Bombardier JW 67

[butterfingers]

Hello,
       Went and looked at a Bombardier JW 67 today. The machine starts up and goes but is really rough. It needs paint bad, has some broken glass, needs a good tune up, needs everyhing adjusted ect. The machine is all complete and had the chrysler 6cyl flathead motor, and the tires were solid rubber. Tracks and drive cogs appear to be in fair shape. The guy said it was a mid 50's machine but the tag says manufacture date: 31-10-66 so I assume it is a 1966. He is asking $3700 but I had no idea if that is a good buy or not, seemed high. Does anyone have an idea what these are worth and any web links to bombardier info. Thanks a lot

[Okrafarmer]

Right off the cuff, it sounds too high to me unless it is in really great shape. Offer him $2500, if you think it's worth that. And it may not be. Then again, if it all goes, and you can't find anything wrong mechanically, it may be ok.

[snowstorm]

bombardier now makes airplanes. canadaair jets     dehavilin      beaver. brp the sleds atv outboards. the tracked machines were sold to camoplast of quebec

[sprucebunny]

If the machine is 4 feet wide, it's an SW48 made in 1967 (JW ** > the ** is usually the year)
Go to "forumsforums.com" for more info. Price isn't terrible for a functioning machine with useable tracks. Each track costs about $3000.

People use them for skidders with success but they roll over easily. Too heavy for snow unless the trail is pre-packed every storm.

Here's a link to specs http://www.safetyoneinc.com/specsheets/bombardier.html

[Okrafarmer]

How can a crawler be too heavy for snow? Even our D-4 Cat wasn't too heavy for snow, and I was under the impression that Bombardiers were built specifically for traversing deep snow. They should have a much lighter footprint than a Caterpillar. If anything I would guess they are too light to get much traction in snow while pulling logs. A ton or two of extra weight might make them better able to skid logs effectively. Or maybe I am mistaken. They always looked rather light-weight to me. We had some friends who had one and they used it in the woods without too much trouble, for logging.

[isawlogs]

 Okra,
 
  These machines where not made to travel on snow as you may be thinking.  These where made to clear snow off of sidewalks, I have a SW48  (side walk 48 inches) and its not good in deep snow, it will get hung up if you are not carefull.
Price whys, he aint off by much, like Joan said, each track is worth 3000$. NAPA has all the motor parts you would need to tune her up, might only be needing a points and distributor cleaning.
Tracks on the machines to go in deep snow are much wider then the 14 inche of the SW's. 

[grassfed]

It needs paint bad, has some broken glass, needs a good tune up, needs everything adjusted ect.

You should look at: the  track rubber and the cleats,  the sprockets and boggie wheels, does the engine have good oil pressure? does it steer?, trans and clutch? any bad rust? If these things seem OK then you can probably do the rest pretty cheaply. They don't pull a lot of wood out compared to a skidder.    They are good in soft ground and to help freeze in trails with moderate snow.

[butterfingers]

You should look at: the  track rubber and the cleats,  the sprockets and boggie wheels, does the engine have good oil pressure? does it steer?, trans and clutch? any bad rust?

Track rubber is fair, no tears but the plys do seem to be coming apart arounf the edges, sprokets are ok they have some wear and cracks but have no pieces missing, bogeys are good and filled with rubber, oil pressure guage does not work but engine does'nt tick or sound bad, you can steer it although it seems out of adjustment, clutch works good and you have to play with trans to get into gears, just some linkage problems I think, no really bad rust. Thanks

[Okrafarmer]

Sounds a bit iffy to me. Lots of fixing to do. Now if you are a great mechanic, then maybe it's an acceptable price for you.

[JDeere]

Butterfingers, The Bombardier is definately not a mid 50's. I believe J. Armand Bombardier did not produce those until the early 60's. The best place to get parts, info and Bombardier machines of that type is in Valcourt, Quebec. There is a dealer just down the road from the Bombardier plant. It would be worth your trip as it is not terribly far from you. The last time I was there he had a number of the old tracked machines for sale. I don't remember the name of the dealer but it was on the main st. You could get a great deal of info on the value, cost of parts, etc.