(Season 2007-08)- Yellowknife

[go200mph]

Yellowknife,

Great write up to date. I look forward to reading more in this post. As said before, manufacturers should be giving you sleds to review. Couldn't ask for a more complete, objective review. Well done. By the way, I only have a few km's on the MTX so far, but I love it.

 

[silversurfer]

YK, good to see this year's thread. Your write-ups are always top notch. Keep it coming!

 

[Yellowknife]

I'm loving the Nytro on all accounts...

Here's what's been happening lately...

Back on Saturday, December 8th, a few of us got together to head east in the search for a wall tent location and some exploring. At the head of the pack was Don Stretch, a fellow who ownes and operates an excellent fishing lodge Hearne Lake Lodge

Don knew of some hidden locations to explore. One was a mine that was abandoned in the late 80's. We were like kids getting into trouble at every opportunity...

Myself and Nate...

Near the mine...

I was told it was a gold ore location where the gold was manually blasted and moved out...

There was plenty left behind, many things of value like this...

Here's Bruce with some goodies...

The abandoned generators...

Let's ride!!

On second thought, let's roll...

One of the abandoned cabins...

Hmm...what food is left over?

Kraft Dinner? Expires???

No caption required...

Yummy...

Soon we were on our way once again, this time in search of a military airstrip in the middle of nowhere...

We found it...

Soon it was lunch time...

It turned out to be a great day of riding for sure.

During the week I started moving apartments, thus the late postings...it tied up valuable sleding time but it was all done just in time for...

The 2007 NWT Sled Dog Race. You think I'd know the official title, seeing as how I volunteered for it, but I can't even find anything online about it.

The race is a qualifier for the Yukon Quest, among others. It is just over 300 km's (188 miles), starting at Fort Providence, NWT and running all the way to Yellowknife over a 48 hour period.

Our local snowmobile club was asked to break the trail, so myself and Bruce took on the task with the assistance of my friend Jonathan who is relatively new to snowmobiling. We departed Yellowknife for Fort Providence early in the morning to break trail before the race would begin, trailering 300 km's to here...

The trail breaking began with myself and Bruce on sleds, and Jonathan driving the chase truck with fuel and supplies along side the highway. The first 200 km's of the race follow the highway before breaking off onto Great Slave Lake for the remaining 100 km's.

Along the way there were bison, like this one...

Okay, we only ran into one herd of real bison, but they took off before I got the camera out.

Soon we rotated drivers and it was time for Jonathan to try out the Nytro...it proved to be a bit of a challenge to a relatively new rider...

He was the first one to tip my machine! Lucky guy.

We did actually see one other bison...but he didn't look so good...

The trip carried on through the morning...

That is, until Bruce accidentally hit a solid piece of steel sticking out of the ground...I have no idea how he stayed on his sled at the speed he was going, but he ski paid the price...

Back on the sled and having a blast...

Soon darkness fell, and we were only 200 km's into the trip arriving at North Arm Territorial Park...having to complete the final 100 K in the dark with the use of the GPS on Great Slave Lake...

14 hours later, we arrived home...with quite possibly the most miles I have ever ridden in one day in the Northwest Territories...at least that I can remember...

It was one hell of a trip...Jonathan also connected with a tree on my Nytro, but it was at a low enough speed not to cause any damage...besides that and Bruce's bent up ski, it was a relatively trouble free trip.

Now if only I can get that November video done that I've been talking about FOREVER!

I'll be working on some new accessory installs soon as well.

Cheers,
YK

 

[mopar nut]

hey Yellowknife were is that mine located? is it out by fort province? and love to keep reading up on ur season. good job

 

[Superman]

Yellowknife, Thanks for the reports again this year and keep them coming. Your reporting and evaluation skills are excellent. Looking at your pics and report on the tall windscreen and deflectors I'm ordering them up for Mine. Just for those cold days. Thanks again.

 

[rfabro]

Yellowknife. Hats off.

Mods, could you sticky this, please?

 

[Tork]

Yellowknife. Hats off.

Mods, could you sticky this, please?

Yes, I am all for that unless I am told otherwise.

 

[OST]

Thanks for the entertaining and very informative posts Yellowknife.

Definately STICKY material!!!

 

[Caribouhunter]

Old gold mine

Hey Yellowknife, I made it out to Hearne Lake on the weekend after you I think...(Dec 16), Ran into Don at the lodge and had a coffee, then proceeded out to the Gold mines non-functional Runway... What a beautiful ride out that way!! Put about 150km (93.2 miles) on my Attak on the factory 35L (9.25 G) tank while pulling a taboggan with all of our fishing and hunting gear. Averaged about 10MPG. Caught 4 nice sized trout but never seen any caribou. All I can say is this... these Yammy 4 strokes rock and I will try to convert everyone I know to them. I actually think I convinced my buddy to buy a Yammy instead of a Doo!! Keep up the good work on the posts... I wish i could do the same but my digital camera is broken right now.

 

[Yellowknife]

Thanks for all the compliments guys!! It's been tough finding time to post things with any kind of quality this year - I find myself busier than normal this winter outside of work. I'll keep it going as best I can - spent a few hours on the November video, but it's not done just yet! I'm trying hard to get it done!

hey Yellowknife were is that mine located? is it out by fort province? and love to keep reading up on ur season. good job

That mine was east of Yellowknife - I'd have to point it out on a map to be detailed enough to show you where it is.

The riding crew seems to be growing, which is a very good thing...

Mid-way through last week, Nate and I went riding in the evening to Tartan Rapids...I was jealous of Mike's post earlier...

There is a spot where the wind drifts were blown in over rocks, and we were having fun off the drift...Nate:

Saturday we hit the trails for an all day 160 km (100 mile) ride...Ray's dad was on his AC:

Lunch time!

We had a great ride through Hidden Lake...

We found some blown in snow that was great to play in this early in the season...

Nate tearin it up!

The Nytro with a 20 litre fuel can on the back, worked well, suspension set to the stiffest on the rear torsion springs and it was excellent through the moguls...

Enjoying the small drifts on Prelude...

Ended up being a great trip, with no major problems!

Sunday we ended up with our largest group ride ever (outside the snowmobile club poker run) with 13 riders!

On Frame Lake in town...

Mike on his XP

Nate on his Rev and Brian with his new rear skid in his Nytro!

We headed out for Berry Hill...

3/4 of the way through the trip, we had a blow up...this time for real...Kyle, who purchased my old machine, was with us and it went KA-BLEWEY!

Let the towing begin...20,000 km+ (12,500 mile+) sled...

We did some light hill climbing on some snow covered rock. I got stuck while the short trackers flew by me! Nate mashed one of his A-Arms. Today's ride was slightly expensive for some.

Sometimes we're riding so hard I forget to take the camera's out - great ride guys!

 

[ColoMtnMan]

Tow Hitch

Please tell me where I can get one of those tow hitches? I have been down to my Yamaha Dealer and they don't show those in their books. Any help would greatly be appreciated in getting one of those hitches.
Thanks,
CJ

 

[Yellowknife]

Re: Tow Hitch

Please tell me where I can get one of those tow hitches? I have been down to my Yamaha Dealer and they don't show those in their books. Any help would greatly be appreciated in getting one of those hitches.
Thanks,
CJ

See if they can get you this Part Number:

Rear Tow Bumper
Tow Bumper features durable powder-painted steel
construction. Uses either pin hitch or hook hitch.
Fits ‘08 FX Nytro, ‘08 FX Nytro RTX, ‘08 FX Nytro MTX
SMA-8GL41-HT-CH . . . . . . . . $122.95

Ride Updates & Techy Installs

Myself, Nate, Brian and Ray went riding a few days ago...

View of one of our ice roads...

Temps were dropping and I'm still workin on the action shots with my camera...

I have the first manufacturers defect on my MTX...what's missing here?

Don't know when the Hi-Beam button came off, but it's gone...and I'm not the only one who's Hi-Beam button has fallen off!

Now, let the techy stuff begin!!

During the ride pictures above, we were playin in some powder and the front of my Nytro filled with snow and my steering froze, just like the Phazer last year, just like my Rev the year before, and the Rev before that. Sigh....I guess that's another manufacturers defect, i've been bitching about it for some time - snowmobiles and not being able to keep the snow out of the cab. At least this time it happened gradually and I didn't bend any tie rods or rip any steering boots - never the less - it was a good excuse to do some work. I've been ordering accessories like crazy, and a few came in, so it was time to get to work.

Here's how things looked when I started...check out the gap between the belly pan and the motor. The snow built up so much and expanded when it turned to ice, what a mess!!

Here's an updated mileage shot from yesterday...

Look at the ice - boy, if I could have my hands into the engineering of a sled to eliminate gaps and cracks. Our area is the worst for this problem, the snow is very granular and gets into every spot possible...

Don't look now...

That nice little vent to help circulate air around the oil reservoir? Well, it is a disaster...expanded the panel so much that it popped it out of place!

Look at the ice accumulation on the panel next to the above pictured vent...

So while the sled was unthawing (Courtesy of Alex's garage AGAIN - thanks buddy!)...

Powermadd Handguards - install step 1: Move the control blocks/throttle assembly away from the grips enough to fit the Handguard Mounts into place...

Some adjusting and boom...

Now, what's this for???

It's a plate.. that requires some assembly. This is part of the Yamaha Fuel Caddy system for the sides of the machine at the back. Why they didn't come assembled in the bag, I dunno - but you gotta bolt the tray together and bolt it into the bag...

The fuel can has a strap that you install around it to hold in place...

So what IS a good thing, is that there's some existing holes that this fuel system uses in the tunnel...but you've got to drill a few anyway...

Very easy mounting...

Le Masterpiece...

Repeat for the other side...each fuel can holds 5 liters, so that's 10 extra now...

Speaking of fuel...I walked into Force One the other day and they had another accessory for me - I've yet to find out who's behind it? The dealer? Yamaha? Tour Buddy & Yamaha? Dunno...but someone sent it up for me free of charge...which is awesome....so let the install begin...

Remove the side panels beneath the seat...

Then remove the seat...all very easy with visible bolts...

Locate the vent line for the main tank and cut it in half...

Install the connectors...

Run the new line from the connectors...

Down along side of the sled...

I gotta say, last year with all the complaining about the Phazer's 'OPEN' tunnel...someone came up with boxing the hole around the exhaust on their own to seal the heat/snow into the track area...now that Yamaha did exactly that this year - I wonder who has the patent??

Neatly tie off the lines, following the brake light cable...

Out the back...

Plug the lines into the Tour Buddy and BOOM! Done!

I had the remove the rack and re-install it, but it all fits, which is awesome!! So the 10 liters from the fuel caddies, plus the 12.6 liters from the tour buddy, brings it up to a grand total of 50.6 litres of on board fuel...add to that the 20 litres I can fit in the rack still, and that's over 70 liters total or a spare tank and a half of gas! Now that's RANGE!!

It looks bulky, but not as bad as on the short tracked Nytro's, and I'd rather it take up space beside the exhaust rather than more of the rear tunnel. I like the space for a bag or more fuel.

Is it going to melt? I hope not, but their instructions were clear and easy (thanks Tour Buddy) although I am concerned about the location of the fuel lines that connect into the Tour Buddy tank. There's nothing stopping the exhaust heat off the muffler from melting them. Should I assume this has all been tested already? I will keep an eye on the fuel lines, but if it melts and I don't notice, there's gonna be a lot of fuel being spun into my track and unless I smell it in time there might be some fire pictures in the near future! Maybe just wrapping the lines in heat tape would help?

So, rack is on, Tour Buddy is on, gotta put that tail light back in - perfect spot for it, on the hitch...

I extended the wiring by a foot or so and re-connected things...

So, tail light done! And it works!! Next? Scratchers (long overdue)

Using existing holes in the rail, I'll be experimenting with this location, hoping that it isn't too far towards the rear of the track...installed just behind the front idlers...

I drilled too low and had to make a new hole so there was more pressure applied to the scratcher when in use...

Installed on both sides and done.

Next? Messing with the suspension for all the fuel back there, and lightening up the steering a bit. I'll be messing with all the settings over the next few weeks to dial it in the way I like it. For now I started with the most weight transfer out back with the hardest setting on the rear springs...

Went with the stiffest setting up front (track shock) as well...

While I was greasing the suspension and doing the regular maintenance stuff, I stumbled on this...

Those drivers look a little melted or something...and considering my sliders are fine...I don't know if there's some excessive wear going on here but I will have to keep an eye on it, specifically the external part of the driver...

Now, with all the snow getting into the engine, it was time to seal some stuff off, like useless holes that serve no purpose...in this case I used a hot glue gun instead of silicone so that I could use the sled sooner...

I'm still waiting on the new front bumper and floatation skid plate, so I removed the broken bumper I had and sealed up the holes in the nose cone...

Upon inspection of the A-Arm that hit the tree, and the same side that connected with a rock, I can't find any broken welds or bent parts...and the handling is no different, so other than the shock tower being closer to an A-Arm on one side versus the other, I think all is well.

The nasty oil reservoir vent? Now prefiltered...

Underneath the newly dried and ice free belly pan, you can see the 'drain' holes for water to escape, but I think more granular snow gets into those holes than water that gets out!

Either way I left it alone for now. Moving onto the hood, when it is installed, there's gaps around the headlight assembly that allow a lot of snow into the steering area, so once again I used weather stripping like on my old Rev...

On the hood itself, I installed some tape over the set of vents under the headlight and prefiltered the intake for the radiator...

Just hot glue and prefilter...easy as pie.

I also removed the screens and prefiltered them on the sides of the panels...

And that's it for now!! She's ready to ride!!

First test ride (although not very long) proved successfull.

While doing on these upgrades I put some miles on the Phazer, it was lonely.

I had the ECU update done but am still waiting on the decompression system update. The ECU update appears to have the engine idling higher, for longer, on cold start-up. The Phazer will be undergoing some accessory installs as well soon as soon as all parts are in.

Happy Holidays!!
YK

 

[skidooboy]

nice update allen. i did all those sealing updates (including the silicone on the nose cone) to mine before i rode it from all the reports here on ty. i still need to seal the headlamps yet. (great minds think alike) LOL!

i also put prefilter material on the left footwell area as well. i think the "wet foot syndrome" is actually from ski snow spray being spun up from the clutch dynamics through the large vented floorboards. thinking a lower deflector may help some people with this.

as for the ice scratchers, just keep an eye where it sprays. i actually removed the front outer idler and we mounted the scratchers just in front of the mount. if you mount them too far backward, it wont spray the track or hyfax allowing for more cooling for the exchangers or lube for the hyfax. you will just have a tool to spray your buddies behind you LOL!

as for the front suspension issues (shocks appear not centered in the A arms). i have seen the same thing you have... some are mounted in the center, some forward, and some further back. not sure what is going on there. keep up the updates. enjoy them as always. if you need tools or help on the clutching give me a shout, i can talk you through it, easy as pie. ski

 

[Unluckydiablo]

Excellent stuff yellowknife, keep it up!

 

[Yammerhead]

What's your thoughts on the track? I see the paddles are folded over quite a bit. I would think you see soft snow on the trails and hard, windblown snow in the open areas. Do you think the big paddles are good compromise for your application?

I have a two inch track on my 136 and love it off trail. However, when I do get on the odd groomed trail or hardpack, the lugs fold over and I end up with less traction that I would have had with a one inch track. My lugs are starting to bend over similar to yours. I doubt I will get much more than 3000Kms on this track before the lugs all start to fly off.

Oh yeah, I wonder if everyone understands HOW FREAKIN COLD it must have been when you took the last couple sets of pictures. I am betting -30deg C or lower?? I had only ever ridden in those temps a couple of times. I get the shivers just thinking about it.

Keep up the great commentary!