clearing snow from suspension

[hydraulic yam]

I have a 93ish VK540II which is the smelly version of the VK PRO and has more in common
with the 4stroke side of the site then the 2stroke . Brute of a tank.
Got a decent drop of snow for my area (about a foot on unfrozen soil ) and decided to
pack some of the field for X country ski setting . It is normal that the snow packing
under the monster track lifts the sled and takes away steering until you drop the
throttle and for a moment you can steer .. But I spent 20 minutes "grooming"
and 25 min outside the barn on a jack stand running the track both ways and
stopping in between to dig out 2 bushels of snow pack.
My older sleds were heavy for their size but narrow enough to yank over
on their side and spin out a lot of the collection. I would need an ape
to flip the VK on its edge and likely break the handlebars .
Hardest spot in front of front arm.
Plastic hoe ? Kids toy shovel ? Been using a small broom.
Saw where someone with a Doo had bolted a lump to inside
of track to go around and eat away at it.
Ron

 

[maim]

lol i feel your pain. part of why i added a 2" riser to the vk in my signature and it has narrower ski stance than yours does. cables are all long enough, just needs wiring extended for controls.

as to the snow sticking, have you considered the snow shooter (shovel/snowblower) spray or plain old cooking oil? if i plan on going in the slush, i pre spray my tunnel/suspension with cooking oil and it helps with the snow sticking to the suspension. i usually don't bother though as snow sticking to the rails indicates that the slide plastic is not running too hot.

 

[hydraulic yam]

Hard to believe that is a VK540 with the skis above the snow in your signature .
...
I will maybe try the spray cooking oil and hope the coyotes don't chase me home.
.
So it sounds like if I invented some lite snow plow between the rails the world
would beat a trail to my door ..HaHa.
Maybe just a triangle shaped block on a handle to shove out one side and pull
out on back stroke while on the jack for now.
Ron

 

[maim]

lol my avatar pic is my brother in the powder on my 11 apex xtx. vk only does that when i have a big log or 2 on the hitch when doing firewood.

 

[Jack_Shaft]

Nearly all of these big WT/SWT machines suffer from rear suspension load-up in wet snow conditions. The ones that have a torsion-spring style rear skid seem to break up the materials better as the suspension parts slice and dice it into smaller pieces as it strokes. The ProAction rear skid on the earlier year VKPro's and VK540-III's has a big open area between the front torque arm and the rear scissors that does indeed load up from time to time. I just keep on eye on it and clear it out with a shovel handle when I can. It makes them heavy, yes, but doesn't really impact ski-pressure that I can see.

The VK540-III and to some degree the VKPro has very light ski pressure, but especially the VK540-III. It's a great utility machine, but steering was always terrible, just like the Polaris WT, especially when under load. I am not sure how this can be remedied for grooming purposes, I doubt shortening the front limiter strap would be enough.

 

[hydraulic yam]

I have a reasonable idea that a goose neck style hitch would help going
straight ahead if set so it is has no pull down action .
When we turn with rear tunnel hitch , it is drawing down and machine is
pulling sideways as well ..
I think there was BIG Cat sled that came with a "fifth wheel" goose neck
mounted up the tunnel just far enough to leave room for the driver.
Eliminates that two feet of pry bar effect of the rear hitch.
Saw it done on a Alpine years ago and they they said it was a game changer
and the guys didn't mind spending 5 hours on it.
My brain is able to whirl up ideas that my welder (operator) can't handle.
All my creations are made from recycled stuff around the yard , my track setter
was the shipping crate from a JD trailfire , a boat winch, scoop shovel , two
worn out cast wheels from a JD 750 drill, stone trap from combine and did buy the
actual poly setters but they were seconds with the nuts in crooked.
I do have a groomer that was built from pallet racking and worked well flattening
some UTV ruts installed in a soft trail BUT has only a inch of clearance
when edge raised. Fat Orange Cat had issues in deep fluffy snow.
Ron

 

[hydraulic yam]

Maim . I guess I don't my signature from an avatar . I don't use firewood
but expect mine might do that after hitting the stumps from your two
big logs.

 

[Jack_Shaft]

I have a reasonable idea that a goose neck style hitch would help going
straight ahead if set so it is has no pull down action .
When we turn with rear tunnel hitch , it is drawing down and machine is
pulling sideways as well ..
I think there was BIG Cat sled that came with a "fifth wheel" goose neck
mounted up the tunnel just far enough to leave room for the driver.
Eliminates that two feet of pry bar effect of the rear hitch.
Saw it done on a Alpine years ago and they they said it was a game changer
and the guys didn't mind spending 5 hours on it.
My brain is able to whirl up ideas that my welder (operator) can't handle.
All my creations are made from recycled stuff around the yard , my track setter
was the shipping crate from a JD trailfire , a boat winch, scoop shovel , two
worn out cast wheels from a JD 750 drill, stone trap from combine and did buy the
actual poly setters but they were seconds with the nuts in crooked.
I do have a groomer that was built from pallet racking and worked well flattening
some UTV ruts installed in a soft trail BUT has only a inch of clearance
when edge raised. Fat Orange Cat had issues in deep fluffy snow.
Ron

Goose neck mount is indeed a game changer for ski pressure. If you only use a snowmobile for grooming and you aren't concerned about resale, it's a great way to go if you can get the hitch on top of or slightly ahead of the upper rear idlers.

In my case, a snowmobile has to do many tasks, so I am limited to hitch mount grooming

 

[hydraulic yam]

Jack shaft . I had a look at your address .. Can't decide whether you 40km from
the end of the road or 100km from the ocean. Always figured you would be a west coaster
with that picture of Relic.
I probably would never miss my backrest and support as you can't sit on seat
as a passenger and lean back and touch it.
I'm thinking 4 pockets fastened into tunnel sides below seat and an arch over the seat
fastening down into them . Mount a seat back to the arch so I don't end up
falling back onto it. 1 7/8 trailer ball .
I expect a few holes drilled into my tunnel would just make it lighter ..LOL
Would be OK as long as they stayed tight.. We'll see if I live long enough to try it.
...
Only around 20F here this afternoon so I set some ski track and took a couple laps
on my "old" 3 pin nordic skis .. 1st time in a few years ... AND cool enough
that no snow packed in susp..
Went for a blast on sled and it may have some speed issues, fast enough for me.
About 60km/hr breaking track in about 14" of snow in a hay field. Just didn't
seem like clutching was wanting to give more. But for comparison my 433's
might only see 50k/hr on hard pack in same length ..
Ron

 

[maim]

take off your secondary and dissassemble and clean it. odds are there is some corrosion holding it back. the 11 vk in my signature was like that as it had not been above 50 kph almost since new.

 

[hydraulic yam]

Sounds like a spring project as I currently don't heat my shop. Did have to repair
the VK a few years after i bought it .. Always ran well but wouldn't idle on two cyl.
Often set track in the dark so never investigated it . Turns out the previous owner
must have used starting aid and had blown crank seal apart(found the spring)
and the plug over the injection wasn't even in the sled . Spark plug was packed with
Almn. Currently has a mid 80's SR540 core and the flywheel , ign and carb from
orig 93 VK. The ign side made melted the seal but still in place.
I had used for a couple years this way.
Also understand why you used them in Labrador and North as it never stopped.
Ron

 

[maim]

lol don't i know it. i am the 3rd owner of the 11. it had a problem since new of flooding out 1 spark plug every couple of hours when running it. the po swapped out the coil to try and fix it but it still was doing it. he finally did a compression test on it. pto cyl 130 psi. mag cyl 5 psi. he asked me to rebuild it for him. i did during covid. when i took it apart, i found that the base gasket on mag cyl had failed. got it done and gave it back to him. he died before he could ride it, so his wife gave it to me as he still owed me for parts into it. brother is running it atm and found the sticky clutch when he was going across a slushy lake. he sprayed brake cleaner into it to flush the crud out of the helix and kept trying to run it up to its max speed until it would hit it smoothly.

 

[hydraulic yam]

I will maybe try some cleaner and maybe pull the belt off so I can see how
hard it is, our if feels like a notch of crud in the secondary.
I remember how CVT's work from JD Gators but hadn't needed to
install a belt since 1973 other than when replacing VK engine.
Only had one bad belt in my 40 asst fluid drives and that was
because the reinforcement under engine to the tunnel had
rusted out and was moving around.
Ron