SNO CAT RECOVERY

[@stanwamberg]

I've been on a tucker 9 grooming seasons grooming 70+ miles, 7 nights a week. It's a good video. There were a few mistakes where I would have done some things different. Those machines have limitations and once you learn those limitations one can stay out of trouble. Don't get intimidated, work slow, be deliberate and don't take chances is my best advise. I don't have a fleet of cats for a recovery.

[@jamesgulrich7416]

Tuckers are great machines. I live here in Tucker's back yard and ran several Tuckers over the last dozen years. We ran a '92 and in 2001, we got the '02 terra. Wonderful machine. I put close to 2000 hrs on that machine alone. Yes, they break down. In the 10 years that we had the '02, we went through three front diffs, two rear diffs, three transfer cases, one transmission. As the grooming chairman, I went on several rescues to go recover our cat. One time it sat broke down on the trail (another front diff) for three weeks. It took three tries to finally tow it off the hill with another tucker. Each time we would have to dig it out. The wind would blow sideways and pack the snow underneath. Not too much fun at that point. Since we are in Tucker's backyard, the boys, Jeff, John and Marcus would bring demo cats up to the mountain and have us test them out. It was a great deal for us. The only problem with the Tucker machine, in general, is the maintenance costs when they hit that 3000 - 3500 hrs. They just start to fall apart and lots of things need to be replaced. I loved my '02, but the state told us that we weren't going to be getting the '12. So we got a '14 PB400. I have really liked this machine. It has gone places that our little Tucker never could without the winch anyway. The only thing that I don't like is the ground clearance and there isn't a belly pan on it. The bottom is exposed and small trees can and have torn wires loose from sensors and pumps. Over the last six years, I've never stuck the machine until this last weekend when I was coming back from a turnaround and I got close to the edge of the trail. I was over some small trees and the machine collapsed. When one side starts to dig or collapse, the blade also goes down stopping your forward movement. The lower track had slid into trees and the upper track had no traction. After two hours of trying to cut trees and shovel snow, we determined that we weren't going anywhere without help. Yep, slept in the cat overnight. It took three snatch blocks, a 12,000-pound winch and 150 feet of chain and after digging and winching, it finally came back out on the trail. It taught me that I can get a PB stuck too! Nice video and semper fi!

[@BretMech]

They have stepped up the game with a large new transfer case with no issues and a oil cooler for the new lite cat. We also have a diff pump to a cooler on the front diff of our groomer, no diff failures so far..20 years, Marcus, Dan, jeff, a great group to fully support the mission.

[@jamesgulrich7416]

@@BretMech I forgot to mention Gordon as well. He retired many years ago but the first demo ride I got was with him. Also, it's the only time I have ever put on a seat belt in any snocat! He scared the crap out of me! He also changed my mind about tiller cats versus drag machines. I ran the demo '12 cat with the new frame, new heavier transfer case and the 300 hp Cummins. I wanted it! The club next to us got it and it wasn't a good machine. It couldn't take the beating of that trail system. It was in for repair four or five times and Tucker made some changes to their '13 that corrected all the issues They are super machines. I use to bowl with Jeff and his dad and Doug and Jason. They run the machine shop and build the transfer cases. My girlfriend is related to them!

[@BretMech]

@@jamesgulrich7416 ya! I know Gordon, he came here in 2001, sold us our first cat, we have 36 now. One of our groomers is up there getting rebuilt and we have that loaner 3000 right now. Nice folks, always taking us all out to dinner.

[@henrycarlson7514]

Confirming my belief Any machine can get stuck. So glad you were wise and prepaired. Happy trails

[@rivenfenton2820]

I've ran a lot of tuckers back home in Oregon, great machines for utility access and minor traverse's. but A Pistenbully or Prinoth would have been much more adequate in these conditions. I work in Antarctica now, and all we run down here Are Pistenbully's. In the most extreme conditions on earth they hold their own! there are a few old early 90's tuckers sitting around and one Prinoth machine. cool video, but there appears to be some very novice operating going on, But we all start somewhere! cheers guys stay warm!

[@herbscheit2061]

I ran snowcat also and you cant beat a piston bully.

[@mrbrent4]

Less music and more commentary on what is going on.

[@crashedking1931]

Thank you for saying that.

[@derektassler1227]

Great video. Looks like trouble up there. I had a hard time figuring out exactly what was going on. What the goal was. What was stuck.

[@joewoodchuck3824]

Great video but I would have rathered ambient sounds instead of music.

[@rossjohnson1301]

Agreed

[@kathyendicott9114]

Totally agreed! I had to quit watching because the music just took it over.

[@annaconner719]

The Shining

[@BretMech]

Hard to tell, but the cat we were standing on was ready to roll, a lot steeper than the vid shows, groomer was trying to get around It and slid into the stuck one, not shown was the lite, blade anchored in and used as anchor to pull stuck one back onto the road, then we continued on to pull out the other groomer that slid into a tree well, record snow fall for the sierras this last February. This was an hour cat ride up from the base around 9000 ft elevation.

[@davidrowley8251]

I was looking at a new Tucker a week ago. It had the 326hp Cummins in it, New transfer case, Frame like an over the road semitractor, VERY beefy differentials, with running gear support via a Large bearing on the outside of the drive sprocket. Bolt together U-joints. A STRONG Tucker for traction work, pulling a long wide drag for MidWestern snowmobile trails.

[@hsjs7727]

dwafwaf123

[@pushpushlambert8079]

Front and rear cable winches 👍🏻 Logging industry uses them to drive off cliffs ... and come back up alive ... 👍🏻🇨🇦

[@dalemcknight3699]

I love the Tucker but it’s not much of a road builder, A proper 14’ wide snow groomer will run circles around the Tucker. Oh ya, build road at night, with the machines lights you can see easily in a whiteout.

[@CaseysOffRoadRecovery]

Great Video.

[@crashedking1931]

Casey what are you doing over here on this one. Smart minds think alike.

[@ericdebisz9458]

This is a bucket list job for me. This is peaceful and calm with danger all wrapped into one. My kinda deal

[@BlindmanValley]

You could just buy mine then head for the snow :)

[@richardcooke4108]

May be a good vid but I gave up after a minute of that music. Every vid don't need music.

[@rossjohnson1301]

Those are the same machines we use to groom the snowmobile trails here in mid Iowa, I've never seen one get stuck thats crazy

[@refinedgracethroughdancing2435]

Our LMC runs circles around our Tucker grooming in the Alaskan mountain range. The LMC doesn’t look cool like the Tucker but the capabilities between the two aren’t even close

[@BretMech]

Nice! we had a fleet of LMCs before the government bought the tuckers, our 3700s with the 3208 CAT was powerful, but with crazy emission laws we had to get rid of them.......

[@adamfrbs9259]

The music and the shot at around the 2min mark reminds of an old 90's movie with Stallone in it or something.

[@OldSheriff1]

Why do they have "US Marine Corps" stenciled on the doors?

[@BretMech]

The vehicles belong to the USMC

[@flyfishingbushwhacker]

Awesome video !

[@1613alb]

Beautiful you guys ... pretty good 😁 keep em coming...

[@robertmcdonnold3038]

You could of had a great video. Turn the music off. Add some commentary. Tell us what's going on. What are you recovering, how did you find out something was out there and were you successful? Did the people make it out alive? Thanks. I'll be looking for next time.

[@ottovp]

remove the music. please. just leave the ambient sounds and talk. it would be awesome

[@Tashi1able]

I have about 10 years of Tucker 2000 experience traveling to remote communication sites in the Colorado mountains. Before that I worked in Alaska where we had Prinoth, Tucker, Bombardier, ThioKol, LMC and a couple of military surplus units. The Tucker 2000 blades are not very strong and don't have the ability to angle snow to the side like a 6 way dozer or even a truck plow. This makes leveling a road on a steep side hill very slow going. The newer of the 2000 series have a 5 speed Alison transmission which better gearing than the originals with the Torqueflites. If you are patient these are decent machines. You do need to have some welding experience to keep them running. My work group had 12 Tucker 2000's acquired over 3 years from 2006 to 2009. Many of these machines experienced cracked frame welds and lots of blade repairs because neither components are strong enough for the kind of situations one often finds in deep snow and steep terrain.

[@BretMech]

funny you mention welding......here is a clip of just one of many welding repairs we do....did, retired 2020. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZzPd62CpNKbjKM

[@Tashi1able]

@@BretMech Haha, yes this is a good take on Tucker maintenance. Enjoy your retirement.

[@biggyboyy1]

Those machines look like they have no business being out in that weather. Slipping and sliding all over the place. A Pistenbully would be more suited for the job

[@kevinzamora8476]

I dont trust the tucker i have in really deep snow and steep hills. My old Prinoth, was way better for suited for power line patrol in the Colorado mountains.

[@zfilmmaker]

Where’s Bud Nixon when you need him?

[@NickAbbot.]

Seriously? With the music? 😂

[@bartdaw6681]

A bombardier wouldn’t have gotten stuck.

[@jefferyschirm4103]

Man if I just had a snowcat I'd never get stuck , wellll maybe not !!! Ha ha !!

[@Wildlandfirefighting]

Very confusing train of events, some audible narration would have brought things into perspective, nice sno cat action though

[@Captndarty]

That’s what happens when you bring a Tucker into PB country

[@BretMech]

We did a test run with 28 new PB 100s and 400s nice machine but with only 1 ft of ground clearance, they got stuck way more often than the Tuckers, we ran the BP for an entire season, track tension issues, drifting and steering issues, air intake air filter blockage with heavy snowfall, cold start issues, with the high tech electronics and complex systems we found them to be unreliable with electronic gremlins that the PB techs could not even identify and customer support was no where near what Tucker gives to its customers. When you have millions invested in equipment there is more involved than what the machine can do, they will all break down and they all will get stuck, Tucker will custom build a machine to carry cargo, troops, crane for utility work, groomer and plow, if it breaks down you can go to Napa for parts or Tucker will drop what they are doing and ship overnight to get you up and running, PB parts need to come from Germany and stupid expensive. The Tucker 6.7 Cummins has a better fuel burn, more TQ, world class Alison transmission, and their new frame and axle setup is...…..well, you'll see...... BP shines on the slopes but that is not our mission. 31 year experience Snow Cat technician and operator for the USMC.

[@y404mog]

Nice work.

[@tomsawyer247]

Truckers are ok for taking kids to school but need to stay away from deep snow.

[@JustforFun-ki6fk]

Now tell us all how the snow cat ended up in the trees !

[@BretMech]

Operator err, bad visibility snow road was gone covered by fresh 5 feet of powder, got too close to tree well while navigating a right hand turn around the tree, 15 feet of snow can sometimes conceal tree wells. it happens, us humans tend to make mistakes, well I do at least, gives plot for a good story ya?

[@henrycarlson7514]

@@BretMech I personally try to blame the ditch monster , Happy trails

[@samrock7632]

I music was not loud enough, I ALLMOST understood what the one guy was saying!

[@BretMech]

Ha! you guys are too funny. OK, check, got it, still learning this video thing, thank you all for your constructive criticism comments. Have a great day!

[@bombardier3qtrlbpsi]

Why didn't he go straight back? Maybe inexperienced....

[@BretMech]

Negative Ghost Rider, the 5 operators are former Marines that have trained and worked on this mountain with over 150 combined years of experience. The vid does not show the angularity of the steep terrain, by your handle you are probably verry experienced in mountains terrain, snow depth averages 20-30 Feet deep in this area, tree wells are a hidden danger that will suck you in. I, on the other hand am inexperienced in operating the cats, 35-year ASE cert Master Tech, was just there to help in the recovery efforts......and film. Have a great day, thanks for the input.

[@BretMech]

This is part one, the day before if you missed it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5C2YYNpl9t6aZo

[@kevinm3751]

The music is just a little much dont you think?

[@pseudopetrus]

Great music!

[@ChuckNorris-ju5fn]

Music was super annoying 😜

[@jaredthisdelle5617]

Ya that was deep sh.t a

[@larsburman4979]

why music????

[@BretMech]

Got It, thanks for the input!

[@macclark4112]

The operator sucks but the music needs to go.

[@BretMech]

Hum....ok then you will not like my summer camp vid... :-) kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYvMppyKqJeFfK8

[@Bart-lr9nf]

Pistenbully,

[@daleolson3506]

It's the music👎🏻💩

[@BretMech]

Thank you for the comment, what would you recommend? have a great day!

[@robertmcdonnold3038]

Turn the music off.

[@hoseman317]

@@robertmcdonnold3038 turn the music off!

[@Wjones450]

@@BretMech people are way to picky. it was a cool video man! tough sno cats

[@gordbaker896]

@@BretMech NO MUSIC.

[@mostlikelywedoitservices6926]

Why no snow blowers mounted on them for this kind of work.

[@BretMech]

We maintain 70 miles of off road for the training area, we do have loader mounted blowers that would go down to the dirt road and eat rocks and destroy the fan for the blower shoot. Blowers are used on hwy 108 by Caltrans but that is blacktop.

[@mostlikelywedoitservices6926]

@@BretMech But could you not keep the snow blower 4" above the ground? And heaving the deep snow away. Only questions. I plowed in my younger years and know it is a tricky business when the snow is deep.