Long term storage?

Backwoods M Max

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Joined
Mar 31, 2011
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New England
It doesn't look like I'll be getting the mtn max out this year. We are watching a storm for next week that might get the trails open but it doesn't seem like anything of a mountain riding season this year. New England got screwed hard this year. If things change mid March that may change but right now I have 2 running sleds, 1 is a crossover so I might as well leave one less thing to put away in the spring.

last spring I cleaned the carbs and put them up dry, the fuel tank is dry. The engine was fogges before carb cleaning. Everything with a grease fitting got greased. The carbides were painted so they don't bleed rust on the floor. The track is slack. I didn't change the chain case oil but it only got 20 miles on it after a mid season service. The air box has a rag across the opening and there is a rag in the can.

I have a setup where I can run it of a small portable tank without filling the main tank. I don't see the need to pull the thing out to run the fogging oil out of it just to fog it and have to pull the carbs to dry them out again. Is there anything you guys can think of? Should the crank seals drying out be of concern or would they have gotten nice and oily fogging it?
 

You should be fine. Where you store it is probably the biggest thing. If you can keep it where it will be relatively dry and avoid the extreme temp changes it is best. Damp places and repeatedly warming up and then freezing is bad.
 
It's in a garage that is pretty open and dry. The slab sweats a little when we have these crazy warm few days then back to extreme cold but that's it. I haven't noticed anything else that was in there rusting or anything. The track clips are now just starting to flash rust. On warm days now I have a box fan in the window trying to just move air around.
 
I always spray the entire suspension down with a silicone type spray ,paying particular attention to the shafts on the shocks.. you don't want them to pit!
 
WD-40 the front and rear suspension(Even the pipes under the hood).Great stuff(Takes a few rides to burn off the pipes in the new season).
 
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I always spray the entire suspension down with a silicone type spray ,paying particular attention to the shafts on the shocks.. you don't want them to pit!

I forgot all about that. It's an ez-ryde skid so there's no exposed steel parts to rust but the shocks have the snow boots on them. I will have to pull them off and give them and the front shocks a nice shot of silicone spray.
 
At the end of the season and before they get tucked away for the summer I give everything under the hood a coating of the OEM stuff, what used to be called T-9, I just picked up a can its replacement "Yamashield" that I was going to use this year but as an inexpensive alternative may grab the little lady's furniture polish. On a side note I also take the belts off and wipe the clutch surfaces with some of this but make sure to clean them with brake or carb cleaner before the belts go back on. :wink:


Yamashield.jpg
 


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