Seat belts in Snow Cats

I just noticed yesterday that my KT7 only has the one seat belt on the operators seat .The other seats never had them .Was the seat belt added to my operators seat sometime in the past ??? Now I know the pros and cons on seat belts . I have a "built in roll bar" on the operator end of the Kristi KT7 . There is nothing on the other for roll over protection .My Kristi body is Fiberglass ,so there is very little help there in case of a roll over . Since I am in snow, a Roll Bar may not do much good . Then is a seat belt a good or bad idea ???

This got me to thinking . Do all snowcats have seat belts ????? I would think they also serve a important funtion to keep the passengers from sliding around on those bench seats that I see in the Snow Tracs and Kristis .

I am going to install seatbelts at every seat location ,on my KT7 .All my seats have been changed out to bucket seats .The old seats look like they were made for some "skinny ass" dude or dudett with a butt about the size of Twiggy's and no way would they be comfortable on a long ride.

Gee ??? Now I am wondering what ever happened to Twiggy after she married Tiny Tim ?

Do you remeber that pic of a snowtrac in a icy river?
I think I would rather be able to get out fast, you dont last long after a quick dip in a river at -20!

Mith said:

Do you remeber that pic of a snowtrac in a icy river?
I think I would rather be able to get out fast, you dont last long after a quick dip in a river at -20!

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THAT is a very good point !!! I had completely forgotten about that . I now also realize that most snow cats have a escape hatch on the roof . These are good points to ponder .

Ok ! Maybe seat belts in a Kristi is a good idea ! They are so much faster than a Snow trac ,that one has to be careful .

This picture was taken of Snowcat Operations dog , "Flea Bag" , After he went for a ride with Mike this morning , on his "maiden voyage" in his new Kristi KT3 .

BigAl. Seat belts in a Snowcat are a must. Unlike most cars you travel in areas that may requier some extreme angles. Even in a Kristi with the Hydraulic tracks you will still get into a situation where you are not always going to be able to keep level or respond fast enough to keep level. Going down a steep incline will show you the need for a seat belt instantly. I have had occasions where passengers had taken off there seat belt to grab something out of a bag or whatever and didnt buckle back in. BIG MISTAKE they usually end up in the other persons lap across from them. One encounter had a females face burried in a very much olders man crouch! KEEP YOUR SEAT BELTS ON AT ALL TIMES UNTIL THE RIDE ENDS NO EXCEPTIONS! But more importantly is the driver who is responsible for everyones life needs to be firmly attached to his seat so as to keep control of his snowcat no matter what the angle he finds himself in. Also the nature of snow is not like asphault. It can change on you instantly! So you my find yourself either trying to control the situation or you are just trying to hold on because you were not belted in. One of the greatest dangers is a fake edge or an edge that looks firm and will find alot of inexperienced Snowcatters driving on. When this gives way you find yourself with air under that side tracks. IF you are belted in you may have a chance to correct and thus save your arse. If not then you are in for a ride. One that may end up to be your last. So seat belts are a must. ALSO How many artic rivers do we cross around here? OK So maybe we have some type of frozen over river or two in our areas (I dont) First you would never knowingly cross one. So that leaves the Oh I didnt know this was a river. Know where you are at and where you are going. Crossing any frozen water surface should be avoided anyway.

As my snowtrac will only be climbing into the Norsebox and I hate seatbelts anyway, it will only have them if they are already there. I certainly will NOT add them!

Dear Ice Queen,
In your case we can make an exception.

Thank you. XXX

BigAl said:

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Gee ??? Now I am wondering what ever happened to Twiggy after she married Tiny Tim ?

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On December 17, 1969 Tim married his girlfriend, 17-year-old Victoria Budinger (known as Miss Vicki, in typically respectful Tim fashion), on the Johnny Carson show. The couple later had a daughter, Tulip, but mostly lived apart, and divorced after eight years.

More about Tiny Tim here...........

Sorry, but Miss Twiggy wasn't involved.......

Junkman said:

On December 17, 1969 Tim married his girlfriend, 17-year-old Victoria Budinger (known as Miss Vicki, in typically respectful Tim fashion), on the Johnny Carson show. The couple later had a daughter, Tulip, but mostly lived apart, and divorced after eight years.

More about Tiny Tim here...........

Sorry, but Miss Twiggy wasn't involved.......

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Well now that is some useful information . So what in the hell happened to Twiggy ??? For 40 years I have been happy with false information ! Man ! That sucks!

Maybe she was fooling around with old Tiny Tim and that is how I got this all mixed up . hmmmmm ?

BigAl said:

So what in the hell happened to Twiggy ???

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I tried to find information on Twiggy, but she seems to be too obscure now for anything to show up in a Google search. I will keep trying...... Junk

Seat belts are always a good idea. My Kristi had an "Unsafe at any speed" sticker on the dash left over from the Ralph Nader days. When I first got My Bombardier J5 Muskeg tractor I had a close call. I bought it from the Kossbhorer/ Pistonbulley headquarters in Maine. It was in pretty rough shape and to my total suprise they volunteered to ship it to me on the west coast, no charge! They were shipping a 450,000$ winch cat groomer to a ski area near me in Washington. At the time I was working in Prudhoe Bay Alaska, 350 miles North of the Arctic Circle, driving on open Sea Ice 26 miles to and from the Camp every day. I worked a 4 week on, 2 week off rotation, 7 days a week. The mean average temperature was 30 below. So I get this call from Kossborher saying they forgot to put it on the truck and would I mind if they shipped it a month later as they had another 450,000 dollar winch cat groomer that was going to Seattle by truck and then by barge to a ski area in Alaska. Sure, NO problem, I'l be happy just to get the thing! One "Hitch" (Shift rotation) later I come home and there it sits under a big tree in my yard. I cleaned out the carb, put some fresh gas in it and a battery and it started right up. J5's have about a 100 HP chrysler flat head six.The machine is much smaller than an ST4, being only 5 ft. wide,and 8 ft.long. It weighs in at a whopping 5300 Lbs, twice the weight of a snow trac. It has the most impressive roll cage, made of 4 inch pipe that goes from front to back giving the machine the overall shape of a football. IT HAD A SEATBELT, which I paid little attention to. After airing up the tires I took it for a test drive in the yard of the Overhead Crane Company's drive next to my house. It was a flat level driveway fanning out into a big flat lay down yard, all gravel. I wound it up thru all 4 gears at which point I was probably doing almost 40 MPH! WOW, Far out! This thing really hauls *#@ for a "track Rig"! Then I yanked on one of the 2 steering brakes and it spun around and tipped up on one track. Whoa, that was close! Then I noticed seat Belt! Upon further inspection it appeared that this machine may have been rolled several times. A few years later I went to Bombardier's Museum, in Valcort Quebeck and they had an Identical machine on dislay. I have since restored the J5 to match the one in the museum. If you go to Bill Guthrie's site, listed under Snotrans (Sales Unlimited, Weiser Idaho) there are 2 excellent pictures of it. When doing the restoration I made SURE that it had a healthy seat belt!

TWIGGY.......

Marshall McLuhan summed it all up in 1967 with the comment "Twiggy is an X-ray, not a picture." She was bone thin, except for her huge eyes and fat eye-lashes and she turned the desire to be thin to the desire to be thinnest. Her real name was Lesley Hornby and she started modelling at age 15 when she weighed 41 kg, that was why she became known as 'Twiggy'.

Before she had even turned 18 she had been photographed by Barry Lategan, had her hair cut by Vidal Sassoon, and had worked as a model under a year’s contract to Woman’s Mirror. The daily express named her the ‘face of 66.’

She was the quintessential Quant-type model and was the perfect model for the time. Her thin boyish figure and pale-skin looked great in a mini. She weighed 6 ½ stone and took size 6 in dresses. She had a small, thin face capped with a boyish haircut and large dark eyes, underlined with pencilled lashes. Twiggy was a natural model of the perfect 60's shape described by John Bates in 1965: ‘narrow body, perfect square shoulders, long legs, small bust.’ This was also perfect according to Vogue fashion authority, Diana Vreeland. Twiggy's wafer-thin, youthful and boyish features set her apart from the older models.

Twiggy was booked by Elle magazine and Vogue and soon became Britain’s most sought after model. Her line ‘It’s not what you’d call a figure, is it?’ became a standard joke, and suddenly everyone was on a diet. By the end of 1966 Twiggy had been voted Woman of the Year, however she was unable to attend due to a nervous teenage rash.

In 1967 Twiggy modelled extensively in France, Japan and the States. Twiggy double’s were springing up as far away as Australia. A wholesale manufacturer, Taramina Textiles, contracted ex-Royal College of Art students Paul Babs and Pamela Proctor to design a ‘Twiggy’ range of clothes which were to be distributed to large stores in Britain. Her image was used on many toys such as board games and paper dolls.

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More about Twiggy the Matchstick......

Thanks Lyndon,
That must have been one scary moment!

Thanks Junkman.
I feel better now . I still think she might have fooled around with Tiny Tim !

Thanks guys ,
I think I will go ahead and order up new belts all the way around . Better safe than sorry . I may also have a set of 4 seats I am interested in selling out of the KT7 as I am replacing them with new custom buckets seats. I have 4 small black Buckets now and they are in good shape .I may save them for the KT3 or KT4 ,but I am unsure for now.

Look on eBay for seat belts. Many times you can find new seat belts inexpensively there. Search the words "NOS SEAT BELT" and "NOS SEAT BELTS". Unless you feel that you need the latest and greatest design in seat belts, all the ones that you will find will retain you in the seat, unless you get hit by a freight train.......

I too would look on e-bay.

I don't know what kind you're looking for (shoulder or just lap belt), retractable...

I did by some seatbelts on e-bay in the past and do recall having issues in particular with center seatbelts (since I didn't want the shoulder strap). The center male connection is normally a different size than the outboard belts so they're not compatable and won't latch.

Just something to watch for.