Opinions on types of snowmobiles

[FullCryHounds]

Our timberline is around 12K. I live at 8400 and we usually hunt between 7000-12000.

[buzz]

I have a 550 polaris wide track with high and low range along with reverse. It is a very good pulling sled. I have pulled two dog sleds, a 200 pound guy, and another wide track that broke down with mine and it did fine. I think a water cooled go fast sled would have had trouble doing that with out over heating, but it is not always a pulling contest either.

I also have a 1996 Ski Doo tundra. It does real good in just about any snow. The poblem with it is it is not very fast if you want to cover ground quik. Not very comfortable to ride . The seats are way to low for a 6' person. It is very easy to get unstuck compared to the wide track.

Not saying my sleds are the best they just get the job done for me.

[Kevin D]

I'm sure I'm going to offend most if not all the other hound sledder's out there, but here's a couple of opinions for what it's worth:

I love the Polaris RMK Edge chasis for a hound dogger's sled.....partiticularly the gen II's from 2001-2004. This is a tough platform that can handle a lot of abuse like mowing down trees and bouncing through the boulder patches. Stay away from the 800 cc and 900 cc engines however, even with the aftermarket crankbearing kits you are only postponing the inevitable engine failures. The 700 cc engine is far superior IMO, they still provide ample horse power without the failure rate of the bigger engines. Dry weight on these is going to be a little over 500 lbs.

I also like the newer Ski Doo REV-XP chasis for a hound doggers sled. My mechanic tells me the 800 cc engines on these sleds are a crap shoot, some seem to last while others fail fairly early. They are not as predictable as the Polaris engines. He tells me the smaller 600 cc engines are again the most trouble free. Dry weight on these sleds is about 430 lbs. A buddy I hunt with has one with a 146 inch track that out performs my RMK 700 151 inch track in the deep powder, the downside of these sleds is that a moderate collision with a tree or rock is going to break the chasis and total the sled. Still, it is a sled I'm going to seriously consider my next time around.

I used to love Arctic Cats until my last one, a '99 Powder Special. It was a piece of hud. Clutching on these things were horrid, I don't think I ever went over 1,000 miles without having to rebuild it. I haven't followed the Arctic Cat line since then so maybe they have made improvements. All I know is that my garage is still littered with Arctic Cat clutch parts.

My main problem with Ski Doo Tundras is that they are underpowered. Another friend has a newer one (I don't know if it was the 550 cc engine or not) and on one particticular hunt the dogs blew over the top into the next canyon. We had to get on top of the next ridge to where we could pick the dogs up on GPS again. My buddy with the Ski Doo XP and myself with my RMK were able to pull empty dog boxes to the top but the friend with the Tundra couldn't get enough speed built up on the bottom end to break over the top even without a dog sled. He had to sit at the bottom while we went into the tree to gather up dogs. This was at about 8,000 ft. elevation. With about the same dry weight as the Summit XP's, I'm going with the extra horse power of the Summit over the Tundra.

As far as liquid vs air cooled engines, I prefer liquid. They do need snow flipping up on the heat exchangers to keep them cool, which as horshur mentioned can be a pain in icy or patchy snow conditions, but liquids are a higher performance engine that crank out more horsepower per pound than the air cooled. You can get ice scratchers installed that help, and you can also stop and pack snow on the tunnel and running boards, but it is a trade off you have to consider when buying a sled.

Good luck on picking a sled dgm, and remember, no matter which one you eventually decide to go with, if you are not on a first name basis with a snowmobile mechanic, odds are you will be soon.....

[FullCryHounds]

Kevin, you know your stuff! I had a couple of those early RMKs, both edge and GenII's. Never imploded the motor but did the crank mod then sold them before they did. Can't tell you how many bent trailing arms I replaced. That got old.

[djm]

Thank's guy's for all your opinion's, that's just what I was wanting to know. I have been looking at sled's and some of them look like there might be room behind the seat for a dog crate. Like I said before I only plan on using the sled to bobcat hunt after the snow get's too deep for my pickup later in the season and I usually hunt two dog's on bobcats. So do any of you guy's hunt with a dog crate mounted behind the seat rather than pulling a trailer sled?

[Cat track]

The new Tundra 550f is a pretty awsome sled. Light weight 450lbs.

[Larry Emery]

Hauling a crate on the sled is the only way to go...

[imchestnut]

I've got a fan cooled arctic cat 570 (2002) that I picked up for $1100. It never overheats even on trails, wil go decent in powder, will go on trails slow without over heating, not terribly heavy and not terribly expensive! But most our cats are low and follow the deer and elk to winter range so their not in the deep deep areas....

[chilcotin hillbilly]

The Tundra Extreme would be an option, with 600 or 800 ETEC motor and a 153x16 track with 2"lugs. Exactly like the summot series except clutching is different.

[Kevin D]

The Tundra Extreme would be an option, with 600 or 800 ETEC motor and a 153x16 track with 2"lugs. Exactly like the summot series except clutching is different.

That may indeed be a sled worth looking into chilcontin.

I dunno about the crate strapped to the back of the sled idea. I haven't done it since I tried it on my first sled, a 1967 Ski Doo. It didn't take long before I built a pull behind sled and I haven't looked back. Even today I don't like driving a sled with a passenger, it makes it back heavy and harder to control. I like the ease of unhooking a dog sled and going unencumbered when I need to.

There is no right or wrong way to transport hounds on a snowmobile however, it is whatever is easiest and works for you.

[bearcat]

I hAVE a 2002 and a 2008 skidoo tundra both 300's the older models were a good sled, but they totally remodeled them new everything but motor in 2005. In my opinion they are the way to go unless your hunting over 8000 like Dean said, then I would probably go with the 550. the tundra 300 are under 400 lb dry. That makes a big difference when you get them stuck And no matter what you ride you will get it stuck if you use it like I do. They aren't very fast but they pull weight good, drive slow to look for tracks without loading up or fouling plugs like many sleds, get better gas mileage than any other sled I've been around and are the most reliable sled I've ever been around (if you do a lot of hunting by yourself like I do that is real important) I usually hunt off mine 90-100 days a winter so they get a lot of use, I'm on my third set of skis on the 2008 because I've already wore 2 sets out. Other than ski's the only problem with it I have had is the hand warmers quitting, once on warranty and once after which I hadn't fixed, annoying but doesn't affect function.
The new tundras handle much better and are much more comfortable to ride than the older models and actually have a little more power and pull better. A friend of mine has the 550 and it is a good sled, but it doesn't go any faster empty than my 300 and will burn almost twice as much fuel. It will go faster pulling a dogsled up hills though. I would stay away from the liquid cooled sleds unless you plan to never hunt anything but deep soft snow. Everytime I'm around anybody with one they are constantly having to stop and try and pack snow on it because it is overheating.

Some have mentioned the big skandics and the super wide track, some are nice and the super wide track will really get around and outpull just about anything. It looks like a tank and pulls like one, and if you ever get it stuck it is just about like trying to get a tank unstuck to. One last thing if you can I would would get electric start on whatever sled you decide, I certainly like mine. And on the old sleds I would wear out a pull start about every year or two, never wore out the electric start yet and I still have the pull start for a backup when I do.

[nait hadya]

ran a yamaha four stroke the past few years. it was a great sled for many areas and varing conditions, but i would not recommend it for the inexperienced. riding it in off trail or sidehill was a workout. i did like that engine though and it had a fan cooled rad for running ice or bare trail. 1000 lbs of sled, hounds gear and rider,heavy. too heavy. the new tundra with the four stroke will probably roll into my garage this fall. that or showshoes lol

[kk]

I have put a lot of miles on the Polaris 700 and 800. I have owned them since they came out in 1997. I have been lucky with the ones I have owned and have very little problems. Last year I sold my 2004 - 800 and bought a cheap Polaris 440. It has done me a good job this winter. I pull 3 - 6 dogs and when I have a hill I need to climb I some times have to unload the dogs. I don't know what the best is but these have worked for me.
It would also help if we knew the price range you want to stay in. My 1994 - 440 I bought last year for $600.