There are many skills that are helpful living in a remote setting. Some you have, some you can develop, and others its good to get help. When it comes to snowmobiles, I know enough to run them, commute with them and get them unstuck in heavy snow, but not always how to fix them.
There’s a lot of wear and tear on these machines when we use them at the end of the season, before we can use truck make the “first accent”. Dirt patches with rocks that can be a hundred yards or more long are rough on the skis. The metal carbides wear out every year, or two at most. There’s always something wearing out. This is not the kind of use for your new 8-10 thousand dollar machine, that’s why ours are always used, not new.
Last spring near the tail end of snowmobile time, our Ski Doo machine developed an exhaust leak that made it quite loud. We didn’t worry too much about it, we just wore shooters muffs to protect our ears. There was no hurry since we would soon retire the snowmobiles for the season.
Shortly after that, my son was bringing mom and groceries home and got the Ski Doo stuck. It was on a short soft dirt patch on the hill near our house. I hiked over and found that the machine had no power. I seemed like the drive belt was malfunctioning, or something. I replaced the drive belt without effect. We worked around the Ski Doo in the driveway for another week or so, until I trucked it up to the house.
I took this machine to the shop recently to, GULP, get it fixed. Was the clutch broken? or the transmission? How much was this going to hurt?
Ever have one ot those duh moments? It happened when Mitch at the shop explained what was wrong with the Ski Do. The 2 stroke motor relies heavily on having a tuned exhaust for its performance. So when it got “stuck” on the dry patch, it wasn’t the belt or drive train, it was the de-tuned motor! DOH! The motor had enough power to go downhill on the ice path and over the dry spot, however, going uphill there was not enough power for uphill.
Anyway, it took a small part for the exhaust system to fix things. Now we’re ready for the season now with this machine!
Lesson: Never ignore exhaust leaks on your 2 stroke machine, whether its a snowmobile, chainsaw, or other! That hole in the muffler or whatever, drains the motor power!
What experiences have you had with 2 stroke motor driven machines? Please share, leave a comment.
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I can hear that 2 stroke screaming up the hill: “Rinnnnnnnngngngngngngngngngngng”
.-= Dave Doolin | Website In A Weekend´s last blog ..Is Your Blog Dead As A Doornail? Let’s Talk… =-.