Mod Season

The end of summer. After all the work’s been done (or at least the biggest part), it’s that time. Time to tear down the sled, and getting ready for the next round of winter.

There are two sleds in our shop, my dad’s and mine. My dads has remained under its cover since the snow melted. And then mine has been torn down to the chassis, and put back together with various aftermarket parts. Not to say one way is right and the other wrong, it’s just two different styles (like you’ll see one of us go for the trees and technical terrain, and the other cornices).

So, with that said, i’ll give and update on mods… Apart from keeping my sled together (hopefully), i only got in a couple mods so far. The biggest one was a lightweight muffler – which knocked off 10 LBS. of weight. As far as smaller mods, a new taillight and a smaller top sprocket (to gear it down). Oh, and a little bit of paint – nothing fancy (i’ll try to get a couple pics up over the weekend of the somewhat final product!). We’ll see how it does this winter!

Helmet modifications…

 

My helmet, with modifications....

 Nothing in my possession can remain stock. All of the sleds and bikes that are, or were mine, are modified. Even my helmet is a mod…

The helmet I’m wearing now is the one I got four years ago. I ran it like the yellow and orange lid that it was for two years. But when I upgraded to a bigger sled, it didn’t match… so I had to modify it. After cutting the visor down, I sanded it all, and took the black spray paint to it… And so I had my matching black helmet, for only a couple of cents.

But after running it a half-season like that, I thought it needed more. I decided a “stabilizer fin” on the back would look cool, but the ones in the catalogs were too expensive. So I rummaged thru my shop to find something that I could make work… After making a paper template, I cut out a piece of plastic from an oil jug, and then mounted it up with a small screw (which, I might add, was out of a stereo I took apart years before) and superglue…

This year, I “branded” it, with a cut-out text, and more spray paint. I’m not sure if there are any more mods I can do to it now, but I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth out of it – both in protection, and projects!

The “Hotdogger”

It’s simple, yet brilliant, and it’s one of the greatest things to happen to snowmobiles – the Hotdogger or Hot Pot. Also know as hot food that goes with you.

It’s a clever idea: a metal cooker, which attaches to the exhaust pipe of a sled. It works really good, heating up and even cooking food. We’ve tried almost everything in the Hotdogger: hot dogs, cocktail smokies (miniature hotdogs) bratwurst, taquitos, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, leftover turkey meat, and lately, Hot Pockets!

Like I said, it’s a cool idea, and it brings a new meaning to “fast food”. It’s also a luxury to have hot food on a ride… Unfortunately, all the venting I’ve done to my sled take away from the very principal of the Hotdogger: heat. Cooler temperatures equal more power, but lukewarm hotdogs… So the Hotdogger goes on my dad’s sled, which doesn’t have as much venting, and we still have hot lunches.

Cutting the Seat

The latest version of the seat...

 

Although the seat on a snowmobile is supposed to serve only one purpose (to sit on), it can also serve more… A couple examples: storage, ergonomics, and of course, another way to shed weight.

Since the stock seat on my sled was too wide (and too heavy) to begin with, I decided to make my own. It was a simple design, just aluminum tubing, rivets, plywood, and foam. It was about 10 lbs lighter then stock, with a place to store a shovel. But it lacked any cushion, and had a couple problems… First, the material I used to cover it was old and brittle – and it quickly started peeling apart. Secondly, the plywood wasn’t enough support, and it broke in half. So it was time to go back to the drawing board.

My next idea was to use the stock seat, only cut it down so it was narrower along the sides, and flatter on the top. After taking a saw to the foam, I took the seat covering back over it, and with few cuts in the covering, got it to fit fairly snug and smooth. Apart from having more cushion then the one I built, it was a better fit, only weighed a pound more, and it was still about 8-9 lbs. lighter then stock. But i don’t have have a handy spot for my shovel…

I’ll try and revive the freestyle seat over the summer, depending on how the modified stock seat works… Either way, it’s only time I’ve put into it.

 

The freestyle type seat I built, with a shovel in place.

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!