Maggot snowmobile thread

[kidwoo]

I'm thinking about having that 159 with 600 miles shipped up here, throw on a can and some new rings and carb boots and good to go, that thing rallies I'm sure.

That one does look intriguing.


P11: since you know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who once touched a treadway ponytail, get one of those guys to go with you to look at whatever you buy. You're in canada and I know the only sleds up there are skidoos.... it should be pretty simple to find someone who knows those models. And for the love of god it sounds like you should not ask your neighbors ANYTHING

Like AK said, bring a compression tester. That should give you an idea if anything is up with the pistons/top end without tearing it apart.

[JeffreyJim]

Off topic---KW, you sell your sled? Still riding the Rev?

[kidwoo]

Off topic---KW, you sell your sled? Still riding the Rev?

Slim bought it. Kinda miss it already.

I've got a 2010 M8 SP sitting in my garage now. I ought to take some pics of the rack I made for it. Single pair of skis super stable, two pairs for tandem slightly less stable, holds a gas can and my SKI BOOTS!!!

[Beaver]

Turbos.... not about speed They're about getting THERE. Wherever THERE happens to be on that given day!! That thing is gonna be sweet, you'll love it, but I would NOT turbo it if you ever get to that point. There are a bunch of sleds that take boost well, but boosting the 600etec is a bit wasteful. (any 600 really)

You'll do great with that just the way it sits!

Not an ETec its an ACE 4 stroke.

After putzing around the yard & field for a total of 4km I'm almost keen to get it stuck to see what it will drive out of. The throttle is so smooth, the clutch engages at low RPM so it doesn't dig when it hooks up. Throw it in reverse & the back of the track articulates to let you go backwards with out going down.

Really quiet, until this sled I've never heard a track turning, usually I just hear the roar of 2 stroke.

The thing stinks like mad though, I've got to go burn the oils & crap off the motor & exhaust system.

I highly doubt I'll ever turbo it, fucking with small engines is just asking for maintenance issues and headaches.

[Schralper]

I just want hyfax that lasts longer!
Don't say ice scratchers, not talking burning up from lack of lube.
Nor are the track to tight.
Though something that handles icy conditions too would be awesome.
Not that they cost alot but it's the install time, UGH! especially w/ articulating track.

[Atrain505]

I'd just like to post in this thread to say stoked that pow11 is getting in the sled skiing game!

Also I did my homework around here and came to pow11's original conclusion and decided new was the route for me. 3 years in, nothing but a tuneup every fall. Runs strong. My first belt lasted 2400k. Have seen new sleds fail though.
Seen way, way more old sleds fail. I guess I kinda agree with pow11's original sentiment. You may get lucky with a used sled and it will last for many years and save a bunch of money. Or it blows up in your face and you should have bought a new one to begin with. Talked to lots of people. Heard that story a dozen times.

The new one may blow up but the warranty covers it.

If I was going to do it again I would buy a one or two year old sled that just had a brand new motor put in with a warranty on the motor. That's the best of both worlds. Cheaper but still with the part that matters brand new.
Those deals exist in Whistler every once in a while.
If that work sled isn't high mileage may be a good deal.

My buddies always ask why do sleds blow up all the time? I always reply, "See that ford ranger you are driving. How much horsepower is that? 140. How big is the engine? They spread their arms wide. My sled has more horsepower than that and the engine is yay big.
The skiing makes the money pits worth it, whether they are of the new or used variety.

[AKturnanburn]

"See that ford ranger you are driving. How much horsepower is that? 140. How big is the engine? They spread their arms wide. My sled has more horsepower than that and the engine is yay big.

No shit, that funny, I used to drive my 180HP 1000 to the pass in the back of my 90HP toyota 4 banger. it was worth twice as much as well.

[kidwoo]

My first belt lasted 2400k.

Nice units traitor!





My sled still looks way cooler in the dark than yours.





Mornin' y'all!





Ripped apart some alpine trekkers to mount me shoes on. So tired of long approaches in ski boots. Just some aluminum rod and angle stock.

Ski carry is the standard running board/gun rack style to keep things out of the way when riding. Second pair fits in there too for doubles, just with the tips hanging off the back. Pretty pleased at the moment.

[Atrain505]

That's a sweet ride! Love the lights.

[backcountryislife]

No shit, that funny, I used to drive my 180HP 1000 to the pass in the back of my 90HP toyota 4 banger. it was worth twice as much as well.

ha!!! ain't that how it always goes!!! Be it my DH bikes, sleds, or shit, even my skis & boards back in the day when I was rollin up to Devil's head after work... the crap on top seems like it was ALWAYS worth more than the vehicle they were on top of!!!

The toys on the sled deck are worth about triple what the cummins they're sitting on is!!




As to used sleds... again, the absolute comments show lack of knowledge. Saying no sled over 1000 miles is worth buying... my 2011 I bought on Jan 11 last year had 1000 miles before april hit. It had 1700 by july. The sled is, even almost a year later, a 100% pull & go 270hp beast. If you don't know enough about sleds, it's not some mark of shame, they're friggin complicated, BRING A BUDDY WHO DOES. If you don't have a buddy who does, MAKE ONE... you're about to own one, get some friends who can help you!!

As to compression... top ends are cheap. The only place where compression is a REAL dealbreaker, is on a 4 stroke, you don't want to go there. I did my top end on a 2011 after 1/2 a season. The pistons were beautiful, and they're now sitting on a shelf in my shed. $200 & 3 hours later, I've got new pistons, perfect compression, no concerns about skirts dropping into the bottom end, and just plain stoke that I've got a fresh motor.

bottom end is where the real concern is on sleds, and that's much harder to explain. That's where someone who changes pistons, uses good oil, knows how to maintain a motor... will have a sled last them MUCH longer.

btw, in 09 I bought a boosted HCR that had been raced. My wife rode it for 3 years, was in 4 vids with it, dropped stuff, jumped well over 100' countless times, ran it into trees, rolled it down hills... it never had a warranty (factory race sled) it was pull & go, no issues, no BS... and almost 3k miles later she sold it for almost 9k KNOWING that the next guy will have a great sled that makes HUGE power for many more years to come. Current sleds have come a long way!!!


BTW, KW... those lights are great!!! (I pulled the ONE I did have & gave it to a buddy the day after this pic... just got open holes now!)

[powder11]

I'd just like to post in this thread to say stoked that pow11 is getting in the sled skiing game!

Also I did my homework around here and came to pow11's original conclusion and decided new was the route for me. 3 years in, nothing but a tuneup every fall. Runs strong. My first belt lasted 2400k. Have seen new sleds fail though.
Seen way, way more old sleds fail. I guess I kinda agree with pow11's original sentiment. You may get lucky with a used sled and it will last for many years and save a bunch of money. Or it blows up in your face and you should have bought a new one to begin with. Talked to lots of people. Heard that story a dozen times.

The new one may blow up but the warranty covers it.

If I was going to do it again I would buy a one or two year old sled that just had a brand new motor put in with a warranty on the motor. That's the best of both worlds. Cheaper but still with the part that matters brand new.
Those deals exist in Whistler every once in a while.
If that work sled isn't high mileage may be a good deal.

My buddies always ask why do sleds blow up all the time? I always reply, "See that ford ranger you are driving. How much horsepower is that? 140. How big is the engine? They spread their arms wide. My sled has more horsepower than that and the engine is yay big.
The skiing makes the money pits worth it, whether they are of the new or used variety.

yeah buddy! gonna get after it this season. That suite won't be livable until the 1st, but feel free to camp out if need be.

[kidwoo]

(I pulled the ONE I did have & gave it to a buddy the day after this pic... just got open holes now!)

Good. Cuz you know......I was gonna say something.


Thanks for the heads up on the steering post BTW. That WC post is burly as hell. Way more confident with that thing running doubles. Putting it on this weekend.

[Atrain505]

1st is good by me. I'll drop some stuff off and perhaps camp a few nights before then. I'm easy bro. Glad to have zero pain in finding a place for the winter.
Have to go bring my machine in for the yearly tune up and start getting after it!

yeah buddy! gonna get after it this season. That suite won't be livable until the 1st, but feel free to camp out if need be.

[AKturnanburn]

As to used sleds... again, the absolute comments show lack of knowledge. Saying no sled over 1000 miles is worth buying... my 2011 I bought on Jan 11 last year had 1000 miles before april hit. It had 1700 by july. The sled is, even almost a year later, a 100% pull & go 270hp beast.

Thats why I said "as a general rule". When shopping for anonymous sleds there are usually enough out there that I will just look past the higher mile ones in favor of the lower miles ones, I know there is always the exception. It seems that, if patient, there are a lot of sleds with lower miles that are not much more $$$ than the higher mile ones. I find it is pretty different when you buy from a friend though. And BTW Slednecks will put at least 5 times more miles on a sled then a snowmoskier, but skiers are notorious for being shitty maintainers, they don't love there sled like a 'necker, its just a tool to do what you really want and working on the thing gets procrastinated until the night before a deep blue day.

[VC]

New game, roost snow into your boots. Fun for all. Maybe I wouldn't put my snowflap back on.

[Mannix]

skiers are notorious for being shitty maintainers, they don't love there sled like a 'necker, its just a tool to do what you really want and working on the thing gets procrastinated until the night before a deep blue day.

Snowmobile mechanic friend echos that sentiment. "I can't believe they tried to ride this thing, dumb skiers....."

The sledneck sleds get hammered and stuff _blows up_. Skier sleds (often, not all) get neglected & ignored - largely because skiers don't know what they're supposed to sound like? Dunno, but yeah, not too many skiers are gearheads, and it shows in the repair shop.



Iain (he calls us "dumb" in jest, he's by no stretch anti-skier, FWIW)

[kidwoo]

New game, roost snow into your boots. Fun for all. Maybe I wouldn't put my snowflap back on.

I've got a cover for them numb nuts.


Cow pattern of course.


You know you're jealous.

[powder11]

I've got a cover for them numb nuts.


Cow pattern of course.


You know you're jealous.

and here I thought I was getting beaten up by a roughneck sledhead... did you let your girlfriend pick out that paint job?

[GoNads]

Snowmobile mechanic friend echos that sentiment. "I can't believe they tried to ride this thing, dumb skiers....."

The sledneck sleds get hammered and stuff _blows up_. Skier sleds (often, not all) get neglected & ignored - largely because skiers don't know what they're supposed to sound like? Dunno, but yeah, not too many skiers are gearheads, and it shows in the repair shop.



Iain (he calls us "dumb" in jest, he's by no stretch anti-skier, FWIW)

^Truth.

What Athan said about his sled not needing any work done all season because he bought new... unless you're only sledding 1000km a season which I highly doubt... you need to clean both your primary & Secondary clutches every 1000km and change your chaincase oil. Also sled needs to get all the lubrication points done every 1000km or more depending on the ride.

Neglecting this work leads to serious long term problems. Most people seem to average ~3000km a season sledding, which means you should probably be servicing or doing that work twice a winter. I get around ~5500km a winter and only went thru 1 belt a year for the past 2 years. It depends on how your clutch is set up, and how you ride as per belt life.

Another thing to consider is that although slednecks are beating their stuff pretty hard riding them, skiers are often doubling people up the entire access in/out or doing tandem laps and climbs all day with two people on the sled vs. one. Lets just say your average sled skier is 160-180lbs, then skis, gas, gear etc. Two of those people per sled puts a LOT of stress, wear and tear on a machine.

Like it was said earlier, if you're buying a sled you want to find an old man sled that goes out for single rider touring days in good conditions. They do exist. Ironically my engine is at 6000km without needing any work done, most top ends die at 4500km and a lot of people dont even realize when theyre running on one cylinder and they ride their sled out or force start it when it doesnt want to and end up blowing the bottom end in the process as well. I got an extra year of warranty on my engine from BRP but it makes me laugh in amazement how it's still going strong 150/150 compression still.

Learn about your machine, figure out what's normal and what's not. Learn how to trouble shoot for various problems and when work needs to be done for maintenance. NOT just pre-season tune ups and summerizing at the end.

[kidwoo]

and here I thought I was getting beaten up by a roughneck sledhead... did you let your girlfriend pick out that paint job?

My boyfriend's idea.


The world is full of cheezy looking shit with skullz all over it. It's more a statement on modern sled culture than you realize

Seriously, just look into those eyes. Not even most hardened, wide brimmed hat, walking stick sportin, grumbing sierra club xc skier in the world could hate that sled!

[Atrain505]

I should have been more clear. As part of the pre season tune I get my clutch serviced as well which is technically separate from a tune up.

Also I only average 1500k a winter because I spend most of my time on the sled filming.

[Girardeau]

From this weekend. Better than nothing.

[backcountryislife]

better than nothing my ASS... that looks WAY better than what we've got just a few hours north! Might have to come visit my bro down in crusty pretty soon!!!

[VC]

I've put about thirty feet on my sled so far this winter, loading on the trailer and then off loading to the garage, so I think better than nothing is an understatement.

[kidwoo]

I've put about thirty feet on my sled so far this winter, loading on the trailer and then off loading to the garage,

How's she sidehill bro?