Old Snow Vehicle adaptions & otherwise

[arcticbuicks]

these are Canadian models ,i cant think of the Canadian miltary ever using them,and there were at least 3 brands i can think of ,Americans bought them also ,school bus was a very common use and mail ,they were built and sold mostly on the priaries ,i grew up in the arctic and we had all track units ,and i think these would actually have been better

[alsancle]

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[sagefinds]

I have this stuff on ebay right now if anyone is interested. It bolts right onto the rear drums and the front wheels clamp into the springs so it will work on a two wheel drive. According to the previous owner the bolt pattern is for a Jeep. He said his grandfather built it,I presume from a kit. It will need new rubber belting,at least one chain and some crossbars. It has been outside for decades but in dry Northern Colorado.

[arcticbuicks]

1956 Autoboggan ,Winnipeg Canada,later Polaris in US made these,i had it flown down out of the arctic a few years ago ,have it running now

[auburnseeker]

There is one similar on our local facebook for sale.  I think it's 7500 all restored.  Looks like new.  I think there are a couple of unrestored ones as well.  Pretty neat.  I would buy one if i could find it right. 

 

Yeah reliability isn't an issue as much around here as I'm less than a 1/2 mile from the shop,  regardless of where I ride and can always run back up with the other machine with tools or parts.   Part of the beuty of the setup I have.  Enough room to ride them and not just in a little circle but not so big you get lost. 

 

I really like those aluminum ones Alsancle posted.  Wouldn't mind finding one of them and narrow enough to travel my trails. 

 

I mean I could always get tracks for Kubota UTV,  but what fun would that be?

[arcticbuicks]

when i was a kid we would head out 50 miles on sea ice on a hunt,and left the engine running all night the clutch had another clutch inside to stop turning at idle and the fan shroud closed and they had carb heated from exhaust as we were -50s temp plus the noise seemed to keep the polar bears  and wolves away.......but we still had string line with cow bells lol.........and if the thing quite there was no radio and walking was not an option lol

Edited January 27, 2023 by arcticbuicks (see edit history)

[arcticbuicks]

This was the Arctic snow cruiser , badly failed attempt , as you can imagine it got stuck instantly 

[arcticbuicks]

this is my own drawing of what I dreamed of making years and years ago lol .......I wanted to do it with live online cam and major sponsors and cross over north pole down into Europe,my idea was to have the tires filled with diesel and replace with air as used,and everything mechanical inside,no going outside to service something

Edited January 27, 2023 by arcticbuicks (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

That's crazy.  Why wouldn't you put tracks on anything that goes in snow.  What were they thinking?  Goes to show you, anyone that designs stuff like this should have mandatory field time before pen meets paper so they understand what does and doesn't work. 

[arcticbuicks]

I will have to dig for some more pics of big Snow vehicles in Canada,there were buses and other big military units......but the Russians had the biggest.......I remember when Canada /USA were building the "early warning system" stations in the arctic to detect Russian nukes incoming........which by the way is hurried back into service.......and huge cargo planes were flying in very low like 3 feet above snow and they would push a truck out the back on a toboggan with a parachute......was quite a sight to see a bulldozer on a toboggan at 140 MPH .......all the trucks and equipment dropped by air at each of many stations were left behind no way to load them 

[George K]

[arcticbuicks]

your first pic Geoge K is a Eliason  im sure,early low production snow machines,the second i dont think really saw production or much,the idea was tried in the north years later too and just didnt work well ,why i dont know

[Canadian PB Kid]

This was my Great Uncles solution to getting around Muskoka District here in southern Ontario....  picture was taken around 1940... Anyone able to recognize what kind of car it was that he started with?

[alsancle]

2 hours ago, arcticbuicks said:

This was the Arctic snow cruiser , badly failed attempt , as you can imagine it got stuck instantly

 

Every snow vehicle thread needs the Snow Cruiser. I'm always amazed at the number of guys that have never heard of it.

 

 

[Terry Harper]

The grand daddy of them all developed and patented in 1900 by Alvin Lombard of Waterville, ME.

Edited January 27, 2023 by Terry Harper (see edit history)

[sagefinds]

That Nina is truly amazing.

[Terry Harper]

And a more recent video. Lombard #74 (circa 1914) which is now at the Maine Forest & Logging Museum.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by Terry Harper (see edit history)

[Terry Harper]

And last but not least - the gasoline powered version.

 

 

We have one of these at the museum as well. This one was built in 1934. Unfortunately we do not have the skis for it.

 

But this one (circa 1919 with an incredible 964 cid Sterling T-head) we do have the skis.

 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by Terry Harper (see edit history)

[hddennis]

3 hours ago, Canadian PB Kid said:

This was my Great Uncles solution to getting around Muskoka District here in southern Ontario....  picture was taken around 1940... Anyone able to recognize what kind of car it was that he started with?

Pretty  hard to see details but to my eye I think this is a 1916-17 Maxwell Model 25.  Howard Dennis

[Terry Harper]

You can always build one yourself. New Hampshire Snocar sells reproduction parts for Model T and model A snowmobiles

 

https://www.nhsnocar.com/

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by Terry Harper (see edit history)

[arcticbuicks]

These are 'Tundra Buggy" although not really antique.....[Churchill Manitoba Canada-polar bear capital of the world].......its as close as you can get to a polar bear in  person as a tourist,sadly the bear population is in very serious trouble now with climate change

[arcticbuicks]

Edited January 28, 2023 by arcticbuicks (see edit history)

[Dandy Dave]

14 hours ago, George K said:

Why did it fail, Have you ever tried to start a Fordson Model F tractor in the cold? Even if you were successful then you had to also get it in gear. 😜

[Dandy Dave]

14 hours ago, arcticbuicks said:

your first pic Geoge K is a Eliason  im sure,early low production snow machines,the second i dont think really saw production or much,the idea was tried in the north years later too and just didnt work well ,why i dont know

Look Up. ☝️ 

[arcticbuicks]

I have never started a fordson in winter but i have  seen them with all kinds of blankets and covers on them.........maybe thats why my neighbor calls me to plow his driveway............its a "tiger Torch " morning this morning ,it snowed and i see thermostat is beyond -30 now,I didnt plug in anything or turn on the engine heaters last night for my truck and skid steer

[arcticbuicks]

no matter what snow vehicle there was or you have,the snow covered crevasses will get you....it has to be long and spread out.....i am imagining when this happened and the driver on the left says to the guy on the right  " hey why did that right front track just flip up  ?" as the passenger is looking out his window white as a ghost.... seeing the snow drop out of sight .....and turns to the driver and says " dont move ! dont touch anything ! dont even breath !"

Edited January 28, 2023 by arcticbuicks (see edit history)

[Dandy Dave]

29 minutes ago, arcticbuicks said:

I have never started a fordson in winter but i have  seen them with all kinds of blankets and covers on them.........maybe thats why my neighbor calls me to plow his driveway............its a "tiger Torch " morning this morning ,it snowed and i see thermostat is beyond -30 now,I didnt plug in anything or turn on the engine heaters last night for my truck and skid steer

The old Farmers use to build a small fire under them to warm the oil in cooler weather. The model F Fordsons have a multidisk wet clutch that runs in 600WT oil. You have to push in on the clutch and push the shifter in with your foot in good weather. No such thing as not grinding the gears. Often they would go 8 or 10 foot before the clutch disengaged. I've owned three or four. Once the oil warmed up they were a little better. 😬 Many have flipped over backwards while pulling a load as the clutch did not disengage quick enough.

[arcticbuicks]

Wow....dangerous and maybe why not many in the north ,or at least kept shedded......I was born and raised in the north past the 60th parallel ........and was it rough with starting anything .......there were some interesting techniques and problems .......also we have winter diesel in Canada and if you forget to run the diesel near out for winter the summer diesel jells ,had lots of blankets and tiger torches,smoke dosnt rise in extreme cold and a diesel would almost choke itself i the cloud,airplanes were constant trouble both starting and trying to cover.........several rare instances flights as a kid going home in remote communities the plane landed but couldnt stop to let us out as the skis were creating friction and would freeze to ground if it stopped........so it was get out the back of the tail dragger still moving.........i give anything credit that actually ran in -50.....and amazing what did work.......oil we all changed out and a lot of ATF was used in place of gear oil and still it wouldnt pour.........now the problem is DEF fluid for diesels

[PAV8427]

This sits at the Albany Mn Pioneer Days site. 
 

[Terry Harper]

3 hours ago, Dandy Dave said:

Why did it fail, Have you ever tried to start a Fordson Model F tractor in the cold? Even if you were successful then you had to also get it in gear. 😜

Ira Peavey patented his first screw driven machine in 1904. The first prototype was steam powered.

 

 

And the later gasoline powered version circa 1905

 

and the patent. 

 

 

The system worked but it had issues. Pulling power and speed were directly related to the pitch of the helix. A fine pitch gave great power but little speed and vise a versa.

 

The machine was designed to pull trains of sleds loaded with logs. However, with the screws being fairly long and rigid it tended to rear and buck on a less than perfect surface causing strain on the machine and drawbars of the sleds. In addition it performed well on a compacted surface but was near useless in deep snow.

 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by Terry Harper (see edit history)

[Terry Harper]

Here is a very poor photo of a "snow machine" developed  circa 1897 by Alvin Lombard. It was steam powered and used a unique 3 cylinder engine of his own design. He piped steam through the skis in the belief that the heated skis would have less resistance. Lombard, a former millwright from Springfield Maine, had gained wealth and fame through the development of the highly successful Lombard Waterwheel governor which allowed for the rapid development of hydro power during the era. For quite a few years he dabbled with steam cars.

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by Terry Harper (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

After pricing out parts to build one,  they must have that much easily in the red one that's for sale.  I have a model A tudor someone cut into a pickup that would be perfect to convert,  but spending over 10G in parts to do so,  seems foolish. 

[arcticbuicks]

I think that depends on where also.....I want a model A era snow track car as we are over 5 months winter snow here,and many vintage snowmobile events every weekend 

[Terry Harper]

1 hour ago, Dandy Dave said:

The model F Fordsons have a multidisk wet clutch that runs in 600WT oil. You have to push in on the clutch and push the shifter in with your foot in good weather. No such thing as not grinding the gears.

On our Lombards the clutch is a Lombard patented multi-plate dry type and mounted remote on the transmission which avoids that issue. However the transmission uses 600 weight. When its really cold and you first start it up you have to engage the clutch S-L-O-W-L-Y or it will stall the engine until the gears thrash around a bit and it warms up. The differential - also 600 weight, is a bit stiff so tight turns are an adventure! According to the factory literature your supposed to be able to shift gears on the move. I think it would take someone far, far more skilled than me to accomplish that - usually when you disengage the clutch it just stops!