I’m back with an Esky this time

[George B]

The close competition and comparing the two systems make for exciting contests!

I've never ridden a sled. Hell, I've never been in more than about 2" of snow. I'm absolutely jealous of your fun and can't imagine rippin' the powder at ~90 MPH

It is a blast!

 

[Snowbound]

Wish I was up north. I just got my old sled out of storage and started. May get up for one family weekend next month. Staying out by Squaw Lake and Buckskin Lake.

That sled is awesome. I have a soft spot for them Polaris’. Reminds me of my brothers XLT with the mono head. My XCR800 had individual heads. But I miss the sound. Enjoy it. I’m gonna try as much as possible this season too.

 

[Snowbound]

The close competition and comparing the two systems make for exciting contests!

I've never ridden a sled. Hell, I've never been in more than about 2" of snow. I'm absolutely jealous of your fun and can't imagine rippin' the powder at ~90 MPH

My Harleys come and go but I’ll always have a sled. I’ll never give it up. Everyone should experience it, but they all seem to think it’s too cold but you’re not. It’s so relaxing and without a care in the world.

 

[Snowbound]

@George B

 

[George B]

@George B

Love it. May never own a machine like that but I wish.

 

[Snowbound]

Gonna try to get caught up here. I’ll make it as short and sweet as possible.

Finished getting Jacks sled together and put in back of truck and headed up north.

My boys and I had a good weekend, it was cold but Jack had his new sled and Josh was on the old Jag, it was his first year riding the trails on his own sled.

We made a stop at an old church that was a little off the trail. It was built in 1914 and was the first Estonian Lutheran church built in America.

 

[iamdub]

Gonna try to get caught up here. I’ll make it as short and sweet as possible.

Finished getting Jacks sled together and put in back of truck and headed up north.
View attachment 367060

No surprises with your 'new' 2500?

 

[Snowbound]

Sorry, I thought I had an hour or so to get caught up. What was I thinking? An hour to myself? That’s crazy talk. Let me try again.

Josh’s first day out on his own sled conquering the trails. He was doing very well, and I was even blasting off in front of him speeding down the trail and then wait for them to catch up. Until one time where I looked back at him, he was there and so was Jack behind him and the trail came out onto a road and followed the side of the road for a little bit. After about 3/4 mile I look back again and they both aren’t there. I’m going slow for the next 1/4 mile thinking they’d catch up but nothing. Then I come to a stop and wait. Nothing. So I spin around and handlebar that throttle! I’m going 100MPH down the road not knowing what happened when my phone rings across my helmet communicator and it’s Jack. “Dad, Josh went off the trail and almost hit a tree.”
“I’ll be right there!”
And this was the scene when I arrived.

This was his direction of travel. This is where he first left the trail. Doesn’t even look like he attempted to steer back left to get on the trail.

And then he went across this little creek, again doesn’t appear to have made any attempt to stop or go in the direction of the trail. Must have panicked and grabbed all throttle and no brake. You can see that big plastic corrugated culvert pipe, there’s 2 of them and it appears he hit both of them.

This is where he came to rest just before hitting the tree.

He’s trying to fix the broken plastic with his magical fingers I guess. I told him, who cares about the sled, that’s what it’s for. As long as you’re not hurt. He said he wasn’t

 

[Snowbound]

So upon further investigation, not taking into consideration the info that was dribbling out of Josh’s mouth. My conclusion is this.
He got his right ski off the trail and the snow pulled the sled to the right. Instead of hitting the brake or letting off the throttle, he panicked and squeezed the throttle. He then hit a good sized rock that was hidden under the snow. Judging by the lack of imprint or tracks in the snow he was airborne until he landed on the first culvert. Again, no trace of him or his sled touching anything until reaching the second culvert leads me to believe the first culvert must have trampolined him and his momentum carried him onto culvert number two. By that time he must have been losing forward momentum and I’m picturing him draped over the handlebars so there’s no way he could still be on the throttle. The evidence shows where he slid off culvert number two and went nose first into a small retaining wall that lines the creek. Maybe it’s a drainage pipe under there but all I could see was the concrete wall from being cleared from impact. That is where I believe the damage to the nose of sled occurred. But it didn’t stop there. The skis must have straddled the retaining wall because he managed to get past that and come to a stop just before contacting the tree. And I can verify that the marks in the snow indicate that no contact with tree was ever made. I know this is hard to follow based on the pictures that have been presented, so I made a visual aid.

This must have really scared him because the rest of the day I couldn’t get the kid to go over 10mph. I kept telling him he needs to shake it off and keep going. We rode the next day too but he lost a lot of his confidence in that creek which is a shame.

 

[gooffeyguy]

Gonna try to get caught up here. I’ll make it as short and sweet as possible.

Finished getting Jacks sled together and put in back of truck and headed up north.
View attachment 367060

My boys and I had a good weekend, it was cold but Jack had his new sled and Josh was on the old Jag, it was his first year riding the trails on his own sled.
View attachment 367061

We made a stop at an old church that was a little off the trail. It was built in 1914 and was the first Estonian Lutheran church built in America.
View attachment 367064

Cool church! It was built a year after my house

 

[Tonyrodz]

View attachment 367086

So upon further investigation, not taking into consideration the info that was dribbling out of Josh’s mouth. My conclusion is this.
He got his right ski off the trail and the snow pulled the sled to the right. Instead of hitting the brake or letting off the throttle, he panicked and squeezed the throttle. He then hit a good sized rock that was hidden under the snow. Judging by the lack of imprint or tracks in the snow he was airborne until he landed on the first culvert. Again, no trace of him or his sled touching anything until reaching the second culvert leads me to believe the first culvert must have trampolined him and his momentum carried him onto culvert number two. By that time he must have been losing forward momentum and I’m picturing him draped over the handlebars so there’s no way he could still be on the throttle. The evidence shows where he slid off culvert number two and went nose first into a small retaining wall that lines the creek. Maybe it’s a drainage pipe under there but all I could see was the concrete wall from being cleared from impact. That is where I believe the damage to the nose of sled occurred. But it didn’t stop there. The skis must have straddled the retaining wall because he managed to get past that and come to a stop just before contacting the tree. And I can verify that the marks in the snow indicate that no contact with tree was ever made. I know this is hard to follow based on the pictures that have been presented, so I made a visual aid.
View attachment 367087

This must have really scared him because the rest of the day I couldn’t get the kid to go over 10mph. I kept telling him he needs to shake it off and keep going. We rode the next day too but he lost a lot of his confidence in that creek which is a shame.

Damn Jim! I'm glad he didn't get hurt. He'll get back in the saddle again, just gotta get his confidence back up. Those snow mobiles are no joke.

 

[iamdub]

View attachment 367086

So upon further investigation, not taking into consideration the info that was dribbling out of Josh’s mouth. My conclusion is this.
He got his right ski off the trail and the snow pulled the sled to the right. Instead of hitting the brake or letting off the throttle, he panicked and squeezed the throttle. He then hit a good sized rock that was hidden under the snow. Judging by the lack of imprint or tracks in the snow he was airborne until he landed on the first culvert. Again, no trace of him or his sled touching anything until reaching the second culvert leads me to believe the first culvert must have trampolined him and his momentum carried him onto culvert number two. By that time he must have been losing forward momentum and I’m picturing him draped over the handlebars so there’s no way he could still be on the throttle. The evidence shows where he slid off culvert number two and went nose first into a small retaining wall that lines the creek. Maybe it’s a drainage pipe under there but all I could see was the concrete wall from being cleared from impact. That is where I believe the damage to the nose of sled occurred. But it didn’t stop there. The skis must have straddled the retaining wall because he managed to get past that and come to a stop just before contacting the tree. And I can verify that the marks in the snow indicate that no contact with tree was ever made. I know this is hard to follow based on the pictures that have been presented, so I made a visual aid.
View attachment 367087

This must have really scared him because the rest of the day I couldn’t get the kid to go over 10mph. I kept telling him he needs to shake it off and keep going. We rode the next day too but he lost a lot of his confidence in that creek which is a shame.

I can picture the sled ramping the rock, landing on the culvert and trampolining him to the next one, then the retaining wall, etc. It's all cartoonish from my side of the internet although it was terrifying from behind the handlebars. The impact with the rock, the zero gravity feel from being airborne, the subsequent impacts... it probably felt like being out of control for minutes. He did good to hang on, although he might not have had a choice with the involuntary death grip.

Help him understand the dynamics of what lead to it and maybe he'll learn from it and get over his PTSD much sooner. Hell, maybe he was getting a little too confident and the universe had to check him?

 

[Snowbound]

I swear, the only time I can get on here uninterrupted is when I lock myself in the bathroom.

So I think the following week is when I made reservations in east side of the U.P. of Michigan. I had a poker run planned with a bunch of guys I met thru a t snowmobile group I’m on. I’ve missed other events so I made it a point to not miss this one. It’s a 5-1/2 hr ride to northern wisconsin and then another 4-1/2 from there to Newberry MI. Only 7 hrs straight shot from home but I had to pick up my trailer and gear and then didn’t want to drag it all the way back home so did the same thing on the return trip. Thankfully my brother decided to make the run with me so I wasn’t driving solo. And I needed him on the way home.

Driving past Lake Michigan on the way up you can still see the water out there. The waves were crashing pretty hard that day.

Finally made our destination.

This was the group of guys we ran with during the poker run. There was about 650 people that showed up for it.

So the day of the poker run we were lining up getting ready to take off for the day and there were a few of us that had to turn around. I decided in all my wisdom to shoot down the road and spin the back end around. About 40mph turned hard left and gunned it. The back end started coming around and at about half way it caught traction and ejected me off the sled. Sled landed on its side, I flew about 20 feet away and landed on my right side and slid for about 10 feet. I couldn’t breathe for a few minutes. Had the worst charlie horse I’ve ever experienced and could barely walk and couldn’t catch my breath. Managed to flip my sled back over and my brother, Jay and Scotty came flying up asking if I was ok. About that time I noticed the drone flying above taking video and thought, oh great, that’s the icing on the cake.
Figured I’ve got at least some fractured ribs if not broken but there’s no way I’m not going on this run. I literally had to hold my breath while pulling my gloves on. I was hurt bad. This run started at 8:30am and we didn’t get to the final stop until 8pm. With all the sleds out on the trails they were getting beat up. We are riding 50mph down the trails hitting some 2 foot moguls and I’m crying in my helmet but I’m not giving up. We rode up to Lake Superior in Grand Maria and then back around. When we hit the last, I looked at the guys and told them if I get off this sled, I’m not getting back on. So I headed back to the hotel and laid there waiting for death.

There was no way I would have been able to drive home. Thankfully my brother was there and I had him to drive for me. I was hurting for 5 weeks after this. I never peed blood or coughed it up so I figured my ribs didn’t pierce anything. And when I talked to a doctor I was told they wouldn’t do anything for me besides wrap me up so I never went in. I still can’t sleep on my right side to this day.

On the way home that same part of Lake Michigan was frozen over and there were ice fishing shacks and vehicles out there in just 2 days time. I thought that was crazy but it was bitter cold that weekend.

 

[Snowbound]

Damn Jim! I'm glad he didn't get hurt. He'll get back in the saddle again, just gotta get his confidence back up. Those snow mobiles are no joke.

Thanks, yeah that was the most important part. He will get back to being fearless in no time if he’s anything like his grandpa’s son.

I can picture the sled ramping the rock, landing on the culvert and trampolining him to the next one, then the retaining wall, etc. It's all cartoonish from my side of the internet although it was terrifying from behind the handlebars. The impact with the rock, the zero gravity feel from being airborne, the subsequent impacts... it probably felt like being out of control for minutes. He did good to hang on, although he might not have had a choice with the involuntary death grip.

Help him understand the dynamics of what lead to it and maybe he'll learn from it and get over his PTSD much sooner. Hell, maybe he was getting a little too confident and the universe had to check him?

That’s exactly what I picture too. Cartoon Josh with his legs flying straight behind him while bouncing from one obstacle to the next. The handlebars were bent down and I had to bend them back so I know he had to be all over them. Lol. It’s all part of learning.

 

[Snowbound]

Brought Julianna up with me 2 weeks later. She had a blast! I was living on 2 Advil and an extra strength Tylenol and then switch it up 4 hrs later with 2 extra strength Tylenol and an Advil. It was the only way I could get thru the pain. I can’t take any Vicodin’s without prescription due to drug testing at work and if I do get a prescription they’ll take me off work until I’m healed and off the scripts.

She was a little drill sergeant. Only allowed us 10-15 minutes in bar before telling us we are burning daylight and had to get going. Lol.

By the end of the day she was beat. I was dying and hurting but this right here made it all worth it.

The next day she attempted to ride the 120. She did a Josh! Didn’t know how to let go of the throttle and crashed right into the back of a parked sled. Full blast screaming the entire way and I’m screaming LET GO! She walked away but not so much for the 120. Broke ski in half, busted the hood off, and broke part that holds ski to spindle. Almost $300 to fix it but it’s ready to have another go next year.

 

[Snowbound]

The following weekend Jess and I went up to have our weekend to get away. Brought poor old Lola with us because I didn’t want to depend on someone to let her out and give her the meds she needs. That Friday we were there it got warm, started raining and then quickly turned to freezing rain and made a mess of everything.

There was no way we were gonna ride in freezing rain so we just sat around the house watching season 3 of Yellowstone.
The dog on one side of me.

And the wife on the other. Life is good.

 

[Snowbound]

The next week back at home the weather got nice and I was able to ride my bike to work. It was nice to pull it out from under cover and fire it up. It was 52° that day but was only 30° when I drove home that night.

 

[Snowbound]

It did get cold and snow more up north so we made the last trip of the year. Trails closed on 3-15 and that was the day we left.
I added some handlebars for Julianna on my sled. I’m also gonna add some heated grips and gauntlets to keep her hands out of the wind.

I got the 120 back together that trip also.

My brother did end up finding a truck. It’s another ‘15 but in a 3/4 ton and with a real diesel not that eco diesel BS.

 

[Snowbound]

Ok so now that my winter is over I can dive right back into stuff that I need to get done. First was Jacks bedroom that I promised I would build him in the basement.

I had a lot of electrical to move and redo. This house has a lot of old electric and I’m slowly getting it all in conduit.

After cleaning up the wiring and removing the conduit I insulated the ceiling and went with corrugated metal.

For lights I used 4” wafer lights. They turned out really good too. I think from now on these are the only way I’ll go. I can switch the lighting on the modules from 2500k all the way up to 5000k.

 

[Snowbound]

As far as the Esky, I got a few things done to it too. I noticed the headlight was out so I had to change that. These things are a joke to replace headlights on. I did get it out without removing the bumper cover or grille.

Once you get the bulb out you have to transfer over this retaining ring.

Push down on the clip and the retaining splits open. Then just put it on new bulb.

After replacing the bulb, I also replaced the module. I like to do both at same time when dealing with HID lights. From my experience if one goes bad and you only replace the one component, the other doesn’t fail far behind. So I just do both at once.