Attaching skis to your snowmobile?

[tahoermk]

$2,700 seems like a lot for a 99 rmk w/ 2200 miles..you can get a hell of a lot more sled for just little more cash, at least where I live. Cheetah racks are the way to go for sure though.

[Jethro]

I use an RMK 800 144 track. I bought a cheap rack off Ebay and welded some supports to it. I have horizontal rods which stick out the sides of the rack. On the rods are ratcheting snowboard binds which cinch down on the skis, two pairs if needed. Stronger and less expensive than the Cheetah system. You can see the idea on Wildsnow.com under "snowmobiles". Sorry I do not have any photos.

[hick]

Well........

On my old sled i had both skis on one side like in the pics on page 1 or 2 of this post. After over a thousand miles you could very plainly see it was torquing the tunnel to one side and twisting it.

so on this sled i dedided to go with the diaganol mount to stop that plus i didn't want to spend a lot on something like cheetah(my total was $15) and the thing is completly removable in about 30 seconds with the wingnuts i put on.

i also built a nice tow sled to hook on that works very well to put packs, etc. on when we stay at cabins.

Removable, that's the key looks solid.

How in the hell was it (your old method), torquing the tunnel? I've been strapping mine one ski to each side for the last 9 years without issue.

[robnow]

How in the hell was it (your old method), torquing the tunnel? I've been strapping mine one ski to each side for the last 9 years without issue.

One ski to each side no issue at all. Sounds like he was strapping BOTH skis to one side.

[ACH]

Cheetah racks are the way to go for sure though.

Nothing new here, and their design or quality isn't in question.
Not everyone wants to shell out $500.00 for a system that carries two pairs of skis.
Extra if you want the flexibility to switch between skis and snowboards (different holders are involved). Then, multiply by 2 for two sleds.

I'm more interested in hearing from mags that went the ghetto route.
What worked, what didn't and why.

[mtcham]

We've been running the gun rack setup for 2 years. For just getting to the goods it works fine, if you are riding the sleds hard I would probably use a beefier setup.

[Blurred]

Hopefully pow4brains will post up the shit he's been welding together lately with Kya and ^^^.

Super sweet rack systems.

[ACH]

^^^
Bump for a look at that...

[Pow4Brains]

I'll try to get a couple of pix up when they are done.

[Bucky Mullet]

I made one of these last year and used it a few times, works just like a poma seat, except for the ride is a little faster.

Like my professional Paint sketch?

I use the tow rig described here: http://www.wildsnow.com/1722/skier-snowmobile-tow/

Only mod I suggest is to use a motocross inner tube. Works REALLY well.

As far as a rack goes, I just bought an ATV gunrack from Cabella's. The CFR is super nice, but $500 vs $25, I'm using the gunrack with some Bungies

[Pow4Brains]

^^^
Bump for a look at that...

I welded on the pipe and the flat plate that holds the pipe to the original rack.



The rack uses pressure from the curve of the tip (or tail) to wedge the skis in to place off of the foot rail. Or the skis or bindings just bottom out on the foot rail or pipe.



Holds 2 pair.



Use bungees to hold them in place.


On the widetrack I did the same thing for the bottom pair but the top pair has 2 pipes that hold the bindings in place. Added a little storage too.









We'll see if they hold up through the winter, but if anyone wants one built shoot me a PM. I heart TIG welding.

[VC]

What kind of metal did you use for the widetrack one? Also I am envious of your widetrack

[ACH]

Nice.
Looks like a good way to integrate with an existing rack.
I see more and more people building ski racks that have the skis carried flat to the running boards (for lack of a better description). Nice and simple. Do you worry at all about the back bar applying pressure to the mid section of your Duke's?
Thanks for posting!

[Pow4Brains]

What kind of metal did you use for the widetrack one?

It's made out of 1/2" black iron pipe due to the original rack being iron. It's not the lightest thing (I would guess we added about 15 pounds to it) but the widetrack weighs in at a portly ~750 pounds dry so we decided to go for the extra ski carrying capacity and storage for the days we have a sledneckin’ Minis. Maybe next year’s project will be to build one out of aluminum.

Nice.
Looks like a good way to integrate with an existing rack.
I see more and more people building ski racks that have the skis carried flat to the running boards (for lack of a better description). Nice and simple. Do you worry at all about the back bar applying pressure to the mid section of your Duke's?
Thanks for posting!

Yeah, if you put the skis together and look at the width of the bindings compared to the width of a ski there is not much difference. And when the rack has skis on it the whole thing is still within the width of the front end. Time will tell on the Duke. It’s hard to design something simple that works perfectly for every ski and binding combination and most of us have seen the light with Dynafits anyway. It's surprising how solid the skis feel by the time you get the bungees on, so hopefully the lack of movement will keep carnage in check. I don’t think I’d be huckin’ or railing whoops with skis on the rack for fear of folding the tunnel too.

Edit 4 - The tunnel didn't fold but the factory bolts started pulling through. The tunnel on the M1 is 18 gauge at best.

[Pow4Brains]

Looks like a good way to integrate with an existing rack.

The factory rack wasn’t strong enough. After a couple of outings I noticed stress fractures around the bolts so I ended up building something with a little more beef and ditched the plastic factory pull bar.

Now I just need to figure out what to run for a mud flap. Anyone got any ideas where to find ¼” rubber mat? I was thinking something like a door or bar mat.

[TroySmith80]

Pow4Brains: A single mudflap from a dually truck would work, wouldn't it? Or a piece of a rubber truck bed-liner mat.

Are you tig welding the aluminum, or using a spool gun on a mig, or what? I have both somewhat available to me and would like to start playing with welding aluminum this winter. Seems fun and definitely a good skill to have. I'm decent with basic steel mig welding (in regular situations), but then that's not really very difficult.

[TroySmith80]

What exactly is the channel that the ski sit's in made of? Where did you get it?

New sleds, New ski and Snowboard racks. ski rack w/ free board straps cost 15 bucks and the snowboard rack cost 8.

[Pow4Brains]

Are you tig welding the aluminum, or using a spool gun on a mig, or what?

A standard Tig. I wish it had a spool gun. It's really not that hard once you got the heat dialed for the materail. I heart the fact there are no sparks.

[fez]

[JeffreyJim]

This might seem like a crazy idea but has anybody thought of using old boot lugs on a sliding track (using a QR or something) and using your skis bindings to hold them to the sled? (click one binding into "dummy lug" then strap other ski to "clicked in" ski)

Seems like it could work well and I've got old boots I could procure said "dummy lugs" from.

[TroySmith80]

Hmm, interesting idea. I don't have a specific implementation coming immediately to mind that i like, but it may be worth exploring.

[MTslackcountry]

This might seem like a crazy idea but has anybody thought of using old boot lugs on a sliding track (using a QR or something) and using your skis bindings to hold them to the sled? (click one binding into "dummy lug" then strap other ski to "clicked in" ski)

Seems like it could work well and I've got old boots I could procure said "dummy lugs" from.

Funny you ask.... Buddy of mine mounted ski boots to the back of his sled to accomplish what your saying... Seemed like a good idea until he hit the first set of bumps and both skis popped off and almost got ran over by the sled behind. Im not sure it would even work if the din on the bindings were set at 16.

[Dhelihiker]

I guess it is completely dependent on the type of riding you do. If you use your sled to drive down a trail to access the zones, then you climb via foot power. All of those racks work.

If you are using your sled to tandem up big steep hill you might not appreciate a big bulky rack. Also if you freeride with your sled you will HATE those racks.

I use these



They are cheap, bomber, multi use, light and quick on and off.

I mount my skis like this -obviously not the straps but I would vote for his method too.




When Im riding tandem to get vert, I have my skis on my back or in my hand and only use the strap downs for the boondocking in and out.





.....

[VC]

When Im riding tandem to get vert, I have my skis on my back or in my hand and only use the strap downs for the boondocking in and out.

.....

Nothing like taking the tips of your buddy's skis in the back of your head when he has them on his back.

[Dhelihiker]

yeah but you have a helmet and backpack on, so your pretty protected. Tree limbs on the other hand. Its hard to duck with a 3' antenna above your head. I also love the fact that if you are bogging down on a climb the skier can jump off and he has all of his shit.


fucking SNOW ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to bRAAP around soo bad