Dominator snow tracks on a 2000 Nissan Pathfinder?

[Patrickea6]

I was originally thinking about getting a sxs with tracks to get up to my cabin but am now leaning towards putting dominator tracks(american track truck) on my 2000 Nissan Pathfinder. My cabin is up 3 mile forest service road (2 miles flat, 1 mile uphill no more then 12 degrees). I’m wondering if I would have any chance at making it up in 2-3 feet of fresh snow in the rig with tracks? If not, would I be able to beat in a track with snowmobile and then make it up with the rig? Are there any other track brands I should consider? Appreciate all input

 

[Blackfoot Tucker]

I was originally thinking about getting a sxs with tracks to get up to my cabin but am now leaning towards putting dominator tracks(american track truck) on my 2000 Nissan Pathfinder. My cabin is up 3 mile forest service road (2 miles flat, 1 mile uphill no more then 12 degrees). I’m wondering if I would have any chance at making it up in 2-3 feet of fresh snow in the rig with tracks? If not, would I be able to beat in a track with snowmobile and then make it up with the rig? Are there any other track brands I should consider? Appreciate all input

I'm a snowcat guy, so take what I say with a grain of salt; maybe a large grain....

Have you noticed that the vast majority of pictures of vehicles on tracks are on flat, or relatively flat, ground and the snow is no more than a foot or so deep? That tells me their capability in deep snow, or on steeper terrain is limited at best.

Several years ago I was at the Utah Winter Sports Park (site of several 2002 Winter Olympic events) and saw a Polaris Ranger on tracks for the first time. I was a pretty good customer of a local Polaris dealership and called their head sales guy for some information. The first words out of his mouth were "It's no snowcat". A few years later I bought a used Polaris Ranger on tracks from a neighbor and took it to the same place a friend and I test snowcats. The Ranger's performance was thoroughly underwhelming. Thoroughly! Where snowcats had no issues whatsoever, the Ranger kind of churned its way through the snow. It pretty much struggled, and that experience was such I sold the Ranger without really ever using it again. A year or two ago I watched a youtube video of a couple guys with RZRs (or similar) machines on tracks in the snow on an ungroomed trail in Michigan. A simple journey turned into an ordeal, and watching that video just reaffirmed what we had experienced firsthand.

That Ranger had cost the neighbor a tad over $31K and I bought it for $10K. That's huge depreciation for a machine just a few years old, and without a lot of miles. If you buy a used snowcat in good shape and don't overpay, assuming you maintain it and take care of it, you won't be eating thousands of dollars of depreciation every year.

There is a lot of logic in using the right tool for the job, and from your description a snowcat is the right machine.

My opinion only...

 

[m1west]

I'm a snowcat guy, so take what I say with a grain of salt; maybe a large grain....

Have you noticed that the vast majority of pictures of vehicles on tracks are on flat, or relatively flat, ground and the snow is no more than a foot or so deep? That tells me their capability in deep snow, or on steeper terrain is limited at best.

Several years ago I was at the Utah Winter Sports Park (site of several 2002 Winter Olympic events) and saw a Polaris Ranger on tracks for the first time. I was a pretty good customer of a local Polaris dealership and called their head sales guy for some information. The first words out of his mouth were "It's no snowcat". A few years later I bought a used Polaris Ranger on tracks from a neighbor and took it to the same place a friend and I test snowcats. The Ranger's performance was thoroughly underwhelming. Thoroughly! Where snowcats had no issues whatsoever, the Ranger kind of churned its way through the snow. It pretty much struggled, and that experience was such I sold the Ranger without really ever using it again. A year or two ago I watched a youtube video of a couple guys with RZRs (or similar) machines on tracks in the snow on an ungroomed trail in Michigan. A simple journey turned into an ordeal, and watching that video just reaffirmed what we had experienced firsthand.

That Ranger had cost the neighbor a tad over $31K and I bought it for $10K. That's huge depreciation for a machine just a few years old, and without a lot of miles. If you buy a used snowcat in good shape and don't overpay, assuming you maintain it and take care of it, you won't be eating thousands of dollars of depreciation every year.

There is a lot of logic in using the right tool for the job, and from your description a snowcat is the right machine.

My opinion only...

There are many different tracks out there now, than a few years ago. I have a tracked mini KEI van on tracks and the build is in the tracked 4x4 section as well as a mini truck I built. Mine are Mattracks UTV, the van itself weighs 1500# with wheels. Delete the wheels and add the tracks likely put another 300# on it. The math with those tracks says I have a ground pressure of .68 psi, thats in snowcat territory. If I wanted to spend some more I could have got the extended tracks that would have completely tracked the length of the van except about a foot between the tracks. I bought the standard UTV tracks because they are good for 2500#. have used them a couple years and have no regrets building the van and ditching the steel track Tucker I had and the Thiokol 603 before it. I have been in the mountains with it in deep snow, solid ice and a combination of both without any problems at all and have never been stuck in it. Im getting miles to the gallon, not gallons to the mile plus I pull it with a Nissan Frontier on a car hauler like its not there. Im sure there are plenty of places it couldn't go but I've seen plenty of stuck snowcats as well.

 

[m1west]

 

[PGBC]

All I will say is that when you put tracks on a heavy vehicle, and get it stuck...it is REALLY DAMN STUCK!