Ways to carry an ice auger???

[Holaey]

I am looking for a good way to carry my ice auger on my snowmobile. I have seen a few pictures of different mounts on the front of a sled.This I feel is the best mounting spot due to snow dust. Does anyone out there have a good idea? If so could you post some pictures?

Thank you,

Mr. Buckhorn

[minneman]

what kind of sled?

[Reynolds]

I've seen a picture on either Clam's HSOforum or in their brochure of a front mounted ice auger carrier. I believe the snowmobile was an Arcic Cat Bearcat. I have looked on both Arctic Cat's and Clam's HSOforum for that ice auger carrier, and it is not listed on either one. I wish I knew where to buy that setup.

[Paul Waldowski]

Reynolds,

You cannot buy that set-up as it is not a stock item. A local guy sets up sled for some of the ice team guys. What I did was went out and found somebody that does welding and fabricating and had them make me the same kind of thing.

[Reynolds]

What does that system mount to? It's too bad that isn't a marketed product. I would have to assume there would be enough demand for that type of ice auger carrier. Would it be possible to get the guys name who has made these systems? I guess I would prefer to get one from a guy who has made them before.

[Paul Waldowski]

It basically mounts to the frame almost exactly where the engine mounts to. They are not sold commercially because it seems that every model, make and year of sled is slightly different. Therefore they all need to be custome made. As far as I know the gentlemen only does them for a few select folks. I will get in touch with him and see if he is interested in doing more.

[hanson]

After much talk, and a lot of scratching my head, I finally came up with an acceptable auger rack for my snowmobile.

The sled is a 2002 Arctic Cat ZR600 EFI. Hey, bass fisherman have big motors on shiny boats, why can't an ice fisherman.

Anyway, the foundation of the auger rack is an Arctic Cat cargo rack made for single seat ZR style chassis. I can get a part # but the rack is no longer available from AC. I happened to get mine off of HSOList after a lot of looking however there is probably a dealer somewhere that has this rack in their stock.

Installation of the rack is very easy, 8 pop rivets and 6 bolts. Piece of cake!

Now the part I've been scratching my head over was the auger carrier. I've looked at Ryan's ATV Racks and a few others and went with this auger carrier from Mad Dog simply because Gander was out of the Ryan's racks when I was there. I figured what the heck and tried it out. The only part that would work was the fin grip yoke that is on the right hand side of the photo. There are a couple other pieces with velcro straps that are designed to hold the handles of the auger but I couldn't get it to work right so I chucked them and freelanced my own part as seen in the photos.

After using the rack all last winter, I'm going to redesign the plywood part that holds the powerhead. Even when the auger is strapped down, it has a tendency to move side to side a little. The new powerhead holder will be designed to not allow lateral movement of the auger.

Here's the photos and feel free to ask questions.

[Jim Hudson]

Yup, the racks are custom built, and are done each year as such. Seeing that makes and models of sleds always seems to change from year to year, the Clam Corp engineer has to devise a new way to carry the augers on the sleds you see in Clam's brochures and such. And now, even the augers are changing. Due to the rounded gear case of the StrikeLite from StrikeMaster, the design changed for last years auger carriers.

There are a lot of talented fabricators out there, talk to one and they can come up with an idea for your type of sled. Most have the frame work tied right into the frame work of the sled themselves... Allowing the weight of the auger to be carried throughout the frame of the sled. But with the newer light weight augers, like the StrikeLite and the Nils Master, other routes can be looked at as well. Such as how Paul had his rack mounted. And last years carry for the StrikeLite, they tied into some unused piping that comes out near the suspension of the Bearcats. Still waiting to see what this years rig will look like...

[Greg K (aka:CRAPPIEBAIT)]

HHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ! I HAVE A GOOD ANSWER.

[Bob Horn]

Hanson that looks like a great way. I will see if little john has any pics he can post.