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new guy with a tucker gear question

northerndave said:
yeah carriers is what i meant.

i'm jumpin the gun, gotta get it home first :)
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you in the transition aera where spicer changed from a corse spline i think it was a 12 spline count to the fine spline axles i believe it was 32 count so before droping money count your splines on the axles so you pick up the right axles i would be hard pressed to go with the 3.53 gears unless i had a slow turning diesel but the price is right i think 4.10 would work better an would also bolt up to your curent cariers
 
yes I do think 4.10 is the talest I could go with the stock carriers.

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That's the rig, crappy photo but that's it.
 
You are limited by the top speed your tracks can handle, period. You can waste alot of time and money on another transfer case. If your tracks can only handle X number of MPHs then your wasting your time and money. Your top speed is determined by the weakest link in the drivetrain(your tracks). My Tucker has a 1:65 to 1 transfer case. I could gain more top end speed by changing the ring and pinion set to a higher ratio (4.88 to 3.73 for example). If your tracks come apart at 20 MPH then what do you gain? A smaller track is not going to get you any more speed. A longer track will last longer at a given speed than a shorter one due to less revolutions per distance. Want to go faster? Change 1 or more factors; engine redline, transmission final ratio(I.E. 1:1 to overdrive), transfer case ratio, differential ratio and track type. Without changing the track type, you can change everything else and be spending alot of money on track maintenance and repairs. How much money do you have and want to spend? Just common sense.
 
Well I'm certainly not looking to set any land speed records. the people I am buying from claim the axle gears are "6.18" and i'm wondering if he maybe means 6.17 but what ever, that's really geared low. Maybe there is a reason, maybe the T-case ratio is a little closer to 1:1 and tucker got the reduction at the ring & pinion on this unit, i don't know and won't know until I get it home and use it some.

if it is geared 6.18-ish and I feel I can stand a little more track speed then it's likely I'd shoot for closer to 4.56 or so. I really can't imagine i can jump from 6 and change rotation to 1 all the way to 3-ish to 1.

I really need to get it home & run it then do some math to determine what I need gear wise to achieve a sustainable 15mph without floating the valves.

I'm just guessing here but I like to think 20mph on hard pack as a top end speed isn't unthinkable.

I'm certainly not looking to run with the bombardier b12's on the frozen lake. Those guys will run up to 40 on a groomed trail.
 
Distance is distance, speed is speed.

I'm not going to argue with the idea that track speed is going to have an advisable limit.

But whether you make the tracks faster with engine RPM, overdrive out of the trans or gears in the rear end... In the end it's track speed.. And there are many ways to skin that cat.

The way I see it I need to look for an advisable track speed limit for these rubber/grouser style tracks then decide how to best sustain my desired track speed within those limits.

I'm the new guy so I'll hold off on any "common sense" comments I might have shaking around in my newbie head. :)
 
bottom line is you should be safe to 30mph but remember as your grouser swings around the front road wheel its running about twice the speed of the vehicle the heavyr the grouse the more stress on the track also if on hard ground or ice the more the beating the grousers are going to take
 
Right, it's really going to be one of those "what feels right" things.

I've ridden with people that seem to have no connection with the machine they are opperating, WOT all the way no matter what, just beat the crap out of stuff.

There definately is a "sweet spot" in operating any machine and it will vary with conditions & terrain.
 
I took my Tucker out for the first time yesterday ( just in the fields here on the ranch). We have about 6" of snow but the drifts are a couple of ft deep. The name tag on the side of the Cummins says it has 192 Hp. I was really surprised how much power it takes to turn the tracks 10 mph. I never could get it into high gear, and it works the motor pretty hard in 3rd. Before I was worried about different gears I would see how will that 318 will pull what you have. I would think that the Cummins would have more power than the gas motor. I have 4.88 gears with a 1.65/1 transfer case. I think 20 MPH is out of the question let alone 30 MPH.
 
Well I drove it on saturday in about 16" of snow, climbed some snowplow piles and cross coutry into some swamp with some really deep snow.. 5th gear she never gave a hint of overwork. Hell I started in 5th at around 1000 rpm and she just went.
 
That's good news, I might have a weak turbo or something that is making my motor be way down on power. It blows black smoke in 3rd like a simi pulling a steep hill!!! top speed in 3rd is about 12 MPH . I have a little wider tracks that will take some more power but you wouldn't think that much.
 
if you ahve a cummins don't think turbo aside from a bearing failure a stock turbo wont die look at fuel supply and retun and your afc adjustment that engine should have plenty of power also what about a break dragging jack it up on stands see how it pulls or truy to run down hill black smoke usualy means high egt' s too much fuel or not enough boost you could have a dripping injector or a boost tube or intake leak i have seen that
 
I recall my Tucker manual says not to exceed 15 mph and do not spin the tracks if it gets stuck. Tuckers are about getting there and back. I have had mine to around 15 and it sounds like that is as fast as it should go. It has all new tracks and drivetrain with a Chrysler Industrial 360. It will climb steeper than I will :-)
 
The perfect speed for my Tucker 1644 is about 12 mph. It seems to be the smoothest at tht speed. I have had it up to about 18, but you get a lot of noise at that speed. Most of the time 3rd gear is just right, 4th in the flats.
I am hoping to get to the cabin over the Holidays and get it out to play in the snow.

Had it out about 3 weeks ago to burn some slash piles.
 

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Well I won't get into a debate over the track speed,but the transfer case is a diferent story.Now, 'theoretickly',If a guy took a divorced pasenger drop np 205 [chevy or dodge] and could install it clocked up as far as it would go,and if said guy also ran NO shift rails. He could run the output off the factory tucker transmission to the front out put on the factory [chevy dodge] and be at a 1 to 1 ratio.He would also need to fabricate a cover plate for the front input of the 205 to axcept a drive flange capable of accepting an output to the driveline that is required. Just my 2 cents,
 
Okay fellas I'm not getting this...

Tucker has been building these things for quite some time. I'm guessing they didn't just pull the transfer case reduction ratio out of their butt, but rather put some serious thought into it. The transfer case they employ is their own design and they could have made it any ratio they wanted.

To change from 1.65:1 to 1:1 is a huge change (65%). The modification str8bill suggests would not be an afternoon job, but would take some serious time and fabrication/machining skill, not to mention cost. The output flange he mentions would also have to accommodate a disc brake rotor and you'd have to fabricate a mount for the disc brake caliper as well.

Why not do the faster, easier, cheaper solution of swapping ring and pinions?
 
I have to agree with several of the posters above.

Tucker's spent a lot of R&D time making these things work. They say that max speed is about 15 mph. I'd guess they've done the testing at higher speeds and found the point where the higher speed results in much higher maintenance, wear and repair costs and then set the speed at about 80% of that speed to maintain a good measure of reliability: about 15 mph.
 
Yeah it's going to be ring & pinion for me, I am definitely in the gearing basement with my 6.17's

Briarpatch says he does well at 12 MPH with 1:1 out of the transmission, 1.65, through the T-case & 4.88's at the axles.

He mentions that he's had it to 18MPH, I’ve reached 12 as a short experiment of revving the engine higher than I would run it for any sustained period of time, 18 is FAR out of my reach with my gearing.

Even going to 4.88's (probably the most common) would be a huge improvement for me.

We'll see what I dig up after the busy holiday season here.

I tend to think that if I'm going to buy a new gear set and stick with my current carriers i may as well go 4.56

We'll see what I end up with.

If I find a free or very cheap pair of 4.11 & up carriers with gears I may give it a whirl, I'll only be out a little time for an experiment, I don't have to stay with it.


I'm targeting 15MPH as a comfortable sustainable speed at 3000-ish engine RPM range.
 
northerndave said:
I think my buddy's nodwell is about the same, might be able to reach 20 all stressed out but it's much happier at 12-14.

the only holdup on this tucker deal is my wife, who yelled at me and called me crazy when I showed her this rig this morning. :)

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I need to move on it, it might be too late already, smokin hot deal (i think)
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The answer to this dillema is to get a new wife. Keep the Snowcat. :yum:
 
Sounds to me like you would need 4.10s to achieve any type of speed. I believe Tucker manufactured these specifically for grooming. They would have had a very heavy drag to tow and needed all the gearing. Keep us posted.
 
Selectable lockers would be awesome, maybe in a few years.. :)

Cab conversion will be the next step with our rig after regearing.
 
Dave, I have all the same questions as you. My Tucker is used only for fun so no pulling. When driving through the woods, 10 mph is fine, but when out on a power line or returning home in my own tracks, it can be painfully slow. I have a 360 and Allison Automatic. I'm assuming my tranfer case is 1.65 to 1 and I have 4:88 gears. I also have 5 roller tracks. The transmission has 4 speeds and in deep snow it sometimes needs to be run in third as not to dog the engine at about 8-10 mph. In my own track it runs comfortably at 12-14 mph with no power issues at all. I opened it up one time on freshly plowed hard packed flat road and hit 28 mph. Of course the noise from the tracks slapping the slides made me wonder if the whole machine was going to fly into a million peices:w00t2:
All that said, I think my machine would bennefit from higher ring and pinion gears but it is questionable if it is worth the time and money to change them. I am collecting complete dana 60 rearends from a local scrapper and currently have a 3:54 and a 3:73 set up When I have a matched set, I will probably swap them out just as an experiment with only the time invested and very little money. I will also be experimenting with the noisy slide issue also because with out that eliminated, you don't want to drive over 15! If I have any great discoveries I'll be sure to let you know. By the way, I live near International Falls Dave.
Glad to be a part of the forum,
Aaron
 
Aaron, is that your tucker in your avatar with the van body on it??

That's awesome!! lol!!
I have my rig parked on lake of the woods right now.

I'm thinkin if I had 4.88 gears I'd probably be pretty damn happy, I have 6.17s right now. SLOW!
 
I think you're right Dave 4:56, 4:88 would all work well for you and may fit on your case? Just enjoy it for the rest of this winter though!
Aaron
 
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