77 Pr440 To 72 Ew643 Lineup

[RON HYDRAULIC YAM]

Hello all ....I had not posted for a while and last Sunday decided to
line up my good sleds for a picture . Ejcamaro will recognize his old 76 PR,
Managed to "obtain" a nice red Yamaha banner to match them for shows.
L to R ...77 PR440 , 76 PR440 ,75 TL433 , 74 TL433 , 74 TW433 ,
73 EW643 and 72 EW643
RON

 

[TimeBomb]

impressive lineup

 

[RON HYDRAULIC YAM]

I was just thinking (sometimes happens) ....I have driven further picking up
4 of the sleds than the combined mileage on them....over 6,000 miles , on
three diff road trips ...73 EW from MB , 76 PR from WI , 74 TL from PA and
the 74 TW from VT ...
Collecting old sleds must be a sickness needing a name ???
Maybe Vintagitis ,,,sounds bad ...maybe Yamahydraulitis ...sounds better
for my problem ..
RON

 

[94max]

Ron,you inspired me to get a hydralic Yamaha. I got a nice 74 TL433 off ebay about two months ago. Had Joe Rainville bring it back to NY for me. 1500 original miles.Nice shape and runs excellent. Got to ride it around the yard once. Hope we get some real snow so I can give it a good trail test. Anything I need to keep an eye on?

Mark

 

[RON HYDRAULIC YAM]

Hi Mark ....The 74 TL should have Single cog , centre drive and dual slide
rails ....The clips can wear out on the track from time and lack of snow .
Most had some extra wheels added at dealer as new ....The 74 I got from
PA in fall had round punch holes in every other window pocket added to
let snow in ....when the clips wear out or fall off track , the nylon to rubber
is just like glue under 10mph ..I cut new windows and added clips but eventually the bars broke in the middle on my original 74 sled ....Had to
convert to a double drive and diff suspension at 4,000 mile in approx 1987.
.......It's not a fast sled , but you can get along good as you don't waste
power and time spinning ....Make sure there is oil in chain case ....drains from
a botton screw accesable from hole in chassis .Holds 17 oz of 10w30 oil .
Don't change dextron unless you need to ...Hard to burp the air ...need book.
Do you need me to fax any owner manual stuff ????
OH YEA !!! If the shifter isn't already broken ,,,,Start cold engine in neutral ...
warm engine until running smooth (30 sec) ....shut off engine ...just as its
about to stop turning over ...pull it into drive .....restart in drive ....neutral
is just for cold start .....It has a small dia. brake disc ...I never have worn
mine out . but I don't abuse it as it takes a good grip to slow it in a hurry ..
Slow down early ,,,you'll both last longer ...Chain tensioning is ackward
w/o manual as well as belt tension ...I have never aligned mine in 30 years,
or tighten it, or replaced it ...
It's suspension will need periodic rewelding . and greasing of cross shafts .
If it works now ,,,have a look at it but don't yank it out till spring ..Enjoy
the sled first .....
Was this "harleynhorses" sled ....restored and looked to be in good
shape anyway ???? ...His posted on ebay just after the one I bought
and I would have tried for it had I missed the PA unit ..
....I hope you enjoy the sled (if it snows) and have a Merry Christmas..
You can PM or email me from the TY forum or catch me on acscc.com
If you punch on my name , you can see my other posts and some of
the other owners of hyd Yams (some I bought) ...Montynormand still has
a small fleet of newer ones (Prestige's) and some vintage racers .
RON HYDRAULIC YAM

 

[94max]

Great Info Ron,Thank You!
Yes it's the sled your thinking off. 1500 original miles.Had a half *ss resto job,but that's good because I want to ride it. Still has original track and drives. I'll only ride in in good snow.Thanks for the tip on starting and engaging the drive. I'll change the chaincase oil and ride it.
Hopefully I won't have any problems and I won't need to get ahold of you. But it's nice to know your there.
Thanks again.

Mark

 

[irondog rtx]

hyd 433

I had a wide track tw I think in pt barrow alaska it was my first new yam sled I grew up in a yamaha shop with my dad as master mech I did not keep the sled long but the older native men were amazed in how many cariboi I could haul at a time on a sledge 12 sold it for 1000 dollars and a smith & wesson model 39 9mm hand gun those were the days I was 18 years old and had my 18th birthday that sept 1974 those where the days though you would like the story of the old warhorse widetrack kim

 

[RON HYDRAULIC YAM]

I hope you enjoy the sled Mark , and part of the enjoyment is the
"jaw drop" you can get when you open the hood to others ...
and it sounds like you got some entertainment and work from yours ,Kim.
I've been 3 diff years with 4 diff sleds to the Big show in Toronto ,Ont.
and still get sledders checking them out that never had seen or heard
of such a drive . I'm trying to find out how many were built of each year ,
but it seems such old records were never computerized .
It may be possible a narrow track ., bogied version of the TL433F may
have existed , but I have not found any ...
Merry Christmas
RON