I'm on a roll! - 02/13/19
Sunday my wife insisted we go snowmachining. (It's her fault!!!). It was about 37*, 12 inches of sloppy snow over a couple inches of glare ice from the freezing rain awhile back. Coming back up the embankment off the bog out back, I mis-throttled - or maybe the '93 AC Cougar (2400 miles) did- it hasn't been run in 10 years. It seemed to hesitate, and was then sluggish on beginning to accelerate when I punched it, or maybe I was just a half second late, and I'm more used to the acceleration of the 1100 Turbo (HANG ON!!! That sucker will leave you! Touchy!)
I didn't make the break over point, spun the track (short lugs - f'ker gets stuck a lot!), and that's all she wrote, sliding backwards down the incline for about 40 feet. I bailed before the machine left the trail and it neatly centered a tree hard, backwards, still picking up speed. That caved in the rear bumper and tail light assemble. I had to walk the quarter mile up to the house and fetch back chain and come-along to get the beast out of the hole. I found used replacement parts locally today for about half new OEM. $65 for everything. As long as I was at it, I prospected on into town for needed ACll00 Turbo parts, below. Just on the off-chance. It is a 2012, so I wasn't really expecting much luck.
Yesterday I went to do a good deed, and you know how that goes. My neighbor had been getting stuck getting out of his driveway, so while he was at work, I took the snowblower over, having put just-arrived mail-order chains on (had to try them out!) and "found" his car plug-in electrical cord buried under the snow with it. He now has two ( I put new ends on.) On order is $30 in shear pins and other assorted plastic spacers and bearings for the auger, but some of those are spares for the next time..... Hope they get here within 4 days, snow is a coming!
I went to grease up the two AC's today for an upcoming 5-day trip north, and found the rear idler (track tensioners) bearings on the 1100 Turbo completely eaten up and in pieces - and have been for some time - dunno how I missed them last year in Kotz. Well, yes, I do. I'm ignorant.... and unobservant. They look like they were already in that condition when I last greased the thing in April. In one way surprising, as it has less than 2K miles on it. Probably several years sitting idle before I bought it in August 2017 did it.
These were wheel molded in bearings, so the entire idler wheels have to be replaced. Not that big a deal - at least they came out easily enough. (My heated-floor garage beats hell out of that Kotzebue snowbank, I'm telling you!) The AC dealer looked them up in the book (as I had earlier on-line) both with the stock # I gave him, and on his own computer, but didn't have those in stock. But he thought he had some (different part number - not listed as replacement) that looked mighty close, tho his book said mine were 8 in in diameter, while listing the ones in stock at 7.12. Dunno how they measured those of the new stock number, because they are identical to mine, except they came with replacable bearings installed. $90 for two, about $5 more than Barritts lists them for. ( Plus shipping.) I took them.
Tomorrow, the parts go on. I'd better do a thorough inspection of the Cougar, and the '93 Yamaha Bravo (which has more miles than both AC's together, and with a $1,000 seat and carriage rebuild three years ago), just to see if things have crept up on me in my ignorance and negligence. The 1100 should befine with the new idlers in place, and the track tensioned more than it was.
I'm trying to make up my mind if I'm on a good roll, or a bad roll.. Probably best to call it a break-even.... Hell, it's only money.... and I'm doing good on getting parts!
I didn't make the break over point, spun the track (short lugs - f'ker gets stuck a lot!), and that's all she wrote, sliding backwards down the incline for about 40 feet. I bailed before the machine left the trail and it neatly centered a tree hard, backwards, still picking up speed. That caved in the rear bumper and tail light assemble. I had to walk the quarter mile up to the house and fetch back chain and come-along to get the beast out of the hole. I found used replacement parts locally today for about half new OEM. $65 for everything. As long as I was at it, I prospected on into town for needed ACll00 Turbo parts, below. Just on the off-chance. It is a 2012, so I wasn't really expecting much luck.
Yesterday I went to do a good deed, and you know how that goes. My neighbor had been getting stuck getting out of his driveway, so while he was at work, I took the snowblower over, having put just-arrived mail-order chains on (had to try them out!) and "found" his car plug-in electrical cord buried under the snow with it. He now has two ( I put new ends on.) On order is $30 in shear pins and other assorted plastic spacers and bearings for the auger, but some of those are spares for the next time..... Hope they get here within 4 days, snow is a coming!
I went to grease up the two AC's today for an upcoming 5-day trip north, and found the rear idler (track tensioners) bearings on the 1100 Turbo completely eaten up and in pieces - and have been for some time - dunno how I missed them last year in Kotz. Well, yes, I do. I'm ignorant.... and unobservant. They look like they were already in that condition when I last greased the thing in April. In one way surprising, as it has less than 2K miles on it. Probably several years sitting idle before I bought it in August 2017 did it.
These were wheel molded in bearings, so the entire idler wheels have to be replaced. Not that big a deal - at least they came out easily enough. (My heated-floor garage beats hell out of that Kotzebue snowbank, I'm telling you!) The AC dealer looked them up in the book (as I had earlier on-line) both with the stock # I gave him, and on his own computer, but didn't have those in stock. But he thought he had some (different part number - not listed as replacement) that looked mighty close, tho his book said mine were 8 in in diameter, while listing the ones in stock at 7.12. Dunno how they measured those of the new stock number, because they are identical to mine, except they came with replacable bearings installed. $90 for two, about $5 more than Barritts lists them for. ( Plus shipping.) I took them.
Tomorrow, the parts go on. I'd better do a thorough inspection of the Cougar, and the '93 Yamaha Bravo (which has more miles than both AC's together, and with a $1,000 seat and carriage rebuild three years ago), just to see if things have crept up on me in my ignorance and negligence. The 1100 should befine with the new idlers in place, and the track tensioned more than it was.
I'm trying to make up my mind if I'm on a good roll, or a bad roll.. Probably best to call it a break-even.... Hell, it's only money.... and I'm doing good on getting parts!