“Chomper’s” story
Tech Specs:
1959 Jeep FC-150
F-head 134 4cyl
T-90 3spd and T-case
Stock Dana 44 axles
7 1/2 foot, twin auger McKee Brothers Sno-Lander snow blower.
The blower is powered by a 230 HP, Dodge 360 V8 that runs a Dodge 4spd manual transmission locked in reverse with a drive shaft running through the cab to a set of pillow block bearings on the blower and a #60 chain drive down to the PTO shaft of the blower.
“Chomper” started out as a high school shop project in Truckee CA. The shop class never finished it and the school eventually sold it to a gentleman in South Lake Tahoe CA who got it working. He used it for many years until he blew up the Dodge 360 that powers the blower. He dropped in a junkyard Dodge 440 big block but never finished it. Kim Kessler found it and took the first “The find” picture and posted it on the forum. It eventually came up for sale and I bought it. The following pictures on “The find” are minutes after it was unload from the transport from CA. The last picture is with it finally home still on the trailer. It was pretty hacked up in the front and a lot of BAD engineering but hey it worked. The 440 was junk and too big to fit under the cover correctly so I traded it for a good 360. It took 3 months to find the right bell housing to bolt up to the Dodge 4spd trans with the size clutch and flywheel. I got it running and working in time for the third snowfall of 2010. It was worth its weight for the remainder of the winter as we had record snow all winter!! Spring came and I started taking it apart to fix and rebuild the bad stuff. The nose had been torched out and so was the tunnel on the passenger side where the drive shaft runs through the cab. I replaced the grill area and rebuilt the floor and extended the tunnel to safely cover and protect the driveshaft. The hydraulic lift assembly was poorly made and weak so I cut it out and built a new mount that doesn’t flex under the weight of the blower. I wanted to keep the interior looking as original as possible at first glance. The overhead console houses the gauges for the 360 and all of the accessory switches. The skull shifter knob is the throttle control for the 360. The 360 is set to idle around 2000 rpm which throws snow about 10 feet away. When the snow gets deep I can throttle it up to 3000 rpm and it will shoot snow 20 feet in the air and 20 feet away. This summer I plan to remove the helper springs from the front springs and add airbags then strip it down to finish the interior and body work and get it painted.
The name “Chomper” is not because it chomps through the snow. It came from “the land before time” cartoons my daughters used to watch. Chomper was a baby T-Rex that bit one of the other characters. From the moment I unloaded it from the trailer it fought me and I have the scars to show for it. When I was mocking up the new rear fenders I sliced my hand and I told Katie “he bit me!” Just like in the movie.
 The Find |
 The Buildup |
 In Action |
 Lil' Chomper |