Older Prochem Machines

[rugslayer]

I have an older Prochem Bearcat Catalytic that is now pushing 8000 hrs.- after a serious cleanup, restructuring of rotted frame and a few grand she is treating me OK over the past several years. The radiator had (and still has) an intermittent leak, and today (Halloween) I seized the opportunity to install a new radiator I received earlier in the week.
These machines can be a bear to service, as it took most of the day to get the new radiator in, the main difficulty was the stale hoses that are somewhat hard to get at because of the governor unit residing in the premises.
I made some modifications to ease the assembly, filled her up, and the new one leaks- severely.

Lesson: always pressure check a new radiator. The good: Because of my modifications, I re-installed the old one in under an hour. I will take the new radiator to a repair shop (bummer- I stink of anti-freeze and it really made a mess in my clean van).

In short, I highly recommend these 4 cylinder units provided you have mechanical know how, but there is a lot to be said for newer ease of maintenance machines. If I had a choice for a new machine, I would still opt for a liquid cooled unit because of the heat exchangers (no burner needed). Happy Halloween!

 

[seagrtj]

There are plenty of air cooled machines that use heat exchangers and no burners

 

[Joe cool]

Not many units go 12k hrs with 2 hand full of repairs . Let alone 23 yrs and still steam rolling down the road .