* I have three in total. One Otter and two Pelican. You can use any type if you create a tow bar or reconfigure your setup like you’re doing with bolts/bushings. The Otter plastic is very good… but it’s still plastic.
Made some progress today! Got the hitch hooked up to the Otter and tested it out. The bushings were scheduled for an earlier delivery…but they came after we left for the weekend. LOL…oh well! I’ll get them installed next weekend. I’ll probably have to cut them down a bit to fit. This sled works great! What a time saver! I’m probably getting 2 to 2 1/2 loads vs the old sled. I was an able to fill our rack with 4 trips. I’ve included a pic of the old sled; which is much smaller. I had initially purchased it when our wood racks were closer to the house and pulled it by hand. I modified it to work with the hitch I have and it worked great; just not much volume. Appreciate everyone’s input! We’re actually having a winter here and it’s been fun using the snowmobile for wood hauling. I even took it off the property today and was able to open it up a bit. For a 25 year old 440 fanner with a lightly studded 136” track, it zips along impressively well once you get the RPMs up there. There really is nothing like a two stroke when it’s running in its sweet spot.
Nothing wrong with an air cooled 440...not so dang heavy, like most of the modern sleds...hate digging anything newer out of a drift, so heavy!
I didn’t get the bushings in this weekend, not a big deal. Did move some wood though! And we did a little sledding. A lot easier bringing the sleds/tubes up the hill with the snowmobile vs walking. Notice my sketchy wood cover support. It actually held up to the snow and wind.
Had a little time the other day to work on this. I had to cut the bushings down about .25” to get them to fit. I’m up north…and don’t have a vice. So: In the end, it worked. I got one side in no problem. Then this happened. It taking of the other side…the nut got stuck. Cross threaded, stuck…dunno. Regardless, I’ll need to cut it and get a new one. We’re getting a nice round of March blowtorch weather, so this will be completed in time for the snow to melt. LOL.
Are those stainless? If so, then galled threads is common problem...a coat of never-seize on the threads before assembly (or before removing...not as good, but worth the try) makes a huge difference. At least the bolt is long enough to cut the nut off and still use the bolt!
Yep! They are stainless! And thank you for that tip! I noticed the threads on some stainless U bolts I used on my trailer were finicky. Guess it’s a metal issue. Good to know! So stainless threads get bunged up easier?
Stainless is kinda soft/sticky so dry threads love to bind up without lube, like I mentioned earlier, never seize works really well. Heat is your enemy too...you may be able to hand thread a nut on, no problem, by try to zip it on dry and with a power tool (like an air impact) and the threads can cold weld (gall)...seems pretty crazy, but I've had it happen...frustrating
So months later, I have an update! I cut the old bolt off. Check out how hot it got; melted the plastic out of the nylock nut. I found a few stainless steel bolts I had and installed one…..then realized this was one of the two I bought that were too short! So, picked up a two pack of the correct length and got that installed today. I also drilled 4 holes (one in each corner of the sled so water can drain when I store it upside down for the off season. The anti seize worked perfectly brenndatomu ! Thank you for that guidance. I had a similar issue with the side rails on my utility trailer U bolts. Now I know why! I’ll be using that going forward with stainless hardware.
