MY NEW TOY IS A PIECE OF JUNK

[limeyangler]

Hi Y'all.

 

well...what can i say...wish i was a mechanic.

 

 

Picked up a second hand sled 2 weeks ago from a guy i know and have fished with, looked in good condition, drove it home even.

 

 

Guy told me it was mechanically sound.....thats untill i just received the call from the shop where i was getting it serviced.

 

 

So far....(and i dont even know what this all means other than MUCHO $$$$$$$$ approximately $1000 in parts alone is the quote so far)

 

 

 

1. Both suspension shot to pieces

 

 

2. Rear torque bolts broken, shaft damaged.

 

3. New chain needed

 

4. Reverse gear completely chewed up, probably whole thing needs replacing

 

The guy at the shop stopped there and told me to come in...glad he did, i almost passed out....NOT HAVING A GOOD DAY!

 

 

OH well....cant cry...gotta try and smile, at least my uncle is lending me his sled for tomorrows trip to Shoal Lake, its gonna be hard not to think about this out there though...lol....damn i hate being ripped off!!!!! to think i helped this guy pre-fish a tournament in the fall...he must've known it wa a piece of crap all the talk, of stored inside, wife and kids ride

 

LOL...sorry...beginning to rant...i'll end it there.

[PatrickGG]

Time to pay someone a visit, i would.

[Uncle Buck]

better you find out in the shop, then in being stranded in the middle of the lake...

[legacey]

I had the same scenario when I bought my boat.....I was to head out for a week long trip up north the week after I bought it.

 

For what it's worth...unfortunatley not what the bills may be; it was frustrating but when it was fixed, I fell back in love again.

 

Cheers and good luck!

 

Paul

[johnnyb]

Man, that sucks...but as our wise Uncle Buck says, way better to find out now, than in the middle of a lake. There's gotta be something positive that will come out of this...

[Guest gbfisher]

The things are built to break. Welcome to snowmobile winter wonderland..... A g note isnt to bad for repairs. At east you know it will run the whole season. You hope.

If it's an ice hut special, it should last a few years after the repairs.

If its a triple?.....OUCH!

Did ya get a trailer with that?..........

[Clampet]

Reminds me of a friend that was mad at his bro s in law cause he wouldn't lend him his snowmobile.

 

The very next day the bros in law takes his sle fer a ride, and the entire clutch and chain drive explode to the tune of many dollars.

 

I said to buddy, "See... if you had borrowed the sled, it would have broken down on you."

He was lucky he got turned down on the use of the sled, cause he wasn't working, and could ill afford the repairs.

Most people sell their cars, sleds, bikes, etc when they know repairs are coming, otherwise they would still be driving them.

 

Most people will never be honest with you, they always make up some story to justify the sale.

[mikeh]

The guy probably just kept driving the sled in that condition and didn't take it to get serviced regularly, he probably wasn't aware of the problems.

I'd mention it to him how much work is required and see what he says.

[rob v]

That's the main reason I try never to buy anything used from family or friends. No better way to spoil a relationship/friendship - even if the rip-off isn't intentional

 

Hopefully you bought it at a decent enough price that after the fix up it's a reasonably priced unit (?)

[drwxr]

dont know how good you know the mechanic, but ive seen mechanics who make money just because people dont have a clue about cars, parts and in your case a sled. if you can, get a second opinion.

 

for the giggles

Edited December 19, 2008 by efka

[ciceri]

that shouldnt cost $1000.

 

you must have taken it to a stealer? i mean dealer.

[forrest]

That's the main reason I try never to buy anything used from family or friends. No better way to spoil a relationship/friendship - even if the rip-off isn't intentional

 

Hopefully you bought it at a decent enough price that after the fix up it's a reasonably priced unit (?)

 

Yep, when it comes to family and friends be prepared to accept the loss of the item blowing up the next day.

Not that they would knowingly sell something bad to you, but, stuff happens. It is worth it to see what they say. No matter what keep a happy attitude about it.

It did work great for the previous guy...he just did not take care of it like the sled guy said.

 

Same goes for lending it to them....I can't remember anything that I loaned to a brother or sister that they did not come back broken.

 

forrest

Edited December 19, 2008 by forrest

[Leecher]

Bummer sorry to hear this Simon, like others said speak to guy about it and tomorrow, try not to think about it too much.... enjoy your fishing day and I'll be keeping an eye out for your report

 

Leechman

[Grimace]

Put it up in the classifieds

[Bernie]

I try to remind my customers before they purchase a motorized vehicle they should get their mechanic to check it over first. A couple bucks spent checking it out can mean a couple things. First if the thing is a piece of junk you just saved the purchase price. Secondly if it does need a little work it gives you the choice of not buying or taking the value of the repairs off the purchase price.

 

 

that shouldnt cost $1000.

you must have taken it to a stealer? i mean dealer.

 

Many dealers are responsible people and care about their customers. I would venture to guess it was a fair price for the work stated.

[Rizzo]

I refuse to sell anything of value to family or friends for the exact same reason. I don't want it blowing up on them 2 weeks later even though it was fine for me. I didn't see how much you paid for it...that will determine how bad a deal this was I guess. Hard to complain if you only paid a few hundred bucks. And if you know the guy well, he should be willing to take it back assuming you have barely used it.

[12footspringbok]

Thats the thing with sleds most people drive them all winter, and park em in the spring with no maintenance what so ever start them up in the fall and sure it runs great no need to check anything. Then you're on the middle of the lake and it breaks down. Just be glad atleast you got it looked at before you went out on it and got stranded....

[ecmilley]

I spend about 4-500 bones a year on my sled to maintain it, for normal wear and tear items, bogies, sliders ect I do most of my own work, but I still take it to my yammy dealer it amazing what i break sometimes without even knowing it, there is a good chance that the person you bought the sled off didn,t realize there was even a problem, you get use to little quirks without realizing it may lead to bigger problems secondly i have rode with busted up suspension components and so long as your on a grommed trail you would hardly notice anything (especially wearing a bigg azz helmet) it's when you go off trail and into the rough that any problems would manifest themselves.

don't get to mad yet once it's fixed up it'll give you a couple good years of service

[limeyangler]

Thanks for all the replies guys, i've been trying to smile through this little episode today, and i really appreciate all the comments. Its helped me to put in perspective.....i think the fact as so many of you point out is that the guy probably didn't even know. The guys at the shop said the machine was by no means "beat up"....nor did it look abused....they said it simply was not maintained. I'm gonna suck up the cost, and if the guy i bought it from goes half or even a third of repairs with me...i'll have a good sled, in good condition, that if i sold next year i could make a profit on...as i got it at a good price. Not that i'm gonna sell it.

 

 

Anyway...just one of lifes little trials...had 'em before (way worse) will have 'em again...just gratefull this forum was here to vent a bit when igot the call from the garage

 

 

Cheers all,

 

 

Just finished packing up my gear for whitefish tomorrow, borrowing my uncles sled....hopefully my buddy Glen doesn't cancel on me......

 

 

Will post a report tomorrow evening

 

 

ONCE AGAIN ...THANKS ALL

[brkygetr]

Simon...that sucks but I feel your pain. I did the same thing last year except I DID break down out on the lake. Bought the sled from a reputible guy and put exactly 63.7 km on it before it seized. I was 4.5 km from the truck . Luckily 10 min after I broke down a few buddies just happened by and towed me back. It was pure luck they came along...would have been a long walk through deep snow.

At least be glad that you will have a sound sled before you get 30km from the truck.

[pike slayer]

its sounds like a very simple fix. if you dont know much about sleds but are mechanicly inclined then you should be able to do it yourself in 2-3 hours. www.inglesperformance.com go to parts fiche and you can check out all the parts costs and what stuff goes. www.hardcoresledder.com is a great forum site for sleds, lots of parts for sale and good ppl to help you. its sad how long sleds have been around yet they still havent been able to keep them reliable like a car that can go for 300 000km ony doing oil changes, brakes, and ball joints etc. by the sound of the things that are wrong the guy probably didnt even know they were wrong. those parts wouldnt leave you stranded and could hobble back home. good luck!

[Bernie]

It was pure luck they came along...would have been a long walk through deep snow.

 

A few years back NOBODY rode alone on these things. Even riding in pairs wasn't enough sometimes.

Reliability has come a long way with sleds but riding alone any distance away from a warm place to stay is still risky.

 

PS. I see vehicles/machines of almost every description every day. And many people are not aware of issues with their vehicles until they experience breakdown or brought in for maintainence inspections. Don't be too harsh on your friend, chances are he had no idea.

[2 tone z71]

Indy XLT the cranks are poop in those things they will split ,they over rev terribly and go nowhere ,the primary your gonna be looking for a new one soon with that mileage usually 5K you throw them away and bolt up a new one same goes for any Cat with decent power,other than that they make a lovely sound as all Polaris triples do have fun the joys and pains of sled ownership has begun,Maintaince is a MUST on any snowmobile

[Greencoachdog]

That's the problem with buying anything used, most of the time you're just buying someone elses problems!

 

I can't say for sure, but I think the person that sold you this machine knew it needed work and that's why the price was good. If something sounds too good to be true or seems like a great bargain... hold onto your

 

Like Bernie said, It's better to have a mechanic check something like this before you buy it. Had you told the seller you wanted to have it checkedout before you bought it he might have fessed up. If he really didn't know, and it needed this work... it may have given you bargaining power for a lower price.

 

Have fun fishin' today and I hope ya catch bunches!!!