Adventures in Pitkin

[shopman]

FINALLY GOT TO DRIVE HER IN REAL SNOW!

Had family up last weekend and again this weekend to the cabin... AND OVER 2 FT OF SNOW LAST WEEKEND with more this week also. Turned into an interesting adventure though - I think that is the nature of snow vehicles...

So Friday drove it down to parking area... I keep the Cat at the cabin and use my small snowmobile to get up so I can plug her in or jump if needed... Picked up kids, dogs, food and gear to haul up in the Cat. The drive down was fun - got her into 3rd gear, cruising nicely!! The drive up much slower - gain 700 feet in a mile & half - but ran awesome.

Then Saturday more family came in... with a new foot of snow both cars got stuck in the parking area - we pushed one out and PULLED the truck out with the Cat - easily... I love this thing!

Then the adventure began - loaded everybody and everything (it can really haul a lot of stuff!) Drove nicely up about 3/4 of the way then on one of the steep climbs we heard a big POP! Lost all gearing - tried everything as we started to roll down the hill backwards with a full load in. Realized that some part of the drive between the transmission and the Power selector (steering) had broken... the only braking is on the trans, so... obviously I had never run into this problem as a new Cat driver... Luckily I pulled back the left steering and it turned me into the snowbank that was there to finally stop us!

So we said a sigh of relief - cleaned out everyone's shorts ...then sent one of the guys down to get the snowmobile to haul the gear up as everyone else walked up (luckily a young crowd of mountain living kids). Had some fun and got settled at the cabin then I ran back down with the sled and slapped some (too small - only ones I had) bolts in the connector. The problem was a connector from the transmission to the PS held together by 4 bolts. I believe that most likely the bolts were loose (never looked at that part closely before... although that will be one of the first things I check now...) and some came loose then bent and popped the last remaining bolt (I found a bent & broken one). The smaller bolts worked to get the empty cat up to the cabin and parked it again...

Sunday after we got everyone out - another foot of snow - took over an hour to get everyone unstuck... we ran to town in the heavy snow and grabbed some high strength bolts - came back and put them in. Tested it again by hauling all the weekend gear down to the truck and then drove back up in blinding snow at night!!! All my work on lights and guages paid off! (But forgot the camera...)

SO SHE IS BACK IN SERVICE and ready for another week of fun - going up Thursday thru Sunday for more fun, skiing, snowshoeing and at least another foot of new snow has already fallen!

So, here are some pictures - didn't shoot enough - too many other distractions... hope for more this weekend with a movie maybe...

 

[Melensdad]

I see you have used DOGS to update the age old question of how many people can you stuff into a phone booth. Only in your case its DOGS in a SNOW CAT.

 

[muleman]

At least his is out in the snow!Pics look great! minor headaches go with owning any equipment. The real question will be can you get to the trailhead with all the snow that is rolling in out there.

 

[pixie]

Sounds like fun... mostly

Glad to hear your breakdown was easily fixable.

So how many dogs are there ? I see 4 and maybe five !

 

[shopman]

Yes Melensdad and Pixie - our family has a dog thing going... We had 4 dogs in that picture and 4 people with all the gear. The next day when the breakdown happened we had 3 dogs 5 adults and a 6 year old.

Mule man -yes a lot of snow! - another wave on the way tonight and tomorrow - but we're ready to get up there no matter what!

 

[Snowcat Operations]

I am very glad to see you had enough sense to steer it into the bank of snow. Could have gone bad. On some cats that have hydraulic assisted steering/brakeing there is an electrical hydraulic pump. This is the emergency brakeing /steering pump as the main source of hydraulic power is the engine driven one. If you loose the engine pump and the electric pump doesnt work then your SOL. The only brake left is the drive shaft mounted disc/parking brake. Those dont work very well for stopping a 6,000 lbs cat rolling at 20+ down hill. Another option if you have it is your snow plow or drag. they will easily go down even with out any hydraulic power. All you need to do is push the hydraulic control lever for the plow or drag DOWN. Then the blade/drag will drop and you will come to a stop. Make sure your wearing your seat belts at all times. When they stop they STOP!

Hope the repair goes well SHOPMAN!

 

[shopman]

Thanks Sno Ops- headed up there shortly. Good to see you back, by the way! I will check over everything very closely before liftoff today! The next thing to do is get the heater back in... It will get cold when the snow finally ends. But it's snowing again now, so...

 

[shopman]

So, we do have snow and we have been driving her down the mountain to the parking and back up with loads of supplies and or people... I am also finally getting much smoother at steering and shifting... Snowcats rule! Still have much to do to get her totally right again and every week we work on something else and learn more...

So, following are a couple fun, in the great snow pictures and one of our latest learning process... the rear tire went flat and we didn't have a spare tire or the proper jack to do it right... we did get it off and fixed - old tube gave out with all the use. Fixed it, found (in the forum) where to get a couple wheels and my local tire guy found us tires. But... before any of them came we put the wheel back on with our new handyman jack tire changing method... took it on a test drive and the other rear tire blew out! Same problem - bad tube again, but tire was ruined... now we're getting really good at changing them! And now we have spares!

 

[Mainer]

Looks like a sweet ride and some enlightening experiences. Once you get the old bits out she'll run like a Swiss watch for years. 8)

 

[shopman]

Thanks Mainer... It has been an experience and I'm sure will continue to be... but what a good time...

4T10's rock!

 

[Alaska Snow Cat]

Hi Shopman, my daughter goes to Western State in Gunnison and I've told her to keep an eye out for your snowcat.
You may want to consider foam filling at least your front and back tires to prevent flats. It adds a little weight but is well worth it IMO.

 

[shopman]

That's great your daughter goes to Western... I did as well... a long, long time ago It's a great place to live and go to school! If she ever needs help - please let me know - I've been here a long time and know nearly everyone in town!

The snowcat is up at my cabin above Pitkin and I don't have a trailer for now so unless she is skiing near Pitkin she probably won't see it...

We are definitely foaming the fronts this summer... I feel pretty good about changing the others now that I have spares and don't need to take the tracks apart for them... Just need to pull the others and get new tubes in them this summer as well.

 

[JackieBlue]

All you guys are making me want to move and buy a snowcat!