Have you seen this Aktiv???

[peace]

Hi all,
I am a long time lurker on this forum and appreciate all the information and knowledge that is shared among the members. I was hoping that you could help me track down an Aktiv st4b that my family owned in the mid-90's. It was purchased in Missoula, MT and my parents later sold it through Snotrans in Weiser, ID. During our time owning the cat, it was used for backcountry skiing and other family outings like gathering Christmas trees. The snowcat had several distinct features that I hope can help identify it. These included a mahogany wood dashboard, white stripes around the windows/doors, missing fenders over the tracks, blue interior fabric, light colored inner track belts, and a hole below the front grill where a small tree had been hit. It also had an external oil cooler/filter mounted outside the right side engine compartment. When it was sold, it had a blue trailer with expanded metal side panels, which can be seen in the background of one of the old family pictures.

After some research, I believe this cat may have been the one that another forum member named Utahwilson had for a period of time. Based on the ad that was posted when he sold it, it seems to have been purchased by another forum member and possibly taken to Montana. If one of you knows who that member may be, could you please contact me so that I can try to track down more of the snowcat's history. Thank you, I appreciate the help!

 

[Blackfoot Tucker]

Hi all,
I am a long time lurker on this forum and appreciate all the information and knowledge that is shared among the members. I was hoping that you could help me track down an Aktiv st4b that my family owned in the mid-90's. It was purchased in Missoula, MT and my parents later sold it through Snotrans in Weiser, ID. During our time owning the cat, it was used for backcountry skiing and other family outings like gathering Christmas trees. The snowcat had several distinct features that I hope can help identify it. These included a mahogany wood dashboard, white stripes around the windows/doors, missing fenders over the tracks, blue interior fabric, light colored inner track belts, and a hole below the front grill where a small tree had been hit. It also had an external oil cooler/filter mounted outside the right side engine compartment. When it was sold, it had a blue trailer with expanded metal side panels, which can be seen in the background of one of the old family pictures.

After some research, I believe this cat may have been the one that another forum member named Utahwilson had for a period of time. Based on the ad that was posted when he sold it, it seems to have been purchased by another forum member and possibly taken to Montana. If one of you knows who that member may be, could you please contact me so that I can try to track down more of the snowcat's history. Thank you, I appreciate the help! View attachment 160554View attachment 160555

I looked at that machine when it was for sale. The trailer was all white, and was a heavy duty Maxey brand tilting trailer (much heavier duty than needed for a SnoTrac). It was completely different than the trailer in the background of the photo you posted on the right.

I recall the snowcat having fenders, and nothing looked new about them.

 

[vintagebike]

Did an AI bot write the post just before the one by Blackfoot Tucker?

 

[redsqwrl]

Did an AI bot write the post just before the one by Blackfoot Tucker?

that looks like a post from face book

 

[redsqwrl]

Peace is in the right spot. Utah wilson?

I have his number somewhere as I was helping him with his cracked sprockets.....

 

[Pontoon Princess]

"beartooth" member has it !

Utah Wilson's machine is in Red Lodge, Montana, just a little north of town, orange tractor on the mailbox, highway 212
it's a 'out law snow trac' now, running Porsche power?

fyi Mary at snotrans did not think very highly of the snow trac, Mary and Bill got it stuck many times on the one and only time they went for a short ride, she tells a great story and could not sell it fast enough...

 

[peace]

Thanks for the responses everyone, I appreciate the information!
It seems likely that it is the same cat and even more interesting that it made its way back to Montana. Based on the stories that my parents have, I could see how it might be challenged in some snow conditions. It would be interesting to hear the story of the ill-fated trip.

 

[peace]

Blackfoot Tucker: Thanks for the trailer info. It seems possible that the trailers were swapped at some point, since the original blue one was also not ideal for the snowcat.

Redsqwrl: Thanks for the lead. If you are able to locate the contact information, I would be interested in trying to track down some more information on the cat. I can message you directly to respect privacy.

Pontoon Princess: Thank you for the lead on the cat. I would like to hear more about the Aktiv, the story you heard, and what its current state may be.

 

[peace]

Well, the search continues...
I recently found the gentleman in eastern Montana who owned the blue Aktiv that my family had in the early 90's. We had a nice conversation, but unfortunately I was a couple years too late and he had since sold it. With that being said, he was able to provide me with a more recent picture of the snowcat that I hope can lead me to the current owner of the machine. If any of you fine snowcat folks have any information on its current location or owner, I would appreciate the help!

 

[Melensdad]

The thing about the unit you are searching for is that someone completely cut off the side fenders. That is the most idenfiable feature of your Snow Trac. Paint color is pretty easy to change.

I personally found those quite useful on mine and wonder why someone would remove them? It made carrying long, snowy, wet and bulky things pretty simple, especially if you didn't want to bring winter's snow into the cabin.

 

[peace]

Agreed, the fenders are definitely an identifying feature of this Aktiv. It also has the externally mounted oil filter and cooler on the right side of the engine compartment. I'm not sure why the fenders were cut, as they do seem to add functionality to the machines. Colors can definitely be changed, but since it was blue/yellow within the past couple of years, I hope someone recognizes it. Thanks for the help!

 

[redsqwrl]

the sides are still there the fenders were an option on the (b)'s.

In my experience its 50-50 on the fenders being there.

 

[peace]

It has been a while since I began the search for the Aktiv that my family had, but wanted give an update.

Last spring, I was contacted by one of the members on the forum. He had purchased the snowcat from the gentleman in eastern Montana several years ago to add to his collection of snow vehicles. After he saw my post, he contacted me and kindly offered to sell the Aktiv in order to bring the snowcat 'home.'

Last March I was able to make the trip to Utah to pick up the machine and brought it back north with me. The look on my parents faces was great when I pulled into their driveway and they realized it was the snowcat we had when I was a kid.

Due to the low snow year last winter, I only got the Aktiv out twice, but it ran well and I am looking forward to spending more time with it in the near future. I still need to finish up some yearly maintenance before the snow starts to fly, but hopefully it will be out in the snow sooner than later.

I wanted to close by saying thanks to everyone on the forum that helped me track down the Aktiv over the past several years. It has been fun following it through the various owners over the years.

 

[MontanaTweak]

Pretty cool story glad you found it