One of the worst things you can do for any motorized vehicle is to simply let it sit. Long periods of storage cause fuel to break down which varnishes carburetors. Engine parts are left unprotected, and rust and corrosion have their way with suspensions and drivetrains. That’s why it is important to prepare your machine for that storage. When your machines are stored properly, you’re less likely to run into major problems when it’s time to use them again.
Snowmobiles are no exception to this process, but are often neglected when it comes to storage. When the snow is gone, we’re usually ready to forget about winter and move onto spring. You’ll do it next week, then next month. Before you know it, it’s June. At that point, you figure you may as well leave it until fall. The summerize process is relatively simple. Many people will DIY the process, but we’re here to help if you’d rather not deal with it.
We often see people bring in their sleds at the end of the season for storage, and will summarize them before parking for the season. (We do still have summer storage available, too!)
Here's What We Do To Summerize A Sled:
1. Fuel Stabilizer
It’s a good idea to run as much of the fuel out of the tank as possible before you store it. Fuel breaks down in a matter of months, so the less that is in the system the better. We add a fuel stabilizer to extend the lifespan of the remaining fuel. The idea that fuel tanks should be stored full is a carryover from a time when most fuel tanks were steel and most of them weren’t treated with any rust preventative. Exposed metal on an area constantly washed with gas would increase the chance of rust in the tank. Since nearly all snowmobiles still in use today have plastic tanks, this is obviously not an issue.
2. Fog the Engine
Fogging an engine is a process where a special lubricant is sprayed directly into the carburetors while the engine is running. This coats the inside parts with oil to keep them from drying and cracking during storage. If you’re doing this yourself, it’s important to remove the airbox. If you try to fog through a snowmobile airbox, you’ll do a great job at producing a sticky, oily mess in and under the airbox and a terrible job of actually getting any oil in the motor.
3. Drain the Carburetors
Carburetor bowls are vented to the atmosphere and in most cases only hold a couple ounces of fuel. The small volume of fuel directly exposed to oxygen can lead to chemical breakdown and harmful damage to carburetors even with stabilizer in the fuel. While many stabilizers prolong the lifespan of fuel, they don’t eliminate the risk of breakdown and varnish.
Shutting the fuel off and running the motor until it dies is not recommended – when the engine can no longer pull enough fuel to run, there will still be 1/2oz to 1oz of fuel in most float bowls. You are left with a smaller amount of fuel which will break down even faster, and more exposed surface areas on which varnish can build.
4. Grease the Chassis and Suspension
In many cases, damage to pivots begins when water infiltrates the grease at joints. Greasing these pivots pushes fresh grease in which pushes contaminated grease out and helps stave off rust.
5. Check Hyfax and Carbides
Most of us should check our hyfax and carbides more often than we do. It’s just such a pain to do during the season when everything is coated in snow and ice. When you summerize, everything is melted and cleaned off and it’s a convenient time to check your wear items. If they need replacing you’ll know well in advance of next riding season which means less down time once there’s snow. Plus, you can get them at a discount in the spring when we’re liquidating our winter inventory!
6. Cover and Store
Protect your bodywork and seat from the harmful UV rays of summer with a good cover or, even better, inside storage. We offer convenient and economical indoor storage. Just drop your machine(s) off any time for summerizing or after you’ve already summerized, and pick up next fall – you don’t have to worry about dropping off or picking up on certain days.
If you're planning to do your summerize yourself you'll need:
1. Fuel Stabilizer
We recommend using PJ1 Octane Plus. There are a lot of fuel stabilizers on the market. We’ve tried many of them and found PJ1 Octane Plus to be reliably good. We’ve been using it for more than 15 years in customer vehicles and in our own machines. That’s the extent of our sales pitch. It doesn’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, and it won’t get your kitten out of a tall tree. Be skeptical of anyone trying to tell you their stabilizer cleans your fuel system and makes your engine run better.
2. Fogging Oil
Sta-bil fogging oil – as long as it’s an actual fogging oil, it’s going to do the job. We recommend Sta-bil or CRC brand fogging oil not because they’re better oil, but because they seem to aerosol (the ability of the oil to suspend in the propellant) better than other products we’ve used. If you’re DIY, whatever fogging oil you have will probably be just fine.
3. Grease & Grease Gun
Grease: Lucas Xtra Heavy Duty Grease – for the amount of grease most of us use, it really doesn’t pay to go cheap on this product. Any of a dozen or more good quality greases will work as long as it’s a ‘low temp’ grease. If you use ‘high temp’ grease, you’ll wish you hadn’t when it’s 5 below and your suspension is rock hard.
4. Hyfax and Carbides (if needed)
5. Dryer Sheets (recommended)
6. Phillips Screwdriver
(With the exception of the grease gun, dryer sheets and screwdriver we have these items in stock!)
If you prefer to have us to get your sled ready for summer storage, we would be happy to help you out. You can drop off your sled any time and we will get it on the schedule – no need to call ahead. If you would like us to store it for the season, we’re happy to help with that too. Just mention at drop-off that you’d like storage.
Pricing for snowmobile summerize:
- 2-stroke $49.95
- 4-stroke EFI $49.95
- 4-stroke carbureted $59.95
Pricing for summer snowmobile storage:
- Single snowmobile trailer (up to 6’ wide) $100.00
- Two or three place or snowmobile trailer $150.00
- Four place snowmobile trailer $180.00
- Single snowmobile (no trailer) $100/ea