SB Racing
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Being a dirt bike guy living in eastern Canada makes for some long stretches looking out the window waiting for the snow to disappear. We do stud the tires, and mid winter, after packing down our trails get out for a some rips. The trail prep sucks. Have you ever tied yourself into a harness and dragged a tire through the woods? Anyway my buddy has been after me to get an old sled and after much searching and hand wringing about what to get I found a sweet 79 Enticer 340 that had a full restoration 2 years prior. I showed it to my wife who ask if there was a back rest.... back to searching, with thoughst about what a selfish SOB I must be. Lol
I came across a 94 Enticer II with 3900 km and did the thing that most advise not to do - buy the first sled you look at. It's a lot bigger than I wanted for a bush sled, but it is pretty cherry, runs good and the reverse with articulating track should be handy as I'm a complete noob.
So where do I start? There a bit of play in the steering, not much and looking at the design I'm not sure it can be completely eliminated. The vinyl on the rear of the seat had lifted sometime in its near 30 years of life and the wood plate rotted at the back, so I ripped that out and will replace it this week. Seems like a job within my skills. Not sure about the suspension, seems to go up and down albeit not very smoothly. No damage at all so really I'll look over fuel lines and probably replace them if they're looking original and dry. The 2 spare spark plugs next to the original and intact tool kit look like they've been there for a few decades so I'll toss them and get new ones.
Cables for go and whoa are clean and smooth. I guess their only thing to really is top up the gas and go see what fails - once we have enough snow. Any advice, thoughts things to look at I'd appreciate benefiting from those with the knowledge. Like I said, first sled and know little to nothing about them.
I came across a 94 Enticer II with 3900 km and did the thing that most advise not to do - buy the first sled you look at. It's a lot bigger than I wanted for a bush sled, but it is pretty cherry, runs good and the reverse with articulating track should be handy as I'm a complete noob.
So where do I start? There a bit of play in the steering, not much and looking at the design I'm not sure it can be completely eliminated. The vinyl on the rear of the seat had lifted sometime in its near 30 years of life and the wood plate rotted at the back, so I ripped that out and will replace it this week. Seems like a job within my skills. Not sure about the suspension, seems to go up and down albeit not very smoothly. No damage at all so really I'll look over fuel lines and probably replace them if they're looking original and dry. The 2 spare spark plugs next to the original and intact tool kit look like they've been there for a few decades so I'll toss them and get new ones.
Cables for go and whoa are clean and smooth. I guess their only thing to really is top up the gas and go see what fails - once we have enough snow. Any advice, thoughts things to look at I'd appreciate benefiting from those with the knowledge. Like I said, first sled and know little to nothing about them.
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welcome!
lol welcome to the club. i have a 1997. got about 7000 km on mine.
all of my update mods are pretty much covered in here somewhere as i have owned it from new in 1999.
the play in the steering is pretty much normal. (if memory serves) with the skis in the air, put a bungee cord on the back of the ski and set the skis to 1/8" toed out at front of ski on the wear bar studs compared to the rear. i did convert mine to take sr viper skis to loose weight on front and get better steering. i did end up dropping the steering knuckle on the tss (where the tie rod connects) and drilling and tapped it for a grease fitting after it froze on me once full of water.
from the sounds of it on rear suspension, either it is on max weight setting or the shafts are seizing up. on mine, i took 1/8" steel pipe couplings and welded them to every shaft tube. i then drilled through inside the couplings and installed grease fittings to lube the suspension easier. i did this with suspension out of sled about 15 years ago.
watch out for bolt # 51 in the parts fiche under track suspension 2 coming loose and wrecking rail.
repack the speedo bearing as it is oe only (trust me i tried for aftermarket) as it most likely had water in it at some point. check all the idler wheel bearings as well as the 4 little wheels on the upper shafts in the tunnel. seals can be picked out with snap ring removed and new grease can be added. i use a needle greaser to do it as it is less messy.
pick of betsy.
lol welcome to the club. i have a 1997. got about 7000 km on mine.
all of my update mods are pretty much covered in here somewhere as i have owned it from new in 1999.
the play in the steering is pretty much normal. (if memory serves) with the skis in the air, put a bungee cord on the back of the ski and set the skis to 1/8" toed out at front of ski on the wear bar studs compared to the rear. i did convert mine to take sr viper skis to loose weight on front and get better steering. i did end up dropping the steering knuckle on the tss (where the tie rod connects) and drilling and tapped it for a grease fitting after it froze on me once full of water.
from the sounds of it on rear suspension, either it is on max weight setting or the shafts are seizing up. on mine, i took 1/8" steel pipe couplings and welded them to every shaft tube. i then drilled through inside the couplings and installed grease fittings to lube the suspension easier. i did this with suspension out of sled about 15 years ago.
watch out for bolt # 51 in the parts fiche under track suspension 2 coming loose and wrecking rail.
repack the speedo bearing as it is oe only (trust me i tried for aftermarket) as it most likely had water in it at some point. check all the idler wheel bearings as well as the 4 little wheels on the upper shafts in the tunnel. seals can be picked out with snap ring removed and new grease can be added. i use a needle greaser to do it as it is less messy.
pick of betsy.
SB Racing
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Thank you for the welcome and all those words about things I can’t yet picture in my head but will no doubt become clearer to me in time. The suspension is my next area of focus. If I stand in the basket and bounce it does move but not smoothly. I’ll try and grease thing that look like they should be greased and check the preload as well. Everything looks clean but I haven’t inspected in detail.
I’ll search for your historical posts so I can read in and try not to unfix things that don’t need my particular yard ape mechanical touch.
I’ll search for your historical posts so I can read in and try not to unfix things that don’t need my particular yard ape mechanical touch.
as to the rear suspension sticking, it might need to get pulled and all the shafts removed and cleaned. these sleds do not come with any grease fittings installed from factory. manual says you are supposed to pull it apart every year and manually grease/lube the shafts. hence why i installed all the grease fittings on mine as i admit i am lazy.
SB Racing
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Yeah pulling the entire suspension and tapping for zerk fittings totally taking short cuts 
lol well for 15 years i have not had to pull the suspension to clean and lube those shafts because i added the fittings. last time it was out i had to replace a rail from the bolt i told you comming loose.
SB Racing
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@Maim - are there 8" ski skins available for the enticer ii? I've looked but can't confirm fit, though I suspect the OEM skis are shared across a few Yamaha products through the 90s.
Seat is back on and looking good. The thin ply I replaced is a bit bowed (to wide by just a smidge) but with it back on the sled it sits on the tunnel and that flattens things out just fine. Big rains today taking away what little snow we had so it'll be weeks yet before I can actually run the sled but it starts with a pull or two, no dramas there. Gear oil is clean and full. Nice 2T exhaust so the oil pump is ...well, it's pumping haha. Added some dialectic grease to the electrical connectors to ensure things keep working. A bit of front to back and side to side play in the bars, maybe I'll replace the bearings there, not sure. Next is the suspension. Need to figure out how it works as far as adjusting it.
Seat is back on and looking good. The thin ply I replaced is a bit bowed (to wide by just a smidge) but with it back on the sled it sits on the tunnel and that flattens things out just fine. Big rains today taking away what little snow we had so it'll be weeks yet before I can actually run the sled but it starts with a pull or two, no dramas there. Gear oil is clean and full. Nice 2T exhaust so the oil pump is ...well, it's pumping haha. Added some dialectic grease to the electrical connectors to ensure things keep working. A bit of front to back and side to side play in the bars, maybe I'll replace the bearings there, not sure. Next is the suspension. Need to figure out how it works as far as adjusting it.
RSR 8" Ski Skins for Ski-Doo & Yamaha
8” Extra Wide. 3/16” Durable UHMW. Unbelievable deep snow flotation. Protects your skis from rocks and gravel. Fits both original and aftermarket steel skis. Black finish. Sold as a pair. NOTE: This item may be subject to additional shipping charges.
www.royaldistributing.com
these are the ones i used on my 88 vk 540. i had to drill the holes for the carbide/wear bar myself.
in the picture i have posted, you can see the long leg on the torsion springs. it has a triangle at the short leg on the rear for how stiff/hard it acts. from factory, it comes on middle setting, witch is fine for solo riding with 5 gallon can full of gas or chainsaw in back rack with my 260lb butt on it. for 2 up riding, you want it on the stiffest setting (thickest part of adjuster). mine is also mounted in the lower set of holes for the rear suspension as it helps big time in the powder with not getting stuck.
make sure you check the torsion spring slide blocks at the end of the springs as they wear through every few years on one side. there are also springs in the front of the skid (rear suspension) that have slide plastics as well that wear out every few years or so. i check them every year and replace as needed when they are worn through. you can only get the rear ones from yamaha as i have tried the royal distributing ones and they do not fit. as to the fronts, they are showing still availible but i ususally substiute a cat one that looks similar from royal for less $ that works.
if rear shocks are out of fluid/toast, you can use aftermarket phazer II rear suspension shocks over the oe ones. just be aware that you might have to fab a bushing for one end of the shock. discovered that after i had already paid for a set of new oe shocks and then rebuilt a phazer II suspension.
SB Racing
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Well got out for the first ride and it was a laugh. I did fit 8" ski skins which I think made the Enticer a bit harder to steer at low speeds maybe? I don't know. Everything worked well, except the tachometer isn't working, I'll have to look into that. The inaugural run:
looks like you had a good ride. sounds like you got her close to top speed too lol.
i never ran wide ski skins on my stock skis on mine but even with the narrow ski skins, it steered pretty much the same as what you are describing. the reason why i tried to carry 3-5 gallons of gas (or same weight) in rack all the time was to help keep the front of the sled lighter witch made steering easier. went to 03 rx 1 skis to fix that until i bent a ski saddle witch is when i went to the 2014 sr viper skis. she always turns hard now and does not push as hard unless conditions are soft.
the tac on mine is from a 79 srx and runs off of the light coil. from what i see on the parts fiche, yours is the same way, so it could just be an unplugged wire.
a tip for the brakes is to get the caliper assembly and cable from a vk540 III or a pogo venture from the same era. the brakes are only good for 3 applications in stock form before they need adjustment. the mentioned caliper and cable convert it to an mechanical auto adjust brake system that keeps lever feel consistant. never did find a hyd brake for mine but the auto adj one works really good.
i never ran wide ski skins on my stock skis on mine but even with the narrow ski skins, it steered pretty much the same as what you are describing. the reason why i tried to carry 3-5 gallons of gas (or same weight) in rack all the time was to help keep the front of the sled lighter witch made steering easier. went to 03 rx 1 skis to fix that until i bent a ski saddle witch is when i went to the 2014 sr viper skis. she always turns hard now and does not push as hard unless conditions are soft.
the tac on mine is from a 79 srx and runs off of the light coil. from what i see on the parts fiche, yours is the same way, so it could just be an unplugged wire.
a tip for the brakes is to get the caliper assembly and cable from a vk540 III or a pogo venture from the same era. the brakes are only good for 3 applications in stock form before they need adjustment. the mentioned caliper and cable convert it to an mechanical auto adjust brake system that keeps lever feel consistant. never did find a hyd brake for mine but the auto adj one works really good.
SB Racing
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Thank you for all the great advice and points! I’ll look to add some weight on the back and see if that lightens things up.
Brakes seem to hold up for our short ride of maybe 18 or so miles but I’ll test them out and see.
I don’t know about top speed it didn’t feel stress at anytime and there wasn’t really anywhere to pin it and let ‘er run. I doubt I got over 45mph at any point. No real need where we’re riding. Though I was a bit taken by the Renegade sleds that we met up with. Likely that would feel like my dirt bike and be a blast. The real fun was getting out with the boys, plinking some cans, having a cook up and getting the trail ready for the bikes and a planned group winter rip.
Brakes seem to hold up for our short ride of maybe 18 or so miles but I’ll test them out and see.
I don’t know about top speed it didn’t feel stress at anytime and there wasn’t really anywhere to pin it and let ‘er run. I doubt I got over 45mph at any point. No real need where we’re riding. Though I was a bit taken by the Renegade sleds that we met up with. Likely that would feel like my dirt bike and be a blast. The real fun was getting out with the boys, plinking some cans, having a cook up and getting the trail ready for the bikes and a planned group winter rip.
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lol you where close to it. mine likes to hang around 50 mph in most conditions wide open. on the long straights with good conditions, she will touch and hold 55 mph. i have seen 60 mph on it once but it was -40 and i held it wayyy too long on a lake. since i up graded the track to 1.25" ripsaw, she gets there quicker as it is lighter and bends/rotates better than the stock track.
SB Racing
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The 1.25" ripsaw, was that a direct fitment of did you modify anything?