GUIDELINES FOR SNOWMOBILE TRAIL
           GROOMER OPERATOR TRAINING


A Resource Guide for Trail Grooming Managers and Equipment Operators:


Chapter 2 - Grooming Equipment
      .
 Grooming Drags :
The purpose of this section is to give a general overview regarding the various types of equipment that are available for trail grooming in order to help operators understand the general characteristics of the equipment they are operating.

For a more detailed understanding of specific trail grooming equipment, operators should consult with equipment manufacturers and refer to the manufacturer’s equipment operator’s manual.

As touched upon in Chapter One, the grooming tractor is generally a heavy-duty, two or four-tracked vehicle whose primary purpose is to provide the power to pull a grooming drag, power a tiller, or carry a compactor bar across the top of the snow.

Some areas also use farm tractors, with or without track conversions, to pull a grooming drag. Other areas use a wide-track, utility snowmobile or a tracked ATV to pull a miniature grooming drag.

There are several companies that manufacture tracked vehicles specifically for snowmobile trail grooming. They include but are not necessarily limited to: Tucker Sno-Cat, Pisten Bully, Camoplast Industrial (formerly Bombardier), Centaur, Lamtrac, and VMC.

Some areas also continue to use out-of-production models formerly produced by ASV and Thiokol/DMC/LMC. Additionally, track conversion kits for farm tractors are commercially available from Gilbert, Marcel, Sur Trac, Arrow Trac, and what seems to being a growing number of sources.

The grooming tractor should be of sufficient size and power to handle the grooming implement(s) that will be used to groom the trails, without being heavier or wider than what is really needed for the area to help keep operating costs down.

The actual work of grooming the snow on the trail bed is performed by the drag that is towed behind the tractor or by the tiller.

There are numerous trail grooming drags commercially available, including but not limited to, TSI Mogul Master, Trailmaster, Arrowhead, AFMI Trailmaker, Maxey, Sur Trac, Sno-Plane, Sno Boss, Trail Plane, Spooner Machine, Easy Pull, and LaCross.

Additionally, there are numerous homemade grooming drags in use across the Snowbelt. Tillers are generally available to fit Bombardier/Camoplast, Pisten Bully, and Tucker Sno-Cat tractors. Compactor bars are commercially available from The Shop Industrial (TSI), Tucker Sno-Cat, Pisten Bully, and Bombardier/Camoplast.

From the discussion on Grooming Steps in Chapter One, it should be clear that a grooming drag plays a very key role in successful trail grooming. In fact, the drag can often be the most important piece of the grooming equation and typically has a greater impact upon proper trail grooming than the tractor used to pull the grooming drag.

Grooming drags have progressed a long ways from the simple “bed springs” and “pipe drags” first used by snowmobile clubs in the 1960s and 1970s in early attempts to smooth trails. Most modern drags are technically advanced devices referred to as “multi-blade drags,” as opposed to an older generation of “single blade drags.” 23

 

            Next Section - Multi-Blade Drags

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