Ski-Doo Snowmobiles Forum banner
41 - 60 of 127 Posts
I upgraded the Warn 1500 to a 2500. It still fits under the seat. (very tight) I also have a Maasdam rope puller, a 100 feet of rope and various rigging in the cargo box. I've been known to do solo trips 70 miles from civilization to check traps. Since I'm driving a 600 exec, I still have to be prepared to spend the night outdoors but at least I won't be stuck too.
 
I bought a champion 3000 at CTC ,fits in the under seat box . Had to buy longer power cables to reach the front and rear .
Picked up my Expedition a couple weeks ago and I am super pumped!!! Heard BRP's Terra25 winch had lousy reviews so decided to install my own winch instead. Some buddies went with 4500 lb winches on their Skandics but I think that's a bit overkill. Leaning towards the Champion 3000 like stmike. Any thoughts or other recommendations? I also want to make it portable/plug n' play. Don't want it permanently mounted. How do you do this? I have the wrap-around bumper with 1 1/4" receiver.
 
I have an eye bolt on the winch plate which will connect to the pintle J hook receiver at the back .For the front i made up a U shaped plate that slides over the front bumper and is held on with a 1/2 "pin .On this plate i have a pintle hook ,i just keep this receiver in the box with the winch until needed .I will get some pictures when i get the sled out again.
 
Picked up my Expedition a couple weeks ago and I am super pumped!!! Heard BRP's Terra25 winch had lousy reviews so decided to install my own winch instead. Some buddies went with 4500 lb winches on their Skandics but I think that's a bit overkill. Leaning towards the Champion 3000 like stmike. Any thoughts or other recommendations? I also want to make it portable/plug n' play. Don't want it permanently mounted. How do you do this? I have the wrap-around bumper with 1 1/4" receiver.
I have a 2000lb Warn. It's adequate at best. 3000lbs would be a better choice.

Good call on not mounting permantly. I think it's best to keep it tucked out of the way somewhere until it's needed.

To mount mine, I welded in receivers front and back of my sled, and mounted the winch on a drawbaw. It would be really nice to run wires front and back that the winch would plug into, but to keep it simple, and to make it easier to keep all the wires and connecters when I sell the sled, I simply put a plug in the underseat compartment, and run my wires from there when I need the winch. That's not very often, I have to say. For the amount I actually use the winch, it's not what I'd call a great investment. I got it more out of curiousity than anything.

Rear mount

FWczXXO.jpg


Front

hpZPyPQ.jpg
 
I was quite happy to have my capstan with me last weekend - short, narrow, off-camber bit of trail with not a ton of snow on it, it pushed wide at exactly the wrong spot, I relocated MOST of the snow out from under it. I probably could have backed up, pulled the front around a little bit and gotten it up the hill, maybe, but it'd have been at the expense of all the snow and rototilling the trail and nope that's why I have a winch.

I grabbed the winch, attached the rope to the conveniently-placed carabiner, walked up the hill, anchored to tree, hondamotor = two pulls, let it warm up, ;pulled sled and trailer to me.

My Massdam would have easily done it, too, in this case - but I've gotten them stuck in places where the massdam (and massdam power unit) really start struggling, and the capstan with a snatch block or two just shrug and keep chugging away.

I'd have been REALLY leery of going down that hill without it, or a massdam, or other people to help out - I pretty much knew I might not get back up it, especially with the slummit. Having the capstan along for the ride, though, things like that are simply a nonissue.
 

Attachments

I was quite happy to have my capstan with me last weekend - short, narrow, off-camber bit of trail with not a ton of snow on it, it pushed wide at exactly the wrong spot, I relocated MOST of the snow out from under it. I probably could have backed up, pulled the front around a little bit and gotten it up the hill, maybe, but it'd have been at the expense of all the snow and rototilling the trail and nope that's why I have a winch.

I grabbed the winch, attached the rope to the conveniently-placed carabiner, walked up the hill, anchored to tree, hondamotor = two pulls, let it warm up, ;pulled sled and trailer to me.

My Massdam would have easily done it, too, in this case - but I've gotten them stuck in places where the massdam (and massdam power unit) really start struggling, and the capstan with a snatch block or two just shrug and keep chugging away.

I'd have been REALLY leery of going down that hill without it, or a massdam, or other people to help out - I pretty much knew I might not get back up it, especially with the slummit. Having the capstan along for the ride, though, things like that are simply a nonissue.
what's your opinion of the articulated rail kit on your Summit ??? I was given a set to use a few years back in 154 BUT I didn't see a great deal of advantage in reverse compared to a WT. I am on the fence about installing them in the missus XRS
 
The articulating skid is awesome, but a bit disappointing at the same time.

I'm really glad I got it, but it did not make the Summit into the reversing machine I was hoping it would - it is SIGNIFICANTLY more capable in reverse than when it had normal rails, but it is not a "narrow Skandic" by any stretch.

Reverse is basically useless in anything soft without them, but it did not transform the Summit into quite the exploration machine I was hoping it would; I'll go pretty much anywhere (but there, last weekend) on the Skandic - "if I can go backwards, I can go forwards." I wanted the Summit to be a lightweight recon machine that I was not afraid to take down into nasty, off camber places by myself. The Skandic is just scary in places like that - once I have a road there, it'll be fine, and chances are, the Skandic would not have gotten stuck there, but it took all I had to keep the summit level going down earlier in the day.

I really, really wonder what a TundraX is like - it does seem to be related to the "track to track" ratio - track width to ski stance. The Summit drags too much snow backwards. I bet a TundraX is really what I need.

The Summit is good, though - it just does not let me do what the SkandicSWT does, which is the whole battering ram thing. I can bash into stuff for hours on the Skandic and make progress - the Summit does not like that game. I can even sidehill the Skandic up fairly steep things - it is kinda precarious balance wise, but possible.

Anyway. I'd absolutely do it again, I do not regret the purchase/effort to install, I've not noticed any difference as far as climbing - I never lock the rails. It DOES let you back out of a hole once or twice, but you can't just put it in reverse, pin it until you hit whatever is behind you, then go forward again until you can't, repeat. It works better if you reverse just enough to get it backwards a bit and on top of the snow.

Anohter thing - I've found that the etec does not really like repeated cycles of RER.

.02c - it is really good, but not quite what I'd expected.

Iain
 
I agree on clutching - but I've got both the Summit and Skandic clutched about the same; the Summit is fairly normal, ~4500 rpm engagement, and fairly firm.

The Skandic's clutching is not "normal" for a Skandic - it also engages at about 4500, and I want to make it engage harder. The stock clutching is great for creeping around, but I like to think my SWT is a mountain sled, and clutching it so it engages at a higher rpm and more abruptly lets me spin the track a little, which helps me get it dug in and level.

I've basically eliminated the clutching variable from my sample. I do cook belts faster than I would if the Skandic were clutched like a Skandic normally would be, but the tradeoff is worthwhile to me - it is fine on belts once roads are in, and if I _do_ need to make a path across a steep hill with it, and the snow is soft enough, having it clutched the way I do makes it possible.

It is probably still possible with the stock clutching, just not with my skillset. I need the handicap, I need the ability to be able to wind it up, pin it, spin the track, lurch forward a few feet and stand on the brake to bring the front end back down into the snow. When conditions are right, I can inchworm across some pretty steep stuff that way, and the resulting road is actually fairly flat after a couple more passes. I'll find a picture.
 
I agree on clutching - but I've got both the Summit and Skandic clutched about the same; the Summit is fairly normal, ~4500 rpm engagement, and fairly firm.

The Skandic's clutching is not "normal" for a Skandic - it also engages at about 4500, and I want to make it engage harder. The stock clutching is great for creeping around, but I like to think my SWT is a mountain sled, and clutching it so it engages at a higher rpm and more abruptly lets me spin the track a little, which helps me get it dug in and level.

I've basically eliminated the clutching variable from my sample. I do cook belts faster than I would if the Skandic were clutched like a Skandic normally would be, but the tradeoff is worthwhile to me - it is fine on belts once roads are in, and if I _do_ need to make a path across a steep hill with it, and the snow is soft enough, having it clutched the way I do makes it possible.

It is probably still possible with the stock clutching, just not with my skillset. I need the handicap, I need the ability to be able to wind it up, pin it, spin the track, lurch forward a few feet and stand on the brake to bring the front end back down into the snow. When conditions are right, I can inchworm across some pretty steep stuff that way, and the resulting road is actually fairly flat after a couple more passes. I'll find a picture.
I understand why you've got your sleds clutched the way you do, but that is not a good recipe for reversing in untracked snow. Softer clutching that reduces spinning helps remendously with that. It's at least as important as an articulated skid, probably more so.
 
Agreed. The awesomeness of the swt masks the clutching, whereas the summit would benefit from less stupid clutching - but it is a stupid snowmobile, soooo....yeah.

I have zero complaints about the Skandic's ability to reverse in deep snow. It could probably be better, but it is nowhere near bad - I can bury that thing in a creekbed and still get it out.

The articulated skid made a HUGE difference on the Summit, no two ways about it - but I really think the Summit's shape hinders it vs Skandic.

Fun fact, though, it is in fact possible to "sidehill" a mountain sled in reverse, but is it countersteering? uhhhh.....

I got about halfway up a sidehill/up path I'd packed out last week - but I'd not packed it enough, the downhill ski collapsed the downhill side. I had to muscle the sled up onto its side, and creeping backwards was not really an option - I did not have to go that far back, maybe 40 feet, but if I DID fall down the hill in the first ~35 feet, it'd have been Bad, and wet.

So, I guess I'll do it quickly! It actually kinda worked. It ruined all the work I'd done, but whatever, redoing the work was easier than plucking it out of the creek.

Here are four pictures - camera flattens everything, but in both cases, looking forward and backward, two different spots. Both were pretty nerve wracking on the skandic, but it worked - and the resulting road is awesome, even though it "should" be a series of bumps, because I traversed across in a series of pinned/brake/pinned/brake etc.
 

Attachments

The articulating skid is awesome, but a bit disappointing at the same time.

I'm really glad I got it, but it did not make the Summit into the reversing machine I was hoping it would - it is SIGNIFICANTLY more capable in reverse than when it had normal rails, but it is not a "narrow Skandic" by any stretch.

Reverse is basically useless in anything soft without them, but it did not transform the Summit into quite the exploration machine I was hoping it would; I'll go pretty much anywhere (but there, last weekend) on the Skandic - "if I can go backwards, I can go forwards." I wanted the Summit to be a lightweight recon machine that I was not afraid to take down into nasty, off camber places by myself. The Skandic is just scary in places like that - once I have a road there, it'll be fine, and chances are, the Skandic would not have gotten stuck there, but it took all I had to keep the summit level going down earlier in the day.

I really, really wonder what a TundraX is like - it does seem to be related to the "track to track" ratio - track width to ski stance. The Summit drags too much snow backwards. I bet a TundraX is really what I need.

The Summit is good, though - it just does not let me do what the SkandicSWT does, which is the whole battering ram thing. I can bash into stuff for hours on the Skandic and make progress - the Summit does not like that game. I can even sidehill the Skandic up fairly steep things - it is kinda precarious balance wise, but possible.

Anyway. I'd absolutely do it again, I do not regret the purchase/effort to install, I've not noticed any difference as far as climbing - I never lock the rails. It DOES let you back out of a hole once or twice, but you can't just put it in reverse, pin it until you hit whatever is behind you, then go forward again until you can't, repeat. It works better if you reverse just enough to get it backwards a bit and on top of the snow.

Anohter thing - I've found that the etec does not really like repeated cycles of RER.

.02c - it is really good, but not quite what I'd expected.

Iain

Appreciate the insight.

I built a 154 skid when I scrapped a 2012 race edition Freeride and added the articulated rail kit. It was installed into a 2013 FR with a fresh 2" powdermax for enduro use. I found it would rise the nose more frequently then stock BUT I was disappointed in the reversibility in loose snow. Your experience has me convinced to give that skid a second life in the G4 XRS. The previous owner had removed the spring retaining pressure on the flip up section in effort of more reversibility. We both felt in trenched BUT I'm going to revisit it this winter.
 
I've always mount permanently my winches in the rear of the sled, Thats the most versatile location I think, It doesn't take space in your luggage, and it doesn't catch a tree up front lol

You can winch out your buddy out a nasty spot with ease, and when you get stuck, cut a 5 to 6 foot log, place it vertically close to the rear bumper, try to push in as deep as you can in the snow, attach the winch rope on the upper end and lift the rear of your sled out of the hole.
 
41 - 60 of 127 Posts