Hi all - seeking some loose opinions once again.... (and I promise not to sue anyone for malpractice!) This past weekend, I had the pleasure of watching my girlfriend ride my sled (this weekend was her very first snowmobile experiences ever - really was fun to watch, and of course she loved it!). Anyway, it also clearly gave me a different perspective of my machine. As she was riding away from and/or approaching me at slower speeds, I noticed weird metallic squeeky noises - presumably from the track or its drive parts. These are not noises I hear when I am riding, eithe due to my position or my helmet. These were pretty subtle squeeky noises - and not unlike what you hear when you watch old WWII tank videos. I just turned over 3,000 miles, and the last full service at the dealer was one year ago at about 800 miles. Would bogie wheels make this noise? I checked, and mine still seem to spin quite smooth by hand. Put on new slides a few weeks back (you may recall those posts) and they still look to be decent. Would the track clips make this kind of noise, and if they do, why?
I just want to make sure I'm not missing some key peice of maintenance I am supposed to be doing. Thanks!
Squeeky track noises....
[QUOTE=Skip28;18871]Hi all - seeking some loose opinions once again.... (and I promise not to sue anyone for malpractice!) This past weekend, I had the pleasure of watching my girlfriend ride my sled (this weekend was her very first snowmobile experiences ever - really was fun to watch, and of course she loved it!). Anyway, it also clearly gave me a different perspective of my machine. As she was riding away from and/or approaching me at slower speeds, I noticed weird metallic squeeky noises - presumably from the track or its drive parts. These are not noises I hear when I am riding, eithe due to my position or my helmet. These were pretty subtle squeeky noises - and not unlike what you hear when you watch old WWII tank videos. I just turned over 3,000 miles, and the last full service at the dealer was one year ago at about 800 miles. Would bogie wheels make this noise? I checked, and mine still seem to spin quite smooth by hand. Put on new slides a few weeks back (you may recall those posts) and they still look to be decent. Would the track clips make this kind of noise, and if they do, why?
I just want to make sure I'm not missing some key peice of maintenance I am supposed to be doing. Thanks![/QUOTE]
Skip, I think you should trade the sled in for a new model
Kidding aside, when the track comes around at the front. The clips will hit the slides and cause noise and if you have studs the idler wheels hit the back side of the stud causing more noise. Another area that I have seen make that metallic noise is when the upper part of the track hits the front torque arm just before the drivers. Studs rubbing on the top side of the front torque arm, loose track? You do seem to hear more on hard pack then on some fresh snow.
Don't you find the old truck on Sunday?? I have always said that I should stop and take a picture by the old truck, who knows how long it will be there. I have seen the truck there for over 30 years, maybe someone forgot it.
I just want to make sure I'm not missing some key peice of maintenance I am supposed to be doing. Thanks![/QUOTE]
Skip, I think you should trade the sled in for a new model
Kidding aside, when the track comes around at the front. The clips will hit the slides and cause noise and if you have studs the idler wheels hit the back side of the stud causing more noise. Another area that I have seen make that metallic noise is when the upper part of the track hits the front torque arm just before the drivers. Studs rubbing on the top side of the front torque arm, loose track? You do seem to hear more on hard pack then on some fresh snow.Don't you find the old truck on Sunday?? I have always said that I should stop and take a picture by the old truck, who knows how long it will be there. I have seen the truck there for over 30 years, maybe someone forgot it.
Yeah, we found the truck, and took some pics of my little niece standing in front of it, and "driving" it. Ended up being a longer ride with her than my brother had anticipated, but she loved it! Not sure, but going the longer way around to Chute Pond and back via #18 was probably a 25-30 mile loop, and all she said at the end was "More daddy!" My gf felt the same way. She really enjoyed her first weekend of sledding (did 90-100 miles with her on back) - and she liked driving even better (duh!). When the weekend was over, all she could say is "I want one!!!" Thanks for your patience riding with us - we would've gone much longer and harder - and the boondocking excrusion would have been fine - had we not had the passengers.
As for the noise - not going to worry about it too much for now, but I may mention it when I bring it in for end of season maintenance.
As for the noise - not going to worry about it too much for now, but I may mention it when I bring it in for end of season maintenance.
[QUOTE=Skip28;18882]Yeah, we found the truck, and took some pics of my little niece standing in front of it, and "driving" it. Ended up being a longer ride with her than my brother had anticipated, but she loved it! Not sure, but going the longer way around to Chute Pond and back via #18 was probably a 25-30 mile loop, and all she said at the end was "More daddy!" My gf felt the same way. She really enjoyed her first weekend of sledding (did 90-100 miles with her on back) - and she liked driving even better (duh!). When the weekend was over, all she could say is "I want one!!!" Thanks for your patience riding with us - we would've gone much longer and harder - and the boondocking excrusion would have been fine - had we not had the passengers.
As for the noise - not going to worry about it too much for now, but I may mention it when I bring it in for end of season maintenance.[/QUOTE]
Sometimes my rides have been longer than anticipated or it's just 20 miles away :biggrin: Glad you had fun and hope to meet up sometime soon for another ride.
As for the noise - not going to worry about it too much for now, but I may mention it when I bring it in for end of season maintenance.[/QUOTE]
Sometimes my rides have been longer than anticipated or it's just 20 miles away :biggrin: Glad you had fun and hope to meet up sometime soon for another ride.
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ghostrider
- Posts: 162
- Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:43 pm
[QUOTE=ghostrider;18886]maybe you need new brake pads. Just a thought.[/QUOTE]
Yeah - that has occurred to me as well, as I have been noticing more noise under braking lately. But, what I hear when riding is nothing like the squeeky noises I described in the top post. Again, could easily be that things just sound different when I'm the rider with my helmet on vs when I'm watching someone else ride. Either way, I think I do tend to brake harder than the average guy.... Again, something to have looked at during my end of season maintenance.
Yeah - that has occurred to me as well, as I have been noticing more noise under braking lately. But, what I hear when riding is nothing like the squeeky noises I described in the top post. Again, could easily be that things just sound different when I'm the rider with my helmet on vs when I'm watching someone else ride. Either way, I think I do tend to brake harder than the average guy.... Again, something to have looked at during my end of season maintenance.
