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snow trac transmission

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
having burned up my transmission here is what info i have on it first the transmission is from a swing axle bug and has a bus shift cone on it second the side plates that came off your snow trac transmission have to go back on the new transmission as the plates are drilled for oil flow out of the axle tubes i had a 4-10 ring and pinion put in so we will soon see how that affects preformance i have to replace both outboard seals when they come in i will post the cr numbers other wise putting the varriator on has been a relitively easy job i also painted over the krusty orange paint in the engine compartment i will also be rebuilding the wiring harness so wires going to the right side of the engine compartment will go around the back of the fire wall and i won't have the wire harness draped accross the top of the engine i also plan to relocate the floor heat duct to the center of the fire wall so i'm not melting my feet keep in mind mine is a early model 1962 they may have changed transmissions in the later years but i now have the sealed shift shaft and not shur what im going to do about the vent either plug it and vent it out of the varriator tubes or run a piece of plastic air line up to a high spot.the other mod i need to mke is to add a sand seal to the crank shaft so the crank can be submerged with oout filling the crank case full of water there is no seal on the front of the bug motor so if the crank goes under water the helix will draw the water in and fill the crank case with water
 

JimVT

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Don, when it went out was it just making lots of noise?
I went 4 days in 3rd on the alcan 40 yrs ago and my Ghia tranny wined like an old truck tranny. It still worked but was bad.
Jim
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Don,

You stated you have a 4-10 ratio ring and pinion. What is the original ratio?

Regards, Kirk
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
nwvwe made a noise but it was 35 degrees and 5 inches if fresh snow so the snow had built up on the tracks bad one of the47 year old outboard seals had fallen apart and dumped oil out the left axle tube in thhat wet snow thingsdidn't lastverry long as a note the carrier berings are good and the ring and pinion gear look good i believe that the origional gear set is like a 4-83 i will look for some numbers when i get a chance and get a beter id.wished i ihad the camara but my wife took it home for mini me's birthday and it hasn't came back yet.
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Well then....

A change of this magnitude should get some results. Almost two revolutions of the pinon to axle difference, or about 30%. I am betting fourth gear might be reseved on Don's machine to some what rare use.....It will be interesting to see how this ratio behaves. Don, I hope you have lots of engine....:whistling:

Let us know how it works!

Regards, Kirk
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
i never use 1st or 2nd just 3rd and 4th i also hit long streight stretches of little to no snow or hard pac where i run for hours at 4k and 20 mph i would love to see 25 at 3k i think that would be better for engine longevity if i have to drop to 3rd for a load than that will fine with me 4rth can be overdrive.
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
for general info here is the c/r number for the out board seals on the varriator axles these are the ones by the sprokets cr 17754
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
here are the pics of the removal notice the fender lizzard helping i also changet the wiring harness to go over the fire wall and around the other side to avoid the wires running over the top of the engine makes things neeter and protects it from damage.
 

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Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
the rest of the pics mini me helping away and as can be seen in the pics of the engine bay i steamed cleaned it and covered orange paint in side of it wich must have been a jinx now that its snow trac red should be more reliable i'm also hoping that the higher gear set will slow down the engine so when running empty on those long runs i don't have to push the engine so hard
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
for got about the pics again
 

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300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Really cool pics Don,

And a budding snow catter at your side.....He will remember these early days with dad. I have a daughter who as a toddler spent some 30-40K miles in my Mack CH613 18 wheeler. (it has a bunk) She is 11 now and still fondly remembers those days. I cann't wait to hear how the new gear set works. Sounds like it should work out well, and is perhaps kinda what I might need some day.....I would be doing alot of long flat runs around here. Keep us posted.

Regards, Kirk
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
here are the final pics from the trans install and electrical upgrade the wireing looks much better tucked up on the firewall and engine went back in with no problem had to modify the shift tower and erar mount to accept the bug tail shaft imo. well worth the headache to have the shaft sealed filled the transmission with amzoil 80/90 synthetic gear oil and removed the park brake lever that does nothing. just took it out on a test drive the old trans must have been bad when i got it because its a lot quieter than its ever been also 300 h&h third runs the same as 4th used to and 4th is abi=out a 5mph difference so my top speed if i push it to 5 k should be around 30 with a 4k cruise around 25 just about perfect for the old rig still has plenty of power and can still start in 4 th gear just have to give it a little gas now. ps i'm such as lave driver my helper had to take a nap
 

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Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
i finnished up my final adjustments and made 1 run down the alley worked good stay posted i taking it out on the road tommorrow night with a gps to see what my top speed will be but as it stands now i think i'm going to have to move brakes to the top of the list the additional speed makes it roll pretty good even in 3rd
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
there is a cannon plug out sid i think you are supposed to plug a cord into i'm thinking it some thing the airforce had to run heaters or something picked up some new history on my snow trac it came from wales which tells me it origionaly was fielded at tin city the nearest airforce instalation to wales
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Don,

Sounds like the new gears are going to be great. I suppose the ring and pinion is the correct place to change the gear ratio's as well, rather than the chain and sprockets going up front. Not to mention the parts would be easier to find for your change as well. Brakes....Glad to hear that they are now on the top of your list....this means only one thing....speed! I like your thinking of 25 MPH cruise at 4K or less. Lower RPM = longer life= better fuel economy. I am thinking it will use quite a bit less fuel per mile/hour. Maybe on the order of 25% or more. Let us know...
Regards, Kirk

PS Love the headlight/turn signal combo's. What are they from?
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
i normaly run around 4 k i don't expect to see better gph but you are right mpg should come up a bit un loaded if i want a 20mph cruise should drop me toabout 3 k there are taller gears available with a nice 1776 or a stroked motor might make it haul a$$ but vibrations tend to rattle things apart when you exceed 30 mph and if the terrain gets rough you want to be able to crawl over it and the vw motors are no torque monsters so you need to see some rpm for power heat and cooling. ive crawled for an hour in 1st before that would of over heated the motor if i was trying to idle or creep below 2500 rpm
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
I would just like to say you have posted some great information and pictures and I thank you for that !!:clap:
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
thank you big A glad to see your back and i have to say the same about your project when are you going to be done i would love to see the kristie running again i know you can't rush perfection. also looking at sme of your other post's that you are also a ford man you havn't up here teepee creeeping have you, i got a kid working for me that both loves your kristi and ford trucks he literly turns green every time i have to work on one and start cussing ford and his better ideas.
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
thank you big A glad to see your back and i have to say the same about your project when are you going to be done i would love to see the kristie running again i know you can't rush perfection. also looking at sme of your other post's that you are also a ford man you havn't up here teepee creeeping have you, i got a kid working for me that both loves your kristi and ford trucks he literly turns green every time i have to work on one and start cussing ford and his better ideas.

Oh Lord , I don't know if I will ever be done . The mechanical part of the KT3 is done . I just need to install tracks which are sitting in the shop all punched and ready to go . Lately there does not seem to be enough hours in a day for all I have going on. I have 4 loves

My Wife,
Panama;
Idaho.
and my Kristi's
I have offered my KT3 to Snowcat Operations as I know he would take good care of it . The KT7 will be harder to sell as it has way too much Bling Bling on it .

I'll proably die a old man in Panama pitching the ass of my panamaian nurse in one hand ,while sipping a Rum & Coke in the other .

Me and the little woman love it down here and with working on our school charity program for the Indian Children its just seems more important than anything else .
 

vtmtnbob

New member
a couple quick questions. when you change the transmission do you have to take out the engine to do so?

how many hours did it take?

i lost first gear but since my engine is running so much better since i replaced the mag jet i have been thinking of not changing the transmission and just using 2nd gear. (i dont think on my narrow trails i will ever get to fourth) i just finished up some road work with an excavator so come winter it wont be such a tight squeeze.
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
a couple quick questions. when you change the transmission do you have to take out the engine to do so?

how many hours did it take?

i lost first gear but since my engine is running so much better since i replaced the mag jet i have been thinking of not changing the transmission and just using 2nd gear. (i dont think on my narrow trails i will ever get to fourth) i just finished up some road work with an excavator so come winter it wont be such a tight squeeze.
the engine comes out in about 1/2 hour if you take your time and 2 guys can lift it out with out an engine hoist the transmission took about 7 hours to do i also steam cleaned the engine bay to make putting it back together easyr the drive chains have to be removed the 2 outer axle support rodds need to be removed and the steering box and linkge has to be disconnected from the varriator than you can un bolt the front and rear mounts to remove the transmission. i would suggest removing and rebuilding it if you lost 1 st gear than somethig is wrong and you will have moore problems when the trans locks up a snow trac or snow master is about impossoble to move i know took almost 2 hours just to move it a copuple hundred yards to the road to pick it with a 930 and 10 foot forks to get it back in to town.
 

alaska120

Mayor McCheese
SUPER Site Supporter
Yikes! If you lost a gear then there might be a few loose parts floating around. I had a similar experience in a fine piece of machinery ('75 Pinto)when I lived in Bristol Bay. Got about a week out of it and Kablooee!. Then all I had was reverse. Of course, being the excellent quality car it was, I continued to drive it for another week before it finally gave up the ghost...
In short, you will need to tear it down anyway. If not for first gear, do it for safe traveling. DDS is correct. It is a piece of cake.
 

alaska120

Mayor McCheese
SUPER Site Supporter
Might help a little. Most of the noise in my rig is from the driveline (tracks, chains and sprockets). It's pretty quiet when I'm not moving.
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
i wanted to do sound proofing as everything is mail order i didnot have the time and also the bucks after buying a transmission 2 things i did do was relocate the wiring harness on the fire wall and relocate the floor vent taward the center of the dash so it dosn't blow heat down on my feet.
 

vtmtnbob

New member
where did you get the rebuilt transmission? i thought there was a link someplace but i cant find it anymore.
 
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