Riding in The Backyard

 

Riding in the backyard!

 

Although the snow is marginal this year, I still get to ride from the doorstep of our house. No trailering, nothing. Just uncover the sled and go ride for an hour after lunch.

Recently, we had a hot spell of weather, which melted down the snow. But now that there’s a colder spell, that snow has set up to the point that it’s like spring snow, and you only sink in about an inch. Add that to a fair variety of terrain, blue skies, and you’ve got one awesome backyard!

Granted, it is limited compared to the highcountry we’re spoiled on, but when you don’t have time or anyone to ride with, the backyard is fun – even to just practice up on techniques. Best of all, I live where I can ride it every day! 

 

More backyard riding...

Clutch tool Build..

 

The author's home-built clutch compression tool (with a secondary clutch in place).

 

In the last post, I mentioned the clutch tool used to disassemble and reassemble the secondary clutch… now, here’s how i built mine.

I started by reinforcing the workbench with a couple short boards, to keep the tool from pulling out or breaking the bench. Once I got that, I drilled a hole thru the top of the bench, and thru one of the boards (I made sure that it was just the right size for the all-thread). Then, I took a foot and half long section of ½ inch all-thread, and put it thru the hole. I Locked two nuts at the base (below the work bench), with no washer, so that they would sink into the wood. From the top, I put a washer then a nut, then a larger washer. Then for the top clamp, I used a gate hinge, a washer, and the final nut…

I used it yesterday, and it works great. Plus, I was able to make it from materials we had… I estimated that the total cost to make it would be about $15 – quite a bit cheaper then the clutch clamps you find in the catalogs, but a lot less refined!  

Clutch Work

When we tore apart my clutches (ride 1/18/09), there were worn out/missing parts in the secondary clutch… Apart from the normal wear, there was a button (the small plastic part that the clutch slides on) that had broken off and was rolling around inside the clutch. Luckily, it didn’t cause much damage, and nor did it affect performance. Since we didn’t have the parts then, we ordered them, and put it back together with the same parts, and called it good. Yesterday, we got the parts… and it was time to install them!

The first thing to do was built a tool to disassemble (and reassemble) the clutch. Basically, it’s just a clamp to clamp the two halves of the clutch together, so you can take off a metal clip and then just slide them apart. Sounds kind of complicated, but it’s really simple – and cheap to make. (I’ll go into that in the next post!)

            Once I had the clutch apart, I popped out the old buttons, and tapped in the brand new ones. While I was at it, I also cleaned up the clutch a little bit before reassembling it… Once I got it mounted back up to the sled, it was time to test it out – and make sure I hadn’t reassembled it wrong… As I had hoped, it worked exactly like it should, with no problems due to the mechanic!  

Getting Stuck, and More Learning the Hard Way

Getting stuck is just part of mountain riding. It’s not a matter of if, it’s when… and if you don’t get stuck, you’re not trying hard enough! I usually get stuck to some extent on every ride. It’s either because I tried too hard to pull something, or was being lazy on the sled…

Although it’s a fact of riding, there are a lot of things you can do to get out quicker… Here are a couple lessons I’ve learned from experience:

1. When you know you’re about to get stuck, turn out as much as possible (it makes digging out easier)

2. Carry a saw with you at all times

3. Keep your shovel where it’s easy to get to, and keep it with you at all times

4. Willows don’t offer traction, and shouldn’t be hit at very low speeds

 

Those are only a couple of lessons I’ve learned from experience… The full list of things i’ve learned (from experience, as well as from my dad) is way too long to type out!

More Venting Mods!

 

Hillbilly-built vents, in front of the fuel tank.

With a little bit of creativity, household materials can be transformed into snowmobile modifications… Even stuff like window screen.

Take, for example, my latest (and so far best) vent design. I started by cutting a template out of paper, to fit right where I wanted. With that, I cut the frame out of an empty, plastic one-gallon oil container. Then, I glued window screen to the frame using hot glue. Once the glue cooled, I cut off the excess screen. A little bit of drilling, sawing, grinding and a couple roofing screws, and it was installed.

The cool thing about it is you can build any shape vent, with only the size limit of the oil jug. Not only are you able to make a vent to fit where you want, but it costs close to nothing – the roofing screws were most expensive part.

I’ll see how it holds up, but it should do well, having the screen clamped in place, as well as being in a protected location. For a summer project, I’ll paint the roofing screws black so they don’t look quite so industrial!