restore SL 433 hyd. drive sled or not????

M

Mills

VIP Member
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
637
Age
55
Location
Elk Mound, Wisconsin
Guys,

I have a mid 70’s Yamaha 433 SL Hydraulic drive sled that is in pretty good shape and still runs. I am thinking about restoring it but I am afraid that there won’t be any parts available and/or little information on this sled as it is the only one of its type I have ever seen or heard of. Yep you read the first sentence right, it does not have clutches it has a hydraulic pump that drives the chain case gears and thus the track.

Anyone heard of these sled or have any information on them?

I guess I am trying to do a little gut-check on whether I should start this project or not after reading the post from VMax 540.

Any info would be much appreciated.

Mills
 
GO FOR IT! - as far as I know, only the drives are different form the other yamis of the same vintage
sleds are not that rare. Contact member "RON HYDRAULIC YAM" as he is collector of them. I currently have Ron picking up 2 parts sleds (hydraulics drives) and he is also picking up a nice runner from another member in Wi this July. My fathers '76 Presitge is a smooth and fun hydraulic dive sled that my family will never part with.
 
Correction

montynormand said:
GO FOR IT! - as far as I know, only the drives are different form the other yamis of the same vintage
sleds are not that rare. Contact member "RON HYDRAULIC YAM" as he is collector of them. I currently have Ron picking up 2 parts sleds (hydraulics drives) and he is also picking up a nice runner from another member in Wi this July. My fathers '76 Presitge is a smooth and fun hydraulic dive sled that my family will never part with.
Click to expand...

Hold off on the "runner" part of it Monty, I went to start it a few weeks back and I got nothing. I haven't ran it this last winter, so the gas that is in it is 2 years old. It has spark so I'm gonna clean the carb and see whats up, anything I should look for???? It was driven into the spot where it sits now.
 
Hi Monty , Mills , and Eric
Eric ...it's not a big problem unless its from a lack of compression.
The 77 in my pic had 50psi each when I got it ....Had sat for 4 yr
under a tarp and the snorkel had drawn debris into recoil and stuffed
and burnt the cylinders and from sitting after , would not recover .
....Mills , Iv'e been corrected before , but SL chassis should be bogies,CVT,
and a rear fuel tank ...Some Yamaha ads showed the 74 TL433 as bogie
and rear tank but any I've found were slide and centre fuel tank ...
...The unit can be stuffed into diff bodies as long as the drive shaft will
stuff into the lower case hole spline ..I have my "better" sleds posted in
gallery on www.acscc.com ...Currently have 20 hyd units (4 w/o sleds)
and will be getting Monty's and EJ's and another from MB .If we sort out what
you need and your model design , "we" can help you better .
...Monty ...if we can help Mills with a 76 chassis , we can work it out
or maybe I may smuggle some parts over .....Another 76 for 500 on site
as well ..BUT , first need to determine Mills age and model .
Turned 50 today ....Seems like most other previous days , except with CAKE.
I'll keep watching for updates.
RON
 
Yeh ,,,Someone reminded me it was a half century ,,,I was good till then ,
I'll mount my Oxygen tank in the truck and make the trip ....It's 8:45 pm
almost bedtime for this old fella ...I'm part of the Antique and Classic sled club
in Canada , It's a little strange , as I already had my license when the "classics" were brand new !!!
OLD RON
 
Ron Hydraulic Yam

Ron Hydraulic Yam,



Thanks for all the info. I think I am going to go ahead with the rebuild because I used to have so much fun on this sled as a kid I guess I just can’t bare to sell it to anyone else or see it deteriorate beyond repair.

It is still back in a little town in central North Dakota (I grew up in Bismarck) so I am going to be dragging it back to Wisconsin at the end of June after a family reunion.

This sled has a boggie rear suspension, central gas tank, hydraulic drive, twin fan cooled, oil injected, single carb with a large steel tool box under the hood just behind the front bumper. It is white with red strips/decals and has a black seat with another tool box in the back of it.

I do know that there are a couple of parts I am going to need for sure. One is the pivot plate and linkage that connect the shift rod to the top/side of the hydraulic drive unit. I haven’t looked at the track lately but, I am pretty sure it is going to need to be replaced. The seat cover is in pretty good shape but I want to bring this ol’ girl back to show room floor condition ;)! so the seat is probably going to have to be totally rebuilt or replaced.

Is there anyone else besides yourself that I can contact for parts or parts suppliers that might deal in vintage parts? Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Mills
 
Mills/Ron

If Mills is traveling down I94 in June, perhaps he could stop in and pick up Rons Sleds from Me and save Ron some windshield time!!!!!!
JUST A THOUGHT GUYS
Monty Normand - Alexandria, MN 56308
 
76 prestige

All of you guys road tripping this summer for hydrualic sleds. I have one sitting behind the garage that I'll part with. It's rough but ran when I parked it (I'm sure with an hour of cleaning it would fire right up.) It's basically complete but has had a lot of kids use it through the years and it shows.

I had talked to Ron about getting rid of it, but I never did get any pictures of it for him. Then I lost his email and kind of forgot about it till now. If anyone's interested, pm your email and I'll snap some pictures of it and send them to you.

I'm in the Brainerd,MN area so it's not too far out of the way of the planned trips.
 
Last edited:
Looks like Ryan's got another sled for you Ron!!! I really want to see mine run for ya. I'll look at it this weekend and check the compression, I really think its the old gas though. Good luck with your sled Mills, they are something different.
 
Transportin' for Ron

Monty, Ron

My folks have a lake place about 35 miles north and east of Alex on Clitheral lake. We are by there quite a bit in the summer. If the drop off point isn't too far from the Eau Claire / Elk Mound Wisconsin area I can pick it up and deliver it. Or at least save Ron some "windshield time." Ron where does it have to be dropped off? Or could you pick it up from my house in Elk Mound?
Mills
 
Ron,

Ok, scratch picking up your sled at my house. I just looked at your profile and see that you are in Ont. Canada.
Good news though, I am driving to Toronto the first week in September to fly out for a Carabue (sp?) hunt in the Rainy River territory of Ontario. If I can talk the other guys I am driving with into drag the sled along maybe I can get it that far for you.
Let me talk to them and see if I can convince them to do it.;)!
Mills
 
WOW ,,,,,so much to absorb for an 'old man" ....
Hi Ryan B , Mills and Monty and Eric ..
Yes , I found where we lost contact in Nov. and the part that changed
was I am going to Altona Manitoba to pick up a 73 EW643 and Decided to
advertise for a 76 PR and found Monty and Eric . I thought Kurt in Oconto
Falls had got yours since I never got the email .
,,I will be coming down from MB to Monty and then to Eric ....Ryan , if you
look back in my posts , you will find the pic of Erics sled and know why I
am after it ...and Monty has a 74 TL433F with slide susp. and some 76 PR's
in "parts" form ...
...I am looking forward to meeting Monty and Eric because of past conversations on Forum ...BUT with Mills coming to Toronto in Sept.
it creates more possibilties ,,,,Mills , I think your SL is maybe a TL433F
as show on Yam's parts internet catalog ...Single sprocket drive bogie sled??
But even there , it shows a rear tank ???...I didn't check your profile , but
have found many of you were not born or were very young when these sleds
were produced .....Any chance the drive was moved into SL 30 years ago ??
I don't have any SN info sheets , so would be interested in some pics ...
oh yea ...that pivot on shifter is broken on many of my sleds ....from yanking
them into drive while at high idle ...some have the top of casing broken out .
I always start ...idle....shut off ..and just as it's about to stop turning over ..
pull the shift into gear ....then restart the sled in gear ...
You can tell alot of info about year by decals and carb type and recoil style
and tunnel colours etc ...
Good night to all ...
RON
 
Mills ....Where are you going ????Rainy River is just North of you , near ThunderBay ??...Caribou ??Didn't know they had any .....but I don't hunt.
It must be a Rainy River somewhere up by James Bay and I still don't know why you would go out of Toronto ....Glad to have you in area anyway..
I doubt you have extra time here (I'm N of Toronto , East of a town called
Newmarket ..about 1 hr from airport on good day ,3 on bad ).If the timing
works for you and your friends , I'm sure a visit could be arranged pre or
post hunt trip ..The more I read your desciption of the sled , the more
curious I am about it ...DID you find my pics on acscc ??
....Since you are picking the sled up in Jun ...You should be able to post
any info about it . or pics before I "go West"
Ryan B....I see where you are , and Yes , you are in the area ...I was expecting to be coming by way of Fargo ND , from MB ...and to Montys
for a weekend P/U .
RON
 
Hi Monty and all ...
My GPX connection up here has failed , they slimmed the herd by 10 sleds
last year , and have 20 they need for parts and restortion . 3 338's being
melted into 1 in the future ....only one 75 GPX338 they might sell , but had
just installed a new (never seen snow) track and would need 900.00 at
least if sold ...He had just picked up a engine from rebuilder ,about 1,200.00
bill for that ...A couple of very serious brothers about Twisters and GPX .
RON....
ps If I wasn't del . SnowHawk to MI upper first , might have considered it.
 
Ron

Holy Crap, thats some healthy money for 338's. I have been surprised at what a GPX in average to poor condition is bringing these days. Its a funny market when a stock gpx433 motor goes for the $300-400 range, rolling chassis in GREAT shape are over $400. I put a GPX433 top end on a exciter motor and "POOF" a cheap cloned GPX433 motor! This 338 in Iowa sat on ebay and only brought $207. Nice, but a not a show sled, but complete and a runner. Offered the guy $400 and he took it.

Whats your target date for being in Alexandria to pickup the sleds....my July is getting full and need to plan ahead
 
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