# Snow Vehicle Circa 1924



## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

With the winter most of us have been going through this seems like the kind of BOV we might want to consider. The music is REALLY annoying but the machine is worth a look.


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## FatTire (Mar 20, 2012)

Thats pretty ingenius! Never seen a screw drive, seemed to work real well..


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## helicopter5472 (Feb 25, 2013)

I will try to find my picture of the model A with tracks, It's an original from the 20's and the old man has owned since new.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

helicopter5472 said:


> I will try to find my picture of the model A with tracks, It's an original from the 20's and the old man has owned since new.


Those (model T and A) are actually quite common; I have seen perhaps a half dozen.

I wonder why the screw-drive principle hasn't been researched further?


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

LincTex said:


> I wonder why the screw-drive principle hasn't been researched further?


Replaced with tracks.

Here's a forum that has a lot of snowtrac type machines.
http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/forumdisplay.php?f=65

Some of them are professional groomers but a lot of them are for personal use/hobby.

They're some pretty kick-butt machines in the snow.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

ZoomZoom said:


> Replaced with tracks.


I have owned a plethora of tracked machines from snowmobiles up through bulldozers.

NONE of them were even *remotely* maintenance free... at ALL!

The screw design seems like its biggest "plus" is in its simplicity. Very little to mess up.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Russia has experimented with ScrewDrive for years as well ... they seem to be fairly robust machines ...






And some of their amphibians are amazing as well ...






In some parts of the oil-patch they use ScrewDrive as well


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

Now I want an ATV with a screw drive system!


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

The Russian one (Zil) looks pretty capable.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

I've seen that before. Cool piecea equipment! My mother told me when she lived on the farm, the mail man had a model T, he put tracks on the back an ski's on the front so he could deliver mail in the winter.


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## HamiltonFelix (Oct 11, 2011)

I am told two Fordson Snow-Motors still exist in North America, the one I have seen being at the World Mining Museum in Butte, Montana. Word is that, despite the advertising film, they had a tendency to run to one side or the other in uneven traction situations. But apparently the concept worked very well in mud; the one at Butte was used to access a mining claim in muddy conditions.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

OldCootHillbilly said:


> My mother told me when she lived on the farm, the mail man had a model T, he put tracks on the back an ski's on the front so he could deliver mail in the winter.


You will find one exactly as described (even used for mail) sitting in the Frontier Village Museum in West Fargo, ND.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Hmm ... that look very familiar ... 



Now I know where I have seen it before!!!! :2thumb:


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

I saw onea them big four seater atv's on a trailer the other day. They had the track system on it, enclosed cab an had taken the dump box offin it an added a enclosed storage box in it's place. I have no idear what that rig cost, but it should be a blast in the snow! Only wish I had the free cash fer sumtin like that.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

Ahh yes, great ideas that fade into the past. I learned early in life that planned obsolescence was the way of the world.

Back in the early 1980's an Aunt of mine died. She lived in Sydney, NY. My grandfather worked in the Bendix plant, in Syntilla. She lived right across the street, a widow. Anyway, after she died we went to her home and she willed us to have whatever we wanted, the rest going to charity. Besides the two beveled glass mirrors, 48" x 36", I had my eye on her washer/dryer in the basement. It was a pre-WW2 combo unit. Not large but ran off 110. It was small, held maybe three pairs of jeans or two jeans and a few tee's but a really clean unit for the age of it. It had been her's since new and was how she had done laundry until her passing. 

So, got it home and plumbed it in. What a unit! You put your clothes in, detergent in the popup place and turn it on. When it beeped, your clothes were cleaned AND dried!!! I cleaned the 'lint trap' once, when I first got it home and never did any other maintenance on it, nothing, not even new belts. It performed flawlessly for the 12 years I used it, every other day.

Point being. Maybe these 'screw drive' vehicles really do have something going for them, but they don't break down enough. Seems like a grease fitting on either end, maybe one or two more and you are good to go. The track vehicle have a lot more working parts that wear out and need replacing.

I watched a program on the GM EV1 automobile. The mechanics interviewed stated that when they came in the only maintenance they required was new wiper blades. Less moving parts, less to wear out and replace.


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