Groomer Questions

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blu2u2

New member
Our club is looking into getting our own groomer. We know that we will likely get a lot of different ideas on this but we will throw out the bid question....What would you recommend?

We need something that will cost less than $75,000 and offers good traction (tired of pulling the rented tractor out of the ditches!). Our drag is a 9'6"' Sno*Boss that is about 6,000 Ibs.

We are looking at the Kubota. Please see the link for the details. http://www.kubota.com/f/products/M100x/pdf/m125x_pk_features.pdf

Since this will be a big purchase we want to do our homework and get the thoughts from the members that have the knowledge/experience. THANKS!
 
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campfire42

Member
If you can get to Charles Vogel grooming show Feb. 3-4 in St. Germain, Wi., you would be able to try different groomers. And talk to many venders and operators to get an idea what would work for your terrain.
 
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blu2u2

New member
Thanks for the reply! Our club was talking about going to the groomer show. I feel the Kobota we are looking at might not be as good as the tractors that have all four tracks (i.e Soucy).
 
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groomerdave

New member
Soucy Track

Definitely look at the soucy tracked machines. I don't think you can get anything better than that right now. Looks like it will be out of your price range unless you can find used though. You should look at getting an 8' drag if you are going with a smaller groomer, or have a fabricator make yours an 8'. You will get around much better, even with a wheeled tractor. Good luck!
Think Snow! -Dave
 
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campfire42

Member
Yes, with a 9' 6" drag, something like a nice Piston Bully or tractor with half tracs would be needed. Where is your club located?
 
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lookin4snow

New member
Don't forget to look at your bridges and consider the weight capacity of them in you decision. Many older bridges do not have the capacity for some of the larger machines. Our club has kept a Tucker in the fleet for this reason, as replacing bridges can equal or exceed the cost of the machine. We are selling our Tucker now, so if you are interested, PM me.
 
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blu2u2

New member
Our club is the Freedom Trailblazers out of Freedom, WI. We are lucky that our trail system does not have to deal with bridges. Thanks for the information!
 
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ranlam

New member
Had a boatload of troubles with a 05 Ford Sur-Trac. Tracks over tires sucks. I like the tractor theory but I would go green with independent tracks. For incredibly deep snow I would think a full dedicated track system would be ideal, like a Catepillar.
 
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smgabe

New member
I certainly don't claim to be an expert in this area but my recommendation would be to perform a thorough evaluation of your trail system and define what type of equipment would work best. If most of the system is narrow and twisty, a smaller rig would work better in regards to manuverabilty. If your system is mostly open fields or wide trails, larger equipment would be better. Bridges, weight limitations, etc...?

My local area has a pretty equal combination of both and we have two rigs setup accordingly (a Tucker w/a small drag and a Deere Tractor w/Soucy's and a larger drag).

If you good the tractor route I would definitely recommend putting Soucy's on it. We orginally just ran chains on the tires but after countless times of getting stuck we decided to change it over. I must admit that I contributed to a couple of those times but some of our drivers are very experienced and they did it as well (made me feel a little better as these guys run tractors for a living). We were actually getting to the point where drivers were thinking about not volunteering anymore due to the frustractions and hassles of getting stuck so often. Well, that's definitely not the case anymore. Now that it has the Soucy's on it, it runs like a dream (bring on the deep snow and drifts!!).
 
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