• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

new guy with a tucker gear question

northerndave

northerndave

Member
Hi guys, I'm from northern MN and I'm looking to get myself a sno cat of some sort.

I'm looking at a 1342 tucker, early 80's with a 318 & manual trans.

I'm not looking to groom or pull with it, I'm wondering if it's common to throw a couple new ring and pinion sets at these things to gear them up a bit?

It's probably good for around 12mph "wound out" right now & I don't really care to cruise all wound out. I think I'd rather keep RPM's down around 2500.

I imagine this question comes up often, I tried to search before posting but I found nothing.

thanks,

Dave
 
here's the answer you likely don't want to hear first off on hard pack snow terrain will dictate your speed not your gearing when you drop off into the soft stuff rpm will be your friend i drove bv206's for years in the AKNG and they can cruse along at 40 kph at 5000 rpm on the road when you even hit a snowmachine trail they drop to about 10mph at the same rpm if you lug an engine in deap snow you will burn it up run 4000 rpm in my snow trac at 25mph in high gear after all the rigs i have been around the snow trac is still the best way to move the family larger cats and engines just use more gas.
 
northerndave said:
Hi guys, I'm from northern MN and I'm looking to get myself a sno cat of some sort.

I'm looking at a 1342 tucker, early 80's with a 318 & manual trans.

I'm not looking to groom or pull with it, I'm wondering if it's common to throw a couple new ring and pinion sets at these things to gear them up a bit?

It's probably good for around 12mph "wound out" right now & I don't really care to cruise all wound out. I think I'd rather keep RPM's down around 2500.

I imagine this question comes up often, I tried to search before posting but I found nothing.

thanks,


Dave
Click to expand...

Hi Dave and welcome to the Forum......I have been researching a solution for this same problem. The biggest reason why a older Tucker is so slow, is the Transfer case. As you know you can't shift it, so therefore it's much like driving your 4x4 truck in 4 low all the time, so that's why if you change your ring & pinion it won't make much difference.
Having said all that, the biggest hurdle that has to be overcome, is changing out the transfer case to a case that can be shifted. I am working with a few different cases know to see which will fit the best and have the best gearing, I am looking to get about 35 to 40mi per hour, I think much faster than that will start to create track issues.
 
Thanks guys, So like an NP205 with Hi-low range might work a little better or? I think hi range in those traditional pickup truck cases is 1:1?
 
the np 205 is bullet proof be aware that it'low range gearing sucks there are companys that make lower gear sets to modify the low range and also doubbler kits to add an extra set of low gears you might want to look at the atlas transfer cases they are aluminum housings but built bullet proof also you can have them built to spec with u- joint yokes and gearing combos also there are overdrive units you can add to the tailshaft of your transmission
 
I haven't even seen this tucker yet so I don't know if the T-cases are married or divirorced on these.

I guess I have to decide.... if the wife is ever going to forgive me for buying it first off, or if that matters. :)
 
I "think" a 205 case could work, however, getting it to fit between the frame rails may require some major work. I am working with a older dodge case which has smaller exterior dimensions. I agree with Don (DDS) the Atlas case could also be a good candidate but I don't have one, and I'm trying to do this without buying anything new, I think this can be done with cases and parts that can be found in most salvage yards.

I have a Thiokol 601 and it will do 30mi per hour on a hard packed road, I think when you start to go much faster than that several thing's start to show up that don't at lower speeds, the biggest thing that you have to be aware of is balance issues. unlike a car wheel you can't really balance a track with steel grousers, and that's a lot of steel to sling around mounted to rubber in a unbalanced state. So just because you can get a Tucker to go lets say 40 or 50 mi per hour I don't think it would be safe to do it (track wise).
 
northerndave said:
I'd be happy with 20mph.

Even if I could get it to do 30 I think 20 would be all the faster i'd want to run one.
Click to expand...

I think that can be easily accomplished.

Even though I can go 30mph in my Thiokol, it's not a very pleasant/comfortable experience, lot's of noise, vibration, steering and ride get's worse.
 
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. :)

untitled2.jpg


untitled3.jpg


untitled4.jpg


I need to move on it, it might be too late already, smokin hot deal (i think)
 
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. :)

untitled2.jpg


untitled3.jpg


untitled4.jpg


I need to move on it, it might be too late already, smokin hot deal (i think)
Click to expand...

I also looked it this cat, It's not a bad deal, I am looking for the five wheeled rubber tracks for my cat and this has the four wheeled track.
 
There's an older pontoon tucker in the same area right now, extra set of pontoons, looks like a project, not sure how big of a project though.
 
thanks guys i learned something today i turned down a larger sedan because it was heavy and slower than my snow trac it had a 453 road oiler for an engine had i known of the gear reduction t-case i might have tossed the idea around a bit more however at 8000 pounds i would have had to get permits just to move it out of my yard.nevermind the cost of shipping to nome the cost of getting things here is about 3x the cost of getting them out.
 
Hello Dave and WELCOME to the 'cat house'!:brows:

Unless you're planning to use your cat (whatever it may be) as an alpine machine, you may be better off with the 1300-series cat that you're looking at. The idea is that if you intend to ramp-up the speed then the smaller tracks could be an advantage in having less rotating mass. Less flotation, but more speed potential. Just a thought...
 
Mtn-Track said:
Hello Dave and WELCOME to the 'cat house'!:brows:

Unless you're planning to use your cat (whatever it may be) as an alpine machine, you may be better off with the 1300-series cat that you're looking at. The idea is that if you intend to ramp-up the speed then the smaller tracks could be an advantage in having less rotating mass. Less flotation, but more speed potential. Just a thought...
Click to expand...

More good things to help convince the wife:whistling:
 
she's got that angry agree-ance thing going on right now...

Know what I mean?

"Go ahead then, buy the damn thing.."

Which basically means "you better not you dumb bastard"

lol!!
 
Guys, so you are certain most of the gear reduction occurs in the T-case on these tuckers?

I know I can fit a 1:1 t-case in there with a reduced range (4 hi, 4 low)

You can clock those things if you have to.

Of course there may be an option to re gear the stock T-case, could be a chain drive case... sprocket swap?

I just want a little more track speed because my use will be unloaded.
 
don't worry my wife thaught the same thing about my snow trac till i pimped it out the first time and payed for it on the first trip now she thinks i need a second one the np 205 can only be clocked so much the atlas can be clocked any way you want it if you are just looking for over drive check out gear vendors overdrive units i have installed several on motor homes and they work great
 
Pretty sure I bought myself a sno cat last night. I e-mailed the seller and told them I'd take it & asked what payment method works best for him.

Waiting to hear back from them this morning.

anybody want to see some better pictures? :whistle:
 
Hi Dave for sure upload them pictures....i am not a snow-cat owner but for sure love reading through and seeing pictures of what you owners get up to.

I have learnt one thing about you owners.....your all mad:thumb:
 
Dave,

Congratulations on the Tucker purchase. It looks "unmolested" which is somewhat surprising if it was used as a groomer. I'll warn you: Sno Cats are addictive.

I can't speak for your 1342, but both of my Tuckers have 4.88:1 ring and pinions in them. The Tucker transfer case is a divorced style, and unlike the transfer cases in 4WD trucks, the input and output shafts are aligned vertically, whereas a typical transfer case has output shafts that are offset laterally somewhat.

One of my very best friends is a gear cutting genius. He has extensive experience designing gears as well as manufacturing them. When we start talking gears he gets over my head within 30 seconds.

We discussed re-gearing a Tucker transfer case. It would require redesigning the gear train and because of the limitations imposed by the internal dimensions of the transfer case, he thought about a 25% change was about all that could be done. It would also be expensive.

While it would be better to change the transfer case gearing, it would be waaay easier and cheaper to swap ring and pinion gearsets. If your 1342 is like my Tuckers it has Dana 60 axles. There are quite a number of ratios available for the Dana 60. IIRC the lowest available is 3.54:1.

I live in Utah at an elevation of 7,200 feet. The rule of thumb is you lose 3% of your horsepower for every 1,000 feet of elevation gain. So I'm down over 20% from the getgo. In my case I think I'd have to swap engines to have enough power to get any appreciable speed improvements with the gearing changes I'm contemplating.
 
Congratulations Dave!! You are now officially hooked and eventually the wife will give in when you're out in a blizzard and it's all warm and toasty in the cat... at least that's what I keep telling my wife... :brows:

Also, thanks to everyone commenting on this thread for all the info on gearing - very educational for me... although my 4T10 certainly has different issues with that exciting and wonderful power selector!

And Blackfoot - thanks for the reminder - I am at 10,000 feet and am afraid I will really find out how much power loss I have when I finally get her out in the deeper snow...

Congrats again! :clap:
 
Hey thanks guys, and especially blackfoot for the info.

yes I do think these are dana 60's in this rig (I don't have it home yet)

Talking with the owner he said he thinks it has 6.18 gear in it :o !!!

I know there is a certain point in which you need to change carriers or "cases" for the divide from taller & shorter gears. Not certain exactly where that occurs for the dana 60 but I found a guy that says he accquired a gear/carrier set for his 77 tucker 1342 that was around a 3.50 gear set.

he said he'd sell them to me really cheap (he's since sold that tucker and never did switch the gears)

But his may be dodge units???

I don't know but either way it's getting some taller gears, 6.18:1 is crazy!!
 
Blackfoot may know for sure, but I'd think the '77 axles are the Dana's and not the Dodge.

I stepped-up from the original 8.25" Dodge diff's/housings and now have the 8.75" Dodge with the 4.56 gears in my cat (out of my former '58), but the gears in the '58 transfer case were larger than the one's in the case of my '53. The transmissions were also different so it'll be interesting to see how it really does in a variety of conditions.
 
I think the diff cases are differnt for 4.10 and down and 4.56 & up

So I'm thinking this guy with the gear sets has gears and carriers for 3.50-ish gears. Probably 3.54's

I'll call him again.
 
the cases are the same but the carriers are different good time to upgrade to an air locker or a 4 pinion posi unit like a power lock unit.usualy about the same price as an open diff because of the weighe and tractive force of the tracks i would stay away from any traction aid like the torson gleason diff that has a tire size limitation on it and a detroit locker might also be to agressive for your aplication in turns
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top