I’m ashamed to say I’ve been out twice this year, for a total of about 160 miles. My regular riding buddy has had major issues with his sled and mine hasn’t been reliable either. First ride out I went with @ryanbgb2 from Alden to Colden Lakes and blew my chain case up like a grenade about a 1/2 mile from Two Rod Road. My fault, too much chain tension when I swapped the track in the off season. $120 in eBay parts and she was good as new.
Then for my second ride my buddies sled was finally up and running and we did a great 110+ mile loop with 3 other people but at the end of the day my sled wouldn’t start when we left Byrncliff. Totally dead, no lights, electric start and pull start didn’t even make the dash lights come on. After pounding on it a bit it magically fired back up so I knew it was a short somewhere. That was our last stop before the trailer anyway and it made it back no issues. My buddy starts doing a quick inspection of his sled once they were loaded up since he had basically rebuilt the entire rear end and he finds a broken rear spring.
When I get home the sled is completely dead, except this time rocking/tapping/smacking doesn’t bring it back to life. Good battery voltage, no fuse issues, no relay issues. After doing some research on dootalk I found out about some wire splices that are tucked in the loom under the fuse box. Popped that off and while pulled the wires out of the loom found this:
So I cut that back until I found clean wire, soldered in a new splice, and boom the sled fires right up perfectly. The red w/yellow stripe splice (background) was corroded but no broken so I cut a section out and replaced it with new on that one too. The red w/white stripe (upper left) was clean but I hit it with some fresh solder anyway since the gun was hot. On the ones I added new wire I put liquid electrical tape on them and then slid some good shrink wrap over, followed by regular 3M electrical tape. On the one I just touched up I did the liquid electrical followed by 3M electrical. Should be the end of corrosion issues there.
John’s springs came in last night and he was working on putting them in so hopefully we’ll be heading out first thing Saturday. I refuse to ride alone right now because I have so little confidence in the machine even though the first breakdown was my fault and the 2nd issue has obviously been identified and corrected.
Snowboard boots, I went to look at buying a pair of nice riding boots and they have the same exact feel as a snowboard boot.
Im at 700 ish miles on the season. Heading out today from Pendleton and riding to Olean/Portville staying at a buddies and riding to Salamanca in the morning for Snocross. Should be an interesting ride!
I bought these when I decided I was tired of using my snowboard boots and freezing. They were awesome. Still required thermal socks, but they are comfortable. I use them to snowblow the driveway too. Super easy to put on and take off. The inside liner comes out so you can dry that separately.
Sounds like almost all the rev’s have those splices though. Remove the two bolts on the fuse box and 2 bolts on the ECM and there’s a big wire loom run under both coming from the fuse box. You’ll find a bunch of factory splices between the fuse box and the harness plug up by throttle side handlebar.
These are the boots I have. Got them cheap compared to bigger brand names like Klim but I love them.
I wear some nice heavy socks with them and have never had cold feet, including nights where it was -10 when we got back to the trailer.
I went cheap on some of my gear the first year I bought the sled figuring if I really enjoyed the hobby I’d spend more on better stuff the next season. I’ve never found a reason to replace my $88 boots. I use them snowblowing too. Upgraded my helmet to a heated shield (definitely worth it) but still have the same “cheap” HJC jacket and gloves too.
Only the SDI’s have fuse boxes the carb’d sleds have fuses in the harness and dangling relays lol. Have you ever experienced the “SDI Cutout” moving along throttle up through some moguls and on impact it cuts out almost like the kill switch was hit but it comes back fast enough to not slow you down.
My neighbors SDI had a magnet on the flywheel come unglued.
Took me a bit too figure out when everything tested fine.
Only thing that gave me a clue was when I slowly moved the primary, you could hear a squeak.
I have some cheap tractor supply boots that work fine just make sure they are water proof. My jacket and bibs were expensive, both were over $200 each. They are water proof and wind proof. I usually just wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt and was fine. Gloves are important. Even with heated grips the tips of my fingers would sometimes get cold. A balaclava is a must to keep your neck warm. Cold neck will ruin your night.
I have that, got new jacket and bibs from fly. Going shopping for gloves and boots tonight. I have brp moduler helmet, balava. I love my gloves but they are worn out and are now out of business.
I’m wondering if he bought mine. I sold it to a guy in Boston, lives right on the trail. That windshield looks awfully familiar…did he swap the tall shield back on?
