Snowdog Reverse - Saved from the Slush!

[Gunflint]

Just an update on my Snowdog Reverse kit that I installed. 

I was out on the lake making trails in the snow to pull out my Clam X400 tomorrow. I did the first passes last night and ran into some slush, but going fast, I was able to simply ride it out on top.Those trails froze up well.

Today I was on that trail over the slush, trying to widen it a bit and the slush sucked me over and pulled me to the right and into the unfrozen deep slush (over my Sorel boots). I didn't panic, but took off the sled I was riding in, clicked on the Reverse, and it simply and easily backed up onto the frozen path again and I was on my way in a few seconds. My boots never left the frozen path.

Before my Reverse Kit, I would have had to have waded into the slush in my boots and attempted to turn the Snowdog around by hand and then gone forward up onto the path again. It would have been tough, wet, and exhausting. I'm grinning about the Reverse Kit now!
 

[Gunflint]

[NateD]

[Gunflint]

We have lots of those in the area. Just had a race last week, the Gunflint Mail Run of 8 (75 mile) and 12 dogs (100 mile) race next to my cabin.

I opted for a mechanical dog that eats gasoline instead of those that bark and are lots of work. I am sure the ones pictured have reverse. How do they do in slush?

[RoeBoat]

Don't think those dogs have the reverse kit!

[NateD]

It's clumsy but they have reverse 

[NateD]

We have lots of those in the area. Just had a race last week, the Gunflint Mail Run of 8 (75 mile) and 12 dogs (100 mile) race next to my cabin.

I opted for a mechanical dog that eats gasoline instead of those that bark and are lots of work. I am sure the ones pictured have reverse. How do they do in slush?

If I feed them gasoline they rip right through the slush.

[Gunflint]

If I feed them gasoline they rip right through the slush.

Smokin...

[Gunflint]

I did 1,800 pounds once when I went out camping in a remote lake. Best on packed snow or ice. Wouldn't pull that much in powder. Has carbide studs that grab well on something hard.

[Gunflint]

I do have a small dogsled, but I power it with kites and not dogs.

[NateD]

That's awesome, with the wind we have here the past couple days you'd be flying.

[Gunflint]

Look at their website for info and videos. They are around $3,500 but you don’t need trailers and big storage. Perfect for ice fishing. More a work machine than a fun machine. Perfect for what I use it for. Top speed is around 20 mph but you never do that towing a sled full of gear, never go faster than that towing stuff on a snowmobile either.

[Gunflint]

Apparently not, according to some other posts from the East Coast guys. I believe it is because you do not “ride”. No need in Minnesota for sure.

[Fisherman 1]

What's a "snowdog"? Got a picture?

1/2 a snowmobile.

[Gunflint]

1/2 a snowmobile.

Exactly!!

[joefishmore]

They tip over very easily and heavy to pick back up.

[Gamalot]

Thanks for all the info. I've checked into them. Definitely one of my next ice fishing buys. Going to build an ice house and incorporate this somehow. Never have to even leave the house except to block it up  at night. Could be sweet.

Keep me in mind Murph. Located in Sullivan County, NY and have the same Snow Dog machine as gunflint. I refuse to pay the price for the reverse upgrade but I did install a winch for dragging me out if I ever get it stuck. I'll hit 68 this year and might be selling my entire collection of hardwater fishing gear. Snow dog with Triton 2 place clam style snowmobile trailer, 2 pop up sled shanties, 22 tip ups including 7 Jack Traps and 5 Heritage laker plus 10 HT Polar therm extreme disc types and tons of other gear that all fits in the trailer. One shanty is an older clam 2 man guide model and the big one is the new Otter XL Pro Resort used just once last year. Sitting here wishing I could be fishing but we have no safe ice so far this year and I ain't getting any younger. My snow dog does not have a full tank of gas through it since new and I did the first oil change just for fun this November and studded the track.

Gam

[bowski76]

Keep me in mind Murph. Located in Sullivan County, NY and have the same Snow Dog machine as gunflint. I refuse to pay the price for the reverse upgrade but I did install a winch for dragging me out if I ever get it stuck. I'll hit 68 this year and might be selling my entire collection of hardwater fishing gear. Snow dog with Triton 2 place clam style snowmobile trailer, 2 pop up sled shanties, 22 tip ups including 7 Jack Traps and 5 Heritage laker plus 10 HT Polar therm extreme disc types and tons of other gear that all fits in the trailer. One shanty is an older clam 2 man guide model and the big one is the new Otter XL Pro Resort used just once last year. Sitting here wishing I could be fishing but we have no safe ice so far this year and I ain't getting any younger. My snow dog does not have a full tank of gas through it since new and I did the first oil change just for fun this November and studded the track.

Gam

C'mon Gary, I fished with you last year, you're in great shape, you have plenty of years left.

[Gamalot]

C'mon Gary, I fished with you last year, you're in great shape, you have plenty of years left.

Agree Bow! I just don't need the full host of gear that I have and can't use unless I go with a full contingent of friends willing to help. I will still fish but not with all the heavy gear I have amassed over the years.
Everything in this picture is mine but only ever gets used when I have a crew to come with me.




Gam

[Gamalot]

Seeing your tagline, I won't agree, completely, but I know what you mean.
I got a lot more ice fishing equipment than I can possibly use now, but there is always more to buy.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!

I am retired while most of my fishing buddies are still working toward retirement. I have the freedom to fish between Monday-Sunday while most of them can only fish on days off of work and that is mostly Saturday & Sundays, IMO the very worst days to go ice fishing because every other working stiff is also out there. I have gear set up to go alone that I can handle by myself and then I have gear that centers around a group of buddies fishing together. I never used my Snow Dog and big pop up by myself and only ever used all that big gear twice in the last 2 years. There comes a time when one must wonder why do I have all this STUFF that I rarely ever use? I have all sorts of hunting gear but I have not actually hunted in a few years now. I have a bunch of high end vintage home audio gear yet I can't hear well enough to make high quality music systems of any value to my ears. I have a real sweet dirt bike out in my shed yet my ability to enjoy riding it is slowly leaving the station. If you can't understand it all I can say is stick around, you'll see eventually.

Gam

[Gunflint]

Agree Bow! I just don't need the full host of gear that I have and can't use unless I go with a full contingent of friends willing to help. I will still fish but not with all the heavy gear I have amassed over the years.
Everything in this picture is mine but only ever gets used when I have a crew to come with me.




Gam

Looks fun!  Lots of potential amazing times in that horde of gear!

[Gamalot]

Looks fun!  Lots of potential amazing times in that horde of gear!

YUP! Except for the short winters here when the ice comes and goes like it is now. January 20 and still open water on most of our lakes and then once the ice does get safe there are so many days when it is either too freaking cold or way too windy to even go. I love the sport and hanging on the ice with friends but I mostly have to go alone with my dog when the buddies are working. I can do that with my clam 2 man and a couple buckets for bait and tip ups and don't need the snow dog and all the heavy stuff plus the trailer and all the other sleds.

Gam

[Gunflint]

YUP! Except for the short winters here when the ice comes and goes like it is now. January 20 and still open water on most of our lakes and then once the ice does get safe there are so many days when it is either too freaking cold or way too windy to even go. I love the sport and hanging on the ice with friends but I mostly have to go alone with my dog when the buddies are working. I can do that with my clam 2 man and a couple buckets for bait and tip ups and don't need the snow dog and all the heavy stuff plus the trailer and all the other sleds.

Gam

I think that you jest need to move to Minnesota and your problems would be solved - you could fish with me!   

[river_scum]

original snowdog lol

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=fordson+snow+machine&view=detail&mid=B68B0AE76D32D193F4C3B68B0AE76D32D193F4C3&FORM=VIRE

[bbrown009]

We had one of these when I was a kid, built through the mid 60s. similar concept. It was a Husky, built in the later years of its existence by Bolens.

[GBguy]

Here's a picture of me riding a fully restored Bolens Diablo Rouge, a two-piece snowmobile quite similar to the Snow Dog built in the late 60s. My dad has made a small business of restoring them and sourcing/supplying parts to hundreds of people around the US, Canada and Europe. This picture was taken at a gathering commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first Diablo Rouge rolling off the assembly line in Port Washington, WI. You can see some Hus-Skis in the background there. This was probably the largest gathering of those vehicles in decades.

The creators of the Snow Dog were there as well offering test drives and gathering information.

[Gamalot]

We had one of these when I was a kid, built through the mid 60s. similar concept. It was a Husky, built in the later years of its existence by Bolens.

The local ski hill here had 2 of the Husky machines and used them for trail grooming back in the 1970s. They had a homemade grate they pulled behind that cut up the iced snow top and those machines could pull a heavy load. Not sure if they had reverse or not and not sure what the hill did with them or where they ended up. Now the hill uses a particular Ski doo snowmobile that is set up for towing and looks like it has a much longer and wider track and those do have reverse. One thing to keep in mind regarding reversing on any of these machines is you first have to remove whatever you are towing and get it out from behind before attempting to reverse the machine. I watched them doing some grooming one afternoon and the Ski doo did get stuck and the guy had a hell of a time between unhitching and getting unstuck. I set my Snow Dog up pretty good with the studs in the track that work fabulous on glare ice. I also added carbide runners on the rear of the towed sled that keeps it tracking directly behind the dog. Prior to adding the sled carbides when I was on glare ice the sled kept trying to slide side to side and get ahead of the dog. Where I had the most trouble was on the boat launch ramp. The dog has more than enough power to pull a heavy load up the ramp but the ramp material is just #2 gravel and if there is not a good snow pack on top the track just spits up stones and gets bogged right down. I watched the guys on snowmobiles come off the ice dragging their sleds and the trick was to have enough forward momentum when you hit the ramp. Each one of them had their gear flying out of the towed sled and laying all over the launch ramp but they did make it up to the flat parking area. The Snow Dog makes it up just towing me in the sled with little effort but not with other sleds behind me. I refuse to make a blasting run at it and toss all my equipment all over. 4x4 ATVs with chains make it right up the launch ramp pretty easily and can even stop mid ramp and get going again. One guy has a Side by side ATV with the tracks on it and he can go just about anywhere and has pulled a lot of other machines out of the slush. That is probably a $20,000 machine the way he has it rigged.

Gam

[Poco+loco]

Just an update on my Snowdog Reverse kit that I installed. 

I was out on the lake making trails in the snow to pull out my Clam X400 tomorrow. I did the first passes last night and ran into some slush, but going fast, I was able to simply ride it out on top.Those trails froze up well.

Today I was on that trail over the slush, trying to widen it a bit and the slush sucked me over and pulled me to the right and into the unfrozen deep slush (over my Sorel boots). I didn't panic, but took off the sled I was riding in, clicked on the Reverse, and it simply and easily backed up onto the frozen path again and I was on my way in a few seconds. My boots never left the frozen path.

Before my Reverse Kit, I would have had to have waded into the slush in my boots and attempted to turn the Snowdog around by hand and then gone forward up onto the path again. It would have been tough, wet, and exhausting. I'm grinning about the Reverse Kit now!
 

How much is the reverse kit?

[Gamalot]

The last I heard was around $450 for the kit plus a wild price for the shipping. Then the DIY installation took a good 8 hours because it required removal of all the outer covers and complete removal of the motor and non reversing gear set so you could drill and install the new reversing transfer gears. At the time I bought my Snow Dog there were zero models available that had the reverse from the factory but that option was only $400-$500 more and the reverse in those original models was a real process just to go from forward to reverse. Stop the engine, open the front cover, flip the lever, start the engine and back out and then repeat the process to go back to forward. Eventually Snow Dog will make a fully functioning machine but anyone foolish enough to buy one without reverse now is crazy. If you think you can drag a 300 pound plus anchor out of your shed or off your truck or worse yet drag it backwards out of a slush hole I hope you are built like the mighty Hulk. Yes, they can pull a very big load and yes they are tippy but that is more a matter of your driving skills. Snow Dog dropped me like a hot potato and I hope they treated Gunflint a bit better but I won't recommend their machines like I did when I first got mine and before I learned the disadvantages inherent with the ones that don't have reverse. They did send me a nice Snow Dog hat though so maybe if I wear it backwards I will be OK if I get mine stuck. Somewhere here or maybe on another forum Gunflint posted his ordeal when he got his SD stuck in slush and about had a heart attack getting it back home.

Gam

[Poco+loco]

The last I heard was around $450 for the kit plus a wild price for the shipping. Then the DIY installation took a good 8 hours because it required removal of all the outer covers and complete removal of the motor and non reversing gear set so you could drill and install the new reversing transfer gears. At the time I bought my Snow Dog there were zero models available that had the reverse from the factory but that option was only $400-$500 more and the reverse in those original models was a real process just to go from forward to reverse. Stop the engine, open the front cover, flip the lever, start the engine and back out and then repeat the process to go back to forward. Eventually Snow Dog will make a fully functioning machine but anyone foolish enough to buy one without reverse now is crazy. If you think you can drag a 300 pound plus anchor out of your shed or off your truck or worse yet drag it backwards out of a slush hole I hope you are built like the mighty Hulk. Yes, they can pull a very big load and yes they are tippy but that is more a matter of your driving skills. Snow Dog dropped me like a hot potato and I hope they treated Gunflint a bit better but I won't recommend their machines like I did when I first got mine and before I learned the disadvantages inherent with the ones that don't have reverse. They did send me a nice Snow Dog hat though so maybe if I wear it backwards I will be OK if I get mine stuck. Somewhere here or maybe on another forum Gunflint posted his ordeal when he got his SD stuck in slush and about had a heart attack getting it back home.

Gam

What do you mean snowdog dropped you?