Repair Visit to California Radio Site

[southpoint24]

Do you find that not having a blade to plow with wakes any difference getting to the tower or not ?

[erod1944]

@southpoint24 Well, I drove snowcats in Yosemite for about 10 years with no plow and no problems. The year I retire (2010), they have the "storm of the century" and it took them 17 hrs plowing snow with a Tucker to get to a radio site.

Of course, the reason I didn't have problems is that I was lucky and the killer storm didn't arrive on my watch.

I've been into some pretty intense trips without a plow and still got in. I'm convinced now that a plow is a good thing....

[MrFarallon]

How do you like your Super Imp? I would like to get a 1404 IMP and was wondering how much maintence do they require?

Thanks, Josh

[erod1944]

@MrFarallon The Snowcat in this video is not a Super IMP. It's a DeLorean or specifically a DMC 1450.

John DeLorean, the guy who designed the DeLorean Sportscar that was used in the "Back to the Future" movie bought the company from Thiokol/Logan and renamed it De Lorean Mgf Co. The 1450 has a Ford Falcon Straight 6 engine and an AMC Auto Transmission. This was my favorite snowcat. It was fairly civilized, it scooted pretty well and it had nice aggressive steering. Good Cat.

[erod1944]

@MrFarallon I ran a 1405 IMP (a 1404 with wide tracks) for a few years and really enjoyed it. They don't require much maintenance - just keep the tracks tight, fill the rubber tires with a solid fill, watch the RPM's so the valves don't float or knock the lifter rods loose and you're OK. The carb on the 1405 went out and we replaced it with an old VW Bug carb which worked quite well and kept gas treatment in the tank so the carb didn't sludge up and low maintenance otherwise.