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Towed another SkiDoo. Third time this season.

NaughtyPines

Veteran
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
38
Age
49
Location
Maine
Country
USA
Snowmobile
RS Venture
So, towed another SkiDoo. Again. I'll always give someone a tow to a road because I'd hope someone would do the same for me if it ever happened with the shoe on the other foot. I've got a RS Venture and always try to get up enough speed so that the belt isn't slipping while I'm towing. This ends up being around 11-12 mph.

Is this bad for my sled or should it only create inconsequential wear on my belt, etc.? I try not to tow things since this is my "luxury" sled and don't want to be hard on it.

A buddy said it wouldn't be a big deal if I pulled a small, lightweight drag with it (same one I pull with my little air cooled 340). I'm not so sure this would be a good idea on a sled like the Venture, even if I set the drag fairly high and kept my pace above the minimum engagement speed for the belt. What say you?

Thanks!
 

1st thing to always do if towing for a distance is to remove the belt from the downed sled..If you want to ease your mind change your belt to a used back-up belt.. Make sure the driver of the downed sled knows how to hit the brakes as needed. ;) MM.
 
Few years ago i was on a trip in northern Ontario one of my buddy's sled chain case let go on his Polaris,
We just crossed a road crossing n about half km later he started hearing grinding, you think he would of stop, NO stayed on the gas for another half km untill the tracked locked up, I can tell you it wasn't fun pulling that sled back to the road but the apex did it, that 1 km felt like 50 km...

I forgot the model of his sled but it was easy acces to get the chain case cover off n c what happened, maybe we could of broke it loose but he was hard headed n didn't want to open it up on the trail, ended up being the chain n if we would of opened it up on the trail it would of made our life so much easier that day...
 
In the last two weeks I've pulled two Skidoos back onto the trail after they failed to navigate a sharp turn with their lighter and superior handling machines!
 
Like the earlier comment definitely take the belt off the lame sled.
Its always better starting off if the rider of the stricken sled just runs beside it for the first few feet as the momentum builds and then hop on. This reduces the amount of weight drastically when the dead weight of the rider isnt there - way easier on the belt.
Also crossing roads, if another sled in the party rides ahead to spot road crossings so the tow sled doesnt have to stop. My buddy towed a friend last year and beat the hell out of his belt and snapped the spring on the secondary. So if you dont do it right it can cost you. MS
 
Like the earlier comment definitely take the belt off the lame sled.
Its always better starting off if the rider of the stricken sled just runs beside it for the first few feet as the momentum builds and then hop on. This reduces the amount of weight drastically when the dead weight of the rider isnt there - way easier on the belt.
Also crossing roads, if another sled in the party rides ahead to spot road crossings so the tow sled doesnt have to stop. My buddy towed a friend last year and beat the hell out of his belt and snapped the spring on the secondary. So if you dont do it right it can cost you. MS


Thank you very much. I just learned something new and appreciate it. Hopefully there will be no more of this with any luck. If there is, I'll definitely take the belt off of the injured sled (Batting 0.666 on that one this season) and have the owner get a running start.

There should be AAA for sleds by state. That would be awesome.
"Your Viking will be here in 60-90 minutes to pull out that contraption which seems to have no oiling system."

I'm not saying that three tuning forks never break - all machines do now and again no matter who builds them. Just haven't seen one along side the trail (yet?).
 
Dumb question from a novious-motorhead-but don't you want to remove the belt so it doesn't turn the engine over and without the oil lube it will damage the engine?

Thxs.

David
 
Yes remove it so the engine won't put drag on the track... Spinning a non running motor can't be good for it... MM.
 
The motor will not spin. The primary needs to spin to engage the belt, when towing it's the secondary that spins. Otherwise you could jump your sled to start it if you had a dead battery or broke pull starter.
 
HaHa I pulled 2 skidoo's on my last trip to the U.P., one was out of logging roads that had 3feet of fresh pow pow, it was fun pulling him out and my xtx tows like a animal. He needed to thaw is engine bay for 2 days before he could even see the motor. lol:yam:
 
what Savvy said^^^ have a spotter. change out your belt for the backup, remove his and just keep going. my brother pulled his buddies 800Xc with him on it a couple of weeks ago and he was going 70 KM/H. no problem at all.
 
Love towing my friend's doos after all the trash talk.
yamdoo.jpg
 


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