Tundra, Tundra II, Tundra R, Tundra 300RF, Tundra LT 550F, Tundra LT 600 ACE, Tundra Sport,

Tundra Extreme ....

On my Tundra 300F, I towed Kenny sitting on his skidoo REV, with the track allowed to spin,

but the belt pulled. Figure 500 lbs for the Machine, Kenny at 250 lbs. The machine was

dead (blown piston), so that was 750 to 800 pounds of hard pulling. I was able to tow him

76 miles White Mountain to Nome. It pulled him okay.

The fuel consumption was that on the way out I used 6.5 gallons of gas; on the way back I

used about 10.5 almost a full tank.

On both my Tundra 300F and Tundra LT 600 ACE I have pulled sleds, of the toboggan style

(yellow fiberglass), with about 600 pounds of load on it. The fuel usage of the 300F

improves dramatically with a real sled vs pulling the REV anchor. But still uses quite

a bit.

The ACE, it pulls it effortlessly, adn the mileage will go from about 20 mpg unladen to about

19 mpg pulling the sled.

Basically all Tundras are low geared, and because of that will pull amazing loads that most

people will think are impossible, specially for the 277 engined ones.

I have been flat out told: "Your 300 Tundra will never pull that. My 800 brand X was

barely able to pull, or could not pull it." Yet, I hook up the load and away I go.

Another machine that was a good puller was the Arctic Cat Bearcat, the well known

"Arctic Cat One Ton". It would pull anything. Many of them had a big johnson lever on

the dash to select High-Low-Neutral-Reverse.

Naturally all of the Skandic Wide Tracks and Super Wide tracks are pullers. It is

not uncommon to see machines of this type pull a sled with three or four 55-gallon

full drums of Gasoline or Diesel fuel.

I will mention that if you get stuck pulling 55-gallon drums, and one of those drums

ends up in the snow, outside of the sled, you are in a real pickle. Real pickle.

With both my Tundra 300RF and the LT ACE, I would not hesitate to tow drums,

cabins fitted with skis, complete camps, coffins, boffins and muffins. They just PULL.

 

I'm sure that this is close to 1000# , canned goods and food stuffs on the komatic and Maple firewood in the tub . Hard spring snow and relatively flat , 250 cc Tundra .

 

I use my Tundra R 277cc to haul fire wood in tandem 6' sleds. I load them up 3' high and tie down the wood to keep it on there.

At slow speed the 277 pulls very well, across open country my 550 does better.

 

 

pulled a 450 lb wood stove in a Big Brute boggan. I had my trailboggan full of slush and water and it basicly stopped me it was so heavy. Here is a pic of my friend going into her cottage.

RR

 

I don't know what "Safe" encompasses but this is right up near the limit for weight I'm thinking. Hauled this full grown bull out for bait tonight and I would guess it was somewhere near a 1,200 lb load. I only took it 12 miles on fairly flat ground.

 

Nooksack can you post a pic of how the tongue attaches to your toboggan? I am thinking of building one through the summer. You could PM me too I don't want to hijack the thread.

RR

 

No "PM-ing", let us see too!

 

No "PM-ing", let us see too!

agreed , how about adding it to this cargo sleigh thread in the Tundra FAQs

http://www.dootalk.com/forums/topic/190660-cargo-sleds/

 

I don't know what "Safe" encompasses but this is right up near the limit for weight I'm thinking. Hauled this full grown bull out for bait tonight and I would guess it was somewhere near a 1,200 lb load. I only took it 12 miles on fairly flat ground.

Safe is generally hauling a load a long distance through good or difficult conditions without causing imediate or long term costly dammage to the snowmobile.

 

Here are some attachment point pictures.

I wasn't sure if you were being politically correct or sensible Samoyed, thanks for the clarification =)

 

Wow just a U clamp holding it on. Thanks for posting the pic.

RR

 

May not look like much weight but with 250 lbs of cement blocks in the back and loaded up with snow, the 12' long X 4' wide groomer can be quite a pull. Pretty much enough to be more than what traction is available.

This is my second groomer. It is 10' long vs 12'.

 

Before and after groomer...

 

Here are some attachment point pictures.

I wasn't sure if you were being politically correct or sensible Samoyed, thanks for the clarification =)

Yep. Those are 1/2" wire rope clamps. I used 4 of them on the tongues of the sleds I build, which are essentially a copy of the green one Nooksack showed here made by Northern Sled Works. Tongue is 1/2" UHMW, the "stock" length that David at Northern Sledworks builds is 3' long. I put 4' tongues on several of our sleds and they work way better, 3' is a bit short for taller machines nowadays, the pull angle is a bit too vertical and causes a lot of yanking in the rougher trails. The longer the tongue the smoother the sled rides, and backs up better. Of course if you are pulling doubles or triples, the rearward sleds can have shorter tongues. I have a bunch of pics of the sleds we built I'll get compiled on the sled thread here soon...

 

We've loaded sleds for our Tundra so heavy that we have to have someone stand on the skis to keep it from catwalking and someone else push to get it started. But boy, once you get her going, she hauls like a boss! So I guess maximum load is as heavy as you're willing to push. Now as to how safe that is... :shrug

 

Now that raises an interesting question. If I recall correctly the supposed limit for a load in the "baggage compartment" of my Sport is only 55 pounds. Obviously though the true vertical load would be affected by the weight of the driver and the weight of any passenger and where on the platform the load is, etc.

The sled stickers actually say the 55 pounds is to include the tongue weight, which a separate sticker says is limited to a vertical load of 23 pounds. Its a safe bet that if the skis are off the ground this 23-pound limit has been exceeded!

Ditto with the tow load, which is marked for my sled at 563 pounds, yet I know I've exceeded that towing firewood many times.

It seems it would be good to hear from anyone who has exceeded the limits to the point that the tunnel or the rail the hitch is attached to has actually bent?

 

Normally the tow bar on the sled is hinged, so there is ZERO static tongue weight. Well,

maybe a pound or two from the weight of the tow bar.

Pulling a sled with a Tundra 300F or a Tundra LT 600 ACE is an experience. All the quirkiness,

steering darts, instabilities of the Tundra are ELIMINATED when pulling a sled. It is like

riding on rails. A very, very nice ride.

This is totally unlike piling stuff on in the back of the machine, which makes it unstable and

quirky.

If you want to haul more than just a few pounds, get a sled and pull it; you will not regret it.

 

I hauled a couple loads this weekend what I would call a max safe load, 5 trips of 800 up to 1200lb loads.

Over some rough trail and one creek valley.

The stock grab handle where the hitch bolts to, worked loose by the end of the day.

There are only 4 bolts holding it on the new Tundra 550, and Torx head, so could't even tighten them.

 

Well, this isn't quite right for this thread, 'cause it's not a Tundra, and I doubt it was safe,... but the biggest load I ever hauled was the bottom half of a log cabin with my SWT. A friend of mine was trying to salvage an older log cabin that was damaged from a major flood, that only had sentimental value, and not much else. We built a skid under it, and put roller logs under it so I could get started,... and we knew that once I got going, I couldn't stop, because I probably couldn't get started again. Had to haul it about 10-12 miles,... and the only issue was having to cross a river with some 45° turns in it. All went well until I hit the first turn at the river,... and it didn't want to steer too good, and kinda got off the trail. Had to hook 2 older Polaris' to me to get it going again,... (And if anyone asks about that,... I'll deny it to the grave,... ). I filled my cargo box on the back with lead bricks for extra traction. We made it.

 

If you look carefully at your Tundra, *all* the screws and bolts are torx.
I carry a combination screwdriver, you change shanks and bits. The shank
has 1/4 and 3/16 ends, good for nutdriver or tightening hose clamps. The
bits are small and larger flat and phillips. You can buy a few torx bits
as well, and there you have a complete screwdriver setup for your toolbag.

 

I tried to look over the top log in that cabin to see if the
Kitchen sink was still in there, but couldn't see.

 

Wolverinebait - all I can say is Wow!!! I tried to pull a hog tied cow out once with my 94 Tundra and could not even budge it.

 

If you look carefully at your Tundra, *all* the screws and bolts are torx. I carry a combination screwdriver, you change shanks and bits. The shank has 1/4 and 3/16 ends, good for nutdriver or tightening hose clamps. The bits are small and larger flat and phillips. You can buy a few torx bits as well, and there you have a complete screwdriver setup for your toolbag.

I am going to swap out the torxs bolts for regular hex bolts in critical areas like the hitch. And stock up my toolbox. Things have changed, the machines I used to drive where held togather with standard hex bolts, non of this metric or worse, Torx heads. :happy_old:

Wolverinebait, you make me want a SWT. :biggrin_old:

 

@Wolverinebait Impressive.