Wildcat Project for sale on EBay

It’s a nice straight looking machine with little corrosion if any. The Wisconsin has gone west at some point and a Mitsubishi Turbo diesel motor has been acquired ex a 4wd with the intent of repowering it.

Along with the rolling shell you get 3pl, blade, ripper, slasher and a carry all which all appear to be in good order. This would certainly suit someone looking to undertake a straightforward restoration, all the bits are there. I have reservations about the choice of motor, mainly because of the restrictions imposed by the drive train layout on the Wildcat. I think it would be better to find a Wisconsin or repower it with a Subaru motor. If you were game enough to ditch the existing drive train and go with a couple of variable pumps and two motors directly driving the chains then maybe the diesel engine provided might work out, as would any number of other motors.

I had a rusted Wildcat shell here for a while before I salvaged what I could and then scrapped it. The actual shell is very similar in size to the Austrak RT45 chain drive shell. I think with a bit of swearing and ingenuity you could couple most  Wildcat implements to an RT45 as well…. What that means is that there is definitely enough room in the Wildcat tub to stuff a diesel motor, variable pumps and two drive motors. The actual tub width on the wildcat is marginally wider than on the RT45 …something I measured twice before I believed it.

If you are game to do that kind of conversion then you will be doubtless putting more HP and torque through the drive train so upgrading the bearings, sprockets and chains would be a must. The sprockets can be bought off the shelf and then machined to fit the mountings, the chains will need to be upgraded and that will not be cheap, but there is nothing worse than breaking a chain in field….mainly because it happens far too frequently with the original spec chain without the higher HP and torque added to the mix.

Anyway I reckon that this machine is a good bet for the right person with the skill and endurance to rebuild it.