The Life of a Snowmobiler

[WMarshy]

Hope everyone is enjoying the winter. It's been a decent year for snowmobiling unlike last year. Hope all you folks on the coast are staying warm doing all that shoveling...

Was out snomobiling and ran into a small issue with my sled and though y'all would like to see the pictures of carnage.

[natemoen]

DANG!!!! What did you do!!

[JeffH]

ooh, that's ugly.

Not likely caused from mere putt-putt through the woods?? Possibly some WOT involved?? Plus, with all the snow you need to get it fixed asap so you can use the machine again soon.

Jeff

[Cuda 69]

YIKES ! Is it going to be able to be bored? Or in need of new jugs? Looks like jugs are fried to me. That sucks,hope you get on the trail real quick. Is that sled oil injected? Looks to me it fried the top of the piston,to hot?

[WMarshy]

Luckily it happen at slow speed an not on a WOT run. One of the rings broke and got folded over into the piston at the port during the compression stroke and gouged the cylinder bad. The cylinders are nikasil plated so you cant just have them bored out, you would have to have it replated also. Luckily I have 2 spare jugs on the self ready to go, just waiting on pistons. The clutch side it good but I'm doing both to be on the safe side. The good piston will go to the self for a backup.

The jetting is actually on the rich side and is not running hot. The size of the black carbon is a read on how rich/lean the burn is. The lack of carbon (wash) should be way smaller, should have two small round washed spots the size of your pinky finger nail on eachthe side near the exhause port...

[fredintoon]

Hi Wade,
just so us couch potatoes can be properly thankful it wasn't us, how far back in the bush were you when it happened?

[Jerry]

Verrrrrry Interesting......

Snowmobiling has been good out here in the west. I have had my 2001 Yamaha Mountain Max 700 tripple out a few times on Grand Mesa.



This shot taken along Stevens Gulch. Elk Mountains in the background. I bought this sled last year and rode very little due to lack of snow - you need enought to cover the rocks - but that has not been a problem this year. We are still below normal for snow pack but hope to catch up by the end of the season. Another 1 - 2 feet have fallen on Grand Mesa since this picture was taken on 2-2-2013.

Sled is stock except for a taller windshield and those grips at the front of the skies. They curve the tips up a little more sharply than the stock units. Front shocks also have PowerMadd covers on them. The 700 tripple puts out about 125 HP at sea level but up here at around 9K - 10K feet the output is down from that. Still, all I have to do is push the thumb throttle and go!

Most riding is done with engine spinning in the 7K - 8K range, so if something goes wrong it doesn't take much time to do major damage.

just so us couch potatoes can be properly thankful it wasn't us, how far back in the bush were you when it happened?

Photo above is about 42 miles from where I parked but about 5 miles from the nearest parking area. Longest I have ever had to hike was 6 miles after my Arctic Cat blew a clutch. FWIW Yamaha mountain (long-track) sleds have a reputation for reliability that is unmatched by other brands, one of the reasons I have this Mountain Max. I have also owned Arctic Cat, Polaris, and Ski-doo. Yamahas are not the fatest sleds, but they will generally get you home every time.

[WMarshy]

Hi Wade,
just so us couch potatoes can be properly thankful it wasn't us, how far back in the bush were you when it happened?

Ol' Murphy was kind to me this time, it happened about half a mile from home and I was able to limp home on the good cylinder...

Worst case, it could of happened last weekend when I was 75 miles away

[WMarshy]

Verrrrrry Interesting......

Snowmobiling has been good out here in the west. I have had my 2001 Yamaha Mountain Max 700 tripple out a few times on Grand Mesa.



This shot taken along Stevens Gulch. Elk Mountains in the background. I bought this sled last year and rode very little due to lack of snow - you need enought to cover the rocks - but that has not been a problem this year. We are still below normal for snow pack but hope to catch up by the end of the season. Another 1 - 2 feet have fallen on Grand Mesa since this picture was taken on 2-2-2013.

Sled is stock except for a taller windshield and those grips at the front of the skies. They curve the tips up a little more sharply than the stock units. Front shocks also have PowerMadd covers on them. The 700 tripple puts out about 125 HP at sea level but up here at around 9K - 10K feet the output is down from that. Still, all I have to do is push the thumb throttle and go!

Most riding is done with engine spinning in the 7K - 8K range, so if something goes wrong it doesn't take much time to do major damage.



Photo above is about 42 miles from where I parked but about 5 miles from the nearest parking area. Longest I have ever had to hike was 6 miles after my Arctic Cat blew a clutch. FWIW Yamaha mountain (long-track) sleds have a reputation for reliability that is unmatched by other brands, one of the reasons I have this Mountain Max. I have also owned Arctic Cat, Polaris, and Ski-doo. Yamahas are not the fatest sleds, but they will generally get you home every time.

Nice picture! I'd love to ride in the mountains like that. All my riding is done around 600' to 2500'. This years snow fall is isnt anything to brag about but its significantly better than last years. I didnt even register my sled last year thats how bad it was...

Nice sled, is that a 136"track track? It looks like it has a healthy lug on it. My sled is far from stock. Mine has a tunnel and rail extensions to make it a 136". It has a lot of other small stuff like bar risers, different seat, custom painted hood and decails from a RXL...

[Jerry]

Nice sled, is that a 136"track track? It looks like it has a healthy lug on it.

Factory stock 141" track. Lugs are about 2.25 inches, also stock. Most mountain sleds around here are running 151 - 168 inch tracks for the added flotation. Both previous sleds - Yamaha RX-1 and Arctic Cat Bearcat - had the longer tracks and 'floated" a bit better; the Mountain Max tends to tunnel a bit but will go thought a lot of deep powder as long as you keep moving.

If you are interested you can see photos of my snowmobile rides, including my past sleds, from my Galleries page.

http://www.appleattic.net/Galleries/

This page also has photos from XS 11 rallies and an XS11 owners collection. Note that viewing requires Adobe Flash, a free download from Adobe.com.

Running a snowmobile out here is great. Lots of good scenery and deep powder snow, much different than central Wisconsin where I did most of my previous riding. One drawback is that you can break down a long way from from your car/trailer and it is best to ride with a group when possible.

Hope you get back out as soon as possible. Out here the season ends by late March or early April so there are about 6 weeks of riding time left.

[T99Ford]

Awesome! Love me some good sledding pics and stories! So much potential for expensive disaster! Here's a few of my old 1000 Cat:









Great sled! 153 x 2.5 camo track, lightened everything, 30 up nitrous on top of 175 base horsepower, tuned clutches. I buil his one especially for me and it was a monster! Not much good on trails though, it turned out...

Nice sled man! It looks really clean! Hope you can get it running soon

[Crusty Snippets]

Toasted

Thinking back to my two stroke days on the track. Seizing was an annoying problem.
We got in the habit of checking piston fit in the hole, and found a variance in the size of stock pistons.
Instead of 2 or 3 thousands gap when checking with the piston feeler guage, we would find pistons with only one thou gap.
Unkle Crusty

[WMarshy]

Awesome! Love me some good sledding pics and stories! So much potential for expensive disaster! Here's a few of my old 1000 Cat:









Great sled! 153 x 2.5 camo track, lightened everything, 30 up nitrous on top of 175 base horsepower, tuned clutches. I buil his one especially for me and it was a monster! Not much good on trails though, it turned out...

Nice sled man! It looks really clean! Hope you can get it running soon

That is a wicked Cat! Dosent look like your riding trails with that!

Our season ended this past week, rain and a few days in the 50's melted things off quite fast. Unfortunately I didnt get a chance to really break in my engine. Put it all back together and noticed a thump thump in my suspension. Took a look and found some bad bearings, a missing bolt and a busted up suspension arm. Fixed all that and still had the thump thump. Ended up having another bad bearing in the drive train. Tore the whole drive train apart and replaced the 4 bearings. While I had the drive shaft out I replaced my track as it was about shot... Got it all back together and the snow melted.





ALL SET FOR NEXT YEAR!

[haywardguy929]

I picked this beast up a few weeks ago, 583cc Mock 1 Ski doo. Been great so far.

[Jerry]

Season is coming to an end here in western Colorado. High country is still getting snow, but temps above freezing even at 10,000 feet have been common this past week and that will only continue. I hope to get in a couple more rides, but even the last time out I found evidence of snow melt on lower trails, down to bare ground in a couple of places.

On the other hand, I put a new front tire on the bike and went for a short ride. While changing tire I checked brake linings and found they need to be replaced. Should be able to start riding regularly in a couple of weeks. Seasons change!


Photo is from a recent ride on Grand Mesa.