1953 Tucker Sno Cat 443 Mt Washington WMTW Channel 8 Restoration

[Track Addict]

Material on the way to replicate the pivot bushings. Going to bush the piston clevis back with steel and use a bronze clevis. Should have done this on the 73 in hindsight and probably will.

Set the pivot in place to figure out what to add back from wear. Need to add 1/16 to the face so that collar was around 1/4" give or take Tucker tolerance.

The pivot was mounted in the frame out 3/4" one side to the other. I checked the measurements front back all over and it's set oem like that. Mounting it back this way by design or eyeball fabrication because it worked. I like to believe this is by design so that is what we will go with.

Hydraulic pump adjuster here to stay. Actually pretty neat design. Will add a sleeve in the tube where the bracket mounts to keep the tube from colapasing and stabilize the frame.

Note the black pipe nipple on the pump suction tube still complete with chop saw slag inside.

Motor ready to pluck!

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Looks great.

Amazing how these old machines get beat so bad over the years.
This Cat gonna be better than new when you're done.

Putting the sleeves through the frame where the pivot mounts is good plan....Once things are stable and all happy....Add a piece of 3/8" key stock on both ends of the bushing block to capture the block and tack weld the key stock.
That will stop any wiggling.

 

[Track Addict]

Oversized bronze clevis, steel corrrect sized bushings, and undersized id pivot bushing ready for turning, boring, pressing.

 

[Track Addict]

Nothing brings out the support group like 90’s temperature humidity and thunderstorms.

New frame is welded up where applicable for this phase. Motor pulled and stored.

Pivot parts in process pivot to piston clevis bushed.

Piston to frame mount needs investigation. Looks like a bolt that is cut/broken but braised? Experts please….

 

[Track Addict]

More

 

[DAVENET]

Breaking in the JD with the heavy lift job. Coming along nicely!

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Quite the crew ya have there.....YOUR TRACTOR IS BIGGER THAN MINE...

Tractors/skidsteer loaders are sure handy when it comes to dealing with lifting engines and such.

Looks like progress is really getting into the scene now.

 

[Track Addict]

That’s a down the street loaner JD. My 16 yo baby kubota doesn’t have the sack.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Ahhhhhh I see.


We used to have a B6100 KUBOTA.....It was a 1973 model
We ran it until it would not go any more....Gear box chewed itself to bits.

Bought the Max 22 Mahindra in 2013.....Been a sweet ride.

The high lifts require the Old Scat Trak 1300 skid steer and some home made lifting rigs....

My Kingdom for a shop with an overhead crane......even a 5 ton would be sweet....a 2 ton would gitterdone....

And we always make do....somehow...

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Is the boring head one of those off ebay....come from across the great pond ????

I bought one of the ones off ebay for less than $100...came in the orange plastic box.

I have used the big $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Bridgeport boring heads....This ebay goody is giving me just as good of tolerances as the big $$$$ ones ever did.
Likely over the long haul given heavy use it might fall short....?????

For the home "Cat shop"...works sweet.
Having tools make all this stuff possible.

I bought the mill ....9X42 Max mill with DRO off ebay a few years ago.....$500 buy it now.....and then a 2 day trip to LA & back to pick it up......Guy made soap box derby cars/parts.

Nasty ugly divorce forces the sale....

The ways are tight all the way.....No power feed.........

The DRO works sometimes.......Thats OK...When it won't work we do it the old fashioned way.

 

[Track Addict]

Grizzly industrial

 

[Track Addict]

Rear piston frame mount pin pressed out and bracket cleaned up.

Tucker used what appears to be a cast through bolt clevis mount that has the ears cut off and welded the frame. It will be put back the same way.

Very little wear on that side of the piston like seen on other cats. With the little movement the pivot end takes all of the abuse.

Off to the lathe for a bronze pin.

 

[Track Addict]

Summer slow down but not stopped. If we get some cool weather will mount the pivot next.

 

[Track Addict]

Steering box removed. Penetrating oil time and heat assisted the removal.

American as Tucker! Happy 4th!

 

[Track Addict]

Last of the drive shafts removed. The front yoke on the diff is cracked. Not sure if the Cleveland splined cross joints exist anymore so this may be an upgrade area.

Cut out below the passengers side seat post that was ripped out to patch. Will replace the cross bar also.

 

[Track Addict]

Pivot mounted cocked 3/4” out as existed prior. Rear piston mount mocked up. Grinding along….

 

[Rock'n BK]

THis is amazing keep it going!!!

Radiator is not correct. Wire tied in to factory mount .

Any idea what would have been inhere? Universal should be quick and easy but orig is always nice !

Radiator is not correct. Wire tied in to factory mount .

Any idea what would have been inhere? Universal should be quick and easy but orig is always nice !

Track
Here is a photo of the MoPar stock radiator in my 443. The year is 1958 January

Hope this helps

 

[Track Addict]

Little summer precipitation brought winter motivation!

Removed and tacked up the steering box mount on the new frame. This is cocked and crooked as oem design. Best to duplicate instead of pontificate.

Rear piston mount located and tacked.

 

[Track Addict]

Modern view of the life this Tucker lived at single digit speed and temperature

Both historic: https://www.autoblog.com/2021/08/16/travis-pastrana-mount-washington-hill-climb-record/

 

[DAVENET]

I'll take the Tucker speed, thank you.

 

[Track Addict]

Hurricane summer delay so got some Tucker time.

Frame is stripped down with the exception of the rear upper table and front trunion mount. These are load bearing in the current state.

Next steps for the frame is to add bracing and support to true everything up and prepare for cutting the frame. Don’t want anything to shift.

Have a good plan the hold and allow the adjustment that may be needed to meld to new frame.

 

[Track Addict]

The turn tables came apart easily. New bronze bushings and rollers will be made.

The front table pivot bushing appears to be the same as swing arm pivot. Test fitting the table seems right.

The trunion pivot is amazingly tight. It’s has been off before and either was rebuild or didn’t wear. Bonus either way. Rest of the machining and repair needed for these components are in my skill set.

 

[Track Addict]

Braced the upper frame against any movement when in preparation for removal. Goal is to prevent any shifting once structural members are cut and grafted on to the new lower frame.

The 4 upright tubes the uni strut is attached to will be replaced with new material during the surgery.

The critical measurements are the motor mounts which are all attached to the upper frame and braced accordingly.
Moving along…

Big thanks to the Wednesday night crew and resources!

 

[Track Addict]

This cat had a bench seat originally. The front bar was cut off on the driver side and the passenger post was missing along with a piece of the tube it was atrached

Patched the frame and fabricated a new crossbar and upright support for passenger side.

Filled some holes and cleaned up a horrible hinge weld job.

 

[GMoose]

Looking good!

 

[Track Addict]

Rear upper turn table removed. You can see how bad the frame was on this area

Removed the front trunion pivot. Never saw outer frame backers and the frame has bolt guides welded on. Upon closer inspection frame is broken under here and this was a sandwich repair.

Will use the pivot with the front oem frame as a locator to tie to the new frame.

Next steps is to prepare for the frame cut!

 

[Track Addict]

Got some nice tall stands donated. Once the upper frame is mounted to the lower frame plan is to flip the frame upside down to repair the bottom rot on the upper tube bottom. Need height to clear the roof frame.

Removed the tires from the axles and repurposed the dollys for some mobility over the winter of the frame.

Shuffled the frames around did some more mock up measuring and checking if the trunion mount.

Slight set back as we compared measurements. Piston mount frame tube was welded in front of the mark instead of behind so we are out 2 inches. I’ll take the blame.

On a positive note I wasn’t in love with reusing the cast piston mount welded on. Will use this take 2 opportunity to fab new mounts 1/2” plate and weld on.

 

[olympicorange]

howdy brian,

you've been ''crankin'' ,,... nicely done,..

progress is looking great,..

 

[Track Addict]

Rear upper table mounted to new frame. This is another item mounted a little off from the factory. Using the original rust marks I put it back to Tucker spec.

 

[Track Addict]

Take 2 prepped. This time going to make the clevis mount bolt on. Cleaner and more serviceable.