Bought a snomobile

[IcutMetl]

Addded another horse to the stable; a 1996 SkiDoo Mach Z 780. My friend has had it for at least the last 3-4 years and rode it relatively little; one or two trips to Michigan (along with a Thundercat 900 he sold years ago), some ice fishing, trip around the yard, and that's about it- he was the second owner. The guy he bought it from had the engine rebuilt approx. 2500miles ago and all the recall upgrades were done. Track is in decent shape and is studded. Supposedly has titanium rods and a clutch kit. Hand, thumb, and helmet warmers all work, no damaged plastic or tears in the seat, and has a powermadd tool box under the hood stuffed with extra plugs and a new belt. Him and I bought a few metalworking machines together; went halves on the deal, but he owed me a bit of money for his part which I wasn't too worried about since they are in his barn and I have full access. I'm not much of one to hold someone's butt against the fire, especially a good friend. Tells me in a phone conversation today that he put the sled in the local paper for $1750- we get to talking; and long story short, I ride it home for $350.00 cash. Now I'm not big into snowmobiles and haven't ridden in a while; kind of wanted one, but couldn't justify it (at least versus an atv) for the amount of snow we get around here. However, I'll buy damn near anything for the right price. For $350 bones, I figured I really couldn't go wrong. I think he was a bit sad to see it go, but hardly ever rode it. If he honestly ever wanted, I'd sell it right back and also told him no worries ride it whenever you want. Boy oh boy does it run good!

[Tommy Warren]

good find! they are a wicked sled and hard to find in good shape. Keep up the maintenance and you'll be riding for years.

[IcutMetl]

Hey thanks! Yeah, I remember another friend having the same sled about 5+ years ago and it ripping the skis off the ground at 70 with both of us on it. The only other sled I've personally ridden worth a darn has been a Polaris 600 Edge XC which I liked; seemed light and handled well. I always liked the SkiDoo MXZ 600/670/700's, but what the heck...it's a ton better than a snow-tube and a big hill...haha! For busting fields and backroads here a little out of the year and maybe a road trip, I'm sure it'll do great. Probably do a little upkeep and maintenance after winter, but other than that I didn't buy it to sink a lot of money into.

I know what kind of discussion an oil question can bring up, but is the Bombardier oil decent stuff? That's what's always been ran in it, and I have no reason to change unless there's something else out there at a fair price point. I run Klotz Supertechniplate in my 250R, but it's pretty thick and I'm sure not tailored for snowmobile use.

[Tommy Warren]

the bombi oil will work just fine unless you want to splurge on AMS oil. I used to drag sleds on ice and for fun we would loosten the straps off at the front of the sliders and that would allow the front end to lift at almost any speed. Its pretty fun but don't loosten them too much;)

[Quad18star]

As said , keep up on the maintenance and you should be fine. With triples you really need to warm them up before going out, so make sure you do that or else you'll be replacing pistons.

Bombardier oil is the same stuff that you buy from like Castrol or whatever ... it all comes oput of the same plant and goes into different companies jugs. I worked at a BRP dealership , we used to get the oil in big drums and it was all comming from the same place .

The Mach Z of that year hauled pretty good . The Mach 1 and Z of 97-98-99 had very bad issues with the oil injection system since the last cylinder was never getting enough oil and you'd squeak a piston in no time. Just check to make sure on your 96 that everything is in good working order.

[Tommy Warren]

oh quadstar just reminded me..with the triples you should just turn them over every once in a while when your not riding it because its possible to warp the crank depending on the piston position.