Did You Know You Need A Snowmobile ‘Snow Flap’ To Keep Your Sled Cool?

Well I learned something new this weekend.  Modern liquid cooled snowmobiles can't operate without a mudflap or "snow-flap" behind the track.  I found this out after I lost my flap and tried to ride without it.   Here's what happened.

I was playing in some deep snow a couple of weekends ago up North.  I got stuck, so I tried to get out of the snow and somehow during this process my snow flap broke off.  I didn't realize this and continued riding for quite some time when my sled overheated.

It turns out that the snow flap is pretty crucial to keeping the sled cool, because it helps keep snow under the sled and hitting the heat exchange that's under your seat.  Most of the ride was pretty hard packed snow, so it was really important to get the snow in the right spot.

I monitored my temperature gauge once I ran in next time and I noticed the temp would keep climbing up and never come back down, even if I rode through fresh snow.   We decided to make a quick fix and made our own make shift mud flap.

It worked!  The sled was able to cool down, and I ran at normal temps the whole time.  So, don't ever take off your snow flaps, and don't ride without one if you lose yours.

Here's the redneck snow flap.  We used generic mudflaps from Fleet Farm and rivited them together and rivited them to the sled.