Well I bought myself a workhorse

[Old Tucker]

It was time to retire the old tucker snow cat. The wife did not want to drive it.. And it needed a lot of work.
After following what has been said on the argos. on this site I went with a 2002 Conquest. It had a new top. Winch 8 new tires that I have yet to put on. Bush bar. Heater. 18In super useless plastic tracks. Now when I say useless I mean dam dangers on our mountain roads. To get to our cabin in the mountains, It's a 6 mile long treck up to the cabin and right now there is about 10 feet of snow there. The Conquest has performed flawless. And it was a very good chooses to make. So far I have haled about 2 tons of supplies to the cabin and have yet to get stuck.
I would like to thank RD for all the info he has shared, For that matter every body.
For the long trip up the mountain I did not need the high speed. So I tighten up the spring in the driven clutch a notch. And what a difference that made. Lots of low end torque now.
Back to the track for now, What I did was very simple and very effective. It turned the super track into a snow tire. What I did was cut some used rubber belting into 2 In by 4in strips for the out side of the track. Put a hole in the center and bolted in into the ice cleat slot. Now that gives you a paddle. One end leaning forward and one end leaning back. Did the same to the inside of track But just a little shorter To clear the tub. CHEEP AND VERY EFFECTIVE.
JUST DO NOT LET THE WIFE SEE YOU USING HER BANSAW TO CUT THE RUBBER BELT
All in all So far the Conquest is proving to be a nice little workhorse. And the wife likes to take it out and go up to the cabin with her friends to go snowshoeing.
I will post some photos when I get a new camera Maybe some vid. It is a lot of fun going up to the cabin in the middle of the night when the wind is hollowing and the snow is coming at you horizontally.
To take the tucker up to the cabin, It was a 3hour trip there and back PLUS $30 for gas Now it,s 1 hour and 4$ in gas

[renegade83]

sounds like a winner! Congrats on your new purchase.

[Rock Doctor]

Wow, that's a big time difference. Where is the time saved, between running the Conquest and the Snow Cat? Loading/unloading, transport, machine speed?
I would like to see some pics of your (paddles) when you get a chance.

RD

[JohnF]

Yes - pics of the paddles.

And it would be a lot of fun to rebuild a snowcat...

[Old Tucker]

The tucker was 3500Lbs and a bitch to tow with the ranger. Needed 325 Track rollers at about $70 each. So it was a no brainer
Top speed of tucker was about 5miles hr thats down hill with tail wind. The pay load of the tucker was not much more then the argo. I should of gone the argo in the first place. I think we all learn as we go.
The paddles on the plastic track are not hard on the track like studs or ice cleats. but what a dif in traction they made.

[North Country Tough]

Great news Old Tucker,what a difference in getting to your cabin,for years our family had 6 and 8 wheelers but never tracked them up,we used snowmobile to get into our camp in northern ontario,when we finally seen the light the Argo was indispensable as a workhorse in the winter I couldn't imagine not having it now,if I had to choose between snow machines and the Argo the choice would be easy,Congrats.N.C.T

[Slimpickin]

I like your add on paddles. Simple, effective and not hard on the track. I'll be building some soon, although we don't have enough snow for the tracks and winter is about over. Best idea I've seen in a while.

Slim

[sparkola]

What is the rubber belt from? Is it smooth? Does it have some kind of pattern?

[Rock Doctor]

I like your add on paddles. Simple, effective and not hard on the track. I'll be building some soon, although we don't have enough snow for the tracks and winter is about over. Best idea I've seen in a while.

Slim

Am I missing something? Are there pics to see?

RD

[Old Tucker]

I am very sorry. I have not had much luck in the photos lately> My camera broke and For some reason the IPhoto on the mac
Will not upload the photos I all ready have. BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS The argo is working great. And I am having a lot of fun in the snow.
We have no snow at sea level. The snow starts at about Ft 2000. And at 3500Ft. there is about 9 Yes. NINE Ft of snow In them hill.
..Al..

[Old Tucker]

I forgot to add. The belting is just old conveyor belting. Nothing fancy. I just cut some strips with the band saw and bolted them into where the ice cleat would go The better shape your tracks are the more veridical the paddles would sit. My tracks are quite warn so the paddles sit at about 45 degrees. One end of the paddle is facing forward and the other end is facing back.
All I can say is it is good for going forward and back. Laugh if you may But it works great and is cheep.
The belt you may get for free at a gravel pit.

[Old Tucker]

I think I have every thing in order. Here are a couple of photos of the argo. And you can see the paddles on the tracks.

[Old Tucker]

Well that did not work There are some photos in gallery

[Old Tucker]

This is like trying to to teach a old dog new tricks. If the photos come up I will have a beer. Thue Nite I will head back up to the cabin, there should be another foot of snow from this storm that is coming in.

[guyfox]

Hi old tucker,

Can you get a closer pic of the tracks?

Nice machine and way to much snow.....