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Twin track, no skis snow machine

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Posted

I've been back home 5 days now, and it seems like for 4 of them I've been trying to get the snow packed down on my strip.  It was almost 3' deep, had a bit of a crust on the top, but not enough to hold the plane on it's skis.  If I had tried to take off, with out packing it down, I would have sunk in and been stuck.   I've been packing that strip for over 15 years, but when I was home through the winter, I kept up on it as the snow piled up.   At any rate, I had it so rutted up yesterday that it was a complete mess.  A real light drag wouldn't do any good, and a heavy enough drag would  cause the snow mobile to spin out at times and leave big long ruts till I got back up to speed.   I did get it pretty near straightened up today though.   I got thinking, what if I made a snow mobile that had real long dual tracks,  (maybe 151 - 162")   it would steer like a catapiller, and maybe do only about 25 mph tops.  If it was fairly light, it should be just about unstoppable in deep snow, and would pull real well also.   Then a fairly heavy drag could be used.  Has anyone seen such a machine or have any thoughts about it.  (and yes, I already know I'm crazy, so let's not bring that up)  :lmao: There is a snowmachine and ATV salvage shop 10 miles from me, and they have tons of stuff.  Just called them, and they are going to have a look at what's available.  Picture is just a little bit of their stuff.   JImChuk

ware1.jpg

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Posted (edited)

I can send you some drawing and pictures of what I have been building up here for groomers.  The key to these is the cheap electric winch on them so when you start getting bogged down you can hit the button and lift the front of it and it will just ride on the compaction pan and you don't really know its back there.  

I have also made them manually adjustable and while that works great on a trail it really sucks if you suddenly hit a soft spot and it starts eating a bit too much or if you want to get off the trail to turn around etc.  All in all, your looking at a day to cut and weld it out and about 300-400 in materials, but it will serve you for MANY years to come and is fairly light weight to boot.  It is 4' wide and 6' long on the ground plus the length of the tongue ( I think that's around 2.5').

Groomer.jpg

Edited by akflyer
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Posted

For the sled I LOVE my 2015 bearcat 570.  Wide track that will pull one hell of a load and its aircooled so when you pulling said load or running along packed trails pulling a groomer at a whopping 5-7 MPH it doesn't overheat.  To top it off its the most comfortable and easiest riding sled out there and the older I get the more comfort comes into play.  I can do  300+ mile day and I am not worn out or sore.

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Posted (edited)

I kept at the strip, and now have it in fairly decent shape.  Probably easier to get a better sled then what I have.  It's an old Polaris touring, and it's heavy.  And a bear to steer.  The thing is tough though.  About the only use it gets is when I'm dragging something up and down the runway.   

Just relooked at this thread, and see I didn't post this message when I typed it out.  I did run across a 2018 Bearcat LT 2000 with 2700 miles and in good shape for $4000.  It has the 565 fan cooled engine.  Hadn't planned to get something that new though.  Probably not a bad deal for what it is.  Leni, does that sled compare to yours at all,  same or similar model and such?  Thanks,  JImChuk

Edited by 1avidflyer

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Posted

I had the same idea rattling around in my head a couple years ago. My plan was to use the engine and transmission from a zero turn lawn mower to drive the tracks. I'm sure it would work just not sure how well and it would probably be too heavy. I never made it past the thinking part, would sure like to see someone try it though. There is nothing but fear and common sense holding you back.:)

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No No No what you guys need is a screw tank. I have seen guys make these outta steal drainage culverts and they look like a blast here is a video of the latest and greatest. If nothing else this guy has some crazy fun videos. Enjoy.

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Posted

This guy has to be half hillbilly. A real hillbilly would have his truck engine mounted on it.  Famous last words of a hillbilly, "Hey ya, watch this s$#@, here honey hold ma beer".

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No No No what you guys need is a screw tank. I have seen guys make these outta steal drainage culverts and they look like a blast here is a video of the latest and greatest. If nothing else this guy has some crazy fun videos. Enjoy.

I think if he fell off and it ran him over, he'd be screwed....:lmao:  It did give me some good ideas on the way to drive something like I had in mind using hydraulics.   Thanks, for posting it.  I'll have to go look at his other inventions.  JImChuk

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Posted

For the sled I LOVE my 2015 bearcat 570.  Wide track that will pull one hell of a load and its aircooled so when you pulling said load or running along packed trails pulling a groomer at a whopping 5-7 MPH it doesn't overheat.  To top it off its the most comfortable and easiest riding sled out there and the older I get the more comfort comes into play.  I can do  300+ mile day and I am not worn out or sore.

snobt1018_01.jpg?mw=1000&mh=800

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Posted

I kept at the strip, and now have it in fairly decent shape.  Probably easier to get a better sled then what I have.  It's an old Polaris touring, and it's heavy.  And a bear to steer.  The thing is tough though.  About the only use it gets is when I'm dragging something up and down the runway.   

Just relooked at this thread, and see I didn't post this message when I typed it out.  I did run across a 2018 Bearcat LT 2000 with 2700 miles and in good shape for $4000.  It has the 565 fan cooled engine.  Hadn't planned to get something that new though.  Probably not a bad deal for what it is.  Leni, does that sled compare to yours at all,  same or similar model and such?  Thanks,  JImChuk

is it electric start?  its the exact same thing as I have but I have ES on mine.  It is worlds better than the old polaris. 

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Posted

For the sled I LOVE my 2015 bearcat 570.  Wide track that will pull one hell of a load and its aircooled so when you pulling said load or running along packed trails pulling a groomer at a whopping 5-7 MPH it doesn't overheat.  To top it off its the most comfortable and easiest riding sled out there and the older I get the more comfort comes into play.  I can do  300+ mile day and I am not worn out or sore.

snobt1018_01.jpg?mw=1000&mh=800

The difference between this and a real sled is that I can ride mine and people don't assume I like to sleep with dudes... :lmao:

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Posted (edited)

  I did run across a 2018 Bearcat LT 2000 with 2700 miles and in good shape for $4000.  It has the 565 fan cooled engine.  Hadn't planned to get something that new though.  Probably not a bad deal for what it is.  Leni, does that sled compare to yours at all,  same or similar model and such?  Thanks,  JImChuk

is it electric start?  its the exact same thing as I have but I have ES on mine.  It is worlds better than the old polaris. 

I believe it does have electric start.  According to the info online, the LT 2000 does have electric start. I'm going to look at it tomorrow.  Like I said, he wants $4000 for it.  I think the NADA value is just under $5200.  What is different about the ES model?  JImChuk

PS  here are a couple of pictures.  He is keeping the front rack for the ice auger, but the box on the back stays.

Bearcat 1.png

Bearcat 2.png

Edited by 1avidflyer

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Posted (edited)

For the sled I LOVE my 2015 bearcat 570.  Wide track that will pull one hell of a load and its aircooled so when you pulling said load or running along packed trails pulling a groomer at a whopping 5-7 MPH it doesn't overheat.  To top it off its the most comfortable and easiest riding sled out there and the older I get the more comfort comes into play.  I can do  300+ mile day and I am not worn out or sore.

snobt1018_01.jpg?mw=1000&mh=800

 

I've actually almost bought one a while back and should have. I have a son who has CP and is in a wheelchair. BTW, today is actually National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day. Anyway, when he was little I would ride him in front of me on the sled but he got big enough that I couldn't handle him that way anymore. His lack of balance and muscle control wouldn't allow him to ride behind even on our 2-up unless strapped in, which I wasn't comfortable with.  So he hasn't been on a sled for 6 or 7 years. Below is a picture of him and me in 2010 when he was 15 years old. He's holding on to the bars because he would fall over if he didn't. I would love to get him back out there and I got over what people think of me a long time ago.

2010-02-13 14-23-05.JPG

Edited by 109jb
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Posted

Well the Bearcat is now at my place.  I'm very pleased with it.  Price came down some, and it seems like a new machine.  Engine doesn't have any oil or grease on it, looks like brand new.  Best of all, I pulled my drag up and down the strip and it worked just great. The drag is about 17' long, so it acts like a road grader.  I have a metal channel in the center right now to knock the humps off, usually, it's just another board that is at an angle.  My partner in the Chief and I flew over to meet up with Brett, he has the Kitfox 5 with the Yamaha engine in it, and we had a nice visit. He has a nice looking install on the Yamaha engine.  Not that I know much about them, but his set up looked very well done.  To bad, we were a bit late getting to the lake we met up on, so after a quick landing at another lake, we had to go in separate directions.  Still was nice to put a face to someone on the forum.  Anyway,  here is the new sled, and a couple pictures of my drag..  I hope Brett got some pictures and posts them up.  I forgot to take any.   JImChuk

bearcat 4.jpg

bearcat 5.jpg

bearcat 6.jpg

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Posted

That was a fun day Jim!  I totally forgot to take a pic of our three planes out on the ice.  Dang!

When I get those wing extensions on then lets meet up again and you can get some stick time @9000 rpm   :BC:

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Posted (edited)

Sounds good Brett.  It was a great day, wish it didn't have to end so soon.,  I looked through my gopro videos, and didn't see any other planes in the videos, you must have been to far to the side when we took of.  Oh well, next time.  Take care, and let's get our cowls painted one of these days....:lmao:JImChuk  

PS  we flew back to our area, and Randy shot a bunch of landings with the Chief on local lakes, I did some flight testing at about 3500', and then back to the home strip where I sent the pictures from.  It was a nice day.  Thanks!

Edited by 1avidflyer
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Guess we did end up with a few pictures after all.  Nothing spectacular, unpainted cowls and all, but still it was fun.  JImChukScreenshot_2020-03-28-18-56-42_(1).thumbScreenshot_2020-03-28-18-56-59_(1).thumb

Screenshot_2020-03-28-18-56-10 (1).png

Screenshot_2020-03-28-18-56-27 (1).png

Screenshot_2020-03-28-18-58-23 (1).png

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Posted

Couple classic tail-draggin skiplanes... and one duck out of water!  :BC:

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