Home-Built "Snow-Cat"

Home-Built "Snow-Cat" MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 33-1-11 "Sometimes the snow gets so deep around here that neither my Gator nor my 4-wheeler will go through it. But my home-built æSnow Cat' rides right on top of the snow, even though it weighs about 1 1/2 tons," says Joseph Rupinski, Twining, Mich. His Snow Cat measures 12 ft. long and 6 1/2 ft. wide and rides on 12-in. wide rubber tracks. It's built from a 1985 Chevy Chevette 4-cyl. engine and automatic transmission connected to a Chevy S-10 rear end. The body is made from plywood and fiberglass and the frame from 1 1/2 and 1-in. box tubing. The tracks are made from used conveyor belting with channel iron cleats bolted onto it, and ride on 10-in. dual bogie wheels purchased from Harbor Freight. The drive wheels on back were made by welding the wheels off a garden tractor to the S-10's wheels. The machine has an enclosed cab made from plywood with plexiglass windows. Inside the cab are a pair of folding boat seats. On back is a 4-ft. long metal bed with 8-in. high sides. The hood comes off to provide access to the engine. "Even though it's a big machine, it's light enough that it rides right on top of the snow," says Rupinski. "I spent less than $500 to build it. I bought the Chevette for $200 and got the conveyor belting from a gravel pit mining company. I didn't use any blueprints at all to build it. I just laid the iron on my shop floor, pulled out my ruler and soapstone to mark the steel, and started cutting." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Joseph Rupinski, 2531 Williams Road, Twining, Mich. 48766 (ph 989 873-8213).

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