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Aklogcabin
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# Posted: 29 Oct 2020 12:49pm
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Man that looks great ! I’ve read about the trackers. There’s a website forum for tracked vehicles called snotrac forum forum. Other tracker owners on there and you can ask other owners questions. Great folks.
We have an inch of snow and single digit temps. Just right
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NorthRick
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# Posted: 29 Oct 2020 02:06pm
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We bought land and built a cabin specifically for winter! White summer. There is literal thousands of square miles of fun out there that is available in winter.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 30 Oct 2020 09:02am
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AKLog.... thanks for the info on the Snotrac forum, I'll check it out!
NorthRick... winter is magical!
Baby got her new shoes! Pictures below! FINALLY got the Tracker back yesterday. What an ordeal! Along with having the tracks installed I also had them completely rebuild the front end on my 30+ year old Tracker. Not sure the abuse it had seen prior to my owning it but I have done my share of off-roading and rock crawling! Some of the parts were readily available, the lower control arm bushings were tough to get.... he said, spendy too! Just figured with that much surface area on the ground, something old was going to break. Then the PO had welded a tow bar to the front of the frame members.... right across the bolts for the lower control arms, but wait! That's not all! Not only did he weld a piece of angle iron across them... he actually drilled through his piece of angle and ran the lower control arm bolt through his angle iron! But wait! That's not all! He then proceeded to weld another piece of angle iron over that first piece to create a box.... no way to access the lower control arm bolts... oh and of course he didn't replace the bushings when he created this mess! The mechanic first tried to cut the tow bar off to access the bolts, because no one would bolt through their tow bar.... right! He then cut windows in the angle so he could get to the bolts. All this to say the PO created a real headache and a time consuming/ expensive mess when it came to replacing these bushings. All fixed now.
The tracks are 4 season but was told pavement would wear them down more rapidly than dirt/rock roads.... on just snow they will last years. Our snow has been melting rapidly, of course it will be back, probably within a few weeks and then to stay until April or May in a normal snow year. I unloaded the Tracker at the bottom of our road and walked it up to the cabin. Went well on dirt/rock but rode pretty rough, you could feel the tread on the tracks as they spun. On snow, even on icy slush the ride smoothed out and was nice. Just glad to get it back up to the cabin!
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 4 Nov 2020 09:36am
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Well crap...l broke a spring on the water trailer a couple of days ago... didn't need the extra work! Went to town yesterday and got a new spring, we'll put it on today.
Been working on solar for the shop the last few days as I finally collected all the pieces. Took me a bit to figure out how to wire a manual transfer switch.... gen/solar. Right now I only have a small 600W inverter (pure sine wave) so to run compressor or grinder, etc I will need to switch over to the generator. Here's a picture of my "ghetto" PV ground mount.... made from an unused wood rack and scrap 2"×4"s!
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paulz
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# Posted: 4 Nov 2020 10:03am
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That Tracker is cool! Is that a common thing, converting road 4x4s to track?
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 4 Nov 2020 10:23am
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I guess it's not really common but enough so that a company in Spokane, WA has made kits for the Samurai, Sidekick, Geo Tracker and some of the mini trucks. I've seen YouTube videos of jeeps, 4runners and pickups outfitted. I think line crews and tower maintenance crews often use them too on pickups. Most of those bigger rigs run on Mattracks. Those are spendy... like $10,000+ to put them on a full size pickup. My whole setup including instal was $6,400. Still spendy but less than the cost of my snowmobile.... I just feel like I will save my arm by having the Tracker on tracks... power steering and having driven it 4-5 miles so far, it steers just like it had wheels under it. I just make sure its moving before I crank the wheel... I've read you shouldn't turn tracks without them rolling.
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paulz
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# Posted: 4 Nov 2020 11:16am
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Got my 60 tons of road base last week. I spread 1/3 of it on the lowest stretch of road just before the hill climb to the cabin. Yearly mud bog, this should help. Another 1/3 went in front of the shop and the other under my trailer parking. The stuff is cheap, $15 a ton, but 5 loads at $100 per delivery adds up quick. I have a friend who drives a 10 wheeler but he has to wait for a job in my area and some extra time to make runs. My dump pickup can only hand 3 tons at a time and that's way overloaded, it's not road registered, insured, nor really safe so I'm not taking any more chances with that. If a good deal on a bigger truck comes along I may bite. I could use another couple hundred tons.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 4 Nov 2020 02:22pm
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Nice! Our access road is nothing but big rock and dirt....like 12" - minus, and I'm not exaggerating! The road becomes a channel for spring melt runoff. The HOA was going to do some work on it this fall but now they tell us in the spring. Wish we had a few hundred tons of that material! AND a road building crew that understands building roads in steep terrain.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 5 Nov 2020 06:47pm - Edited by: Nobadays
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Got my snowplow assembled and mounted on the Tracker. Using a HF 2500 winch to raise and lower it. Hooked it up to my regular winch quick connect and presto, it worked. Might be just in time supposed to get between 8" - 24" from Saturday night through Monday.
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paulz
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# Posted: 22 Nov 2020 12:18pm - Edited by: paulz
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Yesterday.. I have this cement pond behind my shop, used to be a water feature with a waterfall and fish when the house was there. Anyway, before it started filling up this winter I thought I would unplug the drain that has 50 years of dirt in it, and have been poking away at that with various augers. No idea where the other end comes out. Well now I do, in my shop! Got and inch of rain last week, with ended up with about a foot of water at the bottom of the pond, and it started slowly leaking onto my shop floor, somewhere under a wood work platform I built.
So I decided I'd better drain the pond and fit a plug in the drain hole. Got out a Honda pump, set it on the metal milk grate visible in the photo with suction and drain hoses. Reached over from on top of the wall down and pulled the starter cord. The pump toppled off the crate, I lost my balance and went in after it, summersaulted, landed on my back in the water, fully submerged, wallet, phone, flashlight, head, pump... It was in the 30s, water was freezing. Thought about giving up but figured I'm already wet, might as well keep going. Surpassingly the Honda pump started first pull and did the job of emptying the pond. Nothing left but a bunch of these salamanders wandering around.
I actually didn't feel too bad after 15 minutes or so of the water dripping off me, my phone and wallet survived, so I got back to work on getting my shop sealed off for winter. Got the front wall sheathed off including a 5x10 window I had left over from the cabin build, nice to use that thing after sitting around for 5 years. I did not frame it into the wall though, I put it in a 2x4 frame outside the wall studs, wasn't sure it was going to fly and didn't want to cut the wall up for a header. Nice theft deterrent actually, there is a 2x6 stud behind both sliding windows. Hey it's only a shop, and it won't get wet with the overhang... Need to do some siding of some sort next.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 22 Nov 2020 02:41pm
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Windows look good... that should let some light in!
Been warm around here after a pretty good snowfall the first week of the month. Then it thawed out, got cold, got muddy, snowed again, thawed again, rained, froze, thawed.... it's a muddy mess really. Supposed to snow again tonight through Tuesday morning... then warm and thaw again. Getting tired of the mud!
We did upgrade the woodstove this year. Got a Blaze King Sirocco 20. It's a catalytic stove, way less wood and more steady heat. Had the BK Princess in our log home in Oregon, loved it so sprung for this one. The VC Aspen was a good stove but right on the edge of too small for our cabin in the winter. The Sirocco is on the edge of too big but you can burn it really, really low and it will hold fire for 15+ hours! We keep the loft 2x2 window open about half way at night... we sleep up there... and it is cool enough to sleep yet when I come down in the morning downstairs is in the low 60's instead of the low 50's .... and when it gets really cold, often the low 40's. Looking forward to turning up the fire a bit when it's cold and still having 60 degree temps to get up to!
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paulz
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# Posted: 23 Nov 2020 12:54pm
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Don't mention mud..
Your new stove looks just like my old Arrows, circa 1981. Gotta be a connection. Does hot air come out the sides via a fan?
Speaking of stoves, a neighbor called me last week, "Hey were going propane only, come get all our firewood". Must be 3 cords, years old, mostly oak, cut and split, stored indoors, ready to burn. Going to be a nice warm winter not burning the usual garbage I scare up around my place.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 23 Nov 2020 01:43pm
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Nice score on the wood! Get a tarp over it, keep it dry, you don't want to waste heat d tyr yingnit in the stove.
I don't think the stoves are related... maybe through the British connection! Yours was/is an Australian company and I'm not positive but I think Blaze King may have started in Canada.... they do manufacture them there and in Washington state. No air out the sides, the fans blow across the top either side.
I filled the stove last night at 8pm, didn't refill it again until 9am this morning, and still had a large bed of coals. Love This thing!
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 23 Nov 2020 04:05pm - Edited by: gcrank1
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I see nothing bad with that ground rack, Nbd's, waayyy better than mine!
We also moved aged split oak from our old cabin site to the new, I guess 1 1/2 cord.
I also took a fall into our 12' dia x 2 1/2' deep Koi pond while taking the fish out to winter in our home basement tank (been doing this for 25ish years). Dislocated my left shoulder going down on the slimey wet algae..... Im laying in the bottom in agony and my loving wife takes a look over the deck rail and says,"what me to call a wrecker?". Got my shoulder popped back together and climbed out. Home phys therapy and Im pretty good again now.
Our new 17 1/2 yards of gravel driveway has been getting vandalized by some low-life with posi-track backing into the entry and spinning two long ruts on the way out. I am finding myself thinking bad thoughts all the while Im raking it back together......called the sheriff's dept to report, figure it may be good to have it 'on file' in case of a confrontation/altercation.
On a good note, since we closed on Aug. 1 of this year we have removed All Of The Junk and have the place better than it has likely ever been. When we found it as a complicated, as is, estate sale the basically square of 9ac, a n/s meadow surrounded by mixed but mostly jack pine woods and a 16x24ish sawmill lumber shack it look like a small airliner had crashed in the middle. The PO had collected stuff, torn it apart, salvaged/sold? what he want to and let the rest lay, for at least 20 years. All cleaned up now by yours truly, the geezer and the geezerette, both pushin 70.
It is off-grid and dry so Ive relocated and tuned the poorly assembled 600w solar to currently 400w on mppt 12v to simple, yet effective for our lifestyle. All that since Aug 1 also.
We carry in water at this point, we pass a public access artesian well en-route; 30gal. rain barrel with pre-flush filter for utility in 3 seasons. We used about 4 gal total on this last stay, pretty frugal.
I pulled in a nicely diy built 8x12 ice-shanty in Aug. to become my toolshed/powerhouse. Wasnt sure just where to drop a pre-built utility shed then I found this shanty locally, made the deal and pulled it there. I can move my shed now, a big advantage over one sitting on the ground! It sits some 25yds s of the cabin with some little better solar exposure, the 4 panels (2x2 series) are angled at the sidewall and feed 24v into the mppt cc. I could invert there to run 110vac to the cabin but am just swapping out old 12v marine trolling bats until I decide what to buy.
The little inverter/gen when running for tools, microwave/toaster powers a smart charger in the cabin to feed the current house battery; ie, any input amps is good amps.
So, we did a lot since Aug 1 and this past weekend (opening WI gun deer season) was our big trial run and proved successful. Funny how 'simplified' cabin living takes over the thought process in a complicated way.
Anxious to get back there.....we will keep going until the snowplow has a berm we can't bust through.
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