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| Prinoth discontinuing the BR180; Big mistake? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 28 2007, 04:05 PM (2,875 Views) | |
| trailboss77 | Dec 28 2007, 04:05 PM Post #1 |
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Am I the only one that feels this is a mistake or are there more people out there that would like to get the word thru to Prinoth that they would like the BR180 line to continue? I have been grooming for over 30 years and have driven most all of the different machines out there. By far the BR180 is my favorite. I know there are other good machines out there but most all now are controled with a steering wheel and the foot pedal. Having bad knees, it is almost impossible for me to drive with the foot pedal for hours on end. I love being able to set the hand throttle and move my legs around to whatever is comfortable. Lets get the word to Prinoth that they have purchased a good machine and they need to keep making it. |
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Have been grooming since 1978 have covered more than 100,000 miles of snowmobile trail. | |
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| eddy | Dec 28 2007, 10:02 PM Post #2 |
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I agree with you I think its a mistake to stop the BR180 I was also upset that they don't make BR250 and BR275. Its like alot of things in this country (North Amercia) IMPORT :angry: |
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| Pekabu | Dec 29 2007, 09:42 AM Post #3 |
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Uuuuggggghhhhhh!!!!! I agree on the controls things. We have one of each right now and all prefer the stick control. Not that familiar with the prinoth lineup. Do they have a similar size groomer to replace it? It was really the right size for us. |
| Southern NH Snow Slickers | |
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| couchsachraga | Dec 29 2007, 12:14 PM Post #4 |
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Er, Bombardier's have ALWAYS been imported. Canada is not part of the US
Personally, I prefer PB's. In my experience they are better built, and hold up to use better. BUT, I've had experience with 4 PB's (at two different resorts) and one BR180...so it could just be that cranky machine (which was brand new), too. A century ago folks complained about purchasing from another state...not it's another country. For better or worse, the world feels like it's getting smaller. That said, I like to buy local when I can, and happily support my local repair shop vs. purchasing parts online. More expensive? By a little. But the service i get by them being in business is invaluable when I need something fast, be it a part they have in stock or a repair. |
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| lamtrac709 | Dec 29 2007, 06:55 PM Post #5 |
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here in newfoundland our provincial snowmobile federation has 8 or 9 br 180's and so far haven't had much luck with them.had 1 engine failure and about 8 final drive failures plus scores of undergear failures.imo they are very expensive to operate and maintain but when they are working there is no doubt they are a real joy to groom with. our labrador clubs have switched to pb's and we don't hear much compliants from those clubs,and they have a very harsh climate and terrain.
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| trailboss77 | Dec 29 2007, 09:26 PM Post #6 |
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The Prinoth Husky is about the same as the BR180 but once again, it is controlled with a steering wheel which means computerl. I still prefer my BR180 with the good old fashioned steering "sticks" at least that way I am in control and not the computer. We of course have had some problems in the past but nothing really out of the ordinary. And nothing major like an engine or hydrostatic pumps or motors. Actually had a lot more problems with the Tuckers we've had in the past. |
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Have been grooming since 1978 have covered more than 100,000 miles of snowmobile trail. | |
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| mike p | Dec 29 2007, 09:54 PM Post #7 |
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trail boss our club has a 1997 tucker 2000. Could you elaborate on the problems your club had? What year was your machine? How big a drag were you pulling? What sort of terrain flat or lots of steep hills that kind of stuff. I'm just looking for info. as to what sort of troubles we may have to watch out for. Thanks for any help you can give.
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| trailboss77 | Dec 30 2007, 03:58 PM Post #8 |
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The last Tucker we had was a year 2000. We went thru 4 different rear differentials. Each covered under warranty but still, a pain in the butt. The second one only lasted 50 hours. They never did give us a reason as to why it was doing this. Also, twice we had a fan blade break off. The second time, it went thru the radiator. The other problem with the machine was burning up the left front bogie wheel. Although I feel that one was probably caused by someone hitting a tree causing the wheel to be out of allinement. As for the rear diff problem, you will be able to tell early on if there is a problem because it gets hot enough that you can't keep your hand on it even at temps below zero. |
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Have been grooming since 1978 have covered more than 100,000 miles of snowmobile trail. | |
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| mike p | Dec 30 2007, 07:20 PM Post #9 |
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Thanks trail boss. We have only had our machine out twice this year. If we get any snow again and get it out i will check for that. It sounds to me that your rear diff. was not put together properly. Probably not shimmed right from the factory. They probably put it together too tight thats why you got no explanation from them since it may have been there fault.
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| SCRR | Dec 30 2007, 08:16 PM Post #10 |
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I thought the BR's had solved their drive problems when they went to Sunstrand, instead of Poclain drives? Also, can't you order the single joy stick steering with crews control in PB and Prinoth? |
| If you don't fall off your not going fast enough! | |
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| RJ85MSP | Dec 31 2007, 09:16 PM Post #11 |
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Classic case of someone installing a diff in a Tucker and not setting it right more then likely. I'm not going to get into all the things but there are two little things that will make those things last for many, many years. 1) Oil, it must be 75W-140 Synthetic, 2) Since that diff is "upside" down, meaning the oil flows away from the pinion bearing it needs more oil, and it also needs to have that spacer or basically a metal plate near the pinion bearing removed so it allows more oil to flow to that bearing. Original Tucker stuff is set up that way, most drive line places if they aren't on the ball will miss this and set it up like a standard diff and wa-la you have problems. All this has been solved with the 4 gear t-case which spins the rear end in the right direction. That t-case has been out since around 02. The fan blade I'm sure broke due to one of two factors. Hitting something hard enough to brake the radiator supports, or one of the radiator supports were loose which caused the fan to contact the radiator on occasion which of course does things no good. The have redesigned the mount system to beef everything up so this is a thing of the past. The boggie wheel, was this a steel cleat Tucker Sno-Cat or a rubber tracked Tucker Terra? Either way someone should have checked the spindle on that wheel to see if it was true, or even the end of the carrier can get augered out so things are out of alingment, all of that leads to problems. As for the BR180, it's been computer controlled for years. You would have to go pretty old to get that stuff. Can't you set the engine speed in a newer BR180 or Husky for that matter and control your speed with the speed pot? I'm sure you can order things with sticks instead of wheels as well. |
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| trailboss77 | Jan 4 2008, 07:02 AM Post #12 |
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My whole point of starting this discussion was to find out if I am the only fan of the BR180 or if there are more out there that will be unhappy if they discontinue the BR180. I am not familiar with the PB or the Prinoth to know if either one is available with steering sticks instead of a steering wheel. Our club is planning on putting in an order for a new machine at the end of this season and we were hoping to still get a BR180 with the sticks. |
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Have been grooming since 1978 have covered more than 100,000 miles of snowmobile trail. | |
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| abryer | Jan 7 2008, 05:50 PM Post #13 |
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The last Br180 that I ran at Cooks grooming show had the sticks in the armrest. They ran the same exaxt computer that the steering wheel ran! you still had to deal with the electronics! There were several other aspect that I disliked about it. The blade was uncontrolable. It was to jumpy with the electric over hydro controls. and there was no feather. While I was demoing it I asked the sales rep why it was like that he said there was no actual valve it was all electric and there were ways to feather it but it slowed the entire response down (kinda like putting on a smaller hose so it would not go so fast). Also at that time there was no provision for towing the machine. Maby I demoed a pre production one but there was not slug to take out or flip arround you had to take the tracks off and skid it on the bogies. All in all the Pb 100 was a much better machine than the 180. I think it was a wize choice. |
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| Pekabu | Jan 8 2008, 08:27 PM Post #14 |
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There are good points and bad too all groomers. The info about having to take the tracks off to tow is wrong. |
| Southern NH Snow Slickers | |
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| da6499 | Feb 2 2008, 07:40 AM Post #15 |
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Will be sad to see the BR go, and have to agree that they are making a mistake. Demoed a Husky and although it seemed to work well, the construction does not compare to the BR in strength. Everything seemed smaller, thinner and weaker. Plus we had a hydraulic failure after 6 hours, due to something added at the dealer, and discovered that they have only 1 hydraulic system. Blow a hose and the machine is dead. Hooked the drag to the BR180 and the Husky to the drag, no problem. Wrote a lengthy proposition that they field test the machine with our club or some else, and fix it, or it will never last on snowmobile trails. Guess we will have to look at the PB's next time. |
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