Homemade Trail Groomer For Skiing, With Track Setter

[@thomastessin1663]

I know what I am building this weekend. Thanks "NorthWoods"

[@northwoodsengineered]

Great to hear! You are welcome

[@ChrisKelly-k4s]

I learned about your video from a neighbor here in Bozeman, MT who had built a groomer/track setter like yours. I used your video to build one of my own and it works great - need to add the cutter bar for next year. I groom a 1/3 mile oval in our meadow - great for exercise during the winter. So now you have 2 of your groomers in the wild here in Bozeman. Thanks so much!

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thats awesome to hear! I love when people tell me about the groomers they have built based on my ideas, its great to know the video is heling people out!

[@jamespowers3011]

@@northwoodsengineered And I'm in Missoula, MT (just a Montana stone's throw from Bozeman) looking to build one. It looks heavy... what do you use to pull it?

[@northwoodsengineered]

Awesome! I use a Polaris 550 Indy adventure snowmobile and it pulls it really well. It’s actually not really that heavy overall.

[@voxar3206]

Exactly what I was looking for today! Thanks from Sweden!

[@northwoodsengineered]

Great to hear ! It’s cool knowing this video is being seen all over the place.

[@yvesjolicoeur747]

awesome job and thanks for going through all the trouble of doing the parts list with all measurements and info.

[@northwoodsengineered]

No problem! Trying to help other people just like some of the other good videos i watched to get inspiration.

[@jpmcdonald4921]

This is awesome! My kiddos and really getting into xc skiing. I'm about to build this to make them a nice trail out in our field. Thanks so much.

[@northwoodsengineered]

Great to hear! Glad I could help out.

[@MrMauidiver]

The best thing about cross country skiing it gets you to the Lifts

[@egor748]

Sumptuously. I, too, in my village decided to make a ski track and made a similar cutter for the ski track, only metal

[@chadilacnissen9717]

You need to post another video of before and after grooming one night. I built this using all your ideas and have used it for years now. It is incredible. Added weight to the pan portion. Still need to make the cross country part!

[@northwoodsengineered]

That’s great to hear it’s working out! I’m working on a new electrically actuated track setter so I should hopefully have a new video coming out sometime soon.

[@FtazzV]

This is great idea! Thanks for inspiration.

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thanks, you are welcome!

[@jimschell8030]

Great set up I built one last week. Thanks for set up. Waiting for snow now

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thank you! Yeah Im waiting on snow now too. Got a bit this weekend but still not quite enough to start.

[@paulkelm6550]

Well done! The groomed trail looks great. Thank you for sharing.

[@northwoodsengineered]

You bet, thanks for the nice comment!

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

This is amazing. Does your snowmobile have any problems overheating from this setup?

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thank you! I have not had any issues so far. Just this weekend I was pulling it through about 15 inches of new snow and had no problems, although it was pretty cold out, like 0F. So maybe if it was more around the freezing point it could overheat. But no issues so far!

[@luroy4]

Great design. Thanks for the dimensions and tips. Looks like you could find a old truck plastic bed liner and cut it up to save some money.

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thanks for the comment. Yeah I’m sure there are a few other items a guy could find laying around that would work pretty well too!

[@rnl9520]

Great work! That diy setup does a nice Job!

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thanks! I have been pretty happy with the results

[@JimWoischke]

Impressive. I'm going to copy this and try it later this year or for sure next winter

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thank you! Good luck with yours!

[@pierrepatenaude6877]

Nice homemade groomer.

[@walt4670]

Great effective, simple set up! Thanks for sharing.

[@lmtada]

Looks good. Snow must be soft adding only 50lbs. We add 200+ lbs for hard pack trails. You did a good job. Good idea regarding sled trailer pLastic. 👍

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thanks! Yeah I still haven’t used it in too many different conditions yet so I’m sure I’ll have to experiment with the weight. Definitely still learning and will always be making changes. I’ve been fortunate to always have fresh snow when I have groomed so far. I’ll need to add some Sort of cutter bar or teeth to break up hard pack though.

[@chadilacnissen9717]

This is fantastic! Can you post another video of it in use in different conditions? That was of course my favorite part of this video! Thanks for sharing!

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thanks! Yeah I’ll have to take some more videos of it while using it and make a new video out of them.

[@andremayer7146]

Thank you so much for this. Following your video, I just finished mine. Haven’t tried it out yet, but we just had our first large snowfall. Question: Do you do a first pass without the ski tracks lowered and then repass with them lowered? Does it make a difference? Or doesn’t matter.

[@northwoodsengineered]

Glad it helped you out! Where are you at? We are still waiting on snow in Minnesota. As for passes, if there’s a lot of snow, like over 8 inches , I’ll do a pass without tracker then a pass with. If there’s less snow than that it usually works in one pass

[@andremayer7146]

@@northwoodsengineered Great thanks! I’m in the province of Quebec, Canada. About 1 hour north of Ottawa Ontario. We just got about 7 inches and expecting more on Friday Looking forward to trying it out for the first time.

[@steveklick]

Cool video man. Do you groom like that just for the snow mobile? Can you walk comfortably on the trail afterwards without punching through too deep? I just bought a snowdog tracked vehicle and I'm trying to find ways to make nice walking trails in the woods.

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thank you! The main purpose is to groom to cross country ski on, but I have a different smaller groomer that I also use to groom just for walking. It is all condition dependent, like how wet the snow is and how cold it is. But as long as you let it set up for like 24 hours after grooming it usually gets fairly hard and works for walking

[@mikerapatz7394]

Excellent work - well thought out! Thanks for posting!

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thank you!

[@Cabinlab]

Great design. Folks may want to consider replacing the fixed tongue with a rope or other breakaway materials to minimize catastrophe upon inevitable snags.

[@rampanttricky17]

I am glad you brought up that idea. I know i would forget where a down limb or significant other impediment is and drive over or past it and snag the groomer sled. A "sheer pin" type solution might save me from breaking a much more difficult, inconvenient , or expensive to repair element. A "pin" might just be a strand of solid wire. Easy to carry replacements; could save me from needing to tow home a broken sled.

[@chadilacnissen9717]

Hey bud, I replicated this a few years ago and boy is it fantastic. I’m struggling on the box part now for the x country tracks. Would you be able to give me some detailed dimensions of that part? I see the dimensions of the cutters in your vid…

[@northwoodsengineered]

Hey shoot me an email [e-mail] and I’ll help you out.

[@RandomNEGuy]

really useful video; thanks

[@northwoodsengineered]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jimschell8030]

I built mine last fall from your video Only difference is I brought runner up the back of groomer also

[@northwoodsengineered]

Nice! but im not totally sure what you mean up the back? you mean a skinny piece just up the back of the long 2x6?

[@lancewheeler6891]

Thanks for the video, Awesome. what are the snowmobile mats and can I get some? Thanks

[@northwoodsengineered]

Thanks! Look in my description, there is an Amazon link. However they are pretty spendy on there. I got mine at a local farm and fleet store in the trailer section for $14 each. If you have any stores like that around you I’d check there first.

[@dennisfossey4312]

Great trail groomer, where did you get the black plastic trailer runners?

[@shawzy17]

Thank you! I got them at my local farm and fleet store in the area where they sell trailer components.

[@gordondesavigny9567]

Hey Awesome video, we are 75% of the way building our own groomer, just curious if the snowmobile mats left the desired corduroy effect in the snow for skate skiing?

[@northwoodsengineered]

Yeah they leave a really nice quordoroy, not quite as deep as the profesionally groomed trails by where i live but still pretty good. I think as we get more snow throughout the year though ill need to maybe add some weight to pack it a little more for skate skiing though.

[@homebazzer4577]

Well done A+

[@brucedeleskey8540]

Buddy just food for thought get 3 four foot half inch thraded rod front middle and back nuts an boules to hold it together trust me on this it will last a long time happy grooming

[@northwoodsengineered]

That’s a good idea, thanks for the advice

[@jameshoeppner1211]

Have you had the chance (or need) to go over your previous classic tracks? If so, how did it do? I've been using our tractor dragging a chain harrow and also using a 3-pt mounted blade to rework our tracks after the latest storm, without much luck so far. The old tracks still lurk under the fresh groomed snow. I'm planning on making a groomer/track setter like yours. Nice simple design and I have everything I need to build it laying around here.

[@shawzy17]

Actually yes i have only done it once without new snow and i found out i need to add something to it to help bust up the packed snow to cover old tracks cause it didnt do well. I'm working on a design to make some type of steel cutting bar that is depth adjustable and will break up the old path. If you look at some of the groomers on snowgroomers.net, it will be similar to their cutting blade. I had just been lucky this year that the few times i have used it i had fresh powder. But I will definitely need to add this.

[@jameshoeppner1211]

@@shawzy17 thanks for the update. I was also thinking of some kind of cutter. Wish I had $5K laying around for a Snowgroomer setup. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I just saw a similar design by Donn DIY where he added upside down, grooved U-channel to his angled boards. Something to consider?

[@shawzy17]

@@jameshoeppner1211 Yep I saw that too, thats kind of what i was thinking, something along those lines.

[@jebx99]

@@shawzy17 This is more like a snowmobile groomer, but the adjustable depth is pretty slick so that one could cut up the previous tracks. kzbin.info/www/bejne/noObiWxunKeKrcU

[@amonkeywall]

Thanks for the video! I'm thinking of doing something like this myself. I imagine the tracks get ruined if a snowmobile goes over it? I'm in a lake community so basically all trails have snowmobile traffic. I don't want to have to redo the tracks weekly but right now I'm skiing without tracks

[@shawzy17]

You are welcome! Yeah where I groom there is always a chance of someone snowmobiling over the tracks. But it’s worth the risk for me to put them down as I really prefer having tracks for classic skiing.

[@Lazzoboy]

Great video!!

[@alexmurdoch3828]

hard to find the plastic trailer runners, any tips?

[@northwoodsengineered]

Hey, saw a picture of a groomer the other day where a guy made it really similarly to mine but he used a piece of black corrugated drain pipe instead of the runners. Not sure how he attached it but you could figure something out for that

[@bengisselman]

Do you think you could just build and pull the track setter by itself?

[@northwoodsengineered]

Absolutely. They are a few companies out there that sell just track setters. You would want to add weight to it. And it might not work as wel In deep snow but it should still work pretty well.

[@RichMortl]

Do you have an email address that I could send some question to you on? It would be greatly appreciated.

[@northwoodsengineered]

Yes, [e-mail]

[@AugustusHinton]

Subscribed!

[@moops7285]

How many moneys

[@j.wildoutdoors8483]

Ever run into issues working that 550 too much?

[@northwoodsengineered]

I haven't yet, but it's always been below 25F when I have been grooming. Also, the groomers isnt super heavy, so I can't say what would happen if you were pulling a big steel groomer.

[@j.wildoutdoors8483]

@@northwoodsengineered I worry a bit about my adventure just because myself, wife, flip over ice shelter, and gear i figgure I'm running 600lbs conservative. I just started using it like this and I'm still a lill worried I might be over doing it

[@northwoodsengineered]

@@j.wildoutdoors8483 Well since the sled can come with factory second seat, i imagine you are find as far as weight on the sled goes. You could always get a stiffer spring for the rear suspension if needed. Pulling the fish house shouldnt be too tough on it. I also imagine you dont go super far when ice fishing, at least compared to someone riding trails.

[@j.wildoutdoors8483]

@@northwoodsengineered are you the same guy that has your auger mounted to the side?

[@j.wildoutdoors8483]

@@northwoodsengineered no around 40kmh ish mostly. Any faster and id be beating my gear up too much.