Venture Lite/Utility General discussion

[OST]

I believe my track is shot due to poor design/testing on Yamaha's part!

You have to see it to believe it ... thanks for the photos BombaPolaYama.

Design flaw? Can't be ... not my Yamaha!

These sleds must have been designed for moderate climates, or Yamaha thinks everyone has a heated garage to store them.
I have always dealt with a little ice build up, but last weeks cold spurt certainly showed me what some of you have been saying ... I must have removed 80 pounds of ice from the tunnel Saturday after a cold Friday night ride of 60 miles.

Listen Yamaha ... tunnel exhaust sucks!

Thank god I have a construction heater in my shed for this very purpose.

 

[GypsyRoots]

Here are a few pictures of ... ice ...
The old track is still in Bethel, 250 miles downriver, so I will post pictures of that when I get it up here.

Last year I had lots of trouble with the sled, not starting was the worse.
At first, -15F/-26C it was hit and miss, bring it down to -17F/-27C and it just would not start.
Very frustrating on a Monday morning going to work!!!
So after a lot of back and forth with Yamaha and my dealer, we richened the mixture and it got a bit better.
Down to -30F/-34C it would start, IF it was left plugged in all night, and I mean both the oil tank heater and the coolant circ. heater.
Plugged in all night at -54F/-48C, it took 2 batteries taking turns by the wood stove, a hair dryer, 4 blankets and about 3 hours of dealing with it.
So far we have had mild temperatures since I got the sled upriver, but it did start better than it ever had at -25F/-31C the other morning.
We are due another cold snap anytime now, so I will post when that happens.
Here is a link to some videos I posted last year... mostly of troubles but some are not...

http://www.youtube.com/user/gypsyroots

 

[phaze5]

that ice is desingned to cool your sled and itll do anumber on stinky feet if you let it melt and trickle down your pant legs just add powder soap instead of foot powder see yamahas hooking us up you have to look for the good in everything lol

 

[BombaPolaYama]

Phaze5, that is quite the skid plate you have fabed there buddy!

GypsyRoots, Good shots but very sad - looks even worse than mine!

Maybe this topic should be moved to "Hot topics or somewhere really visible to everyone looking at this site instead of having it buried in the Phazer section?

Thanks

 

[Bugbear]

Here's a way to talk directly with the Senior Product and Research Manager at Yamaha Canada. http://snowmobiles.yamahablogs.ca/about/

I'm not aware of any U.S. equivalent.

 

[SNOBLOWR]

Here are a few pictures of ... ice ...
The old track is still in Bethel, 250 miles downriver, so I will post pictures of that when I get it up here.

Last year I had lots of trouble with the sled, not starting was the worse.
At first, -15F/-26C it was hit and miss, bring it down to -17F/-27C and it just would not start.
Very frustrating on a Monday morning going to work!!!
So after a lot of back and forth with Yamaha and my dealer, we richened the mixture and it got a bit better.
Down to -30F/-34C it would start, IF it was left plugged in all night, and I mean both the oil tank heater and the coolant circ. heater.
Plugged in all night at -54F/-48C, it took 2 batteries taking turns by the wood stove, a hair dryer, 4 blankets and about 3 hours of dealing with it.
So far we have had mild temperatures since I got the sled upriver, but it did start better than it ever had at -25F/-31C the other morning.
We are due another cold snap anytime now, so I will post when that happens.
Here is a link to some videos I posted last year... mostly of troubles but some are not...

http://www.youtube.com/user/gypsyroots

Gypsy, any pics of your old track so we know where to watch for wear and tear? Can you post them in the "Booger" thread pls.

 

[Bugbear]

Radiator Shield

Well, just for fun and to bring this thread back up, I thought I'd show the thing I came up with to shield my radiator.

It's .090 inch thick polycarbinate (Lexan brand name). It can be bent like sheet metal. Lacking a sheet metal brake, I clamped it between a couple of 2 by 4s in a vice. Then I persuaded the bending by way of the Armstrong Method (a mallet). A hair dryer helped a little too.

 

[pogoyamie]

nice work...wonder if it'll keep the rain out, since that's all we've gotten for 2 days now

before our little deluge, I did get some good runs in on the lite sans passenger on hard-pack...thing moves along much better than I originally expected. 84mph on the dream meter.

any riding here is going to be hard on the hyfax for a while...but hey...no ice build-up in the tunnel, right?

thanks guuys on the hitch posts...was able to order a yammie hitch from a venture m/p and it bolted right on.

anyone studded...I know I asked before, but it sure would help in the icy hard-pack we have this year...especially hauling the wood skid

thanks!