What's new
By:
Filters

The Snowmobile Thread

Made it up to the Northwoods WI this past week. I rented a sled cause I usually only ride once a year. I had a Polaris Indy 600. I sure there are faster sleds but it was plenty fast for me. Hit 98-100mph across the lakes a couple times. That's a rush.

I have most winters off and could possibly go sledding a couple times a season. If I did that, what used sled would you all recommend for me. I wouldn't want to spend a bunch and I'd like something comparable to the Indy I just rented, but maybe some room for the wife. I enjoy sledding but it gets $$. I'm 8-9 hour drive from the trails.
 

Attachments

  • 20230115_172907.jpg
    20230115_172907.jpg
    642.2 KB · Views: 8
Tin Roof said:
The trails up by Cable/Hayward where we usually go are fun. Twistys through the forests and then a lake crossing where you can pin it and blow out the cobwebs. :laughing:
Click to expand...
Yup those are the most fun types of trails. Boondocking is a blast up in the Keewanaw area. But that you almost have to have a local go with you so you don’t end up in a bad spot.
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
Up trails are super highways. They are all logging roads big enough for semis to travel on. No water or lake crossings . Not my kind of snowmobiling. I like the twisty’s in bfe wi:flipoff2:
Click to expand...

WRONG!
Sorry, but you're so wrong. Like way wrong.
LMK when you are this way with a vintage.
 
larboc said:
Never understood the appeal of that. Every week up here this time of year there is another quick news mention of some dude from WI, IL, OH, IA, MN, or downstate MI who has barhopped all day and then liquefied themselves through a stand of maple trees.
Bikes and sleds are the two things I don't feel compelled to drink and drive.
Click to expand...
Yup. No drinking when sledding. I rely on Jesus steering way too much when I’m sober there would be no way he could keep up if I was drinking. Good thing I only drive a 75hp 1980 exciter :lmao:
 
larboc said:
Never understood the appeal of that. Every week up here this time of year there is another quick news mention of some dude from WI, IL, OH, IA, MN, or downstate MI who has barhopped all day and then liquefied themselves through a stand of maple trees.
Bikes and sleds are the two things I don't feel compelled to drink and drive.
Click to expand...
I will have a beer here and there, but don’t drink much when riding. My theory is I can drink at home, I’m spending a lot of money to go up there to ride so I’m going to make sure I enjoy it. That’s also why when we do our family trip we leave early in the day and try to be off trails by dark or shortly after, before the drunks are out.

ETA: the bar stops for me are for socializing. Not for pounding beers.
 
Last edited:
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
Yup. No drinking when sledding. I rely on Jesus steering way too much when I’m sober there would be no way he could keep up if I was drinking. Good thing I only drive a 75hp 1980 exciter :lmao:
Click to expand...
I like the go fast lever too much to be taking chances on slow reflexes. :laughing:
 
larboc said:
WRONG!
Sorry, but you're so wrong. Like way wrong.
LMK when you are this way with a vintage.
Click to expand...
Last time we went up was by watersmeet and Bruce’s crossing . That was like almost a decade ago now :homer:. Shit time really flies I been out of college for 20 years now :mad3:.
 
sicumminsde said:
Made it up to the Northwoods WI this past week. I rented a sled cause I usually only ride once a year. I had a Polaris Indy 600. I sure there are faster sleds but it was plenty fast for me. Hit 98-100mph across the lakes a couple times. That's a rush.

I have most winters off and could possibly go sledding a couple times a season. If I did that, what used sled would you all recommend for me. I wouldn't want to spend a bunch and I'd like something comparable to the Indy I just rented, but maybe some room for the wife. I enjoy sledding but it gets $$. I'm 8-9 hour drive from the trails.
Click to expand...
What’s your budget? Buy the newest sled you can afford with under 6k miles. 6k is where I start to worry about a rebuild. If you are only going once or twice renting might be the best option.
 
We've had 3' of snow in the last month at the house. I may or may not have ripped mine up and down the street like a fool. Had them 3 years and this was the first ride. The yellow one makes some horrible sounds outta the clutch. Got something to fix I guess...they're both 2001 SkiDoo Summit 700s
 

Attachments

  • B16EE940-AF29-4DFD-84B5-83F2D213EB66.jpeg
    B16EE940-AF29-4DFD-84B5-83F2D213EB66.jpeg
    4.5 MB · Views: 10
The world championship snowmobile races are this weekend up in eagle river. Last weekend was the vintage races. I heard the ice was pretty poor and it was kinda a shit show. I would not head that way from watersmeet unless you want to hit a lot of traffic.
 
reklund5 said:
We've had 3' of snow in the last month at the house. I may or may not have ripped mine up and down the street like a fool. Had them 3 years and this was the first ride. The yellow one makes some horrible sounds outta the clutch. Got something to fix I guess...they're both 2001 SkiDoo Summit 700s
Click to expand...
I’m a big fan of the early 2000 ski doos. Great machines. I’ve had 2 MXZ 700’s that were fun reliable machines.
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
The world championship snowmobile races are this weekend up in eagle river. Last weekend was the vintage races. I heard the ice was pretty poor and it was kinda a shit show. I would not head that way from watersmeet unless you want to hit a lot of traffic.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up. Apparently what this group does is head out in the morning to their furthest point and then work their way back to base and break up into different groups on the way back. There’s a few that don’t drink at all and/or bring their kids with them and skip some stops on the way back. That’s probably the group I’ll fall in with.

I’ve heard some of the lakes are not in great shape yet and don’t have the trail markers out yet. I’d prefer to not have to skip open water.
 
Still no snow locally... Went the to L.P. for a couple days between christmas and new years. This was at the end of the cold snap going through, main sled was down with water in fuel issues, backup sled needed -re-jetted for new pipes, so the backup-backup sled was called into service. 1996 XCR 440 SP

Resized_20221227_164139.jpg



First half of the one day was great, snow started getting thin farther north but trails were groomed. Had 120 miles in by noon.

20221227_103633.jpeg


85 mph was about all the ole girl had, needed another cylinder... If it didn't blow up that morning it should be good for a while, had some miles in just glued to the bar. :cookie:

20221227_100224.jpeg





Lunch stop was taking forever to make a cheeseburger, so time for some mid-day jetting changes! This sled needs jetted if the sun goes behind a cloud...

The second half of the day mas markedly different. Took the alternate route back and pretty sure we found every trail that hadn't seen a groomer since last season. :bounce: I started coming down with the flu the night before and was also feeling it then, was after 8:00pm to get another ~100 miles back to hotel. I was beat, but glad to have had a lighter sled instead of the big heavy triple in the moguls and craters.

20221227_134118.jpeg
 
I cannot fathom 85mph on a snowmobile.
the one I rode did maaaaaaybe 50, and that seemed terrifying enough to me.
 
My new 850 will supposedly top out around 120 in stock form.

The CF7 I had at 96 when I looked at the Speedo. Usually I don’t check.

Last year I raced a guy across a lake with my 800. He said we were right at 100-105 before we had to let off.
 
Well the trip was cut short for me. Yesterday our grandson was sick and our daughters boyfriend stayed home with him. The boyfriend is who invited me on this trip, and it’s invite only with some rules.

Long story short he wasn’t feeling good when we met to load up this morning and continually got worse. About two hours in we turned around and came home. Our daughter said he’s in bed now sick as hell. Oh well, our next one is only 2 1/2 weeks away
 
I did the shock delete mod today. I'm confused as to why a machined and threaded steel shaft is $30, and an injection molded plastic wheel with a $2 bearing is $50?

I can only assume Polaris only profits on wear items, and those bogies are a wear item.

So if you blow the bolts off the end of your front track shock shaft, you can ride it out with only the rear shock. It makes the skid very floppy and very not fun in the whoops.


IMG_20230122_153410047_HDR.jpg

IMG_20230122_153403648_HDR.jpg
 
toocheaptosmoke you should like this. Stopped by the local Powersports place to pick up a few studs for the smart car and it Looks like they are putting together another monster sled.
95B25FE9-DAC7-40E6-8CDC-A4DE0E82CEA4.jpeg

They got a D&D triple block that uses the 800 twin jugs. They then got the oversized d&d jugs right away to make it a 1500cc. It will be bigger than their 1300cc jetski motor sled. Asked him how much hp he shooting for and he said they should get 300 out of it. They will not have it done this winter. Will take them a while to develop some pipes on the dyno and then get them to fit under the hood of a sled.
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
toocheaptosmoke you should like this. Stopped by the local Powersports place to pick up a few studs for the smart car and it Looks like they are putting together another monster sled.
95B25FE9-DAC7-40E6-8CDC-A4DE0E82CEA4.jpeg

They got a D&D triple block that uses the 800 twin jugs. They then got the oversized d&d jugs right away to make it a 1500cc. It will be bigger than their 1300cc jetski motor sled. Asked him how much hp he shooting for and he said they should get 300 out of it. They will not have it done this winter. Will take them a while to develop some pipes on the dyno and then get them to fit under the hood of a sled.
Click to expand...
seems dumb and dangerous.

excellent.
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
toocheaptosmoke you should like this. Stopped by the local Powersports place to pick up a few studs for the smart car and it Looks like they are putting together another monster sled.

They got a D&D triple block that uses the 800 twin jugs. They then got the oversized d&d jugs right away to make it a 1500cc. It will be bigger than their 1300cc jetski motor sled. Asked him how much hp he shooting for and he said they should get 300 out of it. They will not have it done this winter. Will take them a while to develop some pipes on the dyno and then get them to fit under the hood of a sled.
Click to expand...

Hot damn, that's going to be a beast. :smokin: I was looking at the case trying to figure out what the heck it was from... :laughing:
 
Artic cat 7/800 twin. They had one ready to be welded together sitting right behind it. They then decided to pony up for the 1 piece casted block from d&d. $2800 for the bottom case:lmao: without any jugs.


toocheaptosmoke said:
Hot damn, that's going to be a beast. :smokin: I was looking at the case trying to figure out what the heck it was from... :laughing:
Click to expand...
 
CR Racing in BC used to build a triple using Cat 900 cylinders, custom welded case and crank. Jaws pipes. I have a 900 Cat twin bored out to 998 in my old Gen 2 RMK.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh