Is 340 SkiDoo Snow mobile enough?

[Tomhusker]

 I'm looking to get some ice transportation and am on a budget. A fella in this area has a 340 SkiDoo Snow mobile for sale. Is this enough sled for pulling My FT Scout and gear out onto the lake? I am a big fella, so I need to know if it worth the $200.00.

[greenbackhunter]

340 will pull on snow as long as it's not too deep, at that price you could buy it, try it, if it doesn't work for you you could sell it and make money.

[da man cave shack]

As long as you keep the load lite it will do fine.

[thesleddinfisher]

She'll do the job. you prolly won't go off climin' hills or hittin' drifts if the fishins not worth a poop. But she'll be a reliable sled puller. Those old bombardier, well all bombardier motors are very good long-lasting motors.

Honestly though, a 4x4 4-wheeler and some chains would be better for around here. We don't get enough snow to lube the hyfax and cool the engine on the sled, but where its an old ski-doo she's prolly fan-cooled and has lots of idler wheels instead of an hyfax, If that's the case she'll work on bare ice but its hard on sleds to run them without enough snow. Then agian you're only pulling gear out and then back in at the end of the day, should be fine for that.

But for 200 dollars I would buy it.

[Tomhusker]

 Thanks guys. It will only be used for hauling gear out onto the ice. Any more than that would cut into my ice fishing time. I don't have a bunch of gear. Just my one man flip, auger, sonar and such. I probably weigh more than my gear does.
 I went and took a look at the sled. It is a little beat up, runs a little rich and sounds like a rattle can, but it fired right up. could use a new track, if I can get one cheap enough. If not I can put studs on it.... I hope. The fella had some work done to it, new primer, new belt, carb cleaned a dew other things.

 I have never had a Snowmobile before, so I am kinda going into this thing blind as to what I need to check.   But for $200 I'll give it a go.

[Skipper]

You can always monkey with the clutches to "gear it down" if need be.

[Bull Giller]

Ski-Doo is the best brand, the Rotax motors run forever.

[Tomhusker]

 Is there anywhere to buy parts for these old units? Saw nothing on eBay, unless they are interchangeable with other 340's in the SeaDoo line.

[WalleyeTom]

What year and model is it?

[Tomhusker]

What year and model is it?

1980 Citation 4500 SS

[WalleyeTom]

Probably other sites selling tracks.  Here is one

http://www.mfgsupply.com/04-932k.html

[CMMahy]

340cc will be more than enough, I use a 270cc single cylinder Tundra  to haul my fully loaded Fish Trap Pro, even in 14" of loose powder, and I'm a big guy as well. I usually tow that in tandem with a 7' boggan full of other peoples gear.

Parts for that sled can be ordered through the aftermarket company Kimpex, just about any powersports dealership can place the order, and they're usually quite reasonably priced.

[WalleyeTom]

he is another site that sells Kimpex ..

http://recreationsupply.ca/pdf/2006-10_Tracks.pdf

[SLAYERFISH]

I used a Ski-Doo Citation 250cc for years up here in colorado. Worked just fine, even riding 2-up.  Ride it like ya stole it!
 

[Tomhusker]

I used a Ski-Doo Citation 250cc for years up here in colorado. Worked just fine, even riding 2-up.  Ride it like ya stole it!
 (Image removed from quote.)

 Are parts interchangeable? I men, can a track from you old sled fit mine? I see several tracks for Citations, but no 340's. Not sure if they are the same or not.

[Fisherman 1]

One thing to pay attention to are the carbs, make sure they are clean.  I had a 4500 and that would pull you and a hut around all day and cheap on gas.

[Tomhusker]

The fella told me that he just had the carbs cleaned. Now, the machine smoked quite a bit and it smelled to me like it was gassy and needed a  carb adjustment. He said he thinks he had too much oil in the mix. I don't know enough about them to argue this.

[CMMahy]

http://www.mfgsupply.com/04-932k.html][url]http://www.mfgsupply.com/04-932k.html[/url]

Looks like that sled has a unique track size, it won't interchange with a ton of sleds, but there's a list at the bottom of this page of sleds that use the same track.

You have to physically change parts (jets) out of the carbs to change the settings on most of them, so odds are the settings are fine. The idle screw might be a bit out, but if it starts and stays running, it's close enough. Those older sleds tend to run quite rich at idle and slow speeds, so a gassy smell is normal, and most 2-stroke engines tend to smoke for a while when first started.

[Tomhusker]

 Well, if nothing else I can use this as my break in sled and learn what I need to about them before spending bug bucks on a newer model. For $200 I could ride it this winter and then just move on next season.

[SLAYERFISH]

Well, if nothing else I can use this as my break in sled and learn what I need to about them before spending bug bucks on a newer model. For $200 I could ride it this winter and then just move on next season.

Exactly. Play with it and get used to the quirks of snowmobiling-

[Fisherman 1]

The one other thing I forgot to mention was grease, lotsa grease nipples.  Look at the undercarriage, the cross bars, you'll see grease nipples, the front steering shafts(vertical ones) and if I'm not mistaken there should(may) be one on each side of the front drive sprocket underneath.    They're a great machine if you don't expect to go rocket speed.

[greenbackhunter]

get a bottle of seafoam. Chances are there is some gum and varnish in the tank from old gas sitting in the tank. Drain the tank, put fresh premium gas with proper synthetic oil mix in, a good shot of seafoam in there. Should clean things out nicely.

[Tomhusker]

 Thanks for the tips guys. What is the mix ratio for these machines? I think I will drain the tank and start fresh. Gotta put a brake cable on next week.

[SLAYERFISH]

50:1 is the general rule of thumb.  You can run 40:1 if you want. They'll run at 20:1 for that matter.

[Fisherman 1]

Thanks for the tips guys. What is the mix ratio for these machines? I think I will drain the tank and start fresh. Gotta put a brake cable on next week.

Take a look, some are actually oil injected, maybe yours is not.  Here is a copy of the manual.  http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CFsQFjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vintagesnow.com%2FSki-Doo_files%2F80%2520Citation%25201.pdf&ei=xKpwUMOaK8SlqQHF3oGYDw&usg=AFQjCNHE1DgHG7RqkKz-12TrpedczkZiyA&cad=rja

[Tomhusker]

Take a look, some are actually oil injected, maybe yours is not.  Here is a copy of the manual.  http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CFsQFjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vintagesnow.com%2FSki-Doo_files%2F80%2520Citation%25201.pdf&ei=xKpwUMOaK8SlqQHF3oGYDw&usg=AFQjCNHE1DgHG7RqkKz-12TrpedczkZiyA&cad=rja

Thanks for this.