I also had a 74 RTX 440 I bought in 1975. Dealer demo. It was beautiful and yes, fast for 75. I drove it everywhere- to school , work, church. And of course tons of riding. Mine started hard, but not that hard. Finally blew the engine one cold night when the cooling fan belt broke and I had no idea until I took it apart. Thanks for the video- it took me back 48 years!!!!😊
That was a beautiful snowmobile when it first came out. The style was to die for! It was so sleek in comparison to other brands. It was also very expensive at the time. About $1,700.00 Canadian.
We had a 1969 Skiroule RT300 with the old body style and a 1972 RT340 with this same RTX body style. The 340 was had the 2 cyl Sachs and was very smooth / pretty fast. I used to go on long rides on the Quebec gov groomed trails back in the late 70's early 80's. You could ride to just about any city . The 1972 was so cool and modern looking.
Kind of funny, the 20 pulls to get it going is exactly as I remember it, but once you got it going, there was no better sled to sit on. Great job bringing it back to life. But yes, if you have any other historical machines like this, would be great to see them in action. We used to have 2... a 440 and a 340 and the neighbors always ended up at our place because theirs were just too slow.
There was way more than 20 pulls lol. I had to edit some of it out. This one runs amazing and the fastest skiroule I have. I have many other skiroules that are way more rarer than this one. Plan to make some more videos on the running and driving ones I have.
I had the RT model, my first sled as a kid. The guy we got it from was very adamant about the cold starting procedure: Key off, choke on, 3 pulls. Key on, choke off, would start on that 4th pull, maybe 5. Worked every time. Any deviation from that and you'd be there all day!!
I owned one of these, this exact model. They were 10 years ahead of their time indeed. Ended up having the front drive bearing go and it ruined the body tub. It was a great sled. Take good care of her. Cheers.
first off I want to say I love that you recorded the snowmobile from an external point of view as well as internal, that's so much more fun that just the first person gopro videos! I do all my vintage sled ride videos that way. secondly, you just made me wish all the more that we had actually gotten snow in North Dakota this year, we barely ever had more than a slight dusting! looks like you had fun, great video!
It’s definitely harder to film it external but makes it wayyy better I think. The camera was the only thing that wasn’t having fun that day haha. Kept freezing up. Actually this year there wasn’t too much snow as other years. But still enough to play!
I love the old sleds from that area my first memory if riding sled was on one of those except it was a different model it was a single cylinder and it was really pointy in the front similar to a elan. I could almost smell the 2 stroke when you started it up lol great video man I really enjoyed it
Really great looking Sled for the time… or for any time We didn’t have them around in northern North Dakota but I remember from magazines. They looked 20 years ahead of the time in 1973
awesome sled mate, man pulling that much sucks when you just want to get and go, especially if you stop on the trail and are already tired. But looks like an awesome fast little sled
also highly recommend the go pro, just got one for my channel and battery is a little better on my old cam cords when it -40 but the go pro gets a better video.
@@SchneiderClassics hard to pull over when it was -30 over night on these old Sachs engines lol. It’s a very fast sled for its age. Got it up to 60 mph on a pond. Could of went faster too but ran out of pond. Yep next investment is a go pro for sure. Had a princess auto knock off that held out very good in cold weather but image was that great.
@@fouledplugsbluesmokegarage6585 yes I had a knock-off in the past too and found the same. funny enough the best place for a price for a go pro was go pro themself. I looked as best buy, walmart and costco and go pro was 100 cheaper all the way around even with the subscription. Just in the short time of owning it I absolutely love it. And love the old sleds way to much and get what you mean, this cold weather is killer on the start ups
I had that same sled back in the early 90s and it was fast as hell for an old barn beater we had more fun with those old skiroules then we ever did with the new 10 thousand dollar machines we would bump and bang into one another on the old one but never on the new ones
Surprisingly fast machine for its age. This one was a previous barn beater when I picked it up from the last owner. Took it apart and made a decent looking sled with a little tlc. These old 70s machines are quite the blast compared to the new ones.
To all the comments about "20 pulls is normal for old sleds" not if theyre maintained properly. The skiroule rtx's were known for vapor lock yes, but i started on a 71 scorpion 400 ccw, had a moto ski capri, alouette escort, and skidoo olympic 335. All started with 3 to 5 pulls. When manufacturers started going to mikuni carbs in the mid 70s it was better. But 20-30 pulls was not "normal" for vintage sleds. I see all these young bucs cranking on these machines like youre going to break the recoil. You dont need brute force to pull over these engines. Nice machine! But yes the rtx was known for this.
I had one of these back in 73, had to sell when every time you started it something kept cutting the pull rope. Dealer could not figure it out and I could not. SOLD it.
@@fouledplugsbluesmokegarage6585 No steel cable just rope in the recoil to start it. Something kept cutting the rope each time I pulled it to start. Looking back I wonder if I could have put some kind of still cable on it because the sled was super quick for a 440.
Kinda makes me wish I held on to the RTX that I had about fifteen years ago. I always thought it was neat that they mounted the rear shocks on the outside of the tunnel.
Definitely a neat sled and way ahead of there time. Unfortunately that’s how far skiroule went and went belly up. If only they used aluminum tunnels and liquid cooled engines early on they might of made it.
Yes very much different than the previous bubble nose skiroules but I have a few bubble nose skiroules in my collection and also have a running and driving 1970 s300 skiroule too!
This was my childhood sled. I was always breaking it, and my dad was always fixing it. There came a time when you couldn't get parts, after 10 years, and he'd have lines at AC (later Delphi, then gone completely) in Flint make parts. Called it a "government job" >..
It hasn’t had a breakdown yet since I took it apart and replaced whatever needed replacing or cleaning. But I also have quite a few other part machines for it
@@fouledplugsbluesmokegarage6585 Oh I put it all on me far as the machine "breaking". I can hear my long departed dad now: "You couldn't smell that thing getting hot?" Thanks for the video. It brought back fond memories.
@@fouledplugsbluesmokegarage6585 my dad had 2 74 RT 340s. He quit riding after mom died...I kept bugging him to buy the sleds that just sat in a shed for years. Last time I asked where they went he just said he sold them both to some guy we didn't know for 300.00 for the pair! That STILL pisses me off!
Sounds like you had a 1974 rtx 440b with boggie wheel suspension. I actually do have one too that’s a survivor and all original. Haven’t made a video on it yet but planning to this winter.
@@fouledplugsbluesmokegarage6585 we found over the years that they were very susceptible to any kind of moisture. Being a dealer and having six kids that like to snowmobile we went through a lot of them. Pretty much ended up switching them all over to tilton's.
I have 2 skiroule suits. One is a one piece and the other is a 2 piece with a vest. The one piece isn’t as great of shape but the 2 piece is not too bad of shape. Sweet I don’t have any Polaris sleds but they are definitely cool. This skiroule was in rough shape when I got it. But some tlc did a wonder on it!
@@liv2fish21 I have some rtx/Rt with primers and they are a arm savour haha. This carb doesn’t have the fitting for the primer but have another spare carb that’s the same that has the fitting. Going to swap them out as this one is cold blooded to start haha
20 pulls cold unnecessary, I had the exact same machine. Simple, open door, put hand over rubber venturi boot, pull start twice, take hand off and starts real easy.
In -20 some Celsius sitting for a day or so and with the choke on it’s going to take a few pulls. I usually have a small bottle of mixed gas I dump into the carb for cold starts
@@fouledplugsbluesmokegarage6585 No, no, not needed. Mine would sit all summer covered next to house track raised with a 6x6 under seat handle to keep track always off ground a few inches., first snow was two pulls with hand over boot and started right up for YEARS. Try it dude...Sachs 440A engine awesome. With track off ground I could rev it too while warming up.
@@stevenbaker9327 I got a 73 green hood one with a rotary. Engine is currently being rebuilt I know where a orange one is been trying to but it for a year already lol
Degrees not fahrenheit? Fahrenheit is a degree. I'm just messin with ya. I know you meant Celsius. Beauty vintage Skiroule!! These were sweet looking sleds. Interesting rear suspension too.
Haha I noticed that I said degrees when I was editing the video lol! Definitely a odd design of rear suspension and it’s pretty light suspension compared to my sno jet slide suspension and my skidoo Everest too.
Cool! My local town had a dealership that sold quite a few of them. The town used to have a race track for sleds back in the 70s on the fair grounds and skiroules would win most of the time. Convinced a lot of people to buy them.
Haha she can be tippy. I need to adjust the suspension springs so it puts more weight on the skis. Likes to lift the skis off of the ground too easily.
@@fouledplugsbluesmokegarage6585 Canadian Tire used to sell ski stance extended plates the pushed the skis out about 3 inches outboard and an inch(?) forward or backward - worked great on our old 72 Ski-Doo Nordic 440 (what a tank!)
