[Yellowknife]

November 3rd, 2008 Entry: Yes, we had our first snowmobile ride of the 2008 - 2009 Winter, and I have a few pictures and a few minutes of video to share to kick off the season!

We had our first real snowfall on October 29th...


I thought the dusted we had in the morning was it for the day...


We ended up getting close to a foot of snow in about 12 hours, which is rare for here (in one shot)...


The rest of the week we worked on the sleds, and one of us picked up a brand new one (wasn't me!)...


Greg got a new Bearcat Z1 4 Stroke. Hopefully she turns out to be a durable and reliable sled for him. He wanted a utility sled for hunting and fishing that could handle towing and his larger frame - I did the research for him over the 4 brands and was most impressed with this model...


I started the first ride with the Phazer...


My snowmobile trailer had 2 flat tires. What are the odds? Totally sucked, but we threw sleds into the back of a few trucks to make up for it.

Nate was along for the ride with his new mods including rail extensions on his Rev...


Trevor was along with his 2005 GSX Limited - still no engine rebuild and he's over 8000 km's (5000 miles)...not bad...


I just missed Nate climbing a sand pile in the pit, this was after he rolled his sled on a different sand pile LOL...


We trailered for the trip down to Mosquito Creek, drove a bunch of fire roads and had a good lunch in the bush, shot a couple birds, and rode the ditches as far as Lac La Martre Winter Road and we headed down there a little ways. By the end of the day we put 134 km's (84 Miles) on! It was probably the highest mile first ride i've ever had...


The lakes are a couple cold snaps away from being ready and around Yellowknife there isn't much riding. Trailer for an hour and you can put some miles on like we did.

I haven't done so well in the past keep on par with Video like I do with photo's - so this time around i'm trying a new system, which is semi automated, uncut, unedited video. Here's what I shot before and during the trip...

First Sled Ride Video 2008 - 2009 Season

Cheers,
YK

[Yellowknife]

November 4th, 2008 Entry: Accessories Time;

Have you seen these before?


Those are skiwheelz available at www.skiwheelz.com

I just finished installing them on both sleds, trying to get them balanced correctly.

The wheel sits overtop of your ski by removing the nuts for your carbides and placing the mounting bracket over the carbide bolts and reinstalling the nuts...


Once installed, you grab the tip of the ski into the air slightly and pull on the arm of the skiwheel...


The wheel flips down manually and contacts the ground...


You are left (hopefully) with none of the ski touching the ground...


On my Phazer there is barely enough clearance for the ski to NOT touch the ground. On the Nytro however the front of my ski's are still dragging so I will have to come up with a way to help the wheel angle a bit better. I had to add extra washers to ensure that the wheelz automatically retract without rubbing against the ski bottom.

When you either hit powder snow or pop the ski's with acceleration, the wheelz should automatically flip up again. I haven't got much testing on them but from what I can see the wheel itself is not very durable and probably won't last long. It is simply an idler wheel. Also if the angle/clearance isn't enough the ski bottom drags which is a problem. I'll see what I can do to improve performance. There is a rubber stopper on the end of the arm for the skiwheel that could stand to be larger in size which would then give the ski more ground clearance when the wheelz are down.

On another accessory, I installed Slidekicks Cable Scratchers which can be found at www.slidekicks.net

I installed these on my ski's instead of the rails, and they were positioned to spray snow using a carbide tip right at my track windows for my sliders...


After testing this past weekend on icy surfaces, the reversable scratchers fell apart...


Despite loctite, the above carbide ends which screw into the cable came loose and bent, and I even lost one in a short amount of time.

The cable itself is coated in plastic to help it maintain its bend to apply force to the ground, and that plastic cracked off quickly and the cable lost its shape and began to fray...




They do not recieve a passing grade at all and I will be looking for a refund.

On another note, I also purchased the rear climbing foot rests for my Nytro MTX...


They were easy to install with rivets and I like being able to stand on them for better weight transfer and traction on the running board, I had a set on my Renegade before...


They could stand to be wider to shape to the running board a little better.

You may also recall my fun with ice buildup in the engine compartment of my sleds causing frozen steering. At Yamaha's and my dealer's recommendation, I used the same type of urethane that is used to seal vehicle windshields to seal up any cracks around my belly pan and side panels. What I used was called ProForm Windshield Adheisive, and it works great.


It is flexible, even in cold, so as your panels flex with sled motion the sealant stays in tact. It blends with the black cowling very well, and it comes off easily if you need to remove it and re-apply. The only question remaining is if this in fact will keep the snow out and solve my snow injestion issue's. We will see...


Above is where the belly pan hangs down about an inch lower than the heat exchanger allowing snow to enter the engine compartment. All sealed up - hopefully it holds even with the heat from the exchanger.

I overhauled both the Phazer and Nytro by dropping the skid, replacing sliders, engine oil, filter, chaincase oil, adjusting ski alignment, chain tension, track tension, cleaning clutches, and greasing everything accordingly. Both sleds are still under warranty so we'll see how they hold up this year as I'll be exceeding the number of miles than any of my past 2 strokes were able to handle without a rebuild.

Cheers,
YK

[Yellowknife]

November 6th, 2008 Entry: We set a new record for the amount of snow we have - in only 2 snowfalls, for here, this is unprecidented;

[Daranello]

its been a long summer, welcome back Yellowknife

[Yellowknife]

Thanks Daranello!

November 9th, 2008 Entry: So much happened on Saturday I'm afraid to leave anything out.

We left Yellowknife for our 'secret' location to break trail at about 8:30am. The riding was going good - except when we were unloading the trailer I noticed one of my tires (the 3rd darn one) was going flat...but we hit the trails onward...






We got to a lake and were trying to go around it, crossing through weed beds. Nate and I broke through, and the bearcat was last to follow and he ALMOST didn't make it...lol




We made it to the destination and had lunch before heading back to the truck...


Nate had a chance at firing the 12 guage...


We got back to the truck and I had to re-inflate the trailer tire, no big deal. We loaded up and headed for the trails beginning at Hidden Lake. This is where things started to go wrong. Let's just say I took the road less travelled and needed to do some winching - you can see it all in detail by watching the video...after that we were on the trail, things were good and we seen some birds...




We had ATV tracks in front of us and I was riding along, and then this happened...




So recap, Greg almost got his sled stuck in the swamp, I got the truck stuck, and I flipped my sled. Moving on, we finally hit Hidden Lake without crossing any ponds...


Jumping up and down on the government dock, they will be removing all the crap outta Hidden Lake Gold Mine...


So after that we keep going and we come to a small stream that I like to call a river, but it was just a stream with some depth to it. What happened? Well, I'll give you a hint, but you are going to have to watch the full video. You'll need about 15 minutes but trust me, it is well worth it....the hint?




So after that main event was over we headed back...


We manged only 50 km's (30 MI) and 3 hours of actual riding over a 13 hour day, and to top it off...



Yes, the trailer tire had a hole in it. We had to stop every 10 minutes on the way home (7 times) to re-inflate the tire. It was smokin hot, i've got through 3 tires in a week...like *%@? To boot, the air compressor power cable wasn't long enough to reach from my trucks 12V outlet to the trailer tire while the truck was hooked up to the trailer, so we had to use Greg's bearcat's 12V power source with the engine running each time to power the air compressor and inflate the tire. I got 2 new tires on the thing now and 3 flats in the shop awaiting repair.

WHAT A GONG SHOW! LOL

Here's the best part, live footage - had to split into 2 parts - Enjoy!!!

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA5I1A8txOU

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeyTltyHSG4

[Swiss Sledder]

Nice video. Amazing how well the video turned out of the "second crossing".

[switchback1080]

Great vid's!!! looks like you guys had a awesome time!

[Brander]

Great reports Yellowknife! Keep it up. Your travels always seem to be interesting and entertaining. I am quite jealous about all the snow you guys already have. I'm still seeing green grass here in Ontario and its depressing.
Happy sleddin'

Cheers

[RSV]

As allways, great report from you, Yellowknife!

The video's are great! It sure looks like you guys had a blast! Wow, that Bearcat sure stopped quick in the little stream... OUCH!!! LOL
Was it the guy on the Bearcat who had the old MXZ (ZX chassis) last year?

[Yellowknife]

RSV, same guy - Frisbee for a clutch. LOL

Thanks guys!

[Ported Hornet]

Sweet! YK I love reading about your adventures! Keep up the good work, alot of us Southerns, flatlanders or whatever you want to call us love to ride vicarously through you.

Thanks for the report

PH

[Kevin Garceau]

LOL.... guy complaining of his knee....and all you hear is laughter.

In slow mo you can see his helmet in front of the headlight!

I would have been laughing too!

[Yellowknife]

I was panning the camera to provide leadroom for him to make the crossing, but when he stopped I almost didn't get him on screen, what you can't see, is that behind the windshield, his legs are vertical in the air and his hands are still on the bars squeezing the throttle LOL I couldn't stop laughing...

[MadMax]

Glad ta have ya back and writing down a few words for us.......... Always enjoy reading about your adventures.Try and keep the rubber side "DOWN" next trip.. MM.

[MADDOG24]

Great stuff!! Keep the vids coming.