In December, 2022 I traveled to see a friend in Idaho for some snowmobiling. We spent a few wonderful days in Island Park snowmobiling around without any agenda.
Snowmobile troubles
I am a frugal person, always considering cost versus value. I am not opposed to buying something, even if the initial cost is high, so long as money isn’t thrown away.
Why do I mention this attribute of mine? Snowmobile rentals are expensive, and once the rental is over, your money is gone.
So what do you do? Buy a snowmobile. Sure, there are risks. There always are. But the downside of a rental is known; you lose all your money.
Well, as you are probably gathering by this point in my story, there was a slight hiccup in my experience.
I bought a snowmobile in Nebraska a few months before the trip. I spent evenings and any free time on the weekends to fix up the machine, replacing parts and thoroughly cleaning everything. I bought parts online, welded holes in the exhaust, you name it. The only thing i didn’t do was open the motor and overhaul it.
Once in Idaho, my buddy suggested taking our snowmobiles out a couple of days prior to our scheduled stay in a cabin in Island Park. Less than a mile into the ride, the motor seized.
We towed the machine back to the trucks and I called a friend who has a shop nearby. I had only a couple of days to completely overhaul the motor; something I have never done before.
Recall, this was right in the heart of Covid-times, and the supply chain was already strained. I called around to every local dealer and everyone was out of stock for all the parts I needed. That is until i called one shop who somehow had a set of pistons and piston rings they mistakenly purchased for a machine that were a direct fit for what I needed. I took the motor case apart and dropped off the cylinder jugs at a local machine shop to be re-honed and prepped for use, then disassembled the pistons and cleaned and prepped the motor for re-assembly.
It was a miracle that I had the motor completely rebuilt just in time for our cabin trip, only delaying our check-in by a few hours.
Coming Soon - Stay Tuned!
Island Park
