How to tow a downed sled???

I saw a sled get towed out that lost its drive shaft by setting the rear end up on the bumper of the tow sled - they even turned the skis around so they would not dig in. This was in the Snowies this year as well, not our group.
 
LazyBastard said:
The ski tips are a BAD place to attach a rope. A good place to attach your ropes is to the a-arms close to the bulkhead. This minimizes the stress on the arms themselves and won't ruin your skis. Even if you put a stick or 2x4 through the ski loops, you're still going to be twisting them in a way they are not intended to twist, and particularly with skis that have softer loops, like simmons for example, you could actually do significant damage to the ski that way.

For towing trailing arm sleds, do the same as for a-arms. For pogo-stick or leaf-spring suspensions, attach to the spindle.


Regarding the tow-line material.... something with a bit of stretch can make it much easier and smoother, but if you're not going to go all out and buy a tow bungie as recommended above, a good quality piece of braided nylon rope (white boat rope) is all you need, just make sure you know how to tie a good knot that can be untied when finished, a bowline for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowline . Do NOT use polypropylene rope -- it deteriorates very quickly under abrasion and doesn't hold a knot very well.
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I agree to some degree but am still not 100%. I have found that in some cases attaching back there has the potential to get caught up & break zerks, sometimes the rope if not properly placed gets caught in the suspension parts, plus I don't know anybody who uses aftermarket skis in this neck of the woods. Actually there are still a lot of older machines on the go around here with steel skis. I guess that we will have to agree to disagree on this one. I am still more comfortable using a stick between the ski tips and quite honestly after towing a whole lot of sleds over the years from a lot of different places have never witnessed any ski tip issues - but then again I am only relating my experiences, other may have different ones.
 
I have seen a lot of strange things happen when people have been towing broken sleds. As tow ropes become slack they can get caught up in a lot of things. Where I live we don't have nice , smooth groomed trails & end up towing in some pretty harsh consitions on time. And I have been involved with or towed all current brands of sleds & even some that have been extinct for a while over my 25 years of sledding. You tow how you want and I will tow the way I want. My method works for me; you can do whatever you please.
 
xc8j said:
I saw a guy that had a large rental operation tow in a down summit by himself.He tied the ski loop of the down sled up tight to the rear bumper of the good sled and took off! Looked goofy but worked GREAT! Jay
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I have towed (and unfortunately been towed) in this manner many times over the years, and it really works well. The ski of the towed sled is pulled up until it touches the bumper of the tow sled and then tied off with no slack in the rope. The towed sled will follow wherever the tow sled goes. You will be surprised at how much easier it pulls. Just remember that the towed sled sticks out when in corners and encountering other sleds, and there should not be anyone on the towed sled. I've been using the same skis for ten years on three different sleds, and I've had to tow on them more than once and have had no problems. I've also never seen any problems with any of the sleds that I've towed, and quite honestly if my sled has to get towed, the last thing I'm worried about are the skis.
 
I have been using nylon recovery straps to pull and get pulled out of the mud with 4x4's. You can use them to give slack and get a couple of feet momentum with the tow vehicle in hard times. Works flawlessly.

When it came time to buy something for my new to me sled last year I immediately got a smaller one. It sure will help ease the stress on both sled cause you don't get any jerk motion.

When using the four point system, your lifting the ski tip of the snow when pulling tight. It seems your pulling the skies inwards when doing this. Can't be good for the ski alignment?

1019B.jpg
 
bumper to bumper tight. A long underware shirt works in case you forget the rope...not that I know or anything.

I have towed backwards with the skis turned around and lashed to trailing arms as well before. (track would only spin backwards due to broken suspension parts)
 
we have towed sleds useing the rope to both skis and put sleds tracks in or on dog sleds when nothing will turn, long distance, rough trails, sober and drunk when pulling other sleds the main thing is to not jerk the tow rope once going keep steady pressure and no problems have towed sleds from the 1970's to my 06 apex yes all brands break down and we have never had any ski alinement problems only sled damage high speed towing and alcohol years ago lot of funny stories. used every thing from tree branches,belts extra clothing, and even one person driving while another holding the skis of the towed machine What ever it takes is better than leaveing a sled out on the trail or boondocks.
 
I love tow stories, I have many I could share from the mountains. Every year we tow out a few blown-up/crashed sleds. I will share one.

10,000 feet, 20" of fresh powder and a 8ft base. We broke a crankshaft on a 05 Poo 800. We were off trail and had one big climb to get out. It was a wide hill, no major issues with it other then it was long,steep and had 20" of fresh with many ruts in it. Every sled in the group was a 159/800 or bigger and they all had Nitrous on them. We spent the first 30-40 minutes trying to pack the hill. We had to use 4 sleds hooked up to the dead sled with no rider on it to get it out. The last half of the climb the dead sled was on its side or hood!

Took us 3 hours to get up that hill. each time we didnt make it all the tow sleds got stuck. :) Eric
 
SRXSRULE said:
I love tow stories, I have many I could share from the mountains. Every year we tow out a few blown-up/crashed sleds. I will share one.

10,000 feet, 20" of fresh powder and a 8ft base. We broke a crankshaft on a 05 Poo 800. We were off trail and had one big climb to get out. It was a wide hill, no major issues with it other then it was long,steep and had 20" of fresh with many ruts in it. Every sled in the group was a 159/800 or bigger and they all had Nitrous on them. We spent the first 30-40 minutes trying to pack the hill. We had to use 4 sleds hooked up to the dead sled with no rider on it to get it out. The last half of the climb the dead sled was on its side or hood!

Took us 3 hours to get up that hill. each time we didnt make it all the tow sleds got stuck. :) Eric
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sounds like fun NNOOTT Yeah after done it sounds like fun. good story
 
Don't ask me how I know, but sleds tow WAY easier when they are upside-down, lol.
 
I read somewhere that you can use 2 belts and a couple of stout sticks. I'm sure it would work in a pinch, but a tow strap works better. And for those who need help tying knots, check this out

http://www.animatedknots.com/

Probably not a good place to say this, but the only sled I had to tow was my buddy's Viper (with my old Doo). Hopefully with both of us having 4 strokes, we shouldn't need to tow anything....then again...I'lll keep my strap in the sled.
 
We were in Michigan when my drivechain broke, locking up the track. (Yes on a Yamaha.)
When the track locks, you have to use a kids sled or something to allow it to slide.
(Have thought of carrying a roll up plastic sled for this.)
In this case, all we could find was an old refrigerator drawer. Like the crisper drawer.

We tied them together with about a 20 foot rope, set the rear end of the sled on the drawer, and made it the 2 or 3 miles back to a road to where we had brought the truck.
Just 20 or so feet from the trailer my buddy pulling me turned slightly to head towards the trailer, my sled slid sideways, dug in, and flipped multiple times. :o|
After it piled me into the ground, I watched all these expensive black plastic shards fly through the air and litter the ground, kinda like the front of the sled had exploded... #$%&*

It was a laugh or cry moment, so we ended up dying laughing at the dumb luck!

I ended up telling everyone that he was pulling me at 80MPH, beer in left hand, duct tape around the throttle on his right hand, yelling "YEEEEEEHAAAAAAW!!!" :drink:
Like a redneck tow truck driver, fridge drawer and all...
lmao

How the sled is towed can make a huge difference, personally I like the close couple idea to the pulling sled, less chance of sliding way out to the side! lol
 
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