Cost of getting into snowmobiling: Progress update

A quick update to the progress of getting the 86 MX ready for the trails. Not much has been done in the last week or so as the sled is pretty much completely disassembled and waiting for new parts to arrive. On Friday I received the majority of parts needed. After reviewing the total of all the bills, my rough estimate is that we're going to have $2000.00 invested into the 86 MX, including the purchase price of the sled.

Here is the bulk of parts that we needed. New track, new front shocks, new plug caps and wires, new throttle cable, new sliders, new carbide runners, and new hood straps all ordered Gamma Sales as they have a great selection of parts for these types of projects. A new windshield, rear shocks, and a couple chaincase seals will be in the next shipment.

New Ultimax belts, one for the 86, one for the 88, and a spare. These belts are great value.

Here's all the bearings we need for the driveline and rear suspension. I've used NTN blue seal bearings for thousands of km's without any issues. It may seem like overkill to replace every bearing on the chassis and suspension but spending a few extra dollars and hours now saves a lot of down time in the winter when your old, dry bearings go to pieces or seize mid-ride. Bearings need to be replaced as preventative maintenance even on year old sleds.

From here on in it's all intallation of new parts...hopefully.

How much does it cost to get into snowmobiling?

It's September and time to start thinking about sleds. Around this time many potential snowmobilers are thinking about buying a sled and hitting the trails but think the sport is too expensive. Well, you don't need a $15000.00+ new sled to have fun on the trails. So how much does it cost to buy a used sled and get it on the trails? We're going to find out and tell you exactly how much. Durring the summer myself and my snowmobiling buddy, Jason, found a good deal on a 1986 Ski-doo Formula MX and 1988 Ski-doo Formula MX along with an 89 Mach 1 for parts. $250.00 for each MX, they need a lot of work but were cheap. We'll be doing the work ourselves and keeping track of what we do and how much it costs.


Here's the 86 MX in the garage on August 16th after unloading it from the trailer and a quick wash. Looks like a good start.

Upon closer inspection we found a lot of mouse nests and damage to some of the wiring. This sled hasn't been running for close to 5 years. It has spark and fires though, good start. We peeked in the motor through the exhaust ports and the cylinders and pistons look to be in good shape with no signs of damage.

We removed the seat and quickly found out it was completely rotten and would have to be replaced. We also removed the gas tank to clean it out and found more damage from mice, this time to the throttle cable. Also, all the paint on top of the tunnel and on the bulkhead was flaking off due to corrosion.

I pulled the carbs off and removed the bowls. Easily the worst I've ever seen.

On September 3rd we removed the rear suspension, chaincase, drive shaft, and jack shaft. The jack shaft bearing needs to be replaced and the speedo side drive shaft bearing doesn't turn too smoothly. To prevent failures on the trail, we're going to replace all four driveline bearings and all the rear suspension idler wheel bearings with quality NTN bearings. We're going to replace the chaincase seals too. The track is pretty weathered and cracked and we're not sure if it's usable or not.

As of September 9th, this is how the sled sits. We had to remove the belly pan because it was damaged and interfering with the front suspension. Luckily the Mach 1 for parts had a belly pan in good condition. We also found a hole rusted through the left side trailing arm, good thing we removed it and noticed. We're going further than what most people would do on their first sled but keep in mind the cheaper the deal, the more it's going to cost in parts and hours. We'd rather work on it while it's warm in September than along side the trail in January. Will update on the progess soon.