rgoers' New Tow Vehicle - Snowmobile Forum: Your #1 Snowmobile Forum

rgoers · 11-14-2005, 06:51 PM

Finally got a replacement tow vehicle... Had to retire the old '93 Mercury Villager. It's still going strong, but with 244,000 miles on it, who knows when it's gonna cry "uncle" and give up the ghost??? Besides, the stupid thing would get stuck in 3" of snow. Did I mention I hate front wheel drive vehicles...

Anyway, now I've got some more pulling power, and 4WD to get me wherever the snow is. Let it SNOW!!!

Arctic · 11-14-2005, 06:52 PM

Nice!

What year is it?

rgoers · 11-14-2005, 06:54 PM

Other side...

rgoers · 11-14-2005, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by arctic4589
Nice!

What year is it?

It's a 2000 Sport 4x4. Only paid $5k for it. Seems to be in decent shape... at least from what I can tell in the week I have been driving it. Heard they get lousy gas mileage, but it is mostly for towing my tent camper and the sleds. I have rice-burners for the daily drive, when I want to conserve fuel.

I think the guy who sold it to me thought the sound in the front end was a bad bearing (I did too). Turned out to just be a loose axle nut. Tightened it up, and the noise went away.

YamahaRyy · 11-14-2005, 08:05 PM

nice ride man

G-ForceJunkie · 11-14-2005, 11:59 PM

Good Buy, those are good deals right now

**RJ Gleason** · 11-15-2005, 03:36 PM

nice ride there. Now you can come to ride my trails

groaty · 11-15-2005, 04:18 PM

do yourself a favor and bring it to your mechanic and have the tranmission,driveshaft and rearend looked at before towing with it. those exploder sports had issues with that. and i do speak from experience. i had a 94, and a 98. that 4.0 has some awsome towing power.

rgoers · 11-15-2005, 05:28 PM

Guy I bought it from was towing a 2800 pound boat with it. My camper is less than that, and the sleds are only around 1500. Tranny seems strong, no slip, shifts smooth.

How can a mechanic tell, without ripping it apart?

Formula_Canuk · 11-15-2005, 07:37 PM

Take it to a garage and they see green. I used to work in one, and the techs always argued over who got the 4x4 (of any brands). Lots of crap to wear or replace. ESPECIALLY Jeeps, if your 4x4 stops working, just removing the driveshaft to the front or be prepared to lighten your wallet quite a bit

I'd just make sure you grease the crap outta everything, check for leakage and check the u joints. The worse thing people do for their 4x4's is only use it when its needed, which for some people is like once every two years. Click it in and out in a parking lot just to make sure everything works. There nice trucks, my dad just picked up and expedition aka gas guzzler

rgoers · 11-15-2005, 08:55 PM

Guy that had it before me told me that he used it in 4WD fairly often, to keep things working. Sort of like using your parking brake, so it won't seize up, and fail you on an inspection...

I kicked it into 4WD, and drove it up a fairly steep hill in my yard. Got all 4 tires to spin, so I know it works!

Now I gotta go patch the lawn...

SnowRida · 11-17-2005, 02:24 PM

If it has close to, or over 90,000 miles, check/replace the ball joints! Take my word for it. My Ford vehicles have been nutorious with this issue.

rgoers · 11-18-2005, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SnowRida
If it has close to, or over 90,000 miles, check/replace the ball joints! Take my word for it. My Ford vehicles have been nutorious with this issue.

Got 91K on it. I went through the whole front end last weekend. Everything is SOLID down there. It's pretty easy to hear when a ball joint is getting bad. I don't hear anything like that (yet). (I'm one of those who drives with the radio off, just so I can listen to the vehicle.) But thanks for the tip anyway. I'll keep a closer eye on it now.

ecsnowmobiling · 11-19-2005, 10:02 AM

Looks very sharp

PolarisINDY500 · 11-21-2005, 07:08 AM

nice buy...looks like youll be happy with your recent purchase