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What Is The Best Lift Or Offroad Dolly?

5K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  Blue2-dooGT 
#1 ·
All:

I have a ’95 GT, with rear carrying rack, so there’s plenty of room to hook a lift into the back. I am only aware of two lift companies: Mar-lift and RWS Distribution, the latter of which makes The Eazymove, for which I found an excellent article/testimonial on this website’s homepage. (I am not considering the 3-piece dolly systems, which would seem well-suited to the garage I don't have yet, but not to the lawn.)

Most immediately, I need a rear lift, so I can run the sled to wash out all of the dirt I got all over the track and sliders while rototilling the lawn with it as I was backing it down off of the ramps from my truck. However, that little experience impressed me with the potential benefits of having an off-road dolly system. (At least, once the dust settles, I can wheel it away like the abused puppy it was. :withstupid: I either need to grade myself a dirt ramp for pickup truck loading, or find a trailer!). Adding insult to injury, I failed to get air as I rode from the lower part of the lawn to the upper part, over the knoll. ??? The carbides did a fair job of aerating the lawn, however. Now if I had had studs already…. :sly:

I have included what I hope will be links to these companies’ homepages, if not the lifts themselves, and the link to the article on Snowmobileworld’s homepage, below:

http://www.mar-lift.com/other/what.html

http://www.mar-lift.com/other/other.html

http://www.rwsdistribution.com/

http://www.snowmobileworld.com/features/ea...ove/index.shtml

The web prices (all U.S.) I have found are as follows:

Mar-lift Dolly: $219.
½ Mar-lift (rear only): $85.
RWS Rear Lift: $110. (Cool, foot-operated lift, IMHO)
RWS’s Eazymove Dolly: $180.
(Off-road “big wheels” kit adds $60. to RWS's Eazymove, for a total of $240. I didn’t look into shipping costs for any of them).

I guess my first question is, is there a dolly system that can:
a) Allow the safe warmup running of the sled while on the dolly, while
b) Providing a safe platform for long-term storage, ideally unloading both front and rear suspensions, and
c) Hold the rear of the sled up high enough for studding, inspection, cleaning, adjustment, say if I’m willing to help it with a rope to a tree, to tip the sled/dolly combo up at the rear?

If no dolly can do all of the above, then I still need a rear lift, so that would be my second choice, a rear lift, and perhaps a dolly in the future, or not, as I hope to score a used, enclosed trailer, and I’m figuring I can store the sled on a rear lift, in the trailer. Although this does not get the weight off of the front suspension for storage.

2. How many here unload the skis during storage? How many don't but feel it's a good idea to do so?

Answers to the above questions, and any recommendations, re: these or other products I’ve missed, will be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Blue2-dooGT

Oops! Can somebody move this topic to "General Snowmobiling" so we get more responses? I don't know how to move posts yet. Thanks.
 
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#5 ·
Nicks800x: Thanks, but I couldn’t find sledlift.com…. Is there a different web address for them? And are you able to run your sled in the dolly, as you would on a rear lift? Is it off-road (i.e., the lawn) capable, when loaded?

Gator: Thanks for the link—nice looking lift, but I couldn’t see the wheels they mention, nor the price. Are they off-road wheels? Does the Rec-lift allow you to move the sled around in a lower position than full up, to prevent tip overs off-road?

FishHog:--Very impressive! I do a little gas and arc welding, but nothing like that. The GT looks real nice too (I’m partial to them, having one). What year/engine is it?

All: am I nuts thinking a sled could be run safely in a dolly (if necessary, by stringing the back up to a tree) as it could in a rear lift? Anyone done this before? Just trying to prevent having to buy/store both a rear lift and dolly. The Rec-lift looks great to me, as it’s much higher than a conventional dolly, so I assume it could be run in the Rec-lift, right? It’s the moving it around that seems dicey, at that height, on uneven ground, assuming off-road wheels are available.

Lastly, how do I move this post to “General Snowmobiling?” I thought we’d get a lot more input on lifts, dollies, etc…, from owners of sleds that break more often than Ski-doos—Opps! J/K! :p Just thought we’d get more input from a larger crowd.

Thanks again.
 
#7 ·
I would recommend any shop dolly. You can get them for about $200(+/-) from Shadetree, Cabela's, Dennis Kirk, or your local dealer. Well worth the money for moving the sled around. Yes, it would hold the rear of the sled up for warm-up, inspecting the track, storage, etc. What I did last year (before I bought a sled-lift), was block up the front with a milk crate (I built my own out of 2x2 boards screwed together) just enough to keep the ski's off the ground and left the sled dolly hooked up to keep the rear up. Then if you need to move it, you can just grab it and go. Sorry to ramble. If you'd like more info, let me know.-Butch
 
#8 ·
Butch: you..."ramble"? Have you seen some of my posts so far? I worry about Ski-doo owners waking up with "ASDFGHJKL;" pressed into their foreheads.... LOL! But thanks for the info--I take it you bought a "sled-lift" brand sled lift, huh? They look good. And you're the first to confirm you can run the sled in the lift--it doesn't want to vibrate off, huh? That's good.

Apparently the sled-lift brand uses a worm gear drive, rather than a hydraulic cylinder? How is that bad boy to crank? I imagine it's pretty easy, since the crank handle looks bigger than the one that came with my FoMoCo bottle jack, and my F-150 weighs even more than my GT (I think...). :D

I was wondering if running the sled in one of those Eazymove (low-type) dollies that don't lift the sled up very high would be dangerous? Either a runaway sled or (more likely?) it spitting the dolly out from under it? That's why I thought that with the low dolly design, (i.e., not the "sled-lift" type design) I might have to string the rear of the sled up to a tree, to be safe.... Thoughts on this, anyone? (But be kind, now....)

Nicks800: Now the site comes up for me--don't know why I couldn't get it before--thanks again. Nice looking lift. Kind of doubt those castors would move on my (wet) lawn, though...I emailed the company nevertheless, to see if there are larger wheels, or what they doo have to say about it.

Thanks, you guys. Still looking for more ideas on this topic, if anyone has any. :D
 
#10 ·
Butch: you..."ramble"?
I'm usually not real talkitive at first, but once I get started..........look out!

Anyways, no, my lift is not a "sled-lift" brand. In fact, I don't know the names of either my lift or my shop dolly. Both work just fine though.

The 'lift' is a screw type. I have only used the handle once, seemed to work just fine. What I use (go ahead, call me lazy, I don't care) is my 1/2" drive drill. Much quicker, and easier. Also it works great for doing maintenence on the sled.

The 'dolly' is the cart type with the bigger wheels (wheelborrow type). My uncle has the low one that slides undr the sled. I didn't care for it as much. Personal preference I guess. The dolly I have, leaves the track off the ground (I'm guessing here) about 10 inches or so. I have never worried about it catching the ground. What I do as an extra precaution while I'm running it on the dolly, is keep down pressure on the ski by standing on it. I don't worry about it at all while it's idling.

If you can wait, I would check out some of the snow-shows when they come around. I paid $165 for my dolly, and $140 for my lift.
 
#11 ·
I have a sled lift which I built from plans off this site, it works extremely well in fact I have built 2 it cost about 70 to 80 dollars US. It was not very hard if you have welded at all, though it is easier if you have a mig welder.

I have a question about a dolly, does anyone have any plans for building these, I have an old one that was given to me but it doesn't fit my current sleds. If there is please let me know.

Thanks
 
#12 ·
Wish granted...off to General..
 
#14 ·
Butch800:

Your description of your dolly intrigues me:

The 'dolly' is the cart type with the bigger wheels (wheelborrow type). My uncle has the low one that slides undr the sled. I didn't care for it as much. Personal preference I guess. The dolly I have, leaves the track off the ground (I'm guessing here) about 10 inches or so. I have never worried about it catching the ground. What I do as an extra precaution while I'm running it on the dolly, is keep down pressure on the ski by standing on it. I don't worry about it at all while it's idling.
I can't quite picture this. I was wondering if I could trouble you to post the name of the mfr. or model name, so I could scour up a pic of it, and where to see about getting one. It sounds like it does what I want.

Has anyone here bought and/or used the "Easymove" dolly, with the offroad wells, that is featured in the article at SW?

Thanks again.
 
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