If there is any way to say ‘by to the ski season, it’s when we remove a section of fence, drive our Yamaha Nytro through the yard, and park it for the summer. Since we now own a high end sled instead of a beater, we took the time to make a weed resistant flagstone “sled patio” next to our backyard storage shed, where it’s shaded most of the afternoon and away from prying eyes. We covered the sled with our factory cover, then with a poly tarp.
 |
| The mothballing process is important when you’re storing expensive machinery. First, we mixed some Stabil gasoline preservative into the tank, and ran it through the engine for a few minutes. After that, we tied screen wire over the exhaust so critters wouldn’t take up residence. I thought we’d need to do the same for the intake, but after getting frustrated by air intakes we couldn’t reach in the cramped engine compartment, we realized that the air filter has a wire mesh layer that’ll prevent any mice from gnawing their way into the intake manifold. Lastly for the mechanicals, we disconnected the battery.
Perhaps our worst problem is neighborhood cats spraying what looks important to them (tarps over stuff seem to fit that criteria). I’ve had good luck using mothballs to keep cats at bay, so we spread a whole box of the toxic little buggers on and around the sled. More, I got a bottle of “animal repellent” from the hardware store, and gave the snowmobile seat and cover a good hit with that as well. (Note to self, try the hardware store stuff for Marmots that gnaw on our Jeep). |
Yamaha Nytro: Thoughts after One Season
How about a short gear review of the Nytro, after we abused it for a few months?
Overall we’re happy with the sled. It’s got the power necessary for towing skiers or a cargo sled, and it’s most certainly fun to drive when you leave the skis behind and go joy riding.
Using the Nytro as a work snowmobile has its problems, however. Worst is that the performance stance and suspension of the Nytro make it super tippy. Even with the skis set to widest, the machine ends up on its side with little more than a weight shift and tweak of the steering. That kind of sensitivity is what sport riders want, but when you’re tired and just trying to get across a sidehill to your ski destination, squirrel action is not appreciated. Solution is suspension tweaking. We tightened the coilover springs on the ski shocks and got good results, but I’m thinking the complete suspension needs to be adjusted so the whole sled sits a few inches lower. We’ll be trying that next fall.
Perhaps more importantly than handling issues, the Nytro engine overheats much too easily. Cause is an undersized heat exchanger that’s mounted up front in the tunnel, where it gets less snow thrown on it than those mounted to the rear of the tunnel. Performance sled mechanic told me the solution is to plumb in a sister heat exchanger. Major PITA, but probably necessary. Along with that, mechanic told me we should move our muffler and tail exhaust down into the tunnel where it belongs, so we can use our cargo area without melting our gear (we insulated our exhaust extension, but it still gets fairly hot). Sounds good to me, so we’ll see what autumn brings for snowmobile mods. After all, nothing at WildSnow shall remain unmodified!
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
