tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40258913345948936822024-03-05T11:28:30.425-05:00Dead Sled WrenchingThe ins and outs, ups and downs, triumphs and dismal failures in a life with old snowmobiles.Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.comBlogger171125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-14390366110184860632022-02-15T10:24:00.004-05:002022-02-15T10:24:56.963-05:00A new whip<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQfWXa6R7CSgI3EVNKC85vtxXEUDCf2XqBdBhF5rQ8EAUYMyYVEZl5m-WH7dyZdUuj0xKPaL98JVTCdL2uI14Fj9YrDqiuv9KtGcbMF0Ri8AghoksROIv4zmW7OVWqFjpcwajGXpdxvoJ1E7vb6I89iDI3Pf7AK_ed8yw284HTqllU-PIFkX5ZTF03Wg=s4096" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQfWXa6R7CSgI3EVNKC85vtxXEUDCf2XqBdBhF5rQ8EAUYMyYVEZl5m-WH7dyZdUuj0xKPaL98JVTCdL2uI14Fj9YrDqiuv9KtGcbMF0Ri8AghoksROIv4zmW7OVWqFjpcwajGXpdxvoJ1E7vb6I89iDI3Pf7AK_ed8yw284HTqllU-PIFkX5ZTF03Wg=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><p> Well, a new-to-me groomer. The former operator left the club so we needed to shuffle around a little and I drew the short straw. Fortunately we had been training another operator and it made more sense to put him in the ASV which parks with the Pisten Bully. That way if he had trouble Ben would be close by to help.</p><p>Anyway this beast is a 1989 Tucker Sno-Cat 2000.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSKUgG8Y3IKHC6acx6FLvAN1SWgSqSavjU6h98cMZHf-ivsPIbMfP60dbsQqNEX-9pwhGttP8F_P7JvZrGq6J2HdX4ye1FZInhjovl6kuzQmcIcnx9c78RQBPcG2Wqj_kFexObRCUsdXvrDqQQG4XKrSZqnaDSsx6-3NrcFJBbGyVibQQJt3vEuyqi7A=s4096" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSKUgG8Y3IKHC6acx6FLvAN1SWgSqSavjU6h98cMZHf-ivsPIbMfP60dbsQqNEX-9pwhGttP8F_P7JvZrGq6J2HdX4ye1FZInhjovl6kuzQmcIcnx9c78RQBPcG2Wqj_kFexObRCUsdXvrDqQQG4XKrSZqnaDSsx6-3NrcFJBbGyVibQQJt3vEuyqi7A=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>It's got a Cummins 6BT like a Dodge pickup and as you can see, 4 tracks.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqFB_xKYL2Y3MOJTCv2ul7Id291RTYe_3HVrdXbivhhef9Bad_pH4XfIUNXQd9FGD4qoFuRrjGkb9yCARvIFlFNUeZ9rJF2zzDZjAJYWD14nEXWWtjdCH2MlQwxl1spm2y-Cz-voruOl3RI1ZK91Epv2qk-MfwWDI77GeW-afVk5kkoSIt93KHhsiXBA=s4096" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqFB_xKYL2Y3MOJTCv2ul7Id291RTYe_3HVrdXbivhhef9Bad_pH4XfIUNXQd9FGD4qoFuRrjGkb9yCARvIFlFNUeZ9rJF2zzDZjAJYWD14nEXWWtjdCH2MlQwxl1spm2y-Cz-voruOl3RI1ZK91Epv2qk-MfwWDI77GeW-afVk5kkoSIt93KHhsiXBA=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>I've heard it called "Farm equipment with aspirations" and that's not wrong. It's an interesting beast but not without issues. The drivetrain is really simple, the 6BT mates to a 3 speed automatic transmission and single speed transfer case. The axles are, I think, Spicer truck rear axles that pivot at the centerline of the axle. So the tracks are firmly attached to the axle and the whole axle moves. Both axles pivot so its effectively "four wheel (track) steer". This one in particular has something wrong with it and steers really hard at the limits, it also doesn't seem to steer as far as our other machine. I don't know what the issue is but its annoying.</p><p>I had terrible trouble with it icing up early on. The output of the fuel tank is right in the very bottom of the tank and I think it had some water that settled there. That water froze and in cold temps the machine would just barely run. The first time I took it out it took half an hour or more to get it warmed up enough to go out. Fortunately that run seems to have cleared the blockage. Before the second run I changed the water separator and fuel filter and it ran fine.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqlg4_vPqrR-jPgXeYn3zHxiAo0DbRcP071_EiJJEYXhKpBED46h2o8dxAOHlmarZRD-5-PndwVzUGAQ59M4Cp9ai0foCWb_5Ham0yOY74jW5WlxisWjMl1rxqFmeP0qP1Q_tN2LSOO_gRf77G6rt9sy7gUIa1X8jeZuyQarYX9m3yh9UM97vd1aV2KQ=s4096" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqlg4_vPqrR-jPgXeYn3zHxiAo0DbRcP071_EiJJEYXhKpBED46h2o8dxAOHlmarZRD-5-PndwVzUGAQ59M4Cp9ai0foCWb_5Ham0yOY74jW5WlxisWjMl1rxqFmeP0qP1Q_tN2LSOO_gRf77G6rt9sy7gUIa1X8jeZuyQarYX9m3yh9UM97vd1aV2KQ=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Some chucklehead took a side by side out in wet snow, this was real fun to fix</div><p>Driving is an odd experience, the automatic transmission has its work cut out for it making shifts with all the drag of the machine. A few times I've been fooled into thinking that we were losing power when in reality I just needed the machine to downshift. The 4 tracks are *relatively* nimble as long as you're going forward, it'll slalom fairly well. The 4 track system is nowhere near as nimble as either of the 2 track machines we have though and it's REALLY slow in reverse. I plowed snow with it one day and it took forever. I'd have been better off getting the ASV started, waiting while it warmed up and then plowing...</p><p>The most positive thing is that it's fast. It'll pull a pretty good load of snow at 10mph where the ASV can only do serious work in slow gear, 5-6mph. This is important for the run the Tucker is assigned which goes from Winchendon, MA to Barre, MA. The first trip was down and back and took something like 9 hours. That one we had to open a bunch of gates and of course deal with the machine being frozen. The second run I only went one way and made it in about 4.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkXQqEwQgE5OzOihkFPS2Q3wLYfhENqPNe7HRzsCjy_fHDviwz-jnMlSfYXDT4O1BQQDHzZViuc8dbpOjhcquq6oVDxlVPWs-KKV98RUtHgNyams_iBxQmQVu5MBC2Dk1UIdLcEX4_JNvvV1MQjp0qPnigCVabXul4PRCqSILC74jJjHQ4m-7ovhZsPw=s4096" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkXQqEwQgE5OzOihkFPS2Q3wLYfhENqPNe7HRzsCjy_fHDviwz-jnMlSfYXDT4O1BQQDHzZViuc8dbpOjhcquq6oVDxlVPWs-KKV98RUtHgNyams_iBxQmQVu5MBC2Dk1UIdLcEX4_JNvvV1MQjp0qPnigCVabXul4PRCqSILC74jJjHQ4m-7ovhZsPw=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><p>Angie went on the second run with me and said she liked the Tucker more than the ASV. I'll put that down to it having been years since she was in the ASV...</p>Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-78127822239032923022021-03-22T16:04:00.002-04:002021-03-22T16:04:35.510-04:00End of the season<p> Well, at least we had some season this year.</p><p>The other day Ben and I went down to put the machines to sleep for the summer.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVGA5pgGC6lQbTa1M_Nnhv1C8J4vV4v_F18WSSI-BaqZTM7BfIBPPnD1UKlEBnXQIWieCR2go8ZLEBVGcSkayquez2yyfS090sC4WTKAJDo3KGKQQwXE3zHk6xCI8MnrqywMoy4LGlsiWk/s4096/IMG_20210316_171057685_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVGA5pgGC6lQbTa1M_Nnhv1C8J4vV4v_F18WSSI-BaqZTM7BfIBPPnD1UKlEBnXQIWieCR2go8ZLEBVGcSkayquez2yyfS090sC4WTKAJDo3KGKQQwXE3zHk6xCI8MnrqywMoy4LGlsiWk/w400-h300/IMG_20210316_171057685_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>We take the drags off so the machines take up less space and leave parking for dog walkers and other woodland adventure types.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi_EsepLaPkGbTlnOlxWzTiA6YvpJpMILSdd820UTDa27ZK1HYefEw8J2LgJLufiWaRrxfaN4mcT1TQ1vPKkoTtnVyB0PROhH-ZqKoBmdKr0-WpKmfMwya6mkNagOs85Rxh1E0K3A4Bw_0/s4096/IMG_20210316_171739469.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi_EsepLaPkGbTlnOlxWzTiA6YvpJpMILSdd820UTDa27ZK1HYefEw8J2LgJLufiWaRrxfaN4mcT1TQ1vPKkoTtnVyB0PROhH-ZqKoBmdKr0-WpKmfMwya6mkNagOs85Rxh1E0K3A4Bw_0/w400-h300/IMG_20210316_171739469.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>It had been really cold the night before so I hoped that the ground would be pretty hard but as you can see on the ground it really wasn't. The Pisten Bully with its steel cleats really chews up the sod. Since its a shady area the grass isn't really all that thick. I'll go back with a rake in a day or two and clean it up a little more but compared to last year this is great. Last year I couldn't get the ASV drag into its spot for the life of me, I ended up chewing great ruts in the ground. Of course I took the drag off in May...<br /><p><br /></p>Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-16296526318215109372021-03-18T09:53:00.007-04:002021-03-18T09:53:55.141-04:00Riding 2021, Jag repair<p> I think it's been 3 years since we went for a real trail ride. The registration on the '98 Jag ran out last year anyway...</p><p>So a couple weeks ago when the snow was still good Angie and I got the two Jags out for a rip.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJMQaHcdELtFwnRwN4O2x84RJEyfjrYuCJPHK555Jg3ooNvccMsQhq_UBPwt_vAOCUGQFmJZJhXjUzyw2CDwB8lm2-NMtCp6oz9qQUKde6C_Avum0rzjlRXEq3fBkxwh_fBmiQIUG6cHmb/s4096/IMG_20210221_112518771_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJMQaHcdELtFwnRwN4O2x84RJEyfjrYuCJPHK555Jg3ooNvccMsQhq_UBPwt_vAOCUGQFmJZJhXjUzyw2CDwB8lm2-NMtCp6oz9qQUKde6C_Avum0rzjlRXEq3fBkxwh_fBmiQIUG6cHmb/w400-h300/IMG_20210221_112518771_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>We had groomed the night before so the trails were really good. The snow wasn't great but what snow was was flat. We did about 20 miles just around the park, I had updated the registrations but as it was kind of late in the season I didn't get trail passes. As a board member I'm allowed a free trail pass but I've only taken one once. That was the year we rebuilt the track on the Pisten Bully and Ben wouldn't take my money. The club still has to pay for the pass and we're not exactly flush with cash.</p><p>Angie rode the old '91 the whole time, it was smooth enough that the lack of suspension wasn't a problem. I think I'll look for a Z or ZL machine with a blown engine and swap the suspension into it. The machine is a little lighter than the '98 and the dual carbs make a little more power.</p><p>The '98 ran like crap, it would spit and pop and fart and just had a terrible time. I had an inkling that the problem was the throttle safety switch. There are two little bushings where the pin that holds the throttle lever on are so I replaced them. I really miss having a shop just down the street to get parts like that.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijIgfRgTv3rtz1GAQwnoQxXYskjBW9U5_VUfd8oE6-ehjR6y9e-A7EZSnWMEURYUyXuiZechiUf0JJu-ee-o7clUI_VeQuBmDMi56Aujg7tuxfiVRLratmvkzBGt2Bhx324Pjkf7Cxpqiv/s4096/IMG_20210218_145303751.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijIgfRgTv3rtz1GAQwnoQxXYskjBW9U5_VUfd8oE6-ehjR6y9e-A7EZSnWMEURYUyXuiZechiUf0JJu-ee-o7clUI_VeQuBmDMi56Aujg7tuxfiVRLratmvkzBGt2Bhx324Pjkf7Cxpqiv/w400-h300/IMG_20210218_145303751.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRFIKju5BDmuIX-wjqwFSDKf_a5MT3HzlKk00feQtKfaqL2fkdub8Vnygr_Z_GodAFt9pNgHVgts1Pu4A-OMpmjLXRH0iZzimjh6lOgYQ2n_e84zRv7s9okBVw63GVaoNgZu4cl3xX0W5_/s4096/IMG_20210218_145531614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRFIKju5BDmuIX-wjqwFSDKf_a5MT3HzlKk00feQtKfaqL2fkdub8Vnygr_Z_GodAFt9pNgHVgts1Pu4A-OMpmjLXRH0iZzimjh6lOgYQ2n_e84zRv7s9okBVw63GVaoNgZu4cl3xX0W5_/w400-h300/IMG_20210218_145531614.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Arctic Cat calls these "seals" and you can see that they're kind of chewed up. The new ones didn't make any difference though so I pulled the connection. Arctic Cat is interesting, they used 2 different electrical systems. Some are "normally open" which means there is an open circuit and to shut the sled off you close the circuit and ground the coil. Then a bunch of them are "normally closed" so the circuit powers the coil and you open the circuit to shut the machine off.<div><br /></div><div>My '91 Jag is "normally closed", when the throttle switch failed on that and the previous owner wanted to jump around that switch he had to add a little jumper. The '98 is "normally open" and so I could just unplug the kill switch plug which includes the throttle switch. </div><div><br /></div><div>With the kill switch unplugged the sled ran perfectly. For the first time since I've owned it I could bomb around the yard. Used to be the sled ran great on the trail but poorly in the yard, now its fine all the time.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDy0q3LKInRhZnu4Cd1OPuy825Dyw44FoTZC99JDyS9YbZSe6N6Kr_EX0pCJ8kO50C5AOTIU9-fNGZQ6EfN4tCR0XZJXRWKQDo6H5LTnC8JswvdgZ1S05Ow2OOVmZkHSBnFdemo87uHGMl/s4096/IMG_20210221_160336552.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDy0q3LKInRhZnu4Cd1OPuy825Dyw44FoTZC99JDyS9YbZSe6N6Kr_EX0pCJ8kO50C5AOTIU9-fNGZQ6EfN4tCR0XZJXRWKQDo6H5LTnC8JswvdgZ1S05Ow2OOVmZkHSBnFdemo87uHGMl/w400-h300/IMG_20210221_160336552.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>I had hoped I could just pull the throttle assembly apart and just jumper out the throttle switch but in doing I managed to break the kill switch. The sled still runs but I don't like not having a kill switch. Fortunately replacements are available. Unfortunately they cost about 15% of what the sled is worth...</div><div><br /></div><div>The snow is gone now anyway, so I don't need to worry about it right away. I'll probably fix it, I like riding the sled. I'd thought about getting a brand new machine to replace both Jag's but they did so well...<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-4817231916273171452021-02-01T16:29:00.006-05:002021-02-01T16:29:36.689-05:00Dead Sled Wrenching again!<p> Ahh dear readers you must think I've abandoned you. Well maybe I had but here's some dead sled wrenching content.</p><p>The first big snow of 2021 is here so Saturday and Sunday I took some time to get things going.</p><p>I started with the two Arctic Cat Jags. Last year I had the '98 going although we never had any snow so I figured I'd start with the '91 this year. It was wicked cold when I dropped them off the trailer and I was disappointed when the '91 wouldn't crank at all. I stuck an electric heater under the hood and shifted my attention to the '98. It was simple enough to pull the plugs, squirt some gas down the plug holes and I was shocked when it fired up and ran on the very first pull. I did have to reprime before it would stay running on fuel from the tank and then the track really didn't want to spin but we got 'er going with relatively little fuss.</p><p>With that little accomplishment I moved to the '91, the recoil still wouldn't make the engine turn so I grabbed the clutch and broke it free with little trouble. I've seen this before where a little condensation gets into the jug and since it was so cold that ice held it a little. With the engine free I yanked the rope and, it stayed out... Blarg, a little Kroil fixed that and I shot a little more into the engine to lube it up. A little gas down the plug holes and this one also fired right up. I gotta say I love how the wedge Jag's go, they're lighter and snappier than the newer machines. I suspect the dual carbs on this one help too.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6wYIL38tKZgOlw2w9qGTGjdRsCeEFbONAya913ehYIn0F4MuG7RGW5mJgzUVZGb8DdfsIa36P4NDzOJ10n48wceaEF2R1gMOSUfymKsN3mVZCPjogzhfP1QxRYcJ4kK743-FEoz48PZd3/s2362/IMG_20210130_141434109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1883" data-original-width="2362" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6wYIL38tKZgOlw2w9qGTGjdRsCeEFbONAya913ehYIn0F4MuG7RGW5mJgzUVZGb8DdfsIa36P4NDzOJ10n48wceaEF2R1gMOSUfymKsN3mVZCPjogzhfP1QxRYcJ4kK743-FEoz48PZd3/w400-h319/IMG_20210130_141434109.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Flushed with success I moved on to the '79 Polaris Cobra. I haven't run this machine for several years, in fact I see my last post was working on that machine and it was very nearly 2 years ago. At that time it had no spark and I failed to fix that.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKsodTSGw8RfDqtS3AjvTqKXkE4UNAni8YnvQVGgP8Qf3UqaE9cdEu6dcsHyTXAr7dJCDxkFEdFY6LcJMgd7MVQuNB27enYDw21RR83G4dc6zUhxsNOQg3f1-oogFA2AMOpkkmE87xm6pQ/s2358/IMG_20210130_155927373.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2144" data-original-width="2358" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKsodTSGw8RfDqtS3AjvTqKXkE4UNAni8YnvQVGgP8Qf3UqaE9cdEu6dcsHyTXAr7dJCDxkFEdFY6LcJMgd7MVQuNB27enYDw21RR83G4dc6zUhxsNOQg3f1-oogFA2AMOpkkmE87xm6pQ/w400-h364/IMG_20210130_155927373.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Well here is one of the culprits, this is the rear set of points. I don't remember which cylinder they're for, it doesn't really matter, they were both dirty. It was hard to get a picture but you can see how they're kind of greasy, what you can't see is that they were also kind of green. I tried my usual trick, Deoxit and a business card. While I could get the business card to come out dirty it didn't seem like things were really improving so I resorted to a file. Harbor Freight sells a nifty little file set that isn't marketed toward filing points but they're the right size and shape. I scraped on 'em a little bit, then sprayed off the residue with cheap contact cleaner, then repeated with Deoxit. Then got frustrated and quit for the day. Actually I shouldn't have been frustrated, we went from absolutely no spark to a little blip. It might not seem like much but thats improvement.</div><div><br /></div><div>So yesterday I went back out, filed more, cleaned more, etc. The frustrating thing is that the recoil and inner cup have to come off to get to the points so you have to put it all back together to test it. Anyway after two more cycles I put it back together and YOWSA we've got spark!</div><div><br /></div><div>At some point Saturday I did have the forethought to take the airbox off and have a look inside.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5pJCVI-uWtSpieZuQFsDjh3h0zozybXiAr038jnxWK22EOgLGZoY-iKgjXtx6iQ_4NpNoQdJXg0qONes2eEadNX-9lg-lCRBSfL6hxZiycxC9L2eIAQdOo26xipkT4wc3kEj0GidTulW/s4096/IMG_20210130_164509117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5pJCVI-uWtSpieZuQFsDjh3h0zozybXiAr038jnxWK22EOgLGZoY-iKgjXtx6iQ_4NpNoQdJXg0qONes2eEadNX-9lg-lCRBSfL6hxZiycxC9L2eIAQdOo26xipkT4wc3kEj0GidTulW/w400-h300/IMG_20210130_164509117.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Mr. and Mrs Mouse got evicted...</div><div><br /></div><div>The nice thing about having the airbox off was to make it easy to shoot gas into the carbs. And thats where we got stuck again, it would pop on premix but wouldn't stay running. So I pulled each carb out of its boot, flipped it over, popped off the bowl and cleaned it and the jets. I also make sure the needles were moving. Surprisingly nothing looked too bad, a little schmoo in the bowl maybe but nothing to write home about. </div><div>Put it all back together and it STILL wouldn't run, I mean it'd run for a second on premix but wouldn't stay running. I figured it needed more gas so I got a couple fresh gallons mixed up and, well blarg...</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally in desperation I took the torch and heated each plug until it glowed red, stabbed 'em in, shot in gas one more time and sonofagun she took right off. This machine has always idled high and it still does. Maybe when we get some snow and I can run it some more I'll try to adjust it, I do have a carb synchronizer I've never used...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvYGebJGuTvgZEfC4v9McZMKojgf5d3NplNt8e_akhW5lV2FLvXhqKw-59wmvlvXRalbLFgWIE6Gk3sm4B83ja9Y1uCrqrq6nmrPzgX_GLGHF1bnq62cvvFEbMs2vPWswyYHeiHFk6_1I9/s4096/IMG_20210131_164327606_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvYGebJGuTvgZEfC4v9McZMKojgf5d3NplNt8e_akhW5lV2FLvXhqKw-59wmvlvXRalbLFgWIE6Gk3sm4B83ja9Y1uCrqrq6nmrPzgX_GLGHF1bnq62cvvFEbMs2vPWswyYHeiHFk6_1I9/w640-h480/IMG_20210131_164327606_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>So everybody is running and moving, I really like riding the Polaris, its light and geared low so its quick off the line although it runs out of snort pretty quick. The brake isn't working but thats just the fluid leaking out after sitting a couple years. I'll top it up and it should come right back.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you've always wanted a Polaris Cobra (or one of the Jags) let me know, you could have this one. Its been a fun sled but I'm ready to play with something else for awhile. I'm open to trades even...</div>Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-12500180134768989932019-02-03T15:44:00.001-05:002019-02-03T15:44:36.301-05:00Back to the PolarisI got an email from longtime reader Vanessa a couple weeks ago. Her Panther 303W had no spark so I sent her my procedure for cleaning points.<br />
In a nutshell: Get a can of Caig De-oxit, open the points, squirt in some de-oxit, let it sit for a minute, pull strips of paper through until they come out clean, repeat.<br />
Vanessa replied that she got spark bag and now has a running machine, sweet, score one for the good guys!<br />
So yesterday I decided I'd get a snowmobile running, we really don't have any snow and theres none in the forecast (50s tomorrow...) but what the heck, maybe the snow gods need a sacrifice.<br />
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This is my '79 Polaris Cobra 340. When I first bought it there was no spark, I cleaned the points and got it running, then a couple years later put in new crank seals. This one has always been a little finicky to start if its been sitting awhile and since I didn't run it at all last year I knew it was going to be a challenge.<br />
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Right off the bat no spark on the mag side so as you can see in the picture I proceeded to clean the points which resulted in? No spark at all...<br />
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Rats.<br />
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This sled has always been sensitive to plugs and it uses B8ES which I don't seem to have in stock. I'm going to order a box of them this time...Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-68148951387626424442019-01-18T15:33:00.001-05:002019-01-18T15:33:50.400-05:00Broken Groomer Part 2It was the beginning of April, the snow cover was decent but the days were warm. We decided it was too warm to groom at night, the snow wouldn't move good so we made a plan to groom first thing in the morning, 6am. This would be our last day out, club picnic and the trails would close the next day so get the trails nice.<br />
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Everything south of Lake Dennison was already closed so just a quick run to groom the park. I only have one regular loop inside the park, Ben does all the rest but we figured after I'd done my normal loop I could pick up some of the other stuff. Mike was riding right seat, his second trip out with me, I had plans to get him some stick time.<br />
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Just as we turned onto the main drag I knew we had problems, little tendrils of steam. I'd never groomed when it was warm though and just passed it off for that but about the time I got the drag full of snow and grooming good the little tendrils became a big cloud, uh oh...<br />
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Looking under the machine I could see a geyser of coolant, I couldn't tell where from but it had to be a heater hose to the cab. We limped the machine to the beach where the picnic was to be held.<br />
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I didn't get any pictures but the cab tips up so the driver's door is about 4' up. With that tipped I could see a ragged hole in one of the heater hoses. Apparently this had happened to Chris the year before but on the other hose, he'd fixed that with a union connector. This time I used the same union to connect the two heater hoses together, topped up the coolant and drove it back to the yard...<br />
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A couple months later we moved it to my house. I wish I had pictures of it, the machine is heavy, like 9,000# heavy, too much to pull with a normal pickup. Glenn came with a 3 axle dump truck and trailer. The ASV looked puny on his big trailer.</div>
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With the right seat out I could get to the heater, fortunately there are two unions right in the middle of the picture which were a lot easier to access than the heater core itself. I sent this picture to the other groomer operators with "That escalated quickly" as the caption.<br />
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I got a funny look from the parts guy when I asked for 18 FEET of 3/4" heater hose, apparently thats how much they normally sell each month. It took 17.5 feet in total...<br />
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These are the old hoses. Theres a hydraulic leak at the controls which drips down through the access hole below the cab and pools on these hoses which then deteriorate from the oil. I intend to fix the hydraulic leak, I think its just o-rings but I want to do it with help from somebody who really knows what they're doing, for now its not too much of a problem. I put a catch pan with a pig pad in it under the leak, hopefully it'll will prevent the new hoses from deteriorating.Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-70277480735086150852019-01-08T19:16:00.001-05:002019-01-08T19:16:52.187-05:00Broken Groomer Part 1Well, its not a dead sled but groomers are not without troubles.<br />
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Early on last season Ben had trouble with the Pisten Bully, none of the hydraulics at the front of the machine would cooperate. He couldn't lift the blade or manipulate it in any way. A little investigation revealed water in the hydraulic oil. After running the engine for half an hour or so the fluid would warm up enough so the water would go liquid and everything would work until the next time. This, of course, was a big issue. We swapped the fluid (its actually Automatic Transmission fluid, ATF) from the reservoir but the lines and pistons still had significant water. It was looking to be expensive (and a lot of work) to swap all the fluid when I hit upon an idea, could we boil the fluid to drive the water out? Thus began the saga of the weirdest thing I'd ever done with a Coleman stove:<br />
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In the post script we actually pulled and replaced the fluid 3 or 4 times, we'd draw the fluid out, boil off the water, let it cool, put it back in the machine and let it cycle for awhile and then repeat. Actually to be 100% honest we had 2 sets of fluid so I could be boiling off water while another batch was picking up water. This seems to have cured the issue, we also pulled the filter out of the fluid and actually submerged it in boiling fluid to get the water out of it, I think that helped a lot, I suspect water had gotten trapped in the filter and was being slowly released back into the dried fluid.<br />
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Chris and Harold, meanwhile, had both had trouble with tracks on the Northern and Southern Tuckers. I guess I haven't mentioned the Tuckers. When most people think "Snow-Cat" they're thinking of a "Tucker Sno-Cat". The club owns two, here's a terrible picture of the Northern Tucker.<br />
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I've heard a Tucker called "Farm equipment with delusions of grandeur. As near as I can tell its a 1 ton, rear engine pickup with tracks. They make several variations for personnel carriers but ours is the common type, its bigger than my ASV but smaller than the Pisten Bully. Power comes from a Cummins 4BT, the drivetrain is an automatic transmission with essentially 2 rear axles, the front axle pivots to steer.<br />
I don't have much experience with them but so far the weak point seems to be the tracks, we replace/repair a lot of tracks on our Tuckers, like 2-3 a year.<br />
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Anyway with Ben, Chris and Harold all having troubles I was pretty pleased to get to the end of the season having zero breakdowns and feeling pretty smug, sadly that smile would get wiped off my face all too soon.Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-62130856044346897482019-01-06T19:59:00.002-05:002019-01-06T19:59:40.859-05:00A Groomer operator?<br />
I went back and fixed almost 3 years of pictures, did you realize the blog is now almost 10 years old? I didn't...<div>
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Anyway something new and really the answer to why I haven't done much snowmobile stuff. You might remember back in 2015 when I was <a href="http://dswnewengland.blogspot.com/2015/02/working-with-groomers.html">"Working with the Groomers"</a> well last January Ben gave me a call "Can you get that ASV to start?" what a loaded question, remember I'd been in the ASV once, 2 years before. I gave him a "maybe" and headed over. </div>
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We'd had some good snow and of course somebody had decided to replace the batteries in the machine but hadn't installed them. I plugged in the block heater and got to work on the batteries. </div>
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Actually before I talk about the batteries let me mention the block heater. I'd been told a couple times it didn't work but I'm one of those "well let me try it" kind of guys. One thing I noticed is that the outlet we were using was GFI protected so I made sure it was set to on using my heat gun. Then after I plugged in the heater I wondered "How will I know if its working?" A couple years ago I'd tested it with a Kill-A-Watt meter but I seem to have lost that. On this day I used my infrared thermometer.</div>
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It was 6F outside, I figured if the block heater was 93F it had to be working. These days I just touch it, when its warm to the touch I know its good.</div>
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It is of course way more fun (sarcasm!) to repair something you didn't take apart so it took me considerable time to get the batteries in</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03y-Z2dLyGKgJKKX-O9TBx12eTnACtkzIx8fhAivmZ4PU5fzVvsMVh4GFtdNnNBnldDVAdL0n-athRpENA-UrIvSbr2Miap2U_dfYjH2fUBGYIfyA1mYDH4l5SxC-1Mf64ZB3I20S-icF/s1600/IMG_20180105_125308826_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03y-Z2dLyGKgJKKX-O9TBx12eTnACtkzIx8fhAivmZ4PU5fzVvsMVh4GFtdNnNBnldDVAdL0n-athRpENA-UrIvSbr2Miap2U_dfYjH2fUBGYIfyA1mYDH4l5SxC-1Mf64ZB3I20S-icF/s400/IMG_20180105_125308826_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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You can see my heat gun in the foreground, that was the next step, I stuck it in air cleaner and waited until that was good and hot. It was really cold out and Ben was scared that I'd ruin the brand new batteries so I wanted to be sure this thing was going to start. A few minutes later I texted Ben</div>
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"We're in business."</div>
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And thats the story of how I became a groomer operator. It really how my life has generally worked, I'm usually the guy at the place that can do the thing. In this case my experience with driving (and starting) old Mercedes diesels was exactly what was required. The engine in the ASV isn't anything like an old Mercedes but the principle is the same and I knew I needed to get it warm to get it to start...</div>
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Anyway I don't want this to become a groomer blog but its closer to snowmobiles than anything else I've been doing and I don't want the blog to die from lack of content. Hopefully I'll find time to get the sleds out this year, in the meantime I hope this is good enough.</div>
Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-82758498216253175362019-01-06T19:11:00.002-05:002019-01-06T19:11:31.630-05:00Holy Toledo!I can't believe its been so long since I posted over here, how time gets away from me...<br />
I also notice almost all the pictures are gone. In case you didn't know a year or so ago Photobucket decided people need to pay them some absurd about for hosting pictures, it was something like $300/yr. They did it all of a sudden and I basically told them to take a flying leap.<br />
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Fortunately all the pictures are backed up, I've uploaded them to Google Photos and will spend some time restoring some of them. If you find a post thats missing pictures let me know and I'll see what I can do.<br />
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I'll also add some new content but unfortunately I haven't been doing much snowmobile related stuff at all. I rode exactly once last year although that was a really grand day out...Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-86200420510446881762017-03-06T16:33:00.002-05:002019-01-06T19:26:33.618-05:00Odds and endsI feel sorry for how few posts I put on here, there really hasn't been much to talk about.<br />
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So lets go back, during the short couple weeks we actually had snow I did get in a couple rides. First was the abortive ride when the '91 Jag was leaking gas. On that one we took a ride through an area where the trail passes through a deep cut in rock. Its old railroad line and a really cool spot. I got a picture there back in 2015:<br />
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What you can't really see in the picture is that right in front of the sled is a pipe or knee wall of some sort. When theres lots of snow you can ride right over and not know its there, with only 14" when we rode over there was a looong drop on the back side. I got the '91 up onto the bump and gently slid it over. I rode ahead a little and looked back, I saw the skis as Angie came over and thought she had it under control. In reality what happened is she grabbed a handful of throttle and stood the '98 Jag right up. When she landed she went over the windshield. She wasn't seriously hurt but got banged up and of course was really upset with me for "riding off without me". In reality I was gone for maybe 4-5 minutes, I looped around and back back behind her but she'd already ridden off. *sigh* lesson learned, look back more often.<br />
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There was enough snow for those two weeks that we groomed 3 times. I got more seat time than ever before but I don't think I did particularly well. I'm starting to tap the drag on posts as I go through and need to go slower and be more careful. I also haven't been utilizing the drag enough, I hadn't realized what an art there is to that. There needs to be enough snow in the drag to fill the bumps in the trail but not so much snow that the machine can't pull it. Also if theres too much snow in the drag it'll spill over the sides leaving boulders in the trail. The last time we groomed I rode with Chris, he works crazy hours and let me drive when he got tired. He promptly fell asleep and I made it my goal to run smoothly enough that he'd stay asleep. A goal like that helps me to become a better operator...<br />
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The last ride I took the 98 and went out on my own:<br />
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The '98 is a much more comfortable machine than the '91 at the cost of some speed. On the long straights the '91 maxes out at about 70mph, the '98 will only make around 60. Same 440 engine but the '91 is a little smaller/lighter and has dual carbs.<br />
I think this summer I want to find a Z skid and track to put under the '91, with better suspension it'd be a sweet machine.Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-48617336473142478262017-02-17T12:54:00.000-05:002019-01-06T19:28:29.863-05:00Gas tank welding<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487257184058_179163" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: block; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
Went for a ride on Saturday and discovered that the repair I'd made to my '91 Jag's gas tank filler neck was insufficient. It leaked gas on my left foot the whole ride. Relatively safe, the exhaust is on the other side ;)</div>
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Anyway today I finally had a chance to attack the problem. I got a Harbor Freight plastic welding iron and began by cleaning the crack with the included wire brush. Then I repeatedly stabbed the iron into the plastic perpendicular to the crack. My idea here was to essentially stitch the crack back together:</div>
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That worked pretty well and when I was done I could no longer see a strong flashlight shining through the crack.</div>
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Then I took some of the filler material that comes with the iron and worked it into the repair. I'm hoping it'll add some strength. Fortunately theres a groove there anyway. Here I'm partway done:</div>
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I ran the filler material over all of the damaged part. I left the undamaged section alone, I may live to regret that...</div>
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Tested by putting in a few gallons of water, holding my hand over the filler hole and flipping the tank upside down. If I can manage to not screw it up during install it should be okay:</div>
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Right now its got a quart of denatured alcohol (all I had on hand) in it to absorb the water. I'll get more alcohol later today.</div>
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As a measure of safety I rinsed the tank with water yesterday. I'd tried to have the filler neck full of frozen water but couldn't get the water to stay in long enough to freeze. I did all the work outside, there was a good breeze and the ambient temp was below freezing. I wore a full face mask and had an extinguisher nearby. I sat in the middle of the driveway away from anything flammable and of course had lots of snow on hand.</div>
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Overall I consider this a success, I didn't get blowed up, in fact I never felt like I was really in any danger, no sizzling or fire of any kind... </div>
Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-61144070271149582802017-01-13T15:43:00.002-05:002019-01-06T19:32:11.526-05:00A new seasonAfter the washout that was the 2015-16 season I'm sure hoping for some snow this year. So far its been exciting and disappointing. Early season snow had things looking good and the Wednesday after Christmas I spent the morning putting up signs for the snowmobile club and the afternoon trying to get my old junk to run.<br />
Right before Christmas I'd given it a shot and neither Jag would fire up. The '91 would pop a little but wouldn't stay running, the '98 wouldn't even pop unless I primed it with gas down the sparkplug holes. I figured dirty carbs.<br />
The '98 has a single carb while the '91 has duals so I figured to try the single first. Access is tight but not impossible. The bowl had a soup of water and gas which was almost certainly the issue and although I did have to prime the engine with a shot of gas down the sparkplug holes it fired up and ran good. Its still got a weird bog but I *think* that might be because of how much sitting its done.<br />
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I ran out of light so the '91 waited until the next day. I pulled the carbs and found the filthiest bores I've ever seen...<br />
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See the schmoo down at the bottom of the bore? There should be a hole there, the carb on the left was totally plugged I ended up soaking it with carb cleaner and running a welding torch cleaning rod through it until I could get it to come out clean.<br />
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The bowl from the left side carb. Both were gross but the left side was worse.</div>
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So knowing that the carbs were nasty I knew I'd need to do something about where the goo was coming from. I couldn't actually see anything in the airbox but I knew there had to be something in there. To remove the airbox the gas tank absolutely has to come out, then the steering column has to be loose. To get the gas tank out the seat has to come off leaving me with this:</div>
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Well that escalated quickly huh? I just wanted to clean the carbs and now...</div>
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While pulling the tank out of the way I realized the bottom of the filler neck was cracked. I wonder if this is why I was getting terrible gas mileage a couple winters ago.</div>
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So I got the airbox apart and evicted the mouse nest, and got it back together without breaking the old hardened plastic too badly. Then I ran some ThreeBond around the crack on the gas tank.</div>
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Threebond probably isn't the best stuff for fixing the crack but I cleaned the plastic good before I tried it and it seems to be holding well. The Threebond stays flexible and its strong against gasoline, we'll see how it lasts.<br />
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Finally probably the worst part of it all is that the seat wood is ruined and completely came apart. I'm kind of glad I found this now rather than bombing down the trail but I wish it hadn't happened at all. In retrospect the problem is I park my sleds pointed down hill which allows collected water to run under the seat rather than just running out.<br />
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A trip to the hardware store got a quarter sheet of 3/8" ACX plywood. The original stuff appeared to be 3/8" OSB but in retrospect (since the plastic trim doesn't fit) is probably 1/4"<br />
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The cut along the front is pretty important, it fits around the gas tank mount to hold the front of the seat down.<br />
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So I've got the seat base cut out and ready to go, the last step is to staple the base onto the seat and reinstall.<br />
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Meanwhile I got the carbs all cleaned and reinstalled and the sled fires up and runs nice. <br />
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Finally I wanted to at least try to prevent this from happening again or maybe mitigate the problem some. I got there by taping some hardware cloth over the opening to the airbox:<br />
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Thats quarter inch hardware cloth which is probably too big but its what I had. I usually use a couple yogurt cups of mothballs in the footwells. This spring I'll add more mothballs to the cup and I'll maybe add another cup under the hood.Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-42771353128325094202016-02-09T11:43:00.001-05:002016-02-09T11:43:33.849-05:00No much happening but, the end of an eraSo winter 2015-2016 is looking to be a washout. Probably to be expected really, we had 2 years of excellent snow, you can't count on greatness every year.<br />
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Obviously I haven't been doing much riding and having 7 sleds around doing nothing seems pretty absurd so last Saturday I finally said goodbye to an old friend, the 1995 Ski-Doo Grand Touring left the yard for the final time.<br />
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I accepted less money than I'd planned to but I still got better than 2/3 what I paid for the sled 7 years ago so I suppose I didn't come out too badly.<br />
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Friday I took the '91 Jag out for a spin, we'd gotten maybe 4" of snow and I just couldn't resist. The trails were rotten, the water holes had a skim of slush on them and were slippery as heck in the bottom, I had to keep hard on the gas to get through. The odo says I went 2.5 miles but I bet it was closer to 2 miles with half a mile of track slip. Still even a bad ride is better than no ride at all.<br />
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Finally I got the Wankel Panther going again. I'd gotten kind of disgusted with wrenching last winter and it was a challenge to get going again but I managed it. The change is nothing short of remarkable, the entire time I've owned it that sled was a challenge to run, I could never get it tuned well and it was just never happy. Once I got it back together and dealt with the fact that the gas line in the tank had melted it fired right up and ran pretty much perfectly. I think I could open the low needle just a little more but otherwise she's all set. I was so pleased I made a video:<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-XFdLEsK9j0/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-XFdLEsK9j0?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Eventually I want to make a bunch of these where I show off the machine and take it for a ride, sort of like Jay Leno's garage but for snowmobiles.<br />
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Anyway, theres an update, we got another inch or two of snow last night so I reckon I'll get the '98 Jag out today and see what it can do. I've been fighting the carb on that one, it spits and dies. I think I had water in the gas so I finally bought an electric fuel siphon and drained the tank. With fresh gas it runs better but I think I need to go through the carb one more time. This summer I'll put a rubber glove on the gas cap in case its leaking...Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-45449900694322527362016-01-05T10:54:00.002-05:002016-01-05T10:56:12.788-05:00Wrenching in the coldStill no snow going into January and of course the guy's on Facebook are losing their minds. Relax fools we haven't had ride-able snow in central MA before the last week of January very often.<br />
Today its cold, like 3F at 7am and just cresting double digits by 11am which is good, with no ice on the lakes and the ground not frozen even if we got snow it wouldn't do us any good...<br />
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The other day I tried and failed to get the '79 Polaris Cobra going. That thing is wicked hard on plugs, it'll wet one and nothing I've tried will make it ever like that plug again. It had a set of BR8ES NGK plugs in it which is what it calls for, the BR8ES is one range hotter than the BR9ES you see in most newer sleds like my Jags. Since its a points ignition I theorized that a B8ES plug, not having a resistor, might help give a hotter spark. My local Advance Auto (formerly Car Quest) had B8ES plugs in stock cheaper than I can order them from Amazon. I bought a set as a test and so far things look good, the sled fired right up and idled nice. Would it have done that with resistor plugs? I don't know... I've also bought a carb rebuild kit, I have a suspicion that the mag side carb needle and seat are leaking a little and letting gas into the bottom end of the engine while the sled is shut off which is why the plug is sometimes wet. The next warm day I'll toss that in there, fortunately I've got a gas shut off on it to mitigate the problem for now.<br />
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Then I FINALLY got around to putting the airbox in. Last year I snagged a complete airbox off eBay, it was filthy so I cleaned it up and just never got around to installing it. It didn't come with any mounts so I took a pair of hose clamps and cut a notch in them to fit around the boss on the carb, slipped the box in place and tightened the clamps.<br />
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Theres really nothing holding it in place which is pretty normal for a vintage sled. There is a little metal bracket under it though so I think I'll measure the space to that bracket and get a piece of hose that just fits between the airbox and the bracket so the hose can be a buffer. Then maybe wrap a piece of wire around the hose and the airbox so it can't bounce around. My experience riding this machine is that it bounces a lot...<br />
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Next step for the Cobra was to try out the new cover I got for Christmas:<br />
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Cobra on the left, '98 Jag on the right, '95 Ski Doo in the background under a tarp.<br />
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Traditionally I've used tarps but the '91 Jag came with a pretty nice cover. Using the cover last winter I realized how much nicer it is getting a cover on than fighting with a tarp, we'll see how they last, they're about 4 times as expensive as tarps so I think I'll end up using the covers only for wintertime storage where I'm taking them off frequently, in the summer I'll continue to tarp everything.Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-14263581778503173232015-12-13T20:30:00.003-05:002019-01-06T19:35:02.086-05:00Thats more like itDecember when ones mind turns to snow. Sadly its not cold and theres no snow yet but whaddya gonna do?<br />
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Last weekend I tried firing up the '98 Jag but she was a no go. I farted around troubleshooting for awhile and finally found that the fuel pump was failing to chooch. This was a big setback, I'd intended to spend the day replacing the track but ended up troubleshooting the day away...<br />
I guess this finally makes the '98 fit in around here, getting its chance to be a dead sled.<br />
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I was ordering Christmas presents on Amazon anyway so I added a Mikuni square, single output pump kit to the order. Tonight I finally had time to get the kit in place. Turns out the square single output pump is REALLY simple. There are 4 screws to take it apart, 2 gaskets and a diaphragm and that is it. I replaced a couple fuel lines while I was there, its amazing how long the original lines last. I put some tygon (yellow) lines on, we'll see how they last. The clear hose is usually the worst, it gets hard and doesn't seal. Blue is second best and yellow is supposed to be the best, we'll see. I need to get some clamps, they didn't come with them stock but you might remember a couple years ago on the trail with my El Tigre when the fuel line came off one carb. If I'd kept pressing on when that happened there could have been a nasty fire...<br />
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Anyway I got it all buttoned up and on the 15th crank just as I was about to lose hope it fired up. Ran rough for a little while but finally smoothed out. I think there might have been a hint of this problem last spring when I bought the sled, it would run but would occasionally stumble and the sled would about pitch me over the handlebars, now its much smoother. Next step is to put it on the trailer and get it over to buddy Chuck for a track replacement. I dunno what the previous owner did but the track is missing a bunch of lugs, looks like somebody got after it with a hot knife.<br />
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Earlier in the day I'd gotten the '91 Jag running, that one also needed about 15 pulls but no other real work. I think it needs some clutch work, it was awful hard on gas last winter. I'll ask Chuck to take a look at it too. Last Monday I got a SAM pass for it so that sled is ready and legal to ride. The '98 still needs to be registered, I'm hoping this Friday I'll get a chance to run down to Worcester...Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-92000180936854865052015-08-17T11:34:00.000-04:002015-08-17T11:34:01.087-04:00Working on sleds in August?So unlike me, I usually wait until it gets cold, then I have to rust to get stuff done...<br />
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Anyway last winter I tore the engine on the Pantera all apart and then lost interest since it snowed so much. Now I'm back to working on the tin.<br />
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Initially I tried to cheat this and paint it a bunch of times with high build primer and that did take out some of the rust pits but it would have taken a year of painting and sanding so I finally mixed up a bunch of bondo and filled the pits giving the whole surface a thin coat. I knocked that back and it it with the high build to fill the scratches from the 100 grit sandpaper I was using. Bondo clogs sandpaper bad but 100 grit works better. I need to knock back the primer with some 320 grit in a block and then I think I can prime it one more time and paint. I'm not looking for perfection here but something way better than what I had.<br />
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Need to do the pipe while I'm at it but I've found that high temp paint needs a good clean surface to stick to. I did my '70 Ski-Doo pipe back years ago and it just flaked back off quick...Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-82190141328424126642015-05-11T21:14:00.003-04:002015-05-11T21:14:40.632-04:00More putting awayTwo weeks ago I managed to get the rest of the sleds put away. The '98 Jag fired up easy, its got a weird bog at part throttle that seems almost like ignition cutting out. It seems to go away as it warms up but as I've only ridden it around the house twice on the grass I'm not sure what to think of it yet. The Grand Touring fired right up too. I was surprised, after sitting for a couple months I expected the battery to be dead.<br />
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Sadly the Polaris Cobra fired right up but played its game of running only on one cylinder. I think thats got a leaking needle in the mag side carb. I'd forgotten and left the gas on and the bottom end on that side had a bunch of gas in it. Interestingly when that sled fouls a plug it FOULS a plug. I'm 1 for 4 cleaning them. My final effort involved carb cleaner, a torch and sandpaper. I did finally get it running right on both sides so I could get Seafoam gas additive into both carbs.<br />
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The Jag and Cobra got washed and waxed. I used some "Wet and Black" on the plastic on the Jag which seemed to darken it up some. Like the '91 I managed to get the windshield off the '98. It uses the same kind of screws as the older sled although it also uses some o-rings. I broke a couple of the o-rings so I'll need to replace those in the fall.<br />
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I took pictures of the Ski-Doo but I doubt I'll get to sell it this summer. Probably I'll hold onto it and sell it once the snow flies again this winter.<br />
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The track on the '98 Jag isn't fantastic so I asked the guys over at Vintage Sleds if I should get the same again or go bigger. The sled came with a .75" lug track but for about the same money I can go 1", 1.25" or 1.5". The consensus seemed to be 1.25" so I'll save my pennies and pick one up later this summer. Hopefully it'll make for a nice ride in powder snow which will be real handy if we go to camp this winter which is something I really want to try to do.Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-15807855921687248272015-04-29T10:04:00.002-04:002019-01-06T19:35:47.851-05:00Stuff is still going onYeah the season is over, the snow is gone, the rains have come, well the rains SHOULD have come but haven't. That doesn't mean the sleds get neglected, or it SHOULDN'T mean the sleds get neglected...<br />
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Saturday I got some time to start putting the machines into storage, step one was to pull the windshield off the '91 Jag, the windshield comes off that sled easily so I pull it, otherwise the tarp will pull on it all summer and fold it in effectively ruining it. Then I added a couple ounces of Seafoam gas additive to the tank. I've been adding Seafoam at every fill up so this dose wasn't all that important, I also managed to run the tank down pretty far the last time I rode the sled so I didn't use very much.</div>
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Then I scrubbed the sled:</div>
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I used normal carwash soap and my normal car scrubbing sponge. This is a chance to give the sled a good check over, look for anything broken or needing attention. I found some cracks in the fiberglass of the hood but nothing too bad. The I fired it up and ran it around the yard to its summertime spot. I was very pleased in that it started right up no problem. That got the engine warm and helped dry out the hook and engine compartment. Then I waxed the hood and put two yogurt cups with mothballs in the footwells to keep the mice away.</div>
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There are a couple more steps, I need to stop and get a tarp for it, the canvas cover I have will get killed by staying outside all summer. Then I'll start it one more time and turn off the gas so the carb bowls empty out some. I'll shut it off before they run out, 2 stroke engines really don't like running out of gas. The bowls will still have some gas in them, theres nothing I can do about that but having them half empty will help to keep varnish from building up on the jets and causing trouble.</div>
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Finally I'll hose down the whole engine compartment with WD40. This gets rid of any remaining water and puts a water resistant coating on the metal parts. I did this last year on this sled and I was very pleased with the results. Its especially important since I don't have covered storage for the sleds although even if I did I think I'd still go ahead with it. I wish I'd been doing this on the Pantera, if I had I wouldn't need to repaint the tinwork...</div>
Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-20455583980485639432015-04-19T22:03:00.003-04:002019-01-06T19:36:40.430-05:00Its not a dead sled but...Picked up a new-to-me sled yesterday,<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoDNoCvN82irYfn3pB_m2X7pxIdBqhdDGHiiW3iPuEovaDK-T0_WvI_ykTD8cw_VTKywsqirQgCojF4L0Pv7vDVlnrbSJX49U9Slokhi5Wk_SYQko6BAS_Ru324kHcLpzcqS-MyadHcqX/s1600/IMG_20150418_152836160_zpshhx1ittq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoDNoCvN82irYfn3pB_m2X7pxIdBqhdDGHiiW3iPuEovaDK-T0_WvI_ykTD8cw_VTKywsqirQgCojF4L0Pv7vDVlnrbSJX49U9Slokhi5Wk_SYQko6BAS_Ru324kHcLpzcqS-MyadHcqX/s400/IMG_20150418_152836160_zpshhx1ittq.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Its a 1998 Jag 440 with just over 3100 miles.<br />
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Its in good shape although the hood is broken a little at the hinge:<br />
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The guy claims the wind caught the hood while it was open but he's repaired it with some tin on the inside and fiberglass on the outside. It looks like a decent repair although I'll keep my eyes open for a replacement hood. It'll also need a track in a year or two, I priced the sled with that in mind...<br />
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I bought this sled because my '91 Jag beat the snot out of me last winter. When the trails were nice and flat it was a nice sled to ride but when they were bumpy it wasn't. This '98 has at least twice as much suspension, this is the last generation of the Jag, they stopped making them in '99, its got the FastRack long travel rear suspension and should be a much more comfortable ride. Its got aftermarket plastic skis with good carbides so it turns great. Starts real easy, and with a single carb its easy on the thumb and should be pretty easy on gas.<br />
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Overall I'm excited, this sled should have all the good my '91 has plus be more comfortable to ride a win overall.Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-71279641482168668612015-04-14T11:46:00.001-04:002019-01-06T19:37:17.048-05:00Call itWhat a winter its been but as I write this the snow here in north central Massachusetts is about gone. They tell me theres still riding up north but sadly I have no time for that and honestly with such an epic winter I'm about all done. I did something like 300 miles this year which is a record for me. To get to that mileage we had at least two 50 mile rides which are also records never mind having just an epic amount of snowfall.<br />
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My last ride was actually several weeks ago, I went out by myself for another 50 miler. Angie was willing to go with me but the snow conditions were less than idea for a liquid cooled machine and I was worried the Ski-Doo would overheat. The Jag just ate up the miles no problem and most of the places I rode we nice and flat so its less than fantastic suspension wasn't a big issue. After a whole season of riding past it I finally found a spot lots of people had taken pics of and Ben had told me about:<br />
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Looks to me like some sort of railroad or maybe a trolley had run through here. This runs down through the Birch Hill recreation area by the parking lot and I think the tracks must have continued down into Lake Dennison park. I didn't realize it before but I can see them as tracks now.<br />
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The Jag seems to get about 10-12mpg limiting me to around a 50 mile run which is fine as thats about as far as I can stand. The sled has good front suspension but the rear end only has a few inches of travel. I've started looking around for something newer with more suspension. Randy tried to warn me about that last year but I didn't listen. My plan is to sell the Ski-Doo and Jag and get a pair of newer machines like a Z440 or newer Jag DLX, or maybe a Polaris with an Xtra 10 or Xtra 12 suspension. Something I can ride on the whoops without getting beaten to death.Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-2486652162490150442015-03-04T21:48:00.002-05:002019-01-06T19:39:04.113-05:00Stupid trailerSeems like I've had to fix my trailer just about every time I've used it this season, clearly its due for a major rebuild in the off-season.<br />
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You might remember last time the passenger side taillight fell off. This time it was the license plate which was fortunately held to the trailer by the wiring for it's light.<br />
Heres an in-progress pic of the repair:<br />
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I actually had to do a fair amount of work for this one, the bracket that held the license plate was just gone, a piece about twice the size of a quarter was left along with one of the bolts that held the plate. I ended up having to cut that bolt (and the palm of my hand while I was at it) to get the plate back off.<br />
The repair was fairly simple, I welded a piece of corrugated pickup bed repair steel to a piece of 1/8" flat stock, then drilled holes for the plate mount and welded the flat stock to whats left of the trailer. The welds are NASTY, there wasn't much to weld to but if you can't make 'em look good make 'em big so they won't fail.<br />
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In the end I actually made the corrugated part too big because I didn't pay attention to how the plate light I'd bought mounts:<br />
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I'd added the tab on the right to hold the light which actually mounts perfectly above the plate. Oh well, I'll fix it when I fix everything else. Using a big plate like this will keep the license plate from getting bent as much.<br />
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To weld in the plate I needed to remove the tail light and of course the stud spun, so I ended up cutting the nut that held it on so that had to be replaced as did the plate light.<br />
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Monday night I went to the snowmobile club meeting and on a challenge I decided to ride in. About halfway to the parking area I hit a big bump and the running lights went out on the trailer. The brake and turn signals still worked though. Since I didn't have far to go I just kept going.<br />
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Today I finally took time to figure out what was happening. The first step was to prove it wasn't my truck which was easy, put the meter on the plug at the truck and it was fine. So then I went to the trailer and removed all the bulbs with the meter connected and set for resistance. In a normal world the meter would read some level of resistance while the bulbs were installed and open circuit (1 on my meter) when all the bulbs were removed.<br />
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In the pic above the bulbs have been removed and the meter is still showing a connection. Since I had recently worked on the trailer I automatically assumed my work to be faulty. I pulled the new tail light and let it dangle from its wires, when dangling its not grounded so it couldn't be the short. When that didn't help I was starting to get worried about one of the wires where they come down from the hitch. I got under there and started looking around and thats when I noticed the running lights under the tail of the trailer. When I got under the tail I found the wire running to them had been pinched in a piece of angle iron that had been used to strengthen the failing rear crossmember. When they'd welded in the angle iron they captured the wire between sections of weld, what a dumb move.<br />
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Those running lights had never really worked anyway so I just cut the wire. They're in a crappy place, under the tail of the trailer so they get whacked on the ground when the trailer is tilted. When I rebuild the trailer I'll flush mount them to the rear of the trailer and weld a frame around them to keep them from getting hit. Thats how my last trailer worked and it was a pretty good system. I'll use LED lights which are thinner and less likely to get hit anyway.Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-20787612927214647612015-02-24T21:33:00.000-05:002019-01-06T19:40:12.399-05:00Weld weld weldI was going to ride Sunday as we'd had some more snow but I came out to find this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnEjOt0y_4vpg8z86JTY8nfB70mAU_VieGi62fc2_QzMG16iJ7czBSn8H4lMWh73sNKfr3fk94RM6cAHy80_oGss-V4_ChMvUmbexZ79rbobCyxHJC9djp12Va9rQDPbXSRNVTs4Y6l6fP/s1600/IMG_20150222_163517329_HDR_zpstpmzcdge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnEjOt0y_4vpg8z86JTY8nfB70mAU_VieGi62fc2_QzMG16iJ7czBSn8H4lMWh73sNKfr3fk94RM6cAHy80_oGss-V4_ChMvUmbexZ79rbobCyxHJC9djp12Va9rQDPbXSRNVTs4Y6l6fP/s400/IMG_20150222_163517329_HDR_zpstpmzcdge.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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whoops. It turns out my old trailer is pretty rotten underneath. The frame the springs attach to is solid but the pieces that span between that and the side rails are all bad.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ3uz9kNExWbbbbxmySA5RRh7TPpY6XqjPJdvUhiG2onq9VYTv3BFTcUz6WchYC7tfc1Xv5Fw01dJvApYYSJmxevS5TX1ab1G61YVdBlOeXEjceoraTm_qAA0X1SNp27XssiIwY9DHlD5l/s1600/IMG_20150222_163521544_zpso4ajh734.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ3uz9kNExWbbbbxmySA5RRh7TPpY6XqjPJdvUhiG2onq9VYTv3BFTcUz6WchYC7tfc1Xv5Fw01dJvApYYSJmxevS5TX1ab1G61YVdBlOeXEjceoraTm_qAA0X1SNp27XssiIwY9DHlD5l/s400/IMG_20150222_163521544_zpso4ajh734.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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You can see in this pic that the previous owner had done some repairs with pieces of angle iron in the past.</div>
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I'm debating if I replace this trailer or buy some steel and rebuild it. I'm pretty much 50/50. Ben has an enclosed trailer he's talking about selling. I'd been talking about an enclosed trailer anyway, it would keep my nicer sleds from degrading over the summer like they tend to do when left under tarps so that would be a good option. On the other hand if the only thing this trailer needs is three or four pieces of steel I'd be a fool not to replace them. At the very least it would make the trailer valuable enough to sell or take to camp where we could use it as a utility trailer. For now I won't be taking it very far from home.</div>
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Anyway I welded a strip of steel from the angle iron to the side rail and then welded the light mount to that. Its not terrific but it'll get me through the rest of this season.</div>
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With that done I spent some time welding up the pipe for the Ski-Doo. When I was riding Saturday it popped and got louder. I found a bunch of pinholes in the main pipe, mostly around places I'd welded before. That pipe is looking like the Frankenstein monster. I cleaned up those welds and added some filler. I also fixed a spring hook that had broken. I need to finish out by pulling the last part of the can and rebuilding its flange to the next piece up stream. I managed to do a similar repair on another piece that came out nice. If nothing else this kind of work helps me become a better welder.</div>
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Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-48823323934653156722015-02-17T21:29:00.000-05:002019-01-06T19:42:09.259-05:00A little light Jag repairThe Jag has been a great sled but theres a couple things bugging me about it. One was a spot on the windshield I managed to crack with just a tiny tap on a tree. Today I took the time to put some packing tape on the crack.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeVJXyDd_VI7jP7Bml2dx9CT55RAQz09gKTnyf_-3KgjcVcTMZCHlaZi-EZpUkWWJiK-1T8TLJt5sJVN0uzH21UGaudnzjvMJlROlCRxNoA4GV6FxxoqhZO-58xZQrSDOV84M084vYyu4/s1600/IMG_20150217_173321837_zpsfqn9lpcc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeVJXyDd_VI7jP7Bml2dx9CT55RAQz09gKTnyf_-3KgjcVcTMZCHlaZi-EZpUkWWJiK-1T8TLJt5sJVN0uzH21UGaudnzjvMJlROlCRxNoA4GV6FxxoqhZO-58xZQrSDOV84M084vYyu4/s400/IMG_20150217_173321837_zpsfqn9lpcc.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This was more challenging than I would have expected because the Windex I was trying to use to clean the windshield before I taped it kept freezing... Got it there eventually and now I'm thinking that it looks good enough I might leave it that way. I'd been thinking I'd buy a new windshield but they're kinda expensive and will just get broken eventually... Maybe when I take this one off in the spring I'll re-enforce a little where I couldn't get to with it mounted but I think its staying.<br />
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I've also noticed the sled getting a little louder. Theres a gasket where the manifold meets the muffler and surprisingly Troy Arctic Cat actually had one so I replaced it:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicxw3lww9z9pB8vY8u4pO1W7Kdvehs1O2DSH5viudI3mGbKQ6kag3efH_s1mhtPBDud6UZDGQDnLbh5MBKCCfEn_a4r9k0YRGIci8IPzYnsqb0AlPIPJF4STyzpDA1AJPzpEw_Ejp2jMoq/s1600/IMG_20150217_165233189_zpso3f8vkf3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicxw3lww9z9pB8vY8u4pO1W7Kdvehs1O2DSH5viudI3mGbKQ6kag3efH_s1mhtPBDud6UZDGQDnLbh5MBKCCfEn_a4r9k0YRGIci8IPzYnsqb0AlPIPJF4STyzpDA1AJPzpEw_Ejp2jMoq/s400/IMG_20150217_165233189_zpso3f8vkf3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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New gasket installed</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMAczuppEWio-n7yQ4jp3m_kjAdsmacdP92FqN4hWx1R_KXKKcZ53mVELhNb4BBkEdrtu4KnxftL-NRmNTD8gJtH6NE5sLud_oIriuZMBLIWIXPaGq81v3E8V_FU9XGA1KMCxzYHrbiTdQ/s1600/IMG_20150217_165223519_zpsnvvcdulu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMAczuppEWio-n7yQ4jp3m_kjAdsmacdP92FqN4hWx1R_KXKKcZ53mVELhNb4BBkEdrtu4KnxftL-NRmNTD8gJtH6NE5sLud_oIriuZMBLIWIXPaGq81v3E8V_FU9XGA1KMCxzYHrbiTdQ/s400/IMG_20150217_165223519_zpsnvvcdulu.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The old one didn't look too bad and I didn't notice much difference in my test runs but it seemed like it didn't get loud until I'd been riding for awhile. I wonder if the old gasket was letting exhaust by when it got hot...<br />
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Finally the kill switch doesn't work. Arctic Cat used a kind of pain in the ass system to shut the sled down if the carbs get stuck open. When I bought the sled it was bypassed with a nice jumper but I've had a couple cases this year where the carbs have been a little sticky and I'd like to have the kill switch back so I spent some time looking at it.<br />
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The system is interesting there are switches in the carbs and two switches at the throttle lever. One of the throttle lever switches is activated when the lever is all the way back, when you move the lever that switch opens and the other closes. The sled won't run if one of the switches isn't closed all the time. The idea being if a carb was stuck open the cable would be slack and neither switch would be active thereby shutting the sled off.<br />
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I spent a bunch of time playing with adjusting carbs because I thought I was getting caught in the transition period between one switch opening and the other closing. It turns out the first switch is never closing:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnwp3aP3UQNGyshZftrP1B00QG-6O8RJ60Sm93KjaZIFRMkEr4RSBg8At2xFv4W-rEG2E6oK8zigtPlZHsGmUOekNb0onWYazISO7GtFWdkz-GZtmpG8cAng6v0fwwJ3sHGRNq60XwgmTQ/s1600/IMG_20150217_171727928_zps1dkxcnu7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnwp3aP3UQNGyshZftrP1B00QG-6O8RJ60Sm93KjaZIFRMkEr4RSBg8At2xFv4W-rEG2E6oK8zigtPlZHsGmUOekNb0onWYazISO7GtFWdkz-GZtmpG8cAng6v0fwwJ3sHGRNq60XwgmTQ/s400/IMG_20150217_171727928_zps1dkxcnu7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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If you look directly below where the cable mounts to the throttle lever theres a hole. That hole is directly against the first switch (visible to the right of the ferrule the cable goes into) so nothing ever pushes against that switch. I've asked about it over at vintagesleds.com but I think what I'm going to do is find a set screw that fits into that hole and wind it in so that it just pushes on that bottom switch. While I'm at it I should see if I can fix the thumb warmer, that'd be nice to have...Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-44459865853622629882015-02-15T18:03:00.002-05:002019-01-06T19:43:21.612-05:00And sometimes this happens...We got another 10.5" of the blessed white stuff last night which managed to wipe out all the tracks in the yard. That of course needed to be fixed so I fired up the '91 Jag for a good rip. 10.5" is good deep powder but the Jag just eats it up, no problem at all so full of confidence I hit the trails for one of my pirate runs.<br />
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Nobody had been through since I went last week and even then I'd only made one pass out and back which doesn't make much of a trail. About 200 yards in I found a 5 FOOT deep drift, fortunately it descended to only 3 feet at the left side of the trail, unfortunately that was right next to a tree. I split the difference and blasted through a 4 foot wall of snow, had no choice really, there was nowhere to turn around and I didn't dare stop for fear I wouldn't be able to get going again.<br />
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With that behind it was a hard but slow run to where I leave the railbed and cross to a parallel trail. I was nervous about this because its a tight area and wasn't sure if I could keep headway but the Jag just kept slogging along. Finally got to where I could turn around, decided I'd do a clockwise turn but suddenly realized there was a deep spot right where I was headed, reversed course and ended up foolishly getting off the power and hitting that deep spot heading the other way...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_o-ce1WsXQQe1IxOAwUSeM1UJ6L3vQzphFmAw6iLq1uLeZAbC4GLxQcRWVHuA302uXbNkMJwzpNZQSOBMG8bF4mbgU-6yFjUgGbmVeCT_qvDabeN0jggZeR-MkavalFmEwVZcThZMZXZy/s1600/IMG_20150215_165233623_zpssr6uzes7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="1024" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_o-ce1WsXQQe1IxOAwUSeM1UJ6L3vQzphFmAw6iLq1uLeZAbC4GLxQcRWVHuA302uXbNkMJwzpNZQSOBMG8bF4mbgU-6yFjUgGbmVeCT_qvDabeN0jggZeR-MkavalFmEwVZcThZMZXZy/s400/IMG_20150215_165233623_zpssr6uzes7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I commenced to digging. This was a learning experience, with older sleds that have no rear suspension travel you heave the back end over to the side, fill in the hole under the track, heave the sled back on top to pack the snow, then back off and repeat. With a sled like my Jag that has some rear suspension you dig out under the footboards the length of the sled, then sit way back on the seat and apply power, the track hopefully finds traction and you're out. I had to try the old method once before I realized the new method would work better.<br />
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Here's a look at how close I was to completing the turn:<br />
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigAvhIq5IY6ngT4gBgSofmRjIbV9PjuhE4JWgjiUrJWmnaZ6m-LoU9kNSzA8AhscH_vQU3wgb22wr2HEEjQEbCnfkKW4hkMe1ZmUHKwCQ8UuMV1RjktR18iParNA_LLtYZYLDIEb6S4OMT/s1600/IMG_20150215_165310475_zpsmslbpprc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigAvhIq5IY6ngT4gBgSofmRjIbV9PjuhE4JWgjiUrJWmnaZ6m-LoU9kNSzA8AhscH_vQU3wgb22wr2HEEjQEbCnfkKW4hkMe1ZmUHKwCQ8UuMV1RjktR18iParNA_LLtYZYLDIEb6S4OMT/s400/IMG_20150215_165310475_zpsmslbpprc.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I think my mistake is that I thought I was going to stay in the seat through the turn, I should have been standing on the left footboard. I also realize now that I should always plan on a counter clockwise reversing turn when I can manage it because it'll be easier to stay on the throttle through the turn. In a right turn it gets hard to pull the throttle since the right grip is now down by my right knee.<br />
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Ahh live and learn right? The good news here is that since the Jag is such a good powder sled I feel much more confident about trying to make it to our camp in Maine in the winter. The camp is 3/4 of a mile from the road with no trails kept in the winter so we'd have to break trail through what would probably be powder similar to this.<br />
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I took the Jag yesterday into the state park and rode the groomed trails, it rides good but fishtails something awful. I'd decided that it needed a new track but considering its powder performance it might just need studs. Actually if I could get a deeper lug track AND studs and slightly wider plastic skis this would be an amazing powder machine...Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025891334594893682.post-26014801950313752552015-02-14T16:37:00.002-05:002019-01-06T19:45:08.092-05:00Working with the groomers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Suddenly I realize I've been remiss in telling you about riding with the groomer...</div>
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As with all clubs the Coldbrook Snowmobile Club is basically run by a small group of people who do all the work. I've seen this a bunch of times in a bunch of different clubs. Not wanting to be a freeloader some years ago the last time I was part of the club I got in on a work day and helped prep one of the groomers. That was kind of cool but just a one time thing.</div>
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This year I thought I'd help out with the actual process of grooming. Technology has progressed and the club has a Facebook page, I got on there and found that they were looking for people to help out so I volunteered. Last week I met up with Chris and rode in the ASV on the southern run. Last night I rode with Ben in the Pisten Bully in Lake Dennison State Park.</div>
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The ASV is a fair sized machine, maybe the size of a family sedan, the Pisten Bully (pictured above) is a brute the size of a box truck. The blade is about eight feet across and its sports a 200HP Mercedes turbo diesel engine. The guys say that grooming is "like watching paint dry" which is more or less true. Its a bit like snowmobiling very slowly, the machines creep along at about 6mph. Its also a bit like plowing snow but backwards. Where your average snowplow pushes snow off the road the groomer's job is to pull snow into the trail, both to fill in the low spots but also to build up a base.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxW4ZGF7ipX5oTRxWD_hlFYIHmY7lc1Tx39UKLlWoEb5Yt-uf6lVSkfsXyxS-1B5iL-YjN-b8uNkZICIfLe54iAw1PgYu50ZY8v5Xoou1vWnUqbVYLl4zzGeha-54ap05NWruVkVZA4fMz/s1600/IMG_20150214_143158184_zpsn1n5jcgo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxW4ZGF7ipX5oTRxWD_hlFYIHmY7lc1Tx39UKLlWoEb5Yt-uf6lVSkfsXyxS-1B5iL-YjN-b8uNkZICIfLe54iAw1PgYu50ZY8v5Xoou1vWnUqbVYLl4zzGeha-54ap05NWruVkVZA4fMz/s400/IMG_20150214_143158184_zpsn1n5jcgo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here's some of Ben's handy work, even after half a day of riding it still looks real good.</div>
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I don't know yet if this is going to end up with me actually being a groomer driver. I'd guess I'll be a backup, it seems like they've got enough actual operators right now. It also takes a long time to get qualified to operate a machine, about 2 years. The reason for the long training period is that the groomers only really run about 100 hours a year which if you think about it is really only 2 and a half 40 hour weeks, it takes time to get proficient. Honestly I could probably run either of the machines through the woods right now and keep the drag on the ground but theres so much more to it, theres knowing how to fill holes, which high spots to cut and when to leave them alone. How to raise the drag before the top of a hill so you don't scrape the snow off and when to drop it on the back side. </div>
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Ben is a great teacher and I started to absorb some basic theory last night but clearly I've got a long way to go. I've also got to learn to deal with problems that show up, the machines are generally pretty old and stuff breaks so you've got to be self-reliant. I'd like to think I've got an advantage there but I bet I really don't. These guys are mostly blue-collar folks who have real jobs where they work with their hands and tackle mechanical problems all the time. Being a "thinker" I'm way behind on that front and have to work harder to make up for it.</div>
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Anyway I don't know where this is going to lead other than to some late nights, last night I met Ben at around 6pm and headed home around 12:30am which was better than the week before when I met Chris at 6:30pm and headed home at 2am...</div>
Curthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03089940597126624595noreply@blogger.com0