Realigning the cab took a few minutes to get the mount bolts spot on (They have about 1/2" slop in the heavy captured nut in the body pocket)

All the bolt holes in the beams line up perfect with the holes in the tub..... (They were drilled on location)

All snugged down now so I can build the steps and get those finished up......

Then the cab comes off for the winter.

Will sit it back on the big Azz tire I had it on while I reworked the column.

Still need to do more work on the column.....Replace the signal switch and the wiper switch in the column head.......

Also want to paint the new column head adapter before that rusts up this winter.

I should be able to get the wiring taken care of as well..

All the ignition switch wiring, signal switch and wiper switch wiring needs to be connected up by single wire plugs instead of the large gang plugs.


Moving ahead......

Pics from today
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
A bit of a side track for the next couple days

WE finally got some rain and can use the torch and welder without setting our little world on fire.

The bucket on the skid steer HAS TO GET REPAIRED

Yesterday I started cutting the floor of the bucket out....today the son in law is gonna take over....

The plan is to get the demolition done and the new parts fit and tacked in place.

We have a pretty good early fall storm heading towards us and tomorrow will be WET

The Bucket on the skid steer was just used up...

I need that machine to lift the cab back off the cat....and the barn uses the machine daily to haul horse poop out.

Gotta gitterdone.......


I am pretty close to the point that I will need to lift the cab back off the cat.....

So gotta play fabricator on a dirty old bucket......:shitHitFan: LITERALLY
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
CLOUD MT CO.
Newberg, Oregon

Model--- Frankencat 2110SX Serial No. 000000001
Curb weight 7000 # Max Payload 2000
Gross Weight 9000#
Build date________
Contract number 000001A
Sold to The Dreamer

Powered by GM 305
Transmission GM TH350
Differential OC12
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Well it's not a snow cat....but without this tool life will get real tough

We got the skid steer bucket nearly ready to put in the new steel floor, ends and an added thickness to the back wall.

Original was 10 gauge floor, 3/16 ends.

Decided to go 3/16" thick on the floor as well as the ends and then went with an added 3/16" piece partially up the back wall.....


24 years of very salty poop and urine from the horse stalls took their toll.

But the frame and the rear portion are still great shape.

A tad bit of cleanup where the old ends came off still to do.....and the cutting bar had been bent up a bit on the ends during some hard usage over the years.

Pics of the new steel pieces all cut and ready to weld in.

I will be happy to have my fav tool back on line to do my heavy lifting.

Cab, OC12, ENGINE/TRANNY....:thumbup:
We got some rain and slop for a few days....then a week or so of decent fall weather..

Won't take long to stitch this bad boy back together.......:clap:

The RH end was damaged when we bought the rig new in 1996....some clown backed a semi into the end and tweaked it.

We got a screaming deal on the bucket... It is a 1 cubic yard light material unit....The standard buckets are too small for our needs.

But 24 years of absolute abuse.....damned good return on the investment.

Second set of tires, third battery, a few air filters, two engine shutoff solenoids, second starter... (Kubota 4 cyl diesel)

Still has the factory fan belt......

Oh...Second seat.....


The original exhaust manifold broke and we replaced it back in early 2000's

Broke again a year or so ago.

I fabricated and machined a new one from box steel tube.... Been hanging in just fine..
The cast iron manifolds on these are crap.....
The bolt ears crack and the manifold falls off

Very little has been needed to keep this sucker kicking ass and taking names.......
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
No cat stuff right now.

Worked on the skid steer bucket yesterday for a couple hours....

All ready to stuff the new steel in and stitch it up.

Another pretty decent rain storm coming in today....

Not much gonna get done today on anything...

May start designing the Tranny cooler hose feed and a manifold block.

Get it on paper and scare up the parts.

Planning to use the Reusable type hydraulic hose that can be made on location......

Run from the trans cooler fittings and up to a manifold block.....Then we can just jumper the lines temporarily to allow the engine to be run and things tested without the cooler.

The radiator/fan/shroud arrangement is still in flux.

I had thought about a pair of electric fans either pushers or pullers, but a plain old steel fan blade with a viscous clutch could be a lot less expensive to put together.....

The S10 shroud is a nice unit and fits nice in the front of the cat. Split type with the top half easily removable.

The electrics would be fine.....but they require a fair amount of juice to run....

The only snag so far is the S10 used a serp drive set up (Reverse fan direction from the older 305)

Getting a standard fan blade in the diameter needed has eluded me so far....

need a 16" fan and that size seems to be an odd duck.

I may go with a serp drive off of a later Chevy 4.3 V6 to solve the issue and then just use a factory fan.......Still thinking about it...

And so it goes......

More news as it happens.....
 
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JimVT

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
my brother had a few bob cats over a few years. one was oil cooled and one when stalling on a steep push rolled backwards and started running in reverse. bobcat didn't believe him until several others did the same. he drove it into a cannel and flipped over and swam out. that was the oil cooled one. they are a useful machine.
he was better off just letting his hired hand do the bobcat work.
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Our Skid Steer is actually a Scat trak (Made by Trak international)

Absolutely a wonderful machine.

Engine and swash pumps are longitudinal in the machine.

Very easy to work on.

Battery is right under your feet.....Lift the foot rest cover and its right there.

The layout also makes the machine less prone to going over backwards on a steep grade if you don't have any weight in the bucket.

Kubota 4 cyl powered

Been a sweet ride since 1996 when we bought it...

Just 2700 hours of tough usage around here.


Came home one night and found it laying on it's side in the poop pile.....

Never did get any of the boarders to fess up to how that happened.

No damage... just had a helluva time getting hold of it to get it back on it's feet.
Rain going sideways, half snow and just nasty...and dark too...
After that fiasco I welded some D RINGS on each end to hook onto with the truck...

Hooked onto the cage with the big Western Star and a strap.... Zooooop....got it upright at least.....


The poop and sloppy mess had gotten into the cab and was just nasty....


Arrrrrrrgh

I was soooooo pissed I could have spit nails......took about an hour total to get the thing back to the barn and the cab hosed out.....

I ran it into the arena and hosed the thing out where it left the mess for all to see....

Posted a THANX on the bulletin board ......

To this day (Over 20 years ago) I still do not know who the clown was the did that stunt.


Ahhhh well

Soon the old girl will have a new bucket.....Well.. sort of
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
I worked on a scat trac once I did like the machine until I had to put a starter in it I used a lot of bad language. you have to access it through the right plate in the belly pan and there aint much room for a fat bellied stogie sucker to get under them
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Must have been a different year or model

Our 1300C is a breeze...Just remove the RH sheet metal cover that goes between the cage and the belly.....reach in and gitterdone.

If you can catch the failing starter before it dies completely it even easier.

Lift the boom all the way and lock it....Tilt the cage forward and you can walk up to the side of the machine and get at everything.......


The designers were some savvy folks......they made stuff you could work on.....


Plus....most parts were not bastard stuff that you had to go to a dealer for.

Things like seals, bearings and even the control cables were all easy to get locally.

I really can't say one bad thing about this machine.....even after 24 years....


Pumps are direct drive off the engine through a U JOINT coupling.....

NOT A STINKING SERP BELT LIKE BOBCAT

The Scat was bought up by Volvo.....
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Weather cooperated really well

Son in law came up and we thrashed on the skid steer bucket.

Really got after that bad boy.

Son in law brought over a trailer hitch unit (Receiver unit) to weld/bolt onto the Rig I made to lift the engine/tranny and the cab for the cat.

Going to modify the lift rig and set it up so we can move the big goose neck trailers and then swap in a different slide in that has a heavy loop on the end that can lift the cat parts......


Skid steer is really like a Swiss army knife of machine tools.


Did some measuring this morning.....I decided that the best choice is to do a custom set of tracks.

Cannibalize the 2100 track I have and then scare up pieces or ????? to end up with the needed tire guides.

Custom cleats.....New belting

The 30 foot long Big Tex trailer deck (102" wide) will make a perfect place to layout and assemble the new tracks.

Flat and plenty long enough......


Pix of the bucket rebuild...

Pretty well done....just have the bottom to finish is all.
A bit of skip welds on the frame to floor pan and the bottom seams of the bucket ends

We had to tweak the hell outta the frame as it had been bent a bit over the years..

Hydraulic jack and some serious oooooomph to gitterdone....Then weld things up.....

Took it on a road test to do a garbage run. :thumbup:

Be nice to have this job finished.....

Then back to building on the FrankenCat......

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttt...The barn customers are not really happy that the Skid steer is down for a few days...:bolt:
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Decided to add a heavy bar to the top edge of each end of the bucket on the skid steer.

Easy go

Tossed some paint on the ends to keep the PATINA from showing up so quick...:th_lmao:

Very happy that this pig is done.....


Made a major decision on the tracks for the FrankenCat

I have found ZIP NADA in the way of a 2100 track ....

Going to build a complete set of new tracks from the ground up.

I have the one track I got with the machine to cannibalize for parts.

The tire guides are all there and usable...

The 4 belt laces can be reworked to use with (2) 12" wide belts on each track.

Got the 3 ply belting lined up fairly close by at a reasonable price.

Decided to fabricate my own grousers.

Seems that thiokol has used a lot of different materials over the years from Steel angle to steel tubing to formed steel channel and extruded aluminum.

Tucker used/uses a steel angle fabrication on their tracks.

Decided to go with 1-1/2" X 1-1/2" X 3/16" angle 3 feet long
About 5 pounds per grouser.

Bolt in the original tire guides and add a center section to the grouser to keep the tire guide stable ( Similar to the grousers on the 2100 track) Will look at a few options.

(2) 12" belts with the 12" center span like factory = 36" tracks

These will be bastards all the way.....no symmetry to factory anything other than the stock tire guides will bolt in....

Round over the outer corners of the angle upright to help the machine turn on non snow surfaces......

The 8" stock lacers can be modified to end up with enough pieces to buckle the four 12" belts

12" belts will help stabilize the angle grousers too..

The numbers say that the grousers for 1 track will weigh about 500 lbs
3 foot angle plus the added center support that will weld on.

I am thinking that a completed weight of 750 lbs each on the tracks is reasonable guess at this point.

We shall see.

I found one parts track for sale (Stock 57") but the sucker is 600 miles away ONE WAY

The belts are junk and the grousers are pretty beat.

Basically just buying tire guides......

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....

Going to make a jig set up to assemble the tracks on the deck of the Big Tex trailer.... (It's flat and plenty long.....we need 287" we have 360" deck)


Gawd this is gonna be a JOB.....May have to have a track building work party :clap::clap::smilelove: PIZZA AND BEER....:th_lmao:
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Warning....The contents may not be suitable for all audiences :th_lmao:

WE are back to cat'n it.

We have some lovely weather on hand

I decided to grab the track and get this bad boy up to the shop area and get the tire guides off and to save one belt.

I contacted 3 different people about the length of the belts on a 2100 with 72 grousers.....

I got 3 different answers.....:idea: ????????????????????

Decided to pull one belt off..let it flatten out on the trailer deck and get a REAL TIME MEASUREMENT ON THAT BAD BOY.....

Got the impact wrench and tools in hand.


NO WAY IN HELL WERE THESE 7/16 BOLTS COMING LOOSE....

Almost 50 years and the bolts were just not gonna move.

Grabbed the hot wrench and installed a "Flushing tip" and started blowing the bolt heads off :bolt: Just about like that.....

Kept the hose running on the area to keep belt burning to a minimum.

Still a stinky job.


Did get the cat on the tracks though.....well sort of.

Boots came to see wasssssup....


Decided to use the Sawzall and cut the other 3 belts to get the grousers off and into the mill to remove the two bolts that hold the tire guide onto the grouser.

Ended up making a drill jig by pressing a little aluminum slug into an impact socket and drilling a 3/16 hole in it in the lathe.

Stick the socket on the bolt head and drill the pilot hole.

Swap in the 7/16 drill bit and remove the bolt head.

Quick, easy and zero damage to the grouser or the tire guide.....

These are 43" RH AND LH grousers

I need a set of tire guides for the second track.

The grousers are the J style and in pretty good shape....


Here are the gruesome photos......

Just ugly.....

Good finding.

The lacer's are Flexco hinged #550.

Easy to get.....

The plan is to use two 12" belts and with the 12" wide tire guide we will end up with 36" tracks.

This should be fine for this cruiser.....At 10' 6" wide the machine will be manageable.

24" over legal at 102" Our trailer has a 102" deck so only 12" on a side.

Easy haul with an over width permit...
 

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Bobcatbob

Active member
GOLD Site Supporter
Are those grouser bolts in a threaded hole or is there a nut you could cut off? Torching them all off is a monstrous task (very cool tip head, never seen that). Almost looks like removing exhaust manifold bolts.....a nightmare (especially when they break). Maybe a bit of heat, then a big ol impact gun?

Looks great, enjoying your progress!

Bob
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
The 2100 uses a 7/16" fine threaded grade 8 bolt with the nuts inside the J on the grouser.

Barely get a box wrench on them.

Would be easy to use a nut splitter if the nuts were on the inside of the track.

Other cats place the nuts inside the track so they are protected....

These have the swagged type lock nuts....which are good...until they have been let rust for so many years.

I got hold of a couple with a looooong beaker bar and really reefed on them....

The torch was the only real answer to get things moving......yessssss it is a monstrous task.


But I only have the one belt to cut the bolts off.

Once I have that belt for a sample to measure the length....GOOD TO GO :thumbup:

I looked up the Flexco Hinge lacers online last night. (#550) (These are on 3 of the four belts now)

They come in various lengths from Flexco

A 24" was available (Simply cut in half to use for the two 12" belts)

The 2100 parts manual shows the Flexco listed....but they show a long bolt (5/16 fine thread with nut securing the hinge)

Flexco shows a poly covered cable to secure the hinge


I am not sure I like the cable idea ?????????

Maybe others will chime in here and comment on lacer's on their Thiokols OR other machines.

I had planned on reusing my old lacers/hinges but the ends are worn out and many places have cracks....

Time for new ones.....
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
ONCE THE ONE BELT IS OFF life will be pretty boring.

Drilling out the bolts on each tire guide is a breeze.

I am heading over town in a bit to look at the Flexco belt lace units.

30 minute drive......
The company is a distributor for Flexco.


I want to get eyes on the new ones and see what they cost......

Here is a piccy of the drill jig to remove the tire guide bolts.....
 

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