Weighing Snowmobiles – Sled Weights

For almost ten years we have been weighing our sleds with all of the gas and injection oil removed. While more difficult than simply filling them up and weighing them, we have done it this way to avoid providing an incentive to manufacturers to install smaller gas tanks in an effort to make their sled “look” lighter than the competition.

Now with the introduction of 4-stroke models, we have been troubled by the removal of injection oil from the 2-strokes but leaving the oil in the 4-strokes. This really isn’t a fair way of comparison. Yet, we don’t want to provide a method of manipulating the numbers with smaller fuel tanks.

In our last issue, we presented two sets of data – one set using our “old” traditional method of weighing sleds, and a second set with all of the mountain sleds fully loaded. After much discussion, we now believe it would be of service to all involved to, from this point forward, present sled weights as fully loaded with gas and oil, but only if the fuel tank capacity is stated. AND, this will be a measured fuel capacity, from completely empty to the bottom of the filler neck; not the “rated” capacity as provided by the OEMs.

We believe that by providing the data in this manner you will get a better understanding of the actual real-world weight of each machine and performance capability. For those of us who value fuel capacity so highly, we will ONLY run sled weights with fuel capacity. About the only problem with this method is the data will not be a direct comparison to our previously published weights. Not perfect, but it should be the more accurate comparison between 2-strokes and 4-strokes. The one who provides the least weight and the greatest range is the winner in our minds.