This is only partially forest related.... For the past 12 or so years, we've had some pretty good sledding parties for the "kids" (young and old ones!). After cleaning my driveway I use my tractor to make a tubing trail through our hay field. The sides get built up (4' in some places) and I plow a road for people to walk back up or to ride back up on the Ranger. Unfortunately, not everyone can fit on the Ranger and the tubes take up a lot of space themselves. Last year I found a set of tracks that I can use on the Ranger. It was the end of the season but I was able to try them out: My plan when I originally bought them was to be able to use the Ranger for packing the trail down. Up until now, after building the sides up on the "luge" we would snowshoe up and down the track a bunch of times to try to pack it down and then it took several runs on the tubes to get the track going good. I plan to pull a weighted roller behind the Ranger to pack it down. We'll see how that works out... Back to my idea: I'd like to make a trailer with skis if you will to pull behind the Ranger. This would allow me to be able to bring more people up the hill at a time, plus, I could possibly use the trailer to help in sap collection in the early spring. The question is what to use for skis and where can I find some cheap? Also, my cousin had a sled we used to tow in Maine behind the snow mobiles when we'd ice fish remote ponds. It had a sort of "shock absorbing" hitch set-up that prevented a bunch of jolting on the trailer and it allowed the sled to pivot slightly (side to side tipping). Any ideas on the skis and/or the hitch design would be greatly appreciated! FYI - Here is a site a friend made back in 2011. Pictures and some videos at the end... Deb and Rich's Sledding Adventure's
I'd build a standard sled like one would see dragging logs out. For the skis, use plywood on bottom of runners to stay on top of snow. Cut out shape of skis, then set circular saw to cut 1 quarter of the thickness of the plywood. Where you want the tips of the skis to bend up, use circular saw set like mentioned above to cut across tops of skis every half inch. The plywood will now bend to your frames or runners of the skis.
A fab shop should be able to bend some .25x4 mild steel plate in the shape of skis for a pretty reasonable price. Just cut a template out of cardboard or plywood with the profile and stop by a few places. Mount them to some dimensional lumber runners. They'd last you forever. My dad made a tractor sled with some 1.5" wood runners when I was a kid. We don't get much snow though...so it didn't need any flotation.
Hillbilly as can be but the hood off of an old truck pulled us kids for many miles. Grandpa bolted 2 straps of 3/8" steel about 1" wide on top of the hood. Flipped it over heated the barstock and bent them back over themselves. Bolted on some plywood and screwed a rope across the front for a handle and called it a sled. Bars would take the wear n could be replaced and using a rope allowed for a little give to not be such a jerk to start moving
Deer Meadow Farm have you looked at broken snow mobiles?, the front skis have shocks and pivots for the front.. if we ever get snow they run them into trees all time up here. then depending on the length of your sled a long pair of down hill skis for the back .. That way the front would have suspension and turning ability to follow ranger.
Ah I will keep you in mind if we ever get snow... If something your interested in PM me.. I figure me sled mechanic will have some a week or 2 after snow.. I am thinking whole mechanism ski, arm that locks into pinion a triangle ... but not trailing control arm.. 2 foot piece of metal goes back to sled those break when hit stumps and are expensive..
If you're not trying to go too fast, the cheapest/easiest would probably be to buy some old downhill skis off craigslist and screw those to a wooden frame.
