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JoeMama Offline OP
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---Disclosure: I live in Michigan. Could not be helped. But I do own a SMLE---

What kind of snow machines (snowmobiles) do ordinary, working people buy for everyday use in Canada? I am looking for the equivalent of a bare-bones pickup truck that should be good for 300,000 miles (500,000km).

Most of the guys around here who own snowmobiles ride them hard and fast. They are more like sports cars than working machines. I am always told to buy the biggest, fastest machine I can afford.

Does anybody in Canada have an opinion on snowmobiles?


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What people tend to ride - granted rural Alaska communities are generally more isolated so not as easily homogenous- is typically a local thing. One will find communities where one brand is a tendency with a certain model or engine type being common, while in another area, it might be another brand.

I agree about many people regard these machines as sports cars rather than work machines in general. Any, quite frankly, I think the manufacturers tend to lose sight of the origins of these machines as well���. or that they fail to understand what their machines are truly capable of.

Generally speaking, in my experience, the machines which tend to do the largest share of the hard labor with longevity tend to fall into the 400-600 CC range engine-size-wise. Many folks tend to think of the fanners as weak stepchildren to the 'real' machines, but I would tend to say they do the yeoman's share of the work in many places where machines are largely used for work.

[Linked Image]

The liquid boys were jealous�

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Over 1200 pounds behind the rig here, with 32 miles between it and the wood lot.

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[Linked Image]



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Thank-you.


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I don't ride but the guys I know who do have older Bombardiers for day in day out workhorses. Most are running trap lines.
A few guys have Arctic Cats as well.
Where I live in the Banana Belt of Alberta we rarely have enough snow to warrant a sled.

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Wife runs a trap line with a Tundra LT, Skandics are also popular work horse machines.

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Me, I ride mountains and around home in northern Alberta.

Long tracked sleds are a must.

My current sled is a Yamaha MNT Viper, with motor and other mods.

If you have a dealer that treats you good and is local, that's the product I would ride, plus its good to ride what your friends ride in case you have a breakdown...yes its fun for competition with your buds and having a different brand.

All manufacturers have a variety of sleds for your needs.

I would say a Polaris/Skidoo/Arctic Cat or Yamaha in the "Crossover" segment will give you best of your needs. Longer track but not extremely long (133-144" is plenty even for fun in the mountains), 600-800cc sized machine will get you places and have fun to boot.

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If you're not planning on using it to play in the snow, I'd look at the Ski Doo Skandic WT with the 600 Etec. My neighbor just bought one and uses it for winter hunts and camping trips, he loves that sled.

The Tundra Extreme is a badazz sled too and would allow you to go off trail with a bit more ease than the Skandic.


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Watch the weight on some of the newer stuff. 600 pounds - and more- is not unusual; nice on relatively smooth trails, but a real bear when they get stuck.Those 'telescope' type front suspensions can beat you if you're riding rough conditions; arm-type fronts will generally offer better rides.


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Up here, the Yamaha Bravo was the workhorse for trappers, etc., ......just kept on going and easy to repair, ..........but they quit making them for the small market. Now they go for high prices!


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My next door neighbor used to own a big lodge near Jackson Hole. He bought 100 new snow machines EVERY year. He bought enough Artic Cats to have a "dealership" and the balance in Polaris. Somewhere in the range of 75-80 Polaris and 20-25 cats.

He told me that they are a rental fleet. He also told me that he spends exactly the same on maintenance of both brands- in other words, it cost him as much to maintain 25 cats as it did 75 Polaris sleds!


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That has definitely not been my experience, Dennis. Polaris 340,440, 488 fans, and 400 and 500 liquids (older models), were all very good. The 550s were absolute garbage and any of them that made it beyond 5000 miles without the engine giving up bordered on miraculous. We have only 30,000 miles on the three 'Cats we've been running - 440 and 570 fans, and a 550 liquid, but they have also been easy maintenance-wise�.right in line with the good Polaris machines. They both need idler bearings annually. Other than that, they're pretty solid. Yamaha has built some good machines, a bit heavy perhaps, but strong and reliable since the 80s. Ski-Doo has caught up with the rest after being the cheap alternative for quite a few years�and their quality was hit-or-miss.


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I've seen lots of good sleds by lots of manufacturers. I agree with Klikitarik that fan cooled sleds can be better as daily drivers and are often anvil tough. In a number of villages around us, snow machines are the normal mode of transport and durability and fuel economy weigh heavy in our selection. I've had great service with a number of them, including 550 fan Polaris sleds. Presently have one that's got 6400+ miles on the odometer and it's been broken for the past 5-6 seasons--easily 10,000+ miles on it now. I've heard how poor they are and seen some problems, but mine and a buddy that I regularly ride with just haven't had any engine problems.... I don't baby my stuff, but I take pretty good care of my equipment.


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Originally Posted by Klikitarik
Yamaha has built some good machines, a bit heavy perhaps, but strong and reliable since the 80s.


Want to talk heavy? I grew up riding a Sno-Cruiser, or as we called it the Snow Crusher! If you got stuck with that thing you may as well leave it there until spring. Grandfather had a Yamaha VK540 and it was a heavy beast too. A great workhorse though.

SS


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Originally Posted by Klikitarik
That has definitely not been my experience, Dennis. Polaris 340,440, 488 fans, and 400 and 500 liquids (older models), were all very good. The 550s were absolute garbage and any of them that made it beyond 5000 miles without the engine giving up bordered on miraculous. We have only 30,000 miles on the three 'Cats we've been running - 440 and 570 fans, and a 550 liquid, but they have also been easy maintenance-wise�.right in line with the good Polaris machines. They both need idler bearings annually. Other than that, they're pretty solid. Yamaha has built some good machines, a bit heavy perhaps, but strong and reliable since the 80s. Ski-Doo has caught up with the rest after being the cheap alternative for quite a few years�and their quality was hit-or-miss.


I can only tell you what we talked about. He bought a 100 new machines every year and sold all the old ones. Everything he had was basically new. I don't know what sizes, what track lengths, what type of cooling. I just know that as a lodge owner, he was a huge fan of Polaris sleds.

Myself, I have never even sat on one before. Maybe someday...


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Well, it's not like I'm not a big fan of the Polaris brand myself, and have put the bigger share of the 100K+ miles I've ridden on with Polaris machines, one fanner that finally quit at 25,000 with only a set of rings ever needed in work (at 13K) to the engine (a 488). There was a fellow up on Mt. Hood who had fleets of machines and a full-service shop; he tried everything with those 550s to get them to work before finally ditching the brand after several years. It's not hard to find the problems with that particular engine if you look around on the net. (And the parts fiche histories over the years verify the fact that they had to chase problems.) I just threw that out there since it is a real problem and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. They may have finally let enough customers pay for the R&D that the latest versions are okay- I don't know. But I would be very leery of buying anything with that power plant in a used model. The single 550 I've owned - bought it new- had 4 or 5 rebuilds in the 10,000 miles I put on it. Every owner of machines with that engine that I know personally has had at least one, often several, rebuilds when they ride those machines. We don't need to put up with that in this day and age.


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For pure workhorse you want the skidoo scandic with the 600 ace or 900 ace 4 stroke motor.

If you want more of a trapline utility sled the tundra with the 550f fan cooled 2 stroke would be a great as sled.

Shod


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Originally Posted by Barryt
Up here, the Yamaha Bravo was the workhorse for trappers, etc., ......just kept on going and easy to repair, ..........but they quit making them for the small market. Now they go for high prices!


X2 I finally found the "right one" this winter. It's 2001 model - the trapper version with 2 fuel tanks. Long track with 218 original km's. Dead simple, light and easy to work on. Speed demon it is not.

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Originally Posted by SamSteele
Originally Posted by Klikitarik
Yamaha has built some good machines, a bit heavy perhaps, but strong and reliable since the 80s.


Want to talk heavy? I grew up riding a Sno-Cruiser, or as we called it the Snow Crusher! If you got stuck with that thing you may as well leave it there until spring. Grandfather had a Yamaha VK540 and it was a heavy beast too. A great workhorse though.

SS

What to talk about HEAVY !!!
First started out on a early 70's Ski Doo Alpine twin track twin cyl single ski ,took a lot to get that tank stuck but when you did better have a D7 cat close by to pull you out , was a lot of sled for young teenager . Not fast but still remember hooking on 2 gutted out bull moose and dragging them about 5 miles back to camp .

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[Linked Image]

Skandic 277 - my first new snowmachine. It weighed in at 426 lbs dry weight. Current models average 200 lbs more. eek I'm thinking the newer models are a whole bunch stronger however.

In 1982, 7 out of 15 Ski-Doo machines, half their line-up, weighed less than 400 lbs. The 1982 Alpine weighed 645 lbs. By contrast the 2015 Skandic weighs between 594 and 655 lbs depending on model. These kinds of weight increases are quite typical across the brands and reflect higher horsepower machines with their bigger engines and more sophisticated suspensions.


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I drive an old 98 Skidoo Skandic 380 fan. It doesn't give up anything in utility to the newer heavier and more powerful sleds for trapline, ice fishing, fire wood hauling and similar work. But that type of machine is an endangered species.


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