What are you doing today? [Part II]

[BrianF]

Yesterday I managed to get the Polaris Magnum all back together. It went well except for my simpleton self forgot to install a brake rotor before installing the hub. Not a big deal but annoying that you cant fix stupid.

These old Polaris' used a magnetic Hilliard clutch in each hub, sounds great and works well except, thats over 200$ for seals and speedi sleaves per side. Thankfully the 4 taper bearings per side were still good. Myntorque wrench does not go low enough for the torque sequence but I have missed around with similar stuff over the years with my Neanderthal hands before.

One thing I remembered to do was a wheel alignment. When we got the machine, it pulled to the side and its alignment looked like Steve Buscemi meme where his eyes are going everywhere. I had kind of fixed that years ago but she was toe in, causing it to wander at speed. She now has a slight toe out and handles like a new quad. No staged pictures, as you guys would just hound me.

Finished off the day with ribs and New York strips.

 

[Mooseman]

Me and Mrs Moose have been in North Bay since Saturday help our son and family move into their newly bought house.

Today, Attending Remembrance Day ceremonies in North Bay since we're not in Ottawa for it. I'm used to ceremonies done outdoors at a cenotaph but here they do it in an arena instead of their cenotaph. Probably gets too cold here to be standing outside for over an hour.

 

[BrianF]

We didn't go to a service this year, would have been perfect. It ended up +10c. I have been to services that were -20 as well.

There is this little community I used to work in, many years ago. They did another amazing job putting on an indoor service. One of the best I have ever been to or taken part of.

Today I had to get ahead on vehicle maintenance. Shitty Blue went in the shop for its winter tires. Greased up a few things and checked the rear drums. Lots of dust from the new shoes but found the driver side cylinder leaking again. Tomorrow I'll snag a hone for it and possibly new seals. Not going to try and replace it.... way too much could and will go wrong.... also put in the old O2 sensor and it appears the heater code for it is gone. Ill see if Napa will exchange the sensor.

Then my daughters Escape. Tires aired up and rotatated. Things Greased. Quick crack of all the bleeders and fluids check.

Hoping to get that Trailblazer in for the same this week..... would love to tackle the ball joints before im back to work.

 

[BrianF]

Finally took the Polaris Magnum out for a good burn today. Several miles put on today and night. Slight vibration when the front wheels engage. Brought it back in and found some glitter in the hub oil and play in the bearings. I reset the preload and put in some 0w30 since it was laying around. Out came some ATF mixed with #0 grease from assembly.

After another quick burn, the bearings are still good. I love quadding but I really have the itch to go sledding. Our forecast keeps changing as we were supposed to get dumped on early next week..

 

[mrrsm]

Just performing The Annual Sussin Family Christmas Light Show walk through, courtesy Andrew Camarata right around this time of the year,,, Go ahead FramePack,,, Make an AI one like THIS One that actually comes to us from The REAL World...I DARE Ya!

 

[BrianF]

Well gents, had a nice project to tinker on. A friend has a 2005 Polaris Trail 550 fan cool that had minimal use over the last few years. Bought it new but it had sat so it was hard to start, poor to no idle and the electric start quit.

Its a twin carb but easy enough to work on. Found some algae in the bowls, the pilots were blocked and deposits in the passages. Easy to clean up and baseline set the slides and idle screws. Got it running and set the idle speed. Not bad.

Greased/oiled up all chassis, steering points and jackshaft bearings. Set chain tension and put in fresh synthetic ATF in the case. There was lots of wear material in the magnet.

Did continuity checks through the electrical system. The ignition switch was good, there was power to the starter solenoid on crank but no click or continuity on the main terminals. Ok so a new solenoid was picked up. I was removing the old one and forgot to check the solenoid ground as it is through the body. Well shit, no ground to chassis or negative terminal. Then I found a broke and frayed wire hidden underneath. Well, it had ground to the solenoid. I crimped a new ground wire and Bob is your uncle. Fired right up.

I took it for a good rip and lowered the idle at operating temp. Runs pretty good. But I must say, glad it was a Polaris and not a Yamaha.....

 

[BrianF]

Put 22 miles on today. The powder was deep, got stuck a couple times but still had fun. We drove to town, of course everything was closed but people thought it was pretty cool to see the old iron out.

 

[Mooseman]

I took it for a good rip and lowered the idle at operating temp. Runs pretty good. But I must say, glad it was a Polaris and not a Yamaha.....

What's wrong with Yamaha? Or do you mean Yamaton? It's true they are heavy to get unstuck.

Yesterday was a half-day at work. By 11:30, the building was a ghost town. Went to Costco Business (the regular Costco is a zoo) to pick a few things for Christmas dinner the next day.

Today was the usual prep for people coming over (aka: getting whipped by Mrs. Moose to pick up shit around the house). Also helped getting the 20 Lbs turkey prepped and in the oven. Way too big for the number of people. People, drinks, food, more drinks, lots of talk and fun, pictures. Good times by all.

Now just sitting, relaxing and having a glass of whisky. Tomorrow we get to repeat but ay the BIL's.

 

[BrianF]

@Mooseman my comment is twofold: while this Polaris is a heavy girl to move around, the Yamahas are heavier and after seeing the complexity of them through your posts, much happier with this simpler sled.

But of course, its back in the shop. He put about 30km on it before it bogged down and left him stranded. So it barely fires, bogs and dies.

And the saga continues....

 

[xavierny25]

Not today but 3 days ago my wife got a new daily driver.
It's a 2025 Hyundai Palisade calligraphy night edition. Wow, The amount of tech in this thing is crazy.

The Voy will remain in the driveway till we figure out what to do with it in the spring. We would rather part it out then hand it over to a dealer. She still runs great and has a fair amount of new parts, but rusting out pretty bad on the passenger side frame rail. I guess 18yrs and 280k miles will do that.

 

[Matt]

Not today but 3 days ago my wife got a new daily driver.View attachment 118270View attachment 118271View attachment 118272
It's a 2025 Hyundai Palisade calligraphy night edition. Wow, The amount of tech in this thing is crazy.

The Voy will remain in the driveway till we figure out what to do with it in the spring. We would rather part it out then hand it over to a dealer. She still runs great and has a fair amount of new parts, but rusting out pretty bad on the passenger side frame rail. I guess 18yrs and 280k miles will do that.

I'm seriously waiting for the Telluride Hybrid to come in for 2027. 35mpg combined is awesome for something that large.

 

[xavierny25]

I'm seriously waiting for the Telluride Hybrid to come in for 2027. 35mpg combined is awesome for something that large.

I just looked it up and those numbers are super impressive. It being the first with that set up I'd wait a little till they work out all the kinks. It's the same reason we went with the 2025 and not the new 2026 with its new face lift and added goodies.

 

[BrianF]

I dug deeper on the Polaris sled and found the issue.... not good.

Couldn't get it to pop at all. Compression is at 100psi mag side and 80 pto side. Not good. No signs on the plugs that it was running lean and the piston tops appeared equally black.

While cranking it over I noticed fuel reversion come out the pto side carb. Its a reed valves so that ain't good. I looked in and found the answer. Piston skirt was broken with the reed collecting chunks of it.

 

[BrianF]

Oh, on a side note, yesterday was a calm -30c in the morning. Cleared some snow and today, we had a wild temperature shift. Warmed up to above freezing. I went for a ride but the conditions were bad. Regardless, was still a good ride.

 

[BrianF]

Got some teardown done on the sled. Mag side jug has slight scuffing and what appears to be rust remnants. Pto piston is toast. Broke the reed cage as well. Took lots to clean it out.

The good, well, the cylinders are in great shape, they are cast iron lined and will clean up with a hone. The pistons are on order from a local shop and top end gaskets in stock. Ill have to order the reeds as well.

 

[Mooseman]

And hence why I switched to 4 stroke engines . I feel for ya though. I used to have the same problem with my old Safari 377 and a 2 smoke GT 550. BRP: Bring Rings and Pistons! One cause was the introduction of ethanol in gas that blew holes in my pistons. Check your gas and adjust your carbs. And the ethanol percentage has been going up.

Quebec ethanol content

Something to keep in mind if you ride in Quebec. I know that our 4 strokes are made to run on 10% ethanol so maybe 12% may not be so bad but for 2 strokes, this could kill them!

ty4stroke.com

And if you do want to switch to the blue side...