153 on trail

[Snowbound98]

I found a guy selling a PowderKeg with fuel caddy and I jumped on it. Have one on my Winder and really wanted the fuel caddy but found a complete setup. It’s bigger than my other one so I’m putting it on my Viper.

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It came with tunnel bracket and fill nozzle for caddy.

A little test fit. Don’t care for the strange looking gap but I can deal with it.

 

[Snowbound98]

Before I mounted the PowderKeg, I decided it would be best to stiffen the tunnel and put a new rear bumper on it while at it. BDX finally released their XXX bumper so I ordered it.

Backed the sled into the shop to install the new bumper.

Dropped the rear of the skid and started drilling out rivets.

Hard to see the bumper on the black but it was actually nice. Fitment was good and install was easy.
I also removed the back half of the tunnel decal before putting the bumper on.

 

[Snowbound98]

Once the bumper/tunnel support was on, I could now install the brackets for the PowderKeg. The stainless brackets that came with it wouldn’t work. The tunnel is narrower than the storage box so I had to make my own brackets that stood off the tunnel but was also secure enough to hold the box.
Here’s what I came up with after bending, drilling, modifying some sheet metal.

 

[Snowbound98]

With the Winder still down getting some mods and maintenance, I took the Viper for the first run of the season. Strangely enough we had to ride southern Wisconsin, Johnson Creek to be specific.

Stayed at a hotel just outside of town near Polaris dealer.

First 30 minutes of the ride I was a little rusty and ran out of talent as the sled kinda went off trail and laid on its side. I had to roll it down the hill where it sat in this picture and then cut down some branches. Minor hiccup but the rest of the weekend went smooth.

 

[Snowbound98]

And that was the only riding I got this season. 318 miles, one weekend, southern Wisconsin riding corn fields and zero miles on any of the other sleds.

End of season, doing my summer storage routine and I noticed the side of my tunnel is bulged out on both sides.

This stupid bumper/tunnel support did nothing to prevent bending. All it did was make me drill a thousand holes in tunnel for nothing!!

 

[Snowbound98]

Before I went home for the week, I lifted the sled off the bumper to keep it hanging under stress while until I went back up north.

When I went back up I drilled out all the rivets and removed that POS bumper. I used a squeeze clamp and tried pulling the tunnel back into place. I actually got it decent but what to do about all these holes?

I said screw it and bought a new tunnel and even the support brackets that hold the rear skid.

I was actually going to sell this sled and had it listed but now that I’m doing all this, I’m just gonna keep it around. Gonna put the 2.6” paddle track back on and use this sled for off trail only. I’m gonna be prepared for the next season that doesn’t cooperate and I have to chase the snow to the mountains.

I splurged and ordered a new 25 Sidewinder XTX 146 LE EPS