I loved that Polaris and I could put that thing just about anywhere, boondocking and weaving up and around trees was nothing with that sled but there were times when we were high-marking that I just couldn’t get to the top so I needed more power. I had been playing with turbos and nitrous on a few client’s machines but I wanted more displacement, period.
I had also been fine tuning my fabrication and TIG welding skills by now and was building custom trailing arms as well as A-arms and other components in-house out of strong and lightweight 4130 chromoly and I LOVED working with that stuff and could easily see myself doing more of this. Plus I was getting pretty decent with my machining as I was looking for opportunities to build and machine custom one-off parts for my clients as well as my own toys.
I talked my wife into letting me build a new sled so around 2001 I bought a clean and very slightly used 2000 Arctic Cat Thundercat 1000 cc triple. I did some engine mods right off but didn’t do much with the chassis the first year as it was late fall when I bought it. I had just become a dealer for PSI Performance out of Wisconsin and purchased some pipes and cylinder head then dud clutching and tuning work. It ran very well that first year and getting me that high mark I was craving. I also had to repaint the hood because I couldn't have mine looking like the others on the mountain.
Unfortunately it ran a little too well as on one day on a spring ride several of us were trying to get to the cornice but no one had been successful, yet. I not only made it to the cornice but I started traversing the face of the mountain hanging tight under this 10’ tall cornice and I even showed off by dragging my hand across the face of the cornice.
I didn’t realize it at the moment but I was now above a large section of trees. As I turned down the mountain I realized I couldn’t slow down and I was being pitched into the path of the trees. I thought about trying to jump hard on the side and try to get the sled pointed back uphill but I was simply going too fast.
My wife, son and about six of our friends were sitting at the bottom of the hill watching and eating lunch as this was our lunch stop and I began to worry. Just as I was about to bail off the sled I saw daylight through the trees and thought if I put the sled on it’s side and hang one ski in the air to minimize the width of the sled I could make it through. Well I nearly made it. The left ski caught one of the last trees in the group and I went over the handlebars and went tumbling out of the trees, clearing them by about 15’.
This is where I was a bit fuzzy. My wife said they were watching and saw me go into the trees and thought nothing of it until they saw one tree shake violently and I came tumbling out sledless. My two buddies dropped their lunch fired up their sleds and helmetless came flying up the hill to me. My wife said it was like a cartoon scene where Wile E. Coyote went into a forest on his Acme rocket and that one tree shook as he hit it.
When my two buddies, Dave and Ron, got to me I was removing my helmet and not ashamed to say this but I was a bit shaken up and my hands were shaking a bit. Also, let me preface by saying both of my friends are in the medical field, not doctors but sales of med-tech equipment but still very knowledgeable about medicine and trauma.
They were trying to assess the situation and I was very concerned about how bad my sled was. I knew I wasn’t injured as I didn’t come in contact with any trees but I was very, very insistent that they relay to me the damage to my sled as I really couldn’t see it very well back in the trees. Finally Dave said to me will you shut up about your f***ing sled and sit down so we can dress your leg and get life flight in here. I guess it didn’t register fully as I had a bewildered look on my face. I told him I’m fine and not injured but he wasn’t convinced and was certain I was in shock. Again I demanded I was fine when Ron grabbed my leg. Evidently as I flew over the handlebars my bibs got caught and tore open, the inner lining of my bibs were bright red and they both thought I was bleeding severely.
After the tension of the situation relaxed a bit we made our way up into the trees to assess the damage to my fairly new to me sled. It didn’t look to bad on its side and the hood wasn’t even broken or scratched. When we brought it right side up and opened the hood I was puzzled why the engine appeared to be canted in the engine bay. I said “that’s not good” then commented about “my wife’s gonna kill me.” Ron commented about how I almost made it out and if that one ski hadn’t caught the tree I would have been home free.
As we towed the sled to the bottom of the hill my wife was shaken a bit, as was my son, and mentioned she was worried about how we were going to get home if I was injured because we had the motorhome and enclosed trailer as we had planned on staying the whole weekend and she said she sure as hell wasn’t driving that thing down the mountain and canyon. I gave her a hard time about being more concerned about her getting home than me being hurt but she didn’t think it was as funny as I did.
Anyways, now for the carnage.
At first I thought it may just be suspension and I was going to build new lightweight suspension components anyways but as we dug deeper the damage became more apparent.
Again, my awesome helper assisting me.
This is ultimately what we found. The bulkhead was trashed.
Time to regroup and come up with a plan. My wonderful wife being who she is and my biggest fan said seeing as how it’s spring and the season is nearly over you should ride the Polaris the rest of the season then sell it and build the Thundercat the way you want over the summer. What a woman.....that’s the plan.
I purchased a new Arctic Cat bulkhead and a CMV tunnel. I then machined a driver for my air hammer to use in solid rivers and after mocking up decided to go full on and build a monster. I rolled the chaincase to fit a 2” tall by 151” track along with 8” wheels under the rear skid and built all new front A-arms as well as new ladders and pivots fir the rear suspension. My focus was keeping weight down and moving the fulcrum of the sled slightly rearward to give the front more lift and get on top if the deep powder.
Bulkhead and tunnel mocked up.
After paint and rivets mocking the motor, driveshaft, jackshaft and steering.
Rear skid with my chromoly components as well as paint and bright work.
Front suspension built, painted, polished and installed.
Getting closer.
Done. For now.
While I had it down on this build I also went into the engine and trued & welded the crank, installed a lightweight counterbalance shaft, bored to 1107 cylinders with Modblaster pipes and I bored my very first carbs on my lathe.
The sled was a monster on the mountain.
Keep 'em coming!
