Ice scratchers..

[Mac21]

.....was riding in light snow and ice conditions two up... overheating light came on...pulled over and let engine cool down and after several stops made it back home without further incident....machine checks out ok..oil, etc...my friends tell me that installing ice scratchers would help throw some snow up around the engine and keep it cool..
...what R your thoughts on adding them?....is it a bolt on or drill item?

 

[BACK COUNTRY YAMAHA]

There are several different types out there, I found the spring type the most effective.
Due to the busy under carriage of the multi, I ended up using the skiz scratchers. They mount to the rear of the ski and they work well on my multi purpose! They are easy to install and remove and are able to reverse ! Cheers!

 

[Mac21]

Thanks for that...never knew about ice scratchers that went on the ski... doing some research on them...had been looking at the Yamaha TRIC Ice Scratchers....

 

[Mooseman]

Apparently the TRIC cable type are junk, breaking and losing the tip.

For a ski scratcher, I've seen this video for a redneck idea. I've never done it because I haven't had the need for it (more on that below).

One thing you can do is add some Water Wetter or similar product to the coolant. I don't exactly know how it works but I think I've read that it reduces water's surface tension and creates better contact with metal surfaces. Since I've started doing this after the first time it overheated on hard pack, It hasn't turned on the light since. The coolant that Yamaha puts in is apparently straight coolant so it's not a bad idea to also swap it for a 50/50 mix as it has better heat dissipation.

I've also added a temp gauge to monitor the temps and know when I need to find snow before it overheats.
Temp gauge install

 

[YukonMP]

As per Mooseman's post my anti-freeze was about 65 percent from the factory. That is more freeze protection than I need and above 50/50 the cooling effectiveness goes down. So I drained some coolant, added WaterWettter, and diluted to 50/50. I also have scratchers. Dragging my feet works too.

 

[Mac21]

Thanks everyone for the helpful info...will try the water wetter first and then look into getting ice scratchers for the ski ....if needed ...