Back in action after 32 years!

Congatulations ! Good job!  I would say yes, a new track might be a little stiff but I wouldn't worry about it all. As long as track alignment at the back and track tension at the middle set of boggies is correct I think you're good to go. 

Hi, thanks joe & olyman! Yes, through some small miracle, I had re-tried my many searches for 18” tracks after giving up, and lo and behold I found an ad on kijiji in Ontario. It was a NOS aftermarket Dayton track. The original one was looking pretty rough due to age and time, and was a shame, as it wasn’t even worn, Can clearly read the Bombardier part and serial numbers, and the yellow paint dot was still visible on it. The rubber was just cracking too deep for my comfort. So, yes it is great to have a new track.

I do have another track-related question for you all though. When I rebuilt the drive train, I put the hard Kimpex sprockets on front and rear. Sometimes when the machine de-accelerates from a higher speed, I hear a random clunk-clunk sound a couple of times. Do you suppose it’s just backlash of the track, and the plastic cogs smacking the metal clamps on the track? I took it for a short ride today, and re-checked tension and alignment—tension seemed OK, made one small adjustment to alignment.

All I am missing at this point is the right-side hood vent. Still searching for that. Made two reflectors for the left side tonight (the 1 1/4” orange and red square ones) and glued them in as they had fallen out at some point. Summer plan will be to re-do the satin black paint and yellow on the skis.

Since my goal was to just have fun on it, my eventual project may be with the electrical. Looking at the drawings, it appears to be the same lighting coil that the electric start model used, but one part of the center-tapped to ground coil is not used. The line is coming out and up to the light switch though, and has power on it. Was thinking about using both lighting coil wires, and adding a floating DC ground regulator and small ballast battery. (Would have to isolate existing lamp wires off of frame ground) This way the lamps would run on regulated 13~14 volts DC, and I could possibly add an additional LED headlight, and I also wanted to put a dual-reading cylinder head temp gauge on it. That’s the plan, anyway. Will post on here, if I ever get to it, with the results.

Oh, and the reason I really wanted to do this, was that I do a fair bit of motorcycle riding from spring until its too cold, so I decided I needed a winter version of something that gives me as much fun! Ride on! 😀

Thank you Doo640ER! You know, I didn't even think about track slapping. I'll have to think about that on my next ride and see if I can pinpoint it. Could use a little more snow around here yet. The last stuff we got was really wet and heavy, and then cooled down the next day, so its crusty, and pretty dense to plow through. Sure is fun to ride though.

Sounds sweet you'll have fun with it.

Hi ericr, yes we are very fortunate to live on 3.3 acres just outside of our small town. Can ride the fence line up to town, and cut across two blocks to the store as needed now, if the big winds/snows come. State trail goes by our place less than a 1/2 mile away, although I don't know if I'll buy that tab..its over $100 for three years. It'll cost me $8.50 to get a regular lifetime registration for the old antique!

banoe I think there is a vintage registration 1980 or older. I remember reading an article about some senator either wanted or put it through I'll have to find it.