Aaron Case » Uncategorized

A Surprise Snow Adventure

aaron — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 07:55:41 +0000

A week ago the snow really started flyin here in Utah. Before that Salt Lake suffered from a severe high pressure inversion that really stacked up here in the valley. As the inversion shaped up and solidified, all the pacific storms would come in from oregon and washington only to bounce off of us here in utah. A weak storm led the charge and started pushing out the inversion, it didn’t do a very good job and struggled to put snow on the ground…the storm just couldn’t get it cold enough to turn the large amounts of rain into snow.
It continued to rain with an occassional effort to snow on Friday and Saturday. As luck would have it the second, stronger storm decided to do a real job of blowin out the inversion. The inversion started to leave and by late saturday it started to put some real snow down. In the higher elevations it really started accumilating some snow starting on friday. By the time Sunday got here it was really dumping.
Sunday night I got an email, text and voicemail from Dan Gardiner sunday night putting out the notice we were going riding.
YOU BET I WAS IN.
The only thing to deal with next was rounding all my gear up and then containing my excitment as I tossed and turned in bed. The morning took forever to get here but finally came. Got up, ran into work, wrapped up a few ends and ran out to the already loaded truck. Picked up Dan and ran to the Bountiful parking lot. We had to four wheel into the parking lot, got dressed, unloaded and it was time to play.
Fresh amazing powder all to ourselves. As we got up over the ridges and into the main riding areas we really started living it up. 24 to 30 inches of powder untracked and ready for us to tear up…and tear it up we did. Once we got in and found some good areas, I was able to watch Dan lay down some mezmorizing turns in epic powder. Luckily we had the camera out and filming, Dan will be showing us what it’s all about in Boondockers 6.
Obviously, things were great and we were living high on the hog in the amazing powder. You know it had to end sometime, I just didn’t anticipate it ending the way it did. As the day progressed, my M7 started acting up, all of a sudden it was 5:00 and time to go home. On the way out it really started throwing fits.
The second to last hill really posed a challenge and required several attempts and Dan breaking trail. The last ridge to climb was a bit more challening and didn’t offer the approach that the other hills did. The first attempt put me halfway and the numerous attempts following didn’t even get close to that. My cat just didn’t have it in her to make it up the hill. With the daylight gone it was time to leave her behind.
Gardiner and I saddled up on the XP and only made it about a third up the ridge. To my fat tushies surprise, it was time to climb my rear end to the top of the ridge. An hour later I finally made it, I hope it was less than that but wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t. Climbing in the dark, in the powder, a pack full of drinks and gear really posed a workout. After getting to the top, Dan and I doubled up again to start our way back to the truck.
Slowly, surely and coldly we made our way back to the truck, through the drainages, over the ridges and down the trail in fog and heavy snow. Two popsicles arrived at the truck 2 hours after leaving the M7 behind. As I reflected on leaving behind the M7 and the reality of leaving it behind set in, it was a really weird feeling. As I pondered, the plans started flowing and Friday I’d go and get her.

Progress on my R1

aaron — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:46:05 +0000

Previously known as Project Number 2, my sportbike still isn’t put together. Since the last update, we made some pretty good progress. When we started working on stuff the head still needed prepping. We have basically got that done. There’s a few pics below showing the progress, not great pics though.

Got all the valves pulled out of the head, got all the carbon build up cleaned off the combustion chambers and valves seats. Got the intake and exhaust ports cleaned as best as possible and then cleaned the valve’s face, seat and shaft really well.

After prepping the head and valves we started assembly, as we assembled we saw that I needed some valve guide seals. After finishing the intake valves we started on the exhaust valves just to realize that the interior valve spring washer was missing. So we had to hold up and order the washers and valve seals.

Apparently everything has come in and is ready to pull apart and re-assemble for good. Unfortunately we’re fighting the same thing as before, we both need to buck up and get back to it. Wish us luck, let’s see if we can get something going on her again.

Aaron’s sled history

aaron — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:24:34 +0000

Its not anything late-breaking or earth-shattering, but I put together a history of the sleds I have sported over the years.

Visit the new page and check it out, Aaron’s Sleds.

Looking forward to hearing about and seeing some of the more recent or more vintage sleds from everyone’s sled histories. Post a comment asking a question or show us some of your sled history.

Here’s a taste of mine…

Busy, busy little bees.

aaron — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:55:54 +0000

Project number one and number two are progressing…definetly not progressing like they should or as I originally had planned but progressing never-the-less. It’s crazy seeing how fast time goes.
Got the sled all torn apart and got a realy good idea of what she’ll need to be up and running again.
Have been working with Caleb on the R1, got some parts ordered and the reassembly started.

Now for Project Number 2

aaron — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:29:55 +0000

Project number is a little more quirky for me. The quirk lies in having the tools and experience in taking a part a complicated four stroke motor like my street bike’s. I got a 1998 Yamaha YZF R1000. A few goodies have been worked in like a milled head (14:1 compression), Full Akropovic Exhaust, chain/sprocket modifications and a few other high performance goodies. If you can all think back to summer 2006, that is when my dilema or ‘quirk’ began. I had been experiencing abnormal behavior from my motor. Performance wasn’t what it used to be, backfire during decelleration and irregular idle and jerky/rough acceleration. Really concerning…especially because I knew how it was supposed to run and more importantly, I knew how it USED to run.

That chaps any person’s rear end, I don’t care who you are. You have been riding your bike for two summers and it has been performing like it was a pro race bike. It seemed like all of a sudden I was experiencing all of these problems. Naturally I began the do-it-yourself procedures, moved to do-it-yourself and pay someone to do-it-for-me, which progressed into seraching for someone who could do it all together and more importantly…FIX THE PROBLEM.

Being fixed never happened.

After a few shop visits and a couple grand later I went back to do-it-yourself. In one of my efforts I decided to start trying race fuel. (Note: The guy I bought the bike from milled the heads and installed the exhaust, he had always race premium pump gas and recommended that I do the same.) Tried race fuel and it really started aleviating most of the problems, I know the problem wasn’t fixed because all the symptoms remained, just not nearly as bad. After moving to a 50/50 mix of 104 octane race and 91 octane pump fuel for a while, it was time to check the plugs like I had done a hundred times before. This time ended up being quite memorable.

The long story short, I ended up making a rookie mistake (that’s being nice) and managed to stick a shorty 9/16″ socket down on my plug 6″ below the top of my motor head. Because it was the cylinder agains the bike’s frame I could not get an angle on it and was forced to pull my motor. After pulling, a chain reaction ensued which led one thing to another. Before I knew it…80 hours later…I had a stripped down motor and still had a stuck socket.

I had finally gave up and solicted the help of an expert mechanic friend. I boxed up the head and shipped it down to Arizona where Caleb Norviel was currently attending Motorcycle Mechanics Institute. Despite Caleb not using any of the state-of-the-art tools at his disposal, he ended up using a hammer and a nail set. He managed to chip the ceramic off the spark plug and the socket fell right out.

HOLY FU_____ S___ was I pissed off. You know how many hourse I spent chipping at, beating and otherwise pummeling that spark plug ceramic and Caleb broke it in 10 minutes. It was another month until I could speak to him again. You can pick up on my excitment when you remember that, this fiasco took place in July 2006.

Caleb and Aaron team up again. Friday, July 4th, 2008 we will be lapping the valves and hopefully beginning the process of the motor head reassembly. May the Force be with us.

My summer project, well project 1 of 2.

aaron — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:49:49 +0000

After riding my sled so much this past year, I really started to notice the wear a couple thousand miles puts on a sled. I bought my sled with about 1100 miles on it back in August 2005. I have ridden it three seasons and put another 1700 miles on it, this season alone put 600 miles on it. Well, the wear and tear I’m talking about is stuff that you just don’t notice until it finally goes. I didn’t notice that both a-arms had started to bow and weaken until I noticed a crease in my left-lower a-arm. Can’t help my riding addiction, so I kept riding it “just one last ride”. That one last ride turned into 5 more rides…the last ride did me in.

Ryan Searle, Dan Gardiner and I ran to Kamas, Utah up into the Mirror Lake area to find a gap we had built. A side note, my rear suspension had completely gone out about 12 rides previous to this ride so I was starting to feel the landings anyway. On my third run, it was a bit rougher than anytime previously. This is how it ended up…

If you take a close look you can see issues with the front end…something missing. As well as no front end, there’s no throttle body, shocks, braces, clutches, a few issues with the track and rear suspension. With my front end crunching like it did, it in turn, took bumper, nose and a few other plastics. LET THE FUN BEGIN!

Videos GALORE…who’s excited?

aaron — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:50:45 +0000

I’m excited! There are quite a few videos on the market this year, it seems that there are only a few videos from returning powerhouses. Other than a few returning powerhouses, there are high amounts of new guys. Remember that this is only my perception, as I browse the internet, follow links and chat with other sledders, there just seems to be a lot of new videos emerging. It is essential that new videos emerge in any market, without competition current videos wouldn’t progress. We all know that the snowmobile industry is a little archaic (that’s what SnoWrap was created for) and needs help in joining the modern age.

There are several worth while trailers to view: My three favorites are;
Dan Gardiner Films, Boondockers aliVe
Team Summit Films, Elevation 4
Summit HD Films, Hangfire

Each sledder might have his favorites but each of us knows that when it comes down to it…we aint picky! Take some other awesome videos to try and satisfy that addiction. I doubt it will happen but good luck! Visit our VIDEO section here on SnoWrap or try some of the following links…
Thunderstruck 7
2 Stroke Cold Smoke 10
Slednecks 11
Only to name a few, as I find more I will add them to the list.

Enjoy, good luck and may you enjoy the summer well.

Check out the our 2008 Snowmobile Movie Trailers page of all the trailers for a one stop shop for all your Trailer needs

Everybody likes a bit of power

aaron — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:52:05 +0000

Some important news for the week is concerning one of my activities that help me pass the summer. Unfortunately this activity hasn’t been possible for two summers now because of all the things keeping me too busy.

I will be enjoying the company of Caleb Norviel, an expert motorcycle mechanic, as we work together to clean and lap my motorcycle valves. Depending on how things go, hopefully things will progress quickly and we’ll be inserting the valves into the head, setting the cams, placing the timing chain and hopefully topping it off as we adjust the valves.

After the valves are on and adjusted, we’ll be in business, I can then remount the motor, hook up the electricals and start her up. Obviously there are a few details to be taken care of in there.

I am getting excited to ride her once again.

Looking around…

aaron — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:41:07 +0000

As you can see, I was participating in the “I hate summer” fad that is currently gripping everyone in the wintersports world. I won’t deny any of my claims but I think that the topic has been covered and I will put all my effort towards not participating in it again. Nobody likes a broken record.

We all love the snow and miss it, but if you are like me, I don’t need any reminders as to what season it is.

The cool thing about summer is the chance I/we get to wrench on and baby our sleds. I do like that aspect very much. Very much, indeed. I am looking forward to having my baby back up and running in the next month but, hopefully less. I am waiting on a few parts that I need to finish my push. I recently picked up new a-arms and shocks because my old a-arms just couldn’t take it anymore. I need to replace my current spindles with some Power Addiction short spindles and I am in the process of picking up a Tri City performance bumper to take the place of all the plastics that couldn’t take it anymore either.

Right now I am working on my rear suspension, I have three seasons on my 900 rmk and you can tell. Nothing major, just some wear and tear. I need to replace my torsion coil springs and a couple of the plastic parts they have on there along with a few of the smaller parts. It will be really nice to have it all taken care of, I spent the last year riding on a blown suspension, I knew it was bad but didn’t know it was that bad. Got my shocks all rebuilt and now I just need to get a few other parts replaced to get it all ready to go.

Who hates summer? Bueller…Bueller?

aaron — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:43:26 +0000

I hate summer. I heard the worst news yesterday. While visiting a Stanley Consultants project office I was talking to one of the new employees. We talked about where he had lived, what he liked and disliked and something came up that surprised me and made me feel some sorrow. Living away from Utah so long, living in Arizona, Nevada and Southern Utah, he is now living in Salt Lake again and he says he MISSES the heat? “Now that I have been in the warm weather so long I would much rather it be warm than cold, I can’t stand the cold” he says…we say farewell to you my friend…you will be missed.

Be careful out there you guys. You would never expect it but you have to leave your guard up, the summer offers, dirtbiking, camping, wakeboarding, jeeping and a host of other activities to lure you away from winter. It is there to tide us over but NOT to REPLACE, those activities are only there to allow us to make THROUGH summer and back to winter. Remember friends, don’t let summer lead you astray. Keep the force, come on Winter, bring on the Snow.