Anybody run em? How do they do? Gotta have a certain type of snow? How do you like em? Thanks in advance

More money, and different ride, but I bought Skidoo skandic, 20" wide long track. Manual gear box. Thing is like snowshoeing without the exercise. Float. I know one guys brother with the conversion. But I am in snow country. What I like about skandic, is you can go slow.

I have wondered about the conversion for side by side, but not sure if I want to fool around, back and forth. Plus I like snowmobiling. This thing will go 90 or so.

But I would look up atv forums. Go to the horses mouth.

Ya I'm thinking dual purpose, quad/snow machine.Trac for elk/whitetail/ hound hunting... Trac a few months a year,bidness only....

I've looked into them, expensive, hard to steer, hard on the engine and you burn lots of gas. I'd much rather have a snowmobile.

Our big game seasons are over long before we get enough snow to use those. It's illegal to use one for hunting anyway except for packing or hauling meat. For winter playing, I'd rather have a snowmobile and the $5 K price would be a healthy down payment on one.

Ya thinking cat huntin in Idaho, elk in Montana. Guy could probably find a damn nice used sled for $5000 or thereabouts...

Are you familar with sleds, and how they ride on snow?

I'll bet we're all about to hear, anyway.......

Dont matter to me, I got mine. But using one to hunt, might not be what some people expect. There are different types.

Never been on a sled. Guess a guy would have to built a "sled" to mount a dog box on? Quad would be a little handier for hauling dogs

Don are you a judman chaser??? Grin

Sleds for hound hunting suck. Find a Cushman Trackster.......

Slowmobiles are not what most people think. Most are best on trails. They can get stuck easy in snow if you don't know what you are doing. In order to ride deep snow you typically have to keep moving. Go to slow they will get stuck. They are not fun when stuck.

You have powder machines like Polaris RMK. Long track and pattles. Trails, frozen lakes, or pavement can be hard on pattles. They work by turn fast and keeping the track spinning.

Go on some of the trapper or alaska forums, and read about sled if you want to hunt.

I went with a wide track scandic, they also make a super wide. The wide tracks cango slow, since they are floating on top of the slow. Ski Doo seems to make more of these with the skandic, tundra and extreme.

I think they should market the utiity sleds better. To me they are like a 4 wheeler and for adventure. But they got an old man rep. People think you are going ice fishing. Not all utiity sleds are for deep snow off trail. Many are just small motors, usually cheaper, and don't have the big tracks needed for off trail.


The skandic can pull sleds. People use them for hauling firewood. The old ones had small engines, but might be good for your needs.


Snowmobiles are not what most people think they are. Can be damn near heart attacking gettting one of those bastards unstuck. They are more trail machines. Trails can be awful if you get lots of riders. Some guys have gone for what they call boondocking now. Which is off trail. I love it. logging roads or just through the woods. Snow is smoothing. Here it a few feet an deep enough to get you over many obstacles.


Snowmobiles are fun, but if you think you are going to buy an old cheap one and go in deep snow you are mistaken, without a learning curve. Also depends on the snow you get. I am deep snow country.. 3-4 feet. Even low snow areas gets drifts, and you would be surprised how easy they get stuck.

Either way, I am enjoying my skandic, its like snowshowing without the exercise.

Right on. Given my locale,"very little annual snow, 2 hour drive to play in snow", I'm thinking a fracked quad would be more versatile for what I'm wantin. Watching videos track machines appear to do perty damn good. Wanted to hear some first hand experience from folks here... thinkin Honda Rincon, don't think my 420 Rancher would have the power to run em very well...

I've never seen a tracked UTV compared to a snowmobile. How does the track surface compare in acreage? I suspect that getting one stuck could be a nightmare although a UTV is more likely to have a winch aboard.

4 wheelers have winches too, typically. Its an add on item for either, but many do it.

Winch would be a must...

Have you rode a fracked machine in the snow? I'm not talking about hill climbing and doing 70 mph across a field. Cruising roads with too much snow for a truck to drive on looking for tracks, glassing etc....

No. That's why I'm asking.

Never saw one in use, but they use them some in East Arkansas to spray rice levees. I have seen the sitting at the dealers, New. miles

A winch is a must for any 4 wheeler or SXS, under normal conditions. I have been thinking of adding one to my sled.

Don't have a track kit, but looked into them some, so my thoughts for what they're worth:

You'll never see 70 mph on a tracked ATV or UTV. The tracks take a lot more power to run than tires. The installation adapters change the final drive ratios considerably - you'll turn a 70mph atv into about a 40 mph machine on bare ground, more or less, slower in snow. Don't know the exact ratio/top end changes. Spent some time talking to one of the track kit manufacturer reps at Harrisburg show last spring. Supposedly you can run in deep snow, but a lot slower than a snowmobile. The better kits are atv size and engine displacement specific - so you can go down to smaller 300-450 cc atvs, but they will be the slowest on tracks.

Lots of videos on youtube showing tracked atv and utv in snow, mud, rocks, etc. Looks like they are a big improvement on soft ground, swamps, muskeg, etc. (much lower ground pressure than tires). Seems like the tracks would be ideal for changing conditions where you run from bare ground to snow during a trip - that would be the real advantage over snowmobiles. They do not look they'll climb in steep snow covered terrain as well as a mountain or deep snow type snowmobiles. Some tracks can have a harder time crossing obstacles like logs that a machine with tires can "bump" over.

Now, I've experienced larger tracked vehicles that perform very well in deep snow. We had the Army's M-973 Small Unit Support Vehicle (SUSV) when I was at FT Greely in Alaska. http://olive-drab.com/idphoto/id_photos_m973_susv.php I've stepped out of one of those and sunk to my waist in snow that the vehicle was only sinking in a few inches. If the ATV/UTV track kits get the effective ground pressure down into the same range (around 1.8 psi) they should work well in deep snow. afterthough - 1.8 psi seems high, you probably should look to get below 1 psi

So, a little summary of what I've gleaned:
Track kits are expensive.
Tracks are much slower in snow than snowmachines.
Tracks will reduce gas mileage a lot.
Tracks are much better than tires on soft ground like muskeg, flooded ground, mud, anything you would break thru with tires and bottom out.
Tracks are about the only system if you're going to encounter both bare ground and deep snow on same trip.
The all season track kits available work fine on rocks, gravel, dirt whatever year round, but cost a lot more and take more maintenance than tires.
Check the manufacturer's info for ground pressure.

If you want something that will go anywhere, look at the new off road machine the Russians have developed and yes, you to can have one for the great price of $65,000

Good info, thanks

The dogs would love this.

Haha that's badass!!

Our van has front wheel drive. Is that kit reversable?