Our snowmobile club had a Bombi BR180 for trail grooming for several years. Maintenance and some pretty high depreciation on these specialty trail grooming vehicle caused us to go in a different direction. We purchased a new 150 hp Case IH tractor and installed Soucy tracks. The cost was comparable to that of the larger specialized groomers like new Tucker Sno-Cat or Pisten Bully. The advantage we saw was that we purchased a new tractor with a warranty and service that could be done by our local dealer. The dealer was also a Soucy dealer so there was experience with these types of tracks on tractors and combines.
So we purchased a tractor that could be sold with about 500 hours and would have its new tires as they were never used. Low hour tractors hold their resale value so well that we found the cost per hour for the equipment was lower than for the specialized equipment.
Now, there is an issue with weight and when they get stuck, and they do, they are a bit of challenge to "unstuck" them. And on some of our hills, when icy, we can struggle. We are looking into some ice studs for the tracks but no final decision has been made.
In SE Minnesota are snow depth levels are much, much less than that in the UP of Michigan so the tractor/track program may indeed not work there. But for our use, with a much more moderate snow base, we are quite happy with the results. In fact, we were so happy that we added a John Deere with tracks to our trail grooming arsenal about 3 years ago.
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