Author Topic: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?  (Read 3493 times)

Offline Monte2

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Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« on: Dec 16, 2020, 02:07 PM »
Hi there,

First post on this part of the forum.  I'm considering snowmobiles for ice fishing.  The question in my mind is Liquid or Air cooled? 
From what I've read, air cooled are less maintenance, poor gas mileage, while liquid cooled are much better gas mileage, but are in danger of easier overheating.
Which do you prefer on Cascade and why?

Thanks!

Offline WALL E GATOR

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Re: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« Reply #1 on: Dec 16, 2020, 02:25 PM »
I know guys with both that fish Cascade. Unless it is bare glare ice the overheating problem doesn't seem to be a big deal and I have seen it just bare ice a few times. I looked long and hard at Snowmobiles and there are liquid cooled ones that can do bare ice, Ski Doo Skandic 900 ace has a second radiator with fan just for that. If you can find a 500 fan like in a Polaris Indy Trail 2up that is a sweet ice machine. Some of the guys I know have old beater sleds they don't really care if it blows up, I think they are nuts, but.... Though Snowmobiles are great and many prefer them I went another route and got the SnowDog. No matter what you go with realize that getting in and turned around with a trailer can be less than easy in some places. Seen a guy last year at Horsethief Jimmy Jacking his truck and trailer for quite a while to get it turned around.
FISH ON! and Tight Lines

Offline badger132

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Re: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« Reply #2 on: Dec 16, 2020, 02:49 PM »
Cooling is mainly a problem in 2 cases:

Late season with no snow- warm temperatures. Here the fact that you should not be in trouble because you are going slow and pulling on the flat. Stop every few miles if you are going a long way. I usually park close to where I fish, and it is unusual for me to run the sled 10 minutes all at once to get home. I stopped and drill a hole and shovel slush on the track if I am going far on glare ice. The track need some lubrication even if the engine does not need snow for cooling.

High power: As sleds increased in power (like more than 100 HP) Getting rid of the heat, and keeping everything reliable is the problem solved by liquid cooling. It also has the side benefit of melting the snow out of your tunnel and running boards. Also not a huge factor for ice fishing use. I would take a 1 cylinder air cooled sled any day, if I could find one.

As for mileage, I don't burn 20 gallons of gas in a year, and my problem is more the gas getting old. I run non ethanol fuel and use Seafoam to keep things clean. A 4 stroke sled will do better than a 2 stroke by far, but for me, mileage is way down the list.

I think your priority should be on the size of machine, e-start, reverse, and condition. My guess is you will never put more than a few hundred miles on the thing, and both types of cooling are working on Cascade. We don't have to run that far, and there is usually snow/slush.

Just got my 2007GTX back from a top end rebuild. Reinstalled everything, and it fired right up. My old Tundra fired up too. Soon will be on Cascade doing break in on the GTX.

Offline dubob

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Re: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« Reply #3 on: Dec 16, 2020, 09:41 PM »
Snowdogs run in all weather conditions.   ;D ;D ;D
:thumbsup:
Bob Hicks, from Utah
I’m 81 years young and going as hard as I can for as long as I can.
“Free men don't ask permission to bear arms.” ― Glen Aldrich
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” ― Dr. Seuss

Offline Dakota-Wildcat

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Re: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« Reply #4 on: Dec 17, 2020, 08:12 AM »
I run an older Polaris RMK that is liquid cooled.  I works great in most conditions but like others have said, clean ice will get you in trouble.  I've overheated a few times when there's no snow on the ice.  It's fairly rare on Cascade not to have snow but it does happen, especially late in the season.  There are days that I wish for something different but it's good 90% of the time. 

My biggest regret is not having reverse.  Reverse would open up more options for a trailer.   

Offline Captdave

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Re: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« Reply #5 on: Dec 17, 2020, 11:06 PM »
I have 4 older 700 polaris rmks. One is nicknamed Miss Cascade, cause I bought her seized up there on a fishing trip. They are all liquids. Installed ice scratchers on the skids and they have not heated up once when I put them down. Did forget once and the buzzer reminded me. It cooled right off though. Also lubricates the hyfax, a must for ice and packed trails.....

Offline Monte2

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Re: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« Reply #6 on: Dec 18, 2020, 01:25 AM »
Snowdogs run in all weather conditions.   ;D ;D ;D

Where does one look at snow dogs for sale?

Offline dubob

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Re: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« Reply #7 on: Dec 18, 2020, 06:29 AM »
Where does one look at snow dogs for sale?
At https://snowdog.com/dealers/Idaho has three dealers: Salmon, Emmet, & Cascade (Tackle Toms).
:thumbsup:
Bob Hicks, from Utah
I’m 81 years young and going as hard as I can for as long as I can.
“Free men don't ask permission to bear arms.” ― Glen Aldrich
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” ― Dr. Seuss

Offline badger132

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Re: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« Reply #8 on: Dec 18, 2020, 09:44 AM »
Monte2: Just got back from Cascade. First time ever, wished I had a studded track. There is about 4-8 inches of heavy snow on top of glare ice. When you stopped, drilled holes, some water comes through and wets the ice. It was so slick, I could hardly get started. It took some fiddling to get moving, and once on the undisturbed snow, it was no problem. Once this snow freezes to the ice, I think we are done with polished glare ice for the year- even if it melts and freezes later on, the surface is never as smooth as that first ice.
The other thing I wanted to let you know is it is absolutely the right idea to get electric start and reverse. It was so nice to back off the trailer, instead of horsing the sled back until the tilt went down and gave me some help.
I love my simple old Tundra- it started right up after the summer, and has a nice seat to sit sideways and fish, but when I am alone, it will sit on the trailer while I take the GTX.

Offline Monte2

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Re: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« Reply #9 on: Dec 19, 2020, 06:38 AM »
At https://snowdog.com/dealers/Idaho has three dealers: Salmon, Emmet, & Cascade (Tackle Toms).

Thanks, Dubob....I stopped at Tackle Tom's yesterday and saw them.  Pretty darned interesting.  I'm researching them due to your suggestion.

Offline Monte2

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Re: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« Reply #10 on: Dec 19, 2020, 06:53 AM »
Monte2: Just got back from Cascade. First time ever, wished I had a studded track. There is about 4-8 inches of heavy snow on top of glare ice. When you stopped, drilled holes, some water comes through and wets the ice. It was so slick, I could hardly get started. It took some fiddling to get moving, and once on the undisturbed snow, it was no problem. Once this snow freezes to the ice, I think we are done with polished glare ice for the year- even if it melts and freezes later on, the surface is never as smooth as that first ice.
The other thing I wanted to let you know is it is absolutely the right idea to get electric start and reverse. It was so nice to back off the trailer, instead of horsing the sled back until the tilt went down and gave me some help.
I love my simple old Tundra- it started right up after the summer, and has a nice seat to sit sideways and fish, but when I am alone, it will sit on the trailer while I take the GTX.

Hi Badger.  We were up that way yesterday.  I stopped in at Tackle Tom's.  Maybe I bumped into you and didn't even know it.  I heard that there's a spot in the middle of the lake that hasn't frozen over yet due to hot springs on the bottom.  Since the purpose of the trip was to take my wife skiing, we didn't do any ice fishing.  But it was a good day.  I experienced slick, wet ice once last year while walking.  One of my ice cleats came off my boot and I didn't notice until I slipped and fell flat on my back.  Boom!  I saw stars in the daytime and didn't move for about 30 seconds.  Good thing I had a bulky hat on my head, or it could have been concussion time.  Needless to say, I bought better and more secure boot cleats for this season.

Offline dubob

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Re: Liquid or Air-cooled Snowmobile on Cascade?
« Reply #12 on: Dec 19, 2020, 11:37 AM »
Scratchers are a 'MUST HAVE' for running bare ice or crusted snow that fully supports the snowmobile while moving to keep the hyfax lubricated and cool.  However, with my air cooled RMK 700, they didn't do squat for keeping the engine from overheating.  If there wasn't any snow being picked up by the track, the engine would overheat if my speed was 20 MPH or below.  Running ice at 25 or more would keep the engine from overheating.  The scratchers did NOT generate enough ice/crust chips to cool the engine in my snowmobile.  And even with scratchers, I would occasionally 'glue' the track to the hyfax on longer high speed runs on ice.  Snowdogs are air cooled and use bogie (idler) wheels on the track; no problem.   ;D
:thumbsup:
Bob Hicks, from Utah
I’m 81 years young and going as hard as I can for as long as I can.
“Free men don't ask permission to bear arms.” ― Glen Aldrich
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” ― Dr. Seuss

 



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