BUYING AN OLD SKIDDER . WHAT TO LOOK FOR.

it ain't snowmobiling plus your coat smells like gas so you want to buy a skitter eh well somebody ask me what to look for when I'm buying a skitter well I'm going to tell you I got a little bit of an idea Cu uh I'm used to this old junk yes this is a power mods video I've been busy and uh you know what at least we're getting a video up right all right so you want to know what to look for when you're buying a used skitter well here you go I'm GNA tell you this is not for you new skitter Buffs you guys sitting sideways driving up and down mountains this is for you know those kind of machines right there I'd say maybe pre-1980 something like that maybe early 80s this is a 1965 C5 tree farmer with a Detroit Diesel in it I'll go over a few things I've noticed I've own a few skits and a bunch of equipment before and you know there are a few things to look for uh when you're buying one of these things so let's get right into it now I'm going to be picky I'm going to tell you everything that I see and that I notice wrong and right with one of these things usually nothing's right because somebody's selling it when somebody sells a piece of equipment especially a skitter usually means they can't afford to fix it uh their grandpa died and they're just trying to get rid of it um they know something's wrong with it they want to get rid of it before uh they have to put big money into it while it's running or they know that there's something wrong with it and sometimes they even tell you like hey you know what it's going to need a new transmission motor's blowing a lot of oil whatever right 1965 I came out here and I tapped the starter on this thing I haven't touched it since last March and it started right up anyway okay so number one um where are you buying the machine from here in Canada there's a few indicators of uh you know what kind of a piece of junk you're buying because usually all these things are pieces of junk if the um province in which you're buying this starts with a queue and sounds like schc chances are pretty good that it's going to be beat on pretty hard maybe slapped together with a few different parts um and they just wanted out the door they're going to try to get as much money as they can for it uh but you're pretty much going to get ripped off sorry to all my Quebec friends out there I got lots of them but you all know what I'm talking about right this machine is yellow it's not a scoo it's as heavy as a Yamaha but we're not going to get into that yeah I said it heavy is a yamha first things first we're looking at this machine tires right forestry or agricultural tires you got to look at that sometimes it says right on them if they're Farm uh grade uh Tire just means they're like about a sixth grade sorry six ply as opposed to a forestry Tire which has has many more plier ply uh PES in it you would say this tire here the ones on the front look like they're probably original and they're good for a long time I'd probably take one of those over one of these forestry tires any day um or sorry over one of these agricultural tires any day cuz they're real strong tires man like I mean 1965 they're still kicking it tires check out the weather cracking no big deal looks like it's bad those things go for a long time check out that cracking this is kind of melting away I don't even know what's happening in those cars chains everything that a skitter doesn't have or needs is going to cost you money right so if you buy a skitter and it has no chains you're looking at probably 1,000 bucks for a u set up to five grand for you know a really good set ice chains um so and what can you get away with these these chains have been beat real hard they're old and sloppy you know they let go on me the odd time but I just replace a link I don't want to put the money into it buy new ones right so chains are important I really don't like these uh this style of chains as much they're kind of bumpy in the bush and they get packed full of uh wet snow and then they kind of give you a bumpy ride and they have a tendency to make the front of your machine hop in the deep snow not a big fan but hey they came with them right so we're still looking at the front ends at the uh planetaries now check for oil leakage around the planetaries around these little things here I think these are the sun gears are in here so if they're leaking around there that means you got some seals going bad and if the um those little pins get loose they're usually made out of bronze I think or brass they get loose like that one that uh planetary you can sort of come apart in there and bust that up and to find a use one of those right now is probably about 1,500 bucks depends on where you go so I got one I know is going to need some attention uh I'm not going to be working this machine too hard this winter so I'm going to be okay with that if you want to get down to the nitty-gritty of things you can go inside those you can just uh you know level the machine out level the plugs out you can check the condition of the fluid in them if you want get that far into it um you'll also want to check the inside of the axles here oh look at that bunch of bunch of gear lube leaking right so the front seals are done I knew that when I bought this no big deal honestly um I just top them up but I know what I'm getting into right at least I know look at the frame of the machine look at all the contact points if you can um you know where the axles the diffs are bolted onto the machine check for cracks uh John deers they have a tendency the frames on them kind of weak the older ones uh before they were reinforced they have a tendency to crack on them yeah check out your uh skid skid Arch make sure everything's good there you still seized oh yeah yeah oh yeah you're good and seized oh that one turns usually what I do I just put a little bit of um they seiz up over the summer so I cuz the water sits on top of those bearings right there so I just put some penetrating oil on there and it sort of seeps through and then I work them when I work with the cable it tends to loosen them up check the cable condition like I said everything adds up you know you're like oh well big cable I not a big deal uh Cable's kind of crappy I'll just buy a new one well man it's three 300 bucks 500 bucks I go with a really small cable but it's really long easy to carry uh especially in this Cedar Bush here pulling it through all the garbage and I can slap a ton of stuff on there uh what else the winch you want to make sure the winch works well this is a real old school mechanical winch on here uh a Braden winch works great for me people don't like them but whatever I mean it's on the machine it works yeah crack no big deal and everything that's wrong with this skitter should reflect the price I mean it can't reflect the price so much that they have to give you money to take it away but you know you have to think about future repair pairs like for example I needed to rebuild this steer cylinder that cost me um 500 bucks right new pins cylinder rebuild a day down in the bush rebuilding that thing wasn't really turning very well what else uh condition of the cab yeah this one's all crack no big deal probably put on its side at one time you want to check out the exhaust if you're planning on working in the summer when it's or the spring when it's really dry you got to have a sparker rester on it I put that one on and rebuilt that whole muffler system on there so if you got to get into an exhaust rebuild you know you're uh you're looking at adding up some dollars right you want to check out your Center pins just take the blade move the blade up and down and have somebody or have them the owner move the machine up and down with the blade and just check for movement in these uh I don't know Center pins hinge pin hinge pins whatever you want to call them check all your U joints all through the whole machine see if they're all nice and tight there's one U joint that's stuck back in there boy oh boy if I had to get at that that'd be real pain in the butt to get at so far it's good that's why you got to keep up on the maintenance this machine was owned uh by the same family It's a 65 they bought it in 71 or 72 um and I believe them good old Ottawa Valley family um so they've had it for quite a long time doesn't mean they maintained it but um you know at least I know the lineage of it these cylinders here I had uh I had both front cylinders rebuilt that was 1,250 bucks gives you a bit of an idea there's no sense even looking for used ones they're all garbage just get them rebuilt boys you know check out the condition of all the pins make sure that when this is running that the hydraulic pressure is enough to lift that front of the machine off the ground by pushing the blade down right you want it nice and warmed up got to make sure your hydraulic pump is good you got to make sure that it steers steers properly make sure all your linkages work well and everything is fairly tight now brakes I've never had a skitter where the brakes worked I just use a low gear drop the blade if I need to real hard on it um but yeah uh I will probably will fix the brakes on this thing maybe next summer when I get back to my property front articulating differential here I forget what they call that this a saddle uh I forget what it's called but it it actually uh it actually articulates another thing you want to do is get somebody to push down on the front of the machine with the blade or push the blade down and lift the front up and just see what kind of movement you have in that if it's banging up and down you're going to run into problems a little later on you got to make sure those uh front pins are good that hold it on same thing with the diffs make sure the diffs are in good shape if you can pop the cap off stick your finger in the in the Hol see what the condition of the oil is you don't want something that's black you want something that's kind of clean but also keep in mind some people change things out especially fluids when they want to hide something so you got to you got to keep that in mind these are exposed Transmissions rain does get in there so check out the fluid in your make sure that it's not full of uh water if it's all milky and looks gray uh with water contamination in there um chances are pretty good that your bearings are going to be you know pretty rusted up and you might run into issues with that maybe maybe a transmission rebuild but at least you can pull this one out same with the transfer case transfer case and this one is behind this plate I know it leaks like a stuck pig um I'm going to have to pull it and replace all the seals on it I just literally top up the fluid and I know I'm pretty good I can just top it up once during the winter and I'm good also get in there and clean all those leaves out that's the stuff that catches fire right now when you're starting this first of all put your hand on the motor make sure it hasn't been started before you got there that's a clever trick everybody starts them up before you get there make sure they're nice and warm right uhuh you want that thing cold and I'd tell them before you get there leave it cold or if it's in a heated shop leave it outside you want to make sure these things start in the cold man cuz that's where it's going to be parked right Detroit Diesel um pretty simple I'd say that if it's knocking it's a Detroit it's not that necessarily a bad thing if it's smoking at the back not that necessarily a bad thing that's what they do they smoke this one blows a ton of white smoke it's just over fueled and that's just the way these uh machines were built um the oil's going to be black black black even a fresh Oil Change is Going to Be black you just got to make sure it's a real um a a good motor this motor I don't think has ever been rebuilt it's got tons of power I can put the blade up against a tree and you can ask the owner of the machine to do this put that blade up against the tree and just put it in gear and see if it'll spin the tires you want to make sure your clutch is good you want to make sure it has enough power to spin those tires if it doesn't you know you're looking at a rebuild or a clutch and the clutch rebuild on this is a real pain in the butt although it's doable I pulled that out with the block and tackle hooked up to the top there and I just pulled it out and I rebuilt everything it was about minus 25 or -30 when I did it got a nice new clutch in there ready to go um filter changes and all that you can expect on doing a whole fluid change on the machine I would anyway I did and you're looking at several hundred if not close to a th000 by the time you add filters if you pay 10 grand for a machine like this you're going to be looking at probably anywhere from 2 to 5 grand in the first year just done around with cylinders and fluid changes and nonsense that happens little injector fixes and rack fixes and rack tuning and all that kind of stuff at least five grand you know the name of the game is not spending a whole lot of money on these uh things but they they still have to make it money if you're into that if you're just poking around on your property you know it is what it is cleaning up stuff but you just you don't want to put a whole lot of money into these right the gas motor version of these don't know very much about them but the same things apply you know you don't want a whole bunch of uh uh blue smoke coming out the back of it uh you don't want a bunch of blow by when you lift when you take the rad cap or not the rad cap but the engine cap off the oil cap oil fill cap it want a bunch of blowby there you want to make sure your rad fluid's nice and clean it's not down in there um you also want to check your rad make sure there's no leaks check all your hoses make sure they're all Ticky boo pop the panels off look for obvious oil leaks this one has an oil bath filter on it um you know some people swap them out for air filters whatever you know I've run this thing it just keeps going it's there's really no sense spending the money on it I had to replace a couple of hoses like this uh hump hose there whatever you want to call it belts I had to change I had to change the alternator on it fully expected to do that no big deal check the condition of all these hoses make sure they're good let's see do we have any red fluid in there yeah it's pretty good right where I left it last spring that's awesome I put a new thermostat in it as well this one has say see all these sticks get in here that's what starts the fires boys that's what starts the fires I've had it I've had them smoking on me before it's not pretty you start moving pretty fast this one's got a block heater or a u inline uh coolant heater really helps on the real nasty days if you bring your little generator and get her started but you know what with The Ether I get this thing going every time in the winter it just keeps going and going and going I have a a new mortar to put in this a new Perkins if this one dies but you know what's going to happen as long as I have that motor it's never going to die right single wire alternator one thing you should think about with these especially the Detroit is first thing I do I get a mechanic in if you can find one who knows these old rigs uh get them to set the Rack in it set the governor up everything sort of has to be done at the same time anyway make sure she's running good I know I have a seal around the um couple of seals at the front of that motor that are done leaks a little bit of oil uh but you know what not dealing with that right now I can deal with it some other time I had to put a new starter in it that's 500 bucks replace all the clutch lines it's got a hydraulic clutch in it you know has this skitter been abused well man come on they're all abused us just see what we drive these things through they're freaking awesome it's just the way it is you know could I spend I could spend $30,000 on this machine in the course of a summer trying to get her all tidied right up easily you know that's the uh little lever for the blade this one has a uh steer lever move it side to side for your steering even the battery costs money right make sure your chain is good make sure everything's lubed you know just with simple stuff like this you want to make sure it looks like the owner has actually sort of at least done something to it not just hopped in her and given her every day right but that's about it those are my thoughts on this I mean literally when I saw this thing the guy started it and I said I'll take it I pretty much know what I'm dealing with no I did move the blade up and down I want to check the center pins make sure everything's fairly tight it's a pain in the pain in the butt if you really got to get into the heavy work on these things just moving one of those tires around is real pain in the button right all right hope that's a little bit info for you any questions let me know

Channel: PowerModz

Views: 8,266

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Id: t2YNNk7EKXc

Length: 18min 3sec (1083 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 03 2023