ATSki Project

For a fun project this winter I decided to try some ski's out on my quad. I took it out for the first time last weekend. It was awesome. Lot's of fun to just tear around and worked great for getting our ice fishing stuff out on the lake.

That is awesome! How much is it for a set?

Kind of hard to quantify. I have around $200 into it. Most of the stuff I bought on eBay so you may be able to find stuff for more or less depending on what's listed at the time.

I found the instructions here: http://www.diamondjcustoms.com/atskis-kit.htm


If you know someone that can weld or work with steel you could probably fabricate your own brackets for the skis.

The instructions on the web side call for carbides but I opted to go with steel wear bars. They are cheaper and without studding the rear tires I think the carbides might be hard to control. I use the same tires year round so I doubt I will add studs. When using it to haul my fishing gear i may add some chains to get better traction on the ice.

nice I have seen this work before ! Chains will get you around good. I have tried paddles in the snow but they want to dig down as much as they wanted to push so they didnt work that great in snow

I too would like to be able to get a side by side ATV. That would be pretty handy in many ways.

But for how much they cost, I think I would be more satisfied just buying an old used 4x4 Jeep somewhere.

Besides, my old 4x4 Yamaha Big Bear still does pretty good.

I've been looking at the side-by-side's, they are a bit pricy. I do want to get an new one. The 250X is a lot of fun but I get real tired of the kick start and the clutch after a while.


Edit:

John A. said:

Besides, my old 4x4 Yamaha Big Bear still does pretty good.

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John how do you like the Big Bear? I was looking at one of those recently.

Mine is a dinosaur LOL (2000 model) and the owners before me were pretty rough on it. Or at least rougher than I would've been. They had welded a lot of useless junk on the foot rests and broken the area on the carb where the choke cable attaches, which makes me rely on a quick squirt of starting fluid in the winter to get 'er going. But overall, it's still got a lot of life left in it.

I've definately gotten my money's worth out of it.

Before that, I owned a Honda Recon 250 and the only thing I didn't like about it, was 2 wheel drive only, although the way it was geared, I could go almost anywhere a 4x4 would go, with the exception of really deep mud above the tires. Then I'd usually need a push from one of my buddies or start winching.

Of the two, I'm not sure if I could pick a favorite.

But giving the steep, and unforgiving terrain where I live, the 4 wheel drive gets a nod.

IMHO Yamaha makes the most reliable snowmobiles out there. Maybe not the fastest, but the ones I rode never had a problem. I didn't know if that reliability carried over in to the ATV division.

Outside of expected normal wear my Honda had been a beast. I've put it through hell and the owner before me used the hell out of it and it still keeps on ticking.

For a std quad, the Big Bear looks good to me. I don't want anything too big. For what I want it for the extra power and weight would be wasted. A 500 would be the biggest I would go. A 300-400 would be better.

I have the 400 Bear. And I've been mostly satisfied with it. Last year I had to take apart the carb and clean all the little jets in there because of some bad fuel, but that's really been the worst thing I've had to do to it in the 4 or 5 years I've had it.

And I agree, that size engine seems to fit me and my needs perfectly. Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. Just more to have to steer around and over stuff and less travel time between fill ups.

I dont' really have anything bad to say about the Honda ATV either. It was a good little ride too

I got the tire chains I orderred but they don't fit. DOH!!!!

I checked and they are the right size, looks like my tires are just a little oversized or have to deep lugs. I wish I had bough locally now.

I think I'm just going to go with ice screws, unless cust support can help me estimate the correct size.

I mounted some bucket holders to the rear rack. They work awesome but they didn't send hardenned bolts, two of the carriage bolts pulled through. A stop at TSC on the way home tonight should take care of that. I'll post some pics of the racks once I get them reattached.

i've seen the ski conversion before...actually thought about it when i had a 300ex way back when...

i don't think they are still available, but maxxis made a rear tire called the sur trak. it was a killer tire. similar to what you have now. i ran them for a summer on the 300ex. i loved them, until i burned up rear axel bearings with them three times in a matter of months. the spacing between the lugs was too much and it rattled the heck out of ya and the bearings...anyway, you would turn them around for snow so they cupped the snow. i couldn't get stuck with them... found a link to them...
http://www.shopstarcitypowersports.com/ ... Id=9269259

Thanks for the link. I may try them at some point.


I put some ice screws in last winter and it worked great. I bough another quad, utility, and have not installed the skis on either yet this year.

if you do try them, don't run them in the summer...unless you want to buy a lot of bearings...

MikeD said:

For a fun project this winter I decided to try some ski's out on my quad. I took it out for the first time last weekend. It was awesome. Lot's of fun to just tear around and worked great for getting our ice fishing stuff out on the lake.

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Nice!!!
Wouldn't have much use for it here, but I still want one.