Snowmobiling blues...

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Before you do, have a look at where the turbo is these days. On the first year of those bad boys, they were buried pretty deep, and as a Yamaha tech at that time, it was pretty expensive to replace to the customer. And the first year, they were none too reliable.
Their PWCs were worse tho; almost cheaper to buy a new one.
Things have changed... ALOT
 
Yeah, I raced a few of the big CC sleds across the lakes at those events. Once we hit around 60 mph they begin to pull away. Mine was 670 Formula Z (two stroke of course). I beat some 700's, but most 800's and up I just ran out of motor compared to them once the clutches changed gearing for the big end....LOL. I never lost a race to the same or smaller CC though..... Some of them guys had the 1000 cc yamaha's with turbos. 140+ in the 1000 ft. Probably low 9's/high 8's at the 1/4 mile strip.
I remember my friend had a formula Z I'm sure it was early 90s. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the limiter strap? Something about keeping the skis on the ground? Well anyways this one had it didn't have it it was like a Wheely King?! When you nail that thing it wanted to stand up!
 
So, not giving up on the snowmobile chit-chat?
Get put in positions were you need to be on a sled in minus 40
And,well i grew a dislike for sledding.
So, 80-81 buddy had a citation 3500, pulled the limiter strap off. Skis way up in the air all day long.
Use to jump it all day long. He was a big boy,suprising how well it held up.

There is an annual event,fund raiser.winner is the fastest guy. All he gets is bragging rights and a trophy. Its called the BallLicker.

One cat,thundercat on nitrous. 2 stroke. For years it gets up there,but it cant hold together,212 kph is pretty fast

The twin turbo’d yammies are nudging 220 kph.
Big dollars invested in gofast machines.

I had my fun,too old and grumpy to freeze my *** off anymore.
 
buck-fifty is pretty fast in Southern Mb where I live, on account of the poor snow cover, and no grooming 'til maybe January. Banging over finger-drifts gets old in a hurry.
The club here puts on a Ball-licker type event too,except they just call it radardrags. Some interesting sleds show up. I used to do a lot of clutching for the event...... which usually got undone afterwards. So it pumped up my paycheck. But they couldn't or didn't run it every winter on account of lack of snow. By January it was too cold.
I think some of the clubs amalgamated a few years ago, and they got a huge new groomer. She makes nice, Easy on the old guys,trails....... .
Sledding ain't what it used to be tho.
 



This would be a better example of the kind of snowmobiling I like to do here in the northwest. Not going fast, just picking my way through the trees in the Deep.
 



This would be a better example of the kind of snowmobiling I like to do here in the northwest. Not going fast, just picking my way through the trees in the Deep.

We mostly have groomed trails going from town to town. Across farmers fields, through trees and valleys of farmland, sometimes along a back road for a 1/4 mile. Some places we can cruise 70-80 mph for stretches, some areas it's 10-20 mph through the trees and ravines.
  • Really fun on a Saturday to go on a 120 mile ride, get a burger and fries along the way...…. I really miss it. :(
 
We mostly have groomed trails going from town to town. Across farmers fields, through trees and valleys of farmland, sometimes along a back road for a 1/4 mile. Some places we can cruise 70-80 mph for stretches, some areas it's 10-20 mph through the trees and ravines.
  • Really fun on a Saturday to go on a 120 mile ride, get a burger and fries along the way...…. I really miss it. :(
there's hundreds upon hundreds of miles of trails just here on Mount Hood let alone the thousands of miles of trails that are groomed Statewide. A lot of times we just use those trails to get to the Backwoods spots. A lot of times we use a hot dogger or I believe it's called some kind of melting pot or something back east? But it's a little box that goes on your muffler under the hood that you can warm food in for your trip.
 
All my riding anymore is with my family, My wife and I as well as my 13 year old son and 9 year old daughter. We ride trails, fields meadows etc. around our cabin. Of al my toys, I'd keep my Duster first and sleds second. It's a great way to be with the family. My mom is 72 and she still comes out sometimes. Seing her fly along at 70mph on a lake is great. I just hope I can still ride at that age.

Cley
 
All my riding anymore is with my family, My wife and I as well as my 13 year old son and 9 year old daughter. We ride trails, fields meadows etc. around our cabin. Of al my toys, I'd keep my Duster first and sleds second. It's a great way to be with the family. My mom is 72 and she still comes out sometimes. Seing her fly along at 70mph on a lake is great. I just hope I can still ride at that age.

Cley
Some of the first people I met snowmobiling word definitely well into their retirement. Two couples sharing two snowmobiles just letting the ladies go out and then the guys went out and so on and just had a little fire going back in the parking lot. My priorities are the opposite, snowmobiles first then the Duster..
 
Snow is great for writing your name in when you have to pee outdoors. An that is about all it is good for.
 
in certain parts of the country, snow comes whether you want it or not, you can count on that. That leaves 2 choices: A - sit and moan about it.. or - B - Play in it and enjoy the beauty.
  • As a kid, if it meant school was closed, what was there not to like about that? And watching cars spin and get stuck? that there kept this simple mind occupied.
  • I think it's pretty, I love to snowmobile, December, January and February, let it snow......but by March I've lost my taste for winter and I'm ready to get the cars out!
 
Snow, means more time in the shop with the fire raging and the tunes a blasting. Winter is the time to work on the toys I use during the summer, Car, Boat, jet skis motorcycles and reloading. I'm a warm weather man !
 
40B6C313-8A9A-45DF-AEEE-ED7E246AD815.jpeg
best one so far
 
Okay in an attempt to turn this into snowmobiling Yahoo's, from snowmobiling Blues..
Yesterday I went to a steel and wood reclaimed place and got a couple of Steel girder tables for $50. I had in all little teeny utility trailer someone left at the end of the block with their junk on it 3 years ago. It sat there for a couple weeks until the neighbor told me to go get it. I've used it for a few things over the years just moving Motors and Transmissions around the yard, but it is now snowmobile sleddeck material.
right now I'm waiting for my wife to get done unloading firewood out of the truck so I can use it to go get 8-foot lengths steel. I'm going to need to buy about $200 worth the expensive stuff to make this structurally sound. Puts me at 330 and materials including my two pieces of plywood. So far...
IMG_20181018_184022.jpg
 
Okay in an attempt to turn this into snowmobiling Yahoo's, from snowmobiling Blues..
Yesterday I went to a steel and wood reclaimed place and got a couple of Steel girder tables for $50. I had in all little teeny utility trailer someone left at the end of the block with their junk on it 3 years ago. It sat there for a couple weeks until the neighbor told me to go get it. I've used it for a few things over the years just moving Motors and Transmissions around the yard, but it is now snowmobile sleddeck material.
right now I'm waiting for my wife to get done unloading firewood out of the truck so I can use it to go get 8-foot lengths steel. I'm going to need to buy about $200 worth the expensive stuff to make this structurally sound. Puts me at 330 and materials including my two pieces of plywood. So far...
View attachment 1715237525
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Hey that's my trailer I've been looking for that. You give that back.
By the way can I borrow your wife to unload a truck load of firewood for me.
 
It will be interesting to see what I can come up with. I had to work today so I was only able to get the metal stripped.
IMG_20181020_175802.jpg
 
Well I was grinding and cutting more and getting my material cleaned up I had to check my football scores of course...
IMG_20181021_132508.jpg

Hopefully by the end of the day I'll have some kind of structure.
 
That looks good. My main beef with most of the sled decks I see is how it screws up the cargo carrying area. Yours still looks nice and open.

Cley
 
Well your welding skills aren't that great you should still be able to whip out some subframe connectors without a problem.
 
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