500 Miles in 5 Days on 5 Vintage Yamahas

[Autolube]

     I have been kicking an idea around for a few months now. Thought it would be a werthy chalenge to do something to validate all the garage time I've spent tinkering with my vintage sleds, as well as justifing registering them to legally ride the trails. What better way other than to put some real miles on, take them for a days ride as if they were new!!!
     Just to keep it interesting it also occurred to me that as long as we currently have prime riding conditions thru out ALL of Marinette County's Trail system it would neat to try to cover as much of our 500+ miles of trail as possible, and try to limit doubling back on the same trail if possible. This involves some planning and lots of time studying out Marinette Co. Alliance Snowmobile Map! 
 

Day One
     I chose to Ride my 1979 SRX 440 (I restored this sled the summer of 2009) today from my house just south of Pembine to the southwest portion of the county, primarily the Iron Snow Shoe Club trails. I took Corridor 3 south, Ranger City Rider's trail then the Near North Sno-Mo Club's trail that runs to the southwest to trail intersection #233 to #243 to #282.

Then south to the ISS trail system. Started out taking a small loop north of Caldron Falls, stopped at Rapids Resort to say hello to Ray Booth and get my pic taken for the www.bigsnowpage.com website. Then headed southeast to catch Corridor 5, went south to check out the Twin Bridge Ski Team Radar Run and Fisheree at Boat Landing #3 on High Falls Flowage.





From there I continued on Corridor 5 south to take in the Peshtigo Scenic Trail which runs along the north side of the Pestigo River

Then took the trail east along County Hwy W towards Crivitz.

I ended my days ride at my daughter's house just west of Town, my truck was waiting for me there. My odometer on the SRX measures in Kilometers It says I went 169 km, I guess that translates to 105 miles. Felt like I could of went farther, (lots of trail I didn't cover) however I do have 4 more days of this. Trails were very good just some marginal Saturday afternoon traffic trail bumps towards the end.  Tomorrow I plan to trailer the Enticers back to my daughter's house to use as a trail head and spend the next couple of days riding the south and southeast portions of Marinette Co.   

[Autolube]

Day Two

     This morning I loaded up both Enticers and trailered back to Amanda's house where I will start out from again. Just as I was pulling in her driveway my brother Mark called and asked if I was going snowmobiling today?  Why...Yes I am, be here ASAP and will go for a RIDE! Which we did. I decided to take the 81 Enticer 250 (single cylinder) which I restored the summer of 2010. I have been a little disapointed on the way this sled has been running lately, has a nasty low end bog to it. Idles pretty good and is fine once you build up some speed, just hard to get rollin.
     We started out going west on Coridor 18 to the trail that heads south towards White Potatoe Lake. This is Bagley-Brazeau trail system which is for the most part in Oconto County, however were very close to Marinette County and I was anxious to ride trails I've never been on before.


I topped of the fuel tank at the G3 Up Nort Gas Station on the corner of Hwy 64 and Cty S, then we turn towards the east when we got to trail intersection 75
 
And headed for Coleman.

The B&B trails were showing signs of fatigue from high weekend traffic, in other words they were in need of a good grooming. However they are very well marked and a great variety of open fields, wooded trail and a really cool swamp towards the end.

 
Once we got into Coleman we stopped and had a chicken dinner at Barnstormers Pub & Grill. When we went out to start riding again, that is when it first started to rain We started working our way out of Coleman and Pound to go northeast when all at once the Enticer started to run REALLY POORLY. I let off the throttle and she was dead!!?  A couple minutes of "under the hood" inspection, I found that the two carburater bolts to the intake manifold were extremely loose. It was a relatively easy fix although it was hard to get the 12mm wrench on these nuts squarely to tighten them up decent which is probably why they rattled loose in first the place. Back to riding again only now it is raining pretty hard. We continued to go northeast towards Loopy's Bar & Grill.

 
 
I was going to top off the fuel tank again, however Loopy's wasn't selling any fuel today??? Should have done this in Coleman, I have only a 4 gallon tank and I believe I get about 15 miles to a gallon with this sled, so I have to watch it a little.

By now it is getting close to 3:00 pm and we are gettin' WET from the rain. At this point we only have 59 miles on the odometer, I wanted to take a loop up and around Lake Noquebay before calling it a day but with the lack of fuel in the tank and the RAIN we could only head towards Crivitz and quit early.



By the time we got back to my daughter (Amanda's) house we only had 70 miles for the day.    I will try to make up the lack of mileage tomorrow.  

[mercmike]

I have a Moto Ski 399 jlo that has the same issue.. bogs at low exceleration, but goes like crazy at half and full throttle    ,  But anyways, Autolube I'm bring home a Yamhamaam..or Yamahha.. or,  well however you spell it??        I'm just teasing you, but more pictures to follow 

[w-jetter]

Great post Jeff!  I wish I could be with you on a Yamaha powered Sno*Jet! LOL

Good luck on the rest of your trip.       



Mike did you get a storage unit that you can get another sled?  LOL  Any luck with the Sno Coupe?

[Autolube]

Geez Mike, you are out of control with the vintage iron.

When does the "MercMike's Magnificent Vintage Sled Muesum" open? 

[mercmike]

I know... It's a sickness.  I'm work on getting a rupp nitro 440, and a Sno coupe yet too.    you'll have to get more land for the yearly show...   

[Autolube]

Day Three

     I left my daughter's house at 7:00am this morning in the rain. Took Coridor 5 south which is west of Crivitz and goes to Coleman.
It didn't take long to realize the toll last night's rain took on the trail.

There are no lack of turkeys in Marinette co.

Lord I hope this Day is Good. 

Kumalong's Clubhouse

No intersection number, one of several intersections with no numbers.
 

Nice to see folks pay tribute to those who gave above and beyond for our trails.



After reaching Coleman I continued south for a ways. Then turned to the east basically running along side of the county line. Eventualy looking to get to Peshtigo for gas. These trails cross a lot of farm fields and limited woods, as you can see in the pics massive areas of trail subject to heavy slush or just plain under water.

Today I rode my 81 Enticer 300. It was a good choice, as you can see I put this sled thru Hell and "High Water"    and it never skipped a beat.

Yeah...thats the trail and yeah I made it thru. You must always stay on the trail no matter what. 


After getting gas from the Shell station on the west side of Peshtigo I called RRR club member and friend, Bruce Mattison to find out there is no way (legally) to catch Coridor 3 just on the other side of town... So I had to back track a few miles and head north toward the Hwy 64 Bridge to get on Coridor 3 North


Now the plan is to run Coridor 3 North all the way home. Porterfield to Wausaukee to Amberg to HOME!!!

NOW WERE LOGGIN' !!! 


I had tried to hook up a speedometer to this Little Blue Machine (originally it didn't have one) aparently it doesn't work so I do not know exactly how many miles I ran today. However I am sure I have over 100 miles. I needed 130 miles to make up for yesterday and if you consider track spin when your sled is doubling as a Jet-Ski I believe I got it!

I bought this sled for $300 spring of 2012 it is more than I usually spend on a vintage snowmobile, but it was worth every penny. I restored the sled last summer, however I never had to do anything with the motor. Only gas cap to carburater cleaning.

I didn't expect your bar to be open Slug... I just wanted the extra mileage.

Almost home.

RCR Club House in Amberg

Now I'm REALLY ALMOST HOME!..... 3:00pm

[Autolube]

Day OFF

     I played hooky today. Had erands to run, things I had to attend to and quite honestly I needed a break so as to keep it fun. I did however get about 24 miles in, on Coridor 16 (East) from Dunbar towards Pembine for 12 miles then back to Dunbar (West). Another blue machine. (see picture below)

Dungood Riders Club House and their Sure-Trac. Just one of the pieces of grooming equipment that was out today. 

Tomorrow I will resume with my mission. Spraygas called asked if I would like company, and so did Bear...... Heck yeah, good to know they're are others out  there as crazy as me, well almost as crazy as me!

[Autolube]

Day Four

     This morning started BAD. Thought I had the 71 SW396 all loaded and ready. Go out to the garage about 7:30am expecting Bear and Lloyd (Spraygas) to show up promply at 8:00, which they did! I had about a gallon of gas in the sled and I have every intention of going to the BP station in Pembine to top off the tank and fill a 5 gallon gas can that I intended to bring along. Problem is what little gas that was in the sled had leaked out of the sled on the garage floor. Ok the sled's tank has a tiny leak, right..... RIGHT! I need gas and had none at home in gas cans, so I siphoned some from the VentureLite (supersled) into a gas can. While I am doing this I noticed I didn't have ALL my vintage sleds registered after all. The sled I am riding today needs to be registered! So... I run in the house to fire up the laptop to get this taken care of online. The only problem is this takes a little time to do and guess what I forgot while I am in the house, you guessed it. The VentureLite had a lot more gas in it than the 5 gallon gas can I was siphoning into which put about 3 gallon of premium on the garage floor!!! By this time Spraygas and Bear are already highly entertained.
     So off we go, leaving my house at about 8:30 on the trail Coridor 3 North towards Pembine for gas and go northeast Marinette Co.

This is Pemenne River Riders Club Shed which is just south of Pembine


Next the BP station pembine where we filled our tanks and gas can, just in case!

This is the junction where you can get on Coridor 16 West to eventually get to Coridor 1 North to go towards Norway MI


The trail was absolutely FLAT and PERFECT, obviously just groomed. In fact it wasn't to long and we caught up to Tony (PRR club pres.) in the groomer!
 

Took a break at this junction and I was messy around "tweaking the tilly" (carburater adjustment) when I noticed the oil injection pump was no longer linked to the thottle which could make for a seroius lack of oil getting to the motor. So we got out some tools and started engineering. It is time like these when Spraygas is damn handy to have around. 
 

And off we go!  Problem solved!
 
About 5 miles later the ol' 71 yamaha starts to REALLY choke and puke and then done. Acted as if it was "out of gas" despite filling the tank only 15 miles ago??? Yep tank is stone cold EMPTY. So I guess that crack in the yamaha's plastic gas tank is much bigger than originally thought or tank is so old and brittle the crack got a lot bigger from viberation. Back to the tool bag and and some serious improvising, we pulled the fuel line from the from tank and stuck it in the 5 gallon gas can behind me. Sounds easy but it took a while and some trial and error to get it to work, eventually it DID work and off we go once again.

Finally we made our furthest north destination, The North Star Bar where we had lunch. Any further north and you're in the U.P.


Just as we were done with lunch and ready to mount up, Tony caught up to us!!! Ahh... a nice smooth trail ahead as we make our way back south on the Menominee River Trail (Coridor 1) South


Took a break for a photo op.



We went to the Four Seasons Resort knowing they wouldn't be open but road there anyway and took a break. While we were hanging out in the parking lot. The owner of the Four Seasons seen us there and was nice enough to buy us a beer and we visited with him on the front patio of the building.


Next stop, was time to head to Amberg.


Just as we were on our final 8 miles to go back to the house I fouled a spark plug and just before that noticed the steering column felt loose.
I had welded this from another time it broke a couple years ago, apparently not good enough.


Home at Last! 83 miles today.... Yes that means I need to go 117 tomorrow. Spraygas says he will come a long with me again, I am very greatful of that 
 Despite these issues the sled did run well. This sled is the exact same make, year and model as the one my dad brought home back in fall of 1970. Our first snowmobile and the first snowmobile I ever drove, I was 8 years old at the time. It has high sentimental value to me.


Tomorrow last day of this self inflicted chalenge  I am taking the 74 GPX 433  I can't wait!   

[w-jetter]

Sounds like you had a very interesting Day Jeff!  Glad to hear that you 3 over come the troubles and were able to finish the ride today!

Good luck tomorrow!

[Autolube]

Day Five

     Today started Good, however that didn't last long. It was the kind of day that that gives vintage snowmobiling a bad name. When the GPX was running it ran well, when you shut it off it was a b!%ch to get started again. No matter, 37 miles into the ride the GPX went down with is certain catastrophic engine failure. Exactly what we don't know ..... yet!
      I do know that I owe Spraygas a huge debt of graditude for getting me and my dead sled back to civilization.  As well as Premix for giving us a ride from club house to my house. 
     I am exhausted tonight and they say pictures are worth a thousand words, so..... ENJOY!










I know Spraygas has some interesting pictures he could share to help illustrate the kind of day I had. Perhaps he will share.

So....
Saturday I got 105 miles on the SRX
Sunday 70 miles on the Enticer 250
Monday 130+ on the Enticer 300
Tuesday - day off
Wednesday 85 miles on the 71 SW396
Thursday 37 miles on the GPX

I came up 73 miles short of my goal..... that is disappointing. I need my garage time I guess.

[w-jetter]

Sorry to hear the GPX went down? Lets hope it is not too bad?


Well it was a good atempt and you come dam close to the 500 miles!   

[Spraygas]

Well you may have missed your goal Autolube but a least you had a good task at hand and you made the best effort you could I really enjoyed the last 2 days it was some of the best riding I've had in awhile And even though today didn't go so well I enjoyed giving a fellow vintage rider a helping hand and enjoyed it If there is another crack at it next year count me in

Gas tank replacement

Securing the new tank

Thumbs up for a good repair




Wearing out the hood hinges

GPX needs Motion Lotion

Over worked GPX getting ready for the 10 mile tow home

Somedays things don't go so well

[Autolube]

Well you may have missed your goal Autolube but a least you had a good task at hand and you made the best effort you could I really enjoyed the last 2 days it was some of the best riding I've had in awhile And even though today didn't go so well I enjoyed giving a fellow vintage rider a helping hand and enjoyed it If there is another crack at it next year count me in


Getting ready for the long tow home


Thumbs up after solving another trail problem





Somedays things don't go so well.

Spraygas, What happened to the pictures you had posted? 

[Spraygas]

Guess I was organizing Photo bucket and the form didn't like that, wish they got along better!