New to Me, A 1981 Tucker 542A-HD

[Mill666er]

Purchased this Sno-Cat the week after the WA Snowcat jamboree. I have been looking around for a project and hoped to find a more vintage Tucker but then I stumbled across this forum and had to have something NOW. Of course there was no snow on the ground and I thought I could get started on the restoration and track maintenance. That thought only lasted a couple weeks because we now have snow.

This tucker was originally sold to a ski area in Aspen then sold to the ski area at Snoqualmie to haul freight to the lodge. The Workers didn't like to use it because the bed sat so high off of the ground so it got parked. During a big snowfall year it got buried and someone parked one of the other snow cats on top of the cab and crushed it. The ski area unloaded it about 5 years ago to the guy I bought it from. The previous owner fabricated a steel plate rooftop to make it functional. The bed has a wrap around 4"x6"x.25" wall rectangular tube 'weight' which will eventually get cut off to lighten the Cat's 8000lb figure. Radiator and water pump have been replace and At some point the Allison AT540 got replaced with a reman AT545 four speed automatic which I guess is for the better.

Here is the biggest reason why I bought this Tucker, the Detroit 453T

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Fabricated roof
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Only two of the tracks have ice breakers and they are in the wrong location
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The floor had a little rust problem that I repaired to get me through the winter. Pulled the beat up 1/4" aluminum diamond plate that was protecting my shop floor in front of my welding table to make the new floor boards. Made all of the cuts on the table saw with a carbide non-ferrous metal blade and broke the angle in the press.
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Other things I have done, rebuild the brake master cylinder, pulled all six of the bogie wheels from the passenger side rear track to inspect/replace/ repack all wheel bearings with marine grease and replace all 12 seals. I didn't think to call Tucker about the seal shields until after getting ready to re-assemble them. They are still available and run about $2.20 per set per wheel. Will probably repeat the same service on the other rear track this weekend unless there is more snow in the forecast. Bearings, cups, and seals from Rock Auto


Previous owner bought enough belting for all four tracks but only got them replaced on the front two. It will be a PITA to replace because someone welded all of the bolt heads to the grousers going through the two center belts before welding stiffeners covering those bolts. The bolts in the outer belts were not kept tight and have rattled half way through the grouser. I have ordered grade 8 flange bolts and lock nuts which will increase the contact surface and prolong their life. 54lbs of nuts and bolts from ASMC industrial with free delivery thanks to USPS tax payer subsidized shipping, if it fits it ships.


I also made a jig to punch the holes in the belts greatly reducing the time compared to laying them out individually. Thanks to the tucker track info post, I have 32 grousers with a 5.875" pitch for a 188" belt length. My jig has dowel pins for the pitch, the 3" width, and a fence to keep one hole .625" from the edge on the 4.5" belts. The first belt took about an hour as I was constantly checking the pitch and location. The forth belt was down to 25 minutes to punch the 64 holes.




I have received my Tucker build sheet but can't figure out how to attach it using my iPad and Tapatalk. I will need to dust off the MacBook to get it into this post.

Thanks to all the great posts and information, I have some idea of what I should be doing.

Rob Miller
Winthrop, WA

 

[Mill666er]

Shoot, there must be a maximum post size in addition to maximum picture size. Here are the photos that did not make the first post.

 

[Mill666er]

Attachments #3

 

[Mill666er]

Here is the build sheet that I received from Justin at Tucker for my 1981 542A-HD

 

[sno-drifter]

Hi Rob,

Either you are deaf or want to be sitting behind that screaming Jimmy. We had a Tucker with that engine and it was LOUD. I am not sure which Alison was in ours, but it shifted so hard it toor up the rear spring mounts. These days you should be able to make that tranny smooth and not tear up your cat. Looks like a great project.

 

[300 H and H]

Tha screaming Jimmy wouldn't be that bad I am thinking cause the turbo will tame alot of the noise. Sno-drifter did the one you were around have a turbo? I was kinda thinkin this is the first I have seen of the Tucker model to have a turbo hung on the side... Maybe I am mistaken?

The one Detroit diesel I was around back in the day had a turbo, and it was far better than one without..

Great looking HD rig!

Regards, Kirk

 

[Mill666er]

It is very loud but sounds much better outside of the cab. The previous owner thought it was too loud as well and re-routed the exhaust under the bed and Angeles out the passenger side. Three of us were on the first trip and had to rotate standing behind the cab since it only seats two. We all agreed that the best place to be was behind the cab, on a sunny day anyway. It was a very smooth ride on back except when that tranny shifted.


Someone has also pulled the rear steer connecting rod out and installed a hydraulic cylinder with a valve between the seats to steer the rear independently. Makes for a real frustrating and exhausting trip going up narrow mountain roads seeing your rear end crabbing off the side of the mountain. I would like to connect the rear back up to the front steer cylinder to make it easier to travel forest service roads.

 

[sno-drifter]

The Tucker we had was a 2500 series I think and was 12' wide with 4' tracks. It was not turboed. I like the idea of the stack going vertical above the cab as a tail wind will have you breathing stuff you don't want to breathe. I get that the extra cyl. can be an asset if you are grooming and the drag is pulling you off the sloping road. but it takes two operators to be effective. I prefer the normal factory arrangement. I would change it back. The beauty of the Tuckers is that One, in stock form, they make one track in a turn so less compacting of snow and Two, with an open differential, they pull as hard in a turn as going straight.

 

[Mill666er]

I can definitely see where it would be beneficial to have independent steering but I too would prefer both ends turning with the wheel. Ideally the rear hydraulics would be plumbed into the steering valve with a bypass switch of some sort so you could have it either way. With the cylinder on the rear it actually turns sharper than the front which doesn't make much sense since you want the rear track following the front.

 

[snow dog]

Nice looking cat, Have fun