Snowmobile Tips/Tricks

[KFhunter]

[Boss .300 winmag]

Hot dog cooker (exhaust oven) can’t begin to list all the stuff i heated up back when i rode. Wrap it up in foil and viola hot lunch.
Bbq chicken with tortillas, burritos, fajitas with tortillas, steak (precooked), list goes on and on 

Mine came with one.👍

[Ridgeratt]

KF is that a kick stand for your sled? Or curb feelers?

[KFhunter]

Neither lol

It sprays ice on the heat exchangers and lubes the hyfax.
(Plastic slides the tracks ride on)

On hard ice, the hyfaxes can melt down and engine overheat.

[bhawley76]

Don't back up with your ice scratchers down!

[luvmystang67]

Pretty good tips here.  Some learnings from my first year, and experiences.

1) Maintenance: learn about how these things are put together.  I had my jackshaft bearing on the chaincase side go, I was able to save it from total destruction by disassembling my chain case before towing it 25 miles back to town with my second sled.  Had a left it all attached it would've completely destroyed my chaincase.

2) Digging Out: Each sled needs a shovel, you need lots of rope, and a come-along.  My wife accidentally rode hers off of a logging road, steep and icy with no way out due to trees.  We spent 2+ hours using the come along and rope to get it out of a hole.  There was nobody to rescue us, nobody else around and no other way out.  Wouldn't leave home without any of these things.

3) First trip out I rode alone, as mentioned here, I'd NEVER do that again.  I rode 1 hour out, nobody could've gotten to me that day, even though I had an InReach.  Stupid.  Never ride alone.

4) Leatherman, zip ties, bunjee cords... My recoil start broke in the middle of a 4 day trip.  Sure there's an emergency rope for pull starting, but that was going to get old FAST.  I was able to use some fire and two leathermans to rebend the catch on my recoil start and had it back up and running in 2 hours.

5) Headlamp.  If your lights go out and it gets dark on you, you're hosed.  Bring a really good headlamp as backup just in case.

6) Non-ethanol gas and never had an issue.  The only thing some say is maybe a cup of oil IN the fuel with every tank to ensure you're getting great lubrication.  I know some say that the modern fuel injected machines will adjust for this and lean out your auto-inject oil.  I never had a problem with this, and see merit in doing it.

7) I had a lot of overheating issues without ice-scratchers on the older carb sleds.  I also broke an ice scratcher once, and things got hot.  Try not to ride on ice without functional ice scratchers, or you will overheat.

Muff Pots are a lot of fun, get one.  Wrap burritos in parchment and then tin foil.  Ride, then eat warm burritos!

9) Prepare and ride like they could quit at any second, because they can, do and will.

10) I bought a katana-boy saw for clearing trails.  It was awesome and packable, necessary in Idaho.

Have fun and stay safe out there.

[KFhunter]

Learn how to change out a belt - at home

Carry spare belt and sparkplugs

[KFhunter]

2) Digging Out: Each sled needs a shovel, you need lots of rope, and a come-along.  My wife accidentally rode hers off of a logging road, steep and icy with no way out due to trees.  We spent 2+ hours using the come along and rope to get it out of a hole.  There was nobody to rescue us, nobody else around and no other way out.  Wouldn't leave home without any of these things.

Snobunge

Those things work good, I seen some pretty violent yanks with those things and the stuck sled jumps out of the hole

If solo, attach rope winch to it, tension tbe bunge and it'll apply pull for a good ways, enough to get you on top again

[KFhunter]

Lightweight come-along


6.75lb for the 1/4 ton or 1/2 ton

https://lug-all.com/collections/new-lug-alls-light-line/products/1-4-ton-web-strap-hoist

[Skywagon_185]

NEVER stop headed up hill in soft snow !!!!!

[huntandjeep]

2) Digging Out: Each sled needs a shovel, you need lots of rope, and a come-along.  My wife accidentally rode hers off of a logging road, steep and icy with no way out due to trees.  We spent 2+ hours using the come along and rope to get it out of a hole.  There was nobody to rescue us, nobody else around and no other way out.  Wouldn't leave home without any of these things.

Snobunge

Those things work good, I seen some pretty violent yanks with those things and the stuck sled jumps out of the hole

If solo, attach rope winch to it, tension tbe bunge and it'll apply pull for a good ways, enough to get you on top again

This was one of my first purchases

[Boss .300 winmag]

Let’s talk more about these. Advice needed please.

Looked at some at two different dealerships, wide range of prices $50’s-$100+.

The cable ones look cheesy to me, and the spring loaded ones look heavy duty, some seem to have better scratch attachments on the ends.

Heck if I had some swather, or combine reel tines laying around I’d fab up some scratchers.🤣

[KFhunter]

Cable ones don't work well, but you can back up

The ones that bolt to the rail work good, in stowed position they hook over the rail

Back up with them down messes them up good

Don't go up a ramp with them down, that makes things interesting

[KFhunter]

If you ride a lot of ice use fully clipped track

[MIKEXRAY]

When in doubt power out.

I've snowmobiled 28 years and never ever bought scratchers.  On a couple of extremely icy frozen days all those years I did stop half way up the mountain to let the engine cool / throw some snow on the track. Usually enough snow on road or somewhere on way up no worries.
 
I've never used anything but Super Unleaded and have never had a single problem with any engine ever. Two sleds, two outboards on boat, generator always fire right up. I'm always perplexed at all of the Non Ethanol posts on here.

Good luck and have fun.