Snowmobiles on the ice

[Bernie]

Remember bolting on 1" spacers to drop the skis an inch and spread 'em a shackle width. Then we used to run a bead of horseshoe borium along the stock runners and grind it to an edge for steering control. And using the heaviest possible springs cranked up tight on the back axle so more weight was on the skis. The sled turned better but was a bear to steer sometimes, and the overstressed link springs on the back were forever blowing up. I carried spares on the trail. Changing them in the bush was slightly easier than replacing pistons in the snow.

 

JF

 

John, you are from the days when we had fun on sleds! They did have their moments. Blown head gaskets, fouled spark plugs, oil on your suit about your belly button height, blown and badly worn belts, and what drove me crazy was the rattle from the brake and throttle levers on ski-doos. Dads old snowcruisers didn't do that.

I welded on old 3 corner files on my runners, they worked pretty good too.

The sleds today are fun to ride though. They are much more controllable, but they are too fast and I worry about my son riding the hot rods. But I suppose my father worried about me too.

[JohnF]

John, you are from the days when we had fun on sleds! They did have their moments. Blown head gaskets, fouled spark plugs, oil on your suit about your belly button height, blown and badly worn belts, and what drove me crazy was the rattle from the brake and throttle levers on ski-doos. Dads old snowcruisers didn't do that.

I welded on old 3 corner files on my runners, they worked pretty good too.

The sleds today are fun to ride though. They are much more controllable, but they are too fast and I worry about my son riding the hot rods. But I suppose my father worried about me too.

 

My TNT's were bad for blowback. My yellow canary suit had a permanent oily belly. The cognoscenti knew which belts could be borrowed from other machines to subtley alter the clutching on Skidoos, and vice versa. If I remember correctly my Kohler powered Rupps ran better with the standard Skidoo belt, but it had to come from Gates or Dayco, I forget which now. It was fractionally wider or narrower (I forget which) and once you got the springs, ramps and dogs just right you got just a tad more response. I remember a night spent on Rice Lake with one of my dealers (who was into sled racing too) grinding weights and changing springs on some new Comet clutches until we got it just right. Then sending off the specs to the manufacturer to get a bulletin sent to the OSRF scrutineers in the morning so we could use the new clutch legally. .

 

We thought we were pretty sophisticated when we started carrying a range of carb jets for the Mikunis. I don't think we really had a clue what we were doing but sometimes we just got lucky.

 

I remember loaning one of my stock Rupps to a Polaris team driver for a marathon event cuz his had blown something. I warned him about the launch but he just did what he always did with his polarises and threw his weight back hard when the flag dropped. He got a little more traction than he expected and the sled went right up and over on it's back. One of the risks of having the clutch engage at about 5 grand I guess.

 

Yeah. Those were the days.

 

JF

[Bernie]

In years past our community had annual winter carnivals that were hugely popular. In 1973 they set up an oval track for sled racing. Two or three days of mild destroyed the track the week before the occasion. On the Friday of the weekend event winter returned with a vengeance. It was decided on Friday evening to hold some kind of racing event. My dad and I went to work on a Johnson Rampage 440. We cleaned up the clutching, drained the fuel tank to a minimum, loosened up the track a little, fresh air filter(yes these sleds had a filter) and a few other "improvements"

So on Saturday morning they cleared the main street of town of vehicles. The start line was at the local downtown garage and the finish line was at the Windsor Hotel. I was only 14 at the time and was a little tentative about actual racing. When I seen a Speedway racing team roll into the pits my heart sunk. These guys looked really professional!

The street was lined with people, there had to be over a thousand it seemed to me at the time.

I lined up at the start line for the men's 440 heat. I was racing a local and won the heat. Eventually won 3rd in that division. In the junior class I was 1st. All in all a lot of fun.

No way you could do that in today's society. Laws and faster machines have taken away some of the things we used to do.

[JohnF]

In years past our community had annual winter carnivals that were hugely popular. In 1973 they set up an oval track for sled racing. Two or three days of mild destroyed the track the week before the occasion. On the Friday of the weekend event winter returned with a vengeance. It was decided on Friday evening to hold some kind of racing event. My dad and I went to work on a Johnson Rampage 440. We cleaned up the clutching, drained the fuel tank to a minimum, loosened up the track a little, fresh air filter(yes these sleds had a filter) and a few other "improvements"

So on Saturday morning they cleared the main street of town of vehicles. The start line was at the local downtown garage and the finish line was at the Windsor Hotel. I was only 14 at the time and was a little tentative about actual racing. When I seen a Speedway racing team roll into the pits my heart sunk. These guys looked really professional!

The street was lined with people, there had to be over a thousand it seemed to me at the time.

I lined up at the start line for the men's 440 heat. I was racing a local and won the heat. Eventually won 3rd in that division. In the junior class I was 1st. All in all a lot of fun.

No way you could do that in today's society. Laws and faster machines have taken away some of the things we used to do.

 

This is fun. I'd forgotten the Speedways. Fast. The Kalamazoo sleds were cool too, and the THUNDERJETS. They were an accident waiting to happen but fun to watch. Remember when Motoski brought the alcohol carbed free air sleds? And Villeneuve's twin trax? Did he ever get beaten when he finished the race, not that he finished many with those things?

 

JF

[Sinker]

I just got in from a 2 hour ride on a twin track Alpine. I'm beat!!! They sure pack a nice ski trail though

 

Sinker

[JohnF]

I just got in from a 2 hour ride on a twin track Alpine. I'm beat!!! They sure pack a nice ski trail though

 

Sinker

 

Do they still make those. There was a Valmont too. Don't remember what the difference was.

 

JF

[Sinker]

Do they still make those. There was a Valmont too. Don't remember what the difference was.

 

JF

 

Not that I know of. These ones are early/mid 80s models. They run great, but ya can't turn much Similar to riding a brick

 

Sinker

[JohnF]

Not that I know of. These ones are early/mid 80s models. They run great, but ya can't turn much Similar to riding a brick

 

Sinker

 

I'm talking early early 70's, still living in the past. Guess I just can't give up the days of hair and girlfriends and motorized toys you could actually fix yerself without a computer.

 

JF

[Bernie]

Alpine and Elan parts are getting rare. Many pieces are now obsolete. There are a few Alpines around but most around here are so so badly used and old they are getting very difficult to patch up anymore. On the other hand the Scandic superwidetrack will out do the Alpine in every way.

[Sinker]

We have an old wide track skandic as well. I'm not sure if its a superwide or not, but its a beast also. The Alpine still packs a better trail......no question.......they're just a pig to run!

 

I broke the throttle cable on the alpine today......any idea where to get a new one?

 

Sinker

[irishfield]

I broke the throttle cable on the alpine today......any idea where to get a new one?

 

Sinker

 

Bike department at CTC ?

[Sinker]

I already have it jimmy rigged well enough to run.....

 

It would be nice to have the real part.

[irishfield]

For sure sinker... did the casing break or just the inner cable. Easy to fabricate a new one if just the inner.

[Sinker]

Well, the inner snapped, but the casing caused it to wear out. The metal casing is frayed under the plastic sheath, and its tearing up the cable. Its right on the turn into the lever. I have it jimmy rigged for now, but I need a new piece of cable for sure. The whole thing would be a thing of beauty!

 

 

 

Sinker

[JohnF]

Well, the inner snapped, but the casing caused it to wear out. The metal casing is frayed under the plastic sheath, and its tearing up the cable. Its right on the turn into the lever. I have it jimmy rigged for now, but I need a new piece of cable for sure. The whole thing would be a thing of beauty!

Sinker

 

Check around at some of the real old Skidoo dealers. It's amazing what they have hiding away on the parts shelves. Somebody who sold 'em years ago may know what part will work off another model too. Bombardier was terrible for assigning new part numbers to the same part for different models and you just had to know what worked.

 

I was a local hero one year when the 440 TNT's were burning up hot side pistons really fast. I had gotten a tip from the boys in the racing dept when I was in Barrie for service school that they were gonna be a problem and that the best replacement was the 399 TNT piston. Worked like a charm and I had dozens in inventory when the replacement notice went out just after the first good snow. Our customers really saw the benefit of buying locally that year. Seems the piston part number for the 440 was backorderedand the other dealers didn't know about the interchangeable piston thing. The guys who'd saved $50 by going out of town to buy got pretty riled when we told 'em we'd be doing our own customers' sleds first. Several even went whining to Bombardier who finally told us we had an obligation to honour all warranty work. We told them it was no problem but our customers would all be done first.

 

Barring finding the proper part, as Wayne has said, it's not hard to fabricate a new one. Those old Tillotsons had enough extra meat in them, at least the HD's, that you can drill and tap for a stopper clamp somewhere if you can't reuse the bracket that's on it now.

 

JF