What are scratchers?

[Dragonsm]

I have seen this in a few posts in regards to liquid cooled sleds and ice fishing with minimal snow (which it seems we have on the ice now)

Just curious as to what are "scratchers" and do they effect any trail performance? Still "dickering" on the SRX.....and nothing was said about scratchers at all...but then again....they aren't ice fisherman either.

Where exactly would one look for "scratchers" to verify either yes or no and what does a set run?

[MN Mike]

Scratchers are just a device that bolts to your skid frame to kick snow up on the slides and heat exchangers. They are pretty easy to install and really don't work good on bare ice at all, mostly intended for hard pack snow.

Scratchers are more common on deep lug sleds like mountain sleds, short track, lower lug tracks probably won't need scratchers unless snow conditions are really bad.

Mike

[hydro]

One note to add to Mike's post, when you are not using them, they swing up and hook onto the suspension rail to stay out of the way.

[leech~~]

They can drive you nuts listening to them "scratch" especially on ice if you leave them down.

[Hookmaster]

Are scratchers for cooling the tunnel or lubing the Hyfax or both?

[Jack Peterson]

Are scratchers for cooling the tunnel or lubing the Hyfax or both?

Both. My sled has tunnel coolers, because mountain sleds reduce weight that way. The scratchers will kick snow and ice up in the hyfax and the tunnel to reduce heat and keep everything working properly.

[tipup]

Just bought a set for my 99 RMK. hope they go on easy, we will see!!!

[Bandit155]

Dragonsm,

Just got a set I bought online for $69 for the pair. I got the scratchers from slidekicks dot net made of heavy flexible wire cable that are compatible with machines that have reverse. The solid steel rod ones will bent or break off if you forget to put them up before backing up. They also sell the replacement regular tips ($10 set) or carbide tips($35 set) so you don't have to replace the whole scratcher when it wears down.

[hydro]

Bandit, Give a report on how they work after you have used them for a while!