Bad breakdown trip

P

penaltyvectors

New member
I came back from our annual trip a few day's early this year. We had a very bad trip and none of it was because of the amount of snow. The first day we went out my uncle hit a tree stump and trashed the left side of his front suspension and trailing arm. Then I was riding it back to camp on one ski and the bad side dipped down a little and hit another stump. After getting my uncle on a spare sled we took off and played for a bit. About two hours later my clutch side VES valve broke off and fell into the motor. After hoping for the best at the repair shop I'll need a new cylinder, piston/rings and VES at the very least. The other guys kept on going after I picked up my sled and later another guy's motor blew a piston in it also. After settling down at the cabin that night I get a text from my wife to have my uncle call his wife. We find out that one of our friends that has snowmobiled in the past with us just passed away from a massive heart attack that morning. He was only 45.

If that's not enough the next day we start out and another guy blows a piston and has to go get his spare sled. After getting his spare we ride all day and at the end of the ride the same guy who just got his spare earlier in the day takes a corner (probably to fast) and his ski gets in a rut and rolls the sled. He was thrown from the sled and ended up with 4 broken ribs and a broken collerbone. My uncle and I take off the next morning while some others stay for one more day of riding, as luck would have it, one of the guys chaincase breaks and they have to drive 80 miles round trip by truck to pick it up. For the weekend we had 7 guys and 9 sleds and 5 broken sleds by the end of the trip. It will be a trip that I would soon like to forget.

RIP Mark McKay you are in a better place now.
 
F

fusionfool

New member
Been a lot of bad trips this year, from what I have read here on JD.
Here is our story:
Arrived up to Twin Lakes on New Years eve. We rode New years day without any issues. Next day had electrical issues late in the day on the wifes 08 IQ Turbo 4 stroke. I fixed that one my self, a few trips to town, some soldering, and most of the day Sunday working on this issue. Back out on Monday and my 08 IQ Turbo 4 stroke locked up the track at 75 mph, not sure what the heck happened turned it off immediately. Looked under the hood, under the sled at the track drive sprocket, nothing to be found. Started it back up, and hear the whirring sound coming from the chain case. Towed the sled back to the cabin. Took it to the Polaris dealer in Hancock. They were wonderful, worked with Polaris to get parts paid for and next day aired out. The bearing had gone on the upper gear, the chain came off and the shift fork was bent. Not sure what order caused the sequence of events, but it was in bad shape. Due to the nice snow conditions in the area the UPS air did not get in until 3:30 the following day. Dan's Polaris work as fast as they could to get the sled back together to get us going again. Next day out on the trail noticed there was oil leaking from the chain case. Took it back to Dan's, they looked and could not find the issue but believed it was the upper seal leaking. Reseated the seal (no charge) sent us back out. 60 miles down the trail, leaking again. By now it was near empty on oil. Stopped at the Cliff View and Holly found some used engine oil in the basement. Put enough in the chain case to limp the sled back to Dan's Polaris. They looked at it one more time and found the issue was a cracked case. By this time it was too late to get parts next day aired. We went back got the trailer and loaded up the sled. After an 11 day trip we figured we had about 3 days of riding. Every thing has been fixed now that we are back home, our local dealer fixed with new case, new seals at no cost to us. Thank you Mike at M&M Rushford MN.
Booked for trip 2 the second week in Feb. Hopping for better luck.
 
Last edited:
J

jojo69

New member
Thats one thing about snowmobilers, even bad trips are better then being at working. Fix things up and keep plugging away until the next ride.
 
G

G

Guest
1995. 10 guys. 10 new Pols. Trailered 360 miles to Wisc. for 1 week. First day XLT throws rod through front of case 60 miles from camp. Dragged it to Brule. 7 guys stayed with him and two went back for a trailer. On the way back crank breaks on 500 Indy. Clutch falls in pan and engine somehow freewheels up to about 15 grand and won't shut off. Took spark plug wires off - still screaming. Finally shut off gas and engine finally died. Dragged 500 Indy back to camp with RXL that lost one cylinder on the way. Went back to Brule with trailer to pick up XLT. Slid through intersection and went in ditch and got stuck. Didn't get to Brule until 11:00 PM. Loaded up XLT and seven riders started back to camp on sleds. Storm blew and locked up solid. Other Storm blew belt and took out crank seal. Towed both back to camp. Lost half the fleet the first day. Another RXL went down the next day. Needless to say, we didn't stay the whole week.
 
P

penaltyvectors

New member
We had a mixture of sleds that went down and only one was a polaris......mine. The others were 2 yamaha's, a ski doo and a cat. Although the story with the 10 polaris is what your prob talking about. I think every brand has its lemon but jmo.
 
T

TDL

New member
Been riding for 32 years and never had a problem with any of my sleds or the guys I ride with. Same friends 32 years. Call us lucky or boring?
 
B

brent

New member
1995 RXL is the reason i have not owned a polaris in 15 years.broke the chain and took out the case at least 5 times in 1600 miles. all the 500 indys had bad cranks. polaris was not helpful at all. after 7 new indys i went to ski-doo and have never looked at another polaris.
 
G

G

Guest
coldone said:
Let me guess, you guys don't ride Polaris now?
Click to expand...

Actually 8 of the 10 are still on Pol. Since the sleds were new all was fixed on warranty. All problems ended up being crank-related. Pol said they had "vender issues" with the crank supplier. Ironically I had purposely left my '94 Storm home because I didn't trust it. I was on an ugly white '95 600 XCR that actually did not blow up. Although we ended up not getting on many miles nobody got hurt and all ten of us will never forget that trip. So, as far as 'once in a lifetime trips' - that was one of them. It is actually kind of funny 15 years later.
 
F

fire126

New member
Those are the trips that you will always remeber. In fact, you will all laugh about every time the story is told. Sorry about losing your friend.
 
2

2tall

New member
I have a '95 Polaris with almost 10,000 miles on it and to date I have not had one issue. Knock on wood or call it lucky but I am more than happy.
 
C

coldbear

New member
Great sleds

TDL,Yamaha and the Pol. make good dependable sleds. And I guess all manufactures have their issues with inferior parts. I can't remember a time when something happened on a sno-trip. But that is the beauty of snowmobilers. They have a way of solving problems[breakdowns] and pressing on.
 
P

polarfreek

New member
Sorry to hear about your friend.
We can all attest to a bad year(s) Thats why we are snowmobilers. We can all tell stories then laugh about them as we get back on and ride for a better day. Better luck next time.
 
S

snowbuff

New member
Christmas week this year. Head North day after Christmas, to Gogebic Lodge. Saturday, no issues. Sunday, '09 E-Tec to Dealer, wouldn't go over 40 mph. Bring out our only spare, '04 edge 700. Monday, rewind melted on '01 MXZ 800. Had to start off clutch rest of trip. Tues, stator goes on a different '01 MXZ 800. Tow to Mass City and drive back to get trailer. Wednesday, two of the guys headed for Copper Harbor. One on his '03 Rev 800, and the other guy took my '07 Blizzard 600 sdi. The other three guys, including me, went to the casino in Watersmeet. On the way back from the casino, we get a call that the '03 800 had blown up, in Houton!! They had to double up on mine and ride back!! When they got back, we proceded to drink our troubles away for the night. The next morning, the same two guys trailered up to Houghton to retreive the sled and head home. The rest of us packed up and headed home as well. Five guys, six sleds and only my blizzard and the 700 Poo survived unharmed. Hellof a trip.

We did do okay at the casino, tho.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top