Do-it-yourself snowmobile: how to make it, homemade, on tracks, from a motorcycle

In regions with heavy snowfall in winter, using two-wheeled vehicles is not advisable. But you don’t always need a car. In such cases, a snowmobile comes to the rescue, but this type of transport is expensive. If you wish, you can make a snowmobile with your own hands, and there are many ways to do this.

How to make a snowmobile

You can make a snowmobile from different vehicles that are in the garage.

From a motorcycle

You can make a snowmobile from a motorcycle using different models. The most popular are IZH and Ural. The advantages of such a rework are that no special changes need to be made. If the product is in good condition, you can even keep the original frame.

The conversion technology is as follows:

Make a rectangular frame from metal pipes or appropriate corners. Its optimal dimensions are 150*43.5 cm.
In addition to the IZh motorcycle, it is necessary to make a steering beam. It is made from metal corners. The optimal dimensions are 50*50*5 mm. Additionally, the beam is sheathed with metal plates.
After this, it can be installed horizontally on the drilling machine. Treat the connection area. Do the same with the frame. In these places you need to make special grooves for reliable fixation. Additionally, attach a corner to the front frame.
Now you can attach the seat for motorcyclists.
You need to make holes in the side members.
A channel must be placed between the front and middle parts of the frame to strengthen the structure.
Regardless of whether the snowmobile is made from a Ural or another model of motorcycle, it is necessary to select a track sprocket and rubber band in advance. The optimal dimensions are 220*30 cm with a thickness of no more than 1 cm.
Before installation, it is recommended to cover the track with nylon, which will allow the material not to delaminate during operation.
Now you can move on to the transmission. It consists of two parts. The first, the front axle, is the drive axle. It is made of a tubular shaft, a track sprocket and a roller. The second is the rear axle. It is made from a caterpillar drum and a tubular shaft.
You need to complete the snowmobile manufacturing process by welding sheet metal skis.

When converting a motorcycle into a snowmobile, it is important not to change the steering system. In the final product, this part must perform its original functions.

The principles of modification are the same, they do not depend on the vehicle model. But the snowmobile from the Ural motorcycle will be heavier.

From Zhiguli

The design of the car is characterized by simplicity, ease of operation and high maneuverability. To make it you need to follow the instructions:

Frame assembly. It's better to make it from pipes. The frame consists of front and central beams (steel pipes with a diameter of 5 cm), two lower diagonal elements (bent pipes with a diameter of 3 cm) and a rear strut. Welding is used to fix the elements.
Installation of steering columns. To do this, you need to place two bushings on the front beam.
Fixing the axle shaft. It is located on the rear frame; first you need to weld the body under it. It is made from a metal pipe with a diameter of 6 cm. Secure the axle shafts using bushings and electric rivets.
Installing a car engine. First you need to make the front and rear fastening units on the central beam of the frame. First they need to be placed on the engine itself, and only then welded to the frame.
In a homemade snowmobile, you can install large diameter wheels or skis made of sheet metal. In the first case, the rear and front wheels need to be connected in pairs with a metal pipe. At the same time, make grooves in the hub for the bearings, which are subsequently secured with spring rings. Additionally, install a spacer between the bearings.
Install a sprocket on each wheel depending on the expected maximum speed. This snowmobile can be used at any time of the year. For a snowy winter, a design in which the front wheels are replaced with skis is suitable.
Installation of the steering system. It is taken whole from a car, for example, from a Zaporozhets, or a motorcycle. The choice depends on personal preference. In the first case, gas, clutch and brake pedals are additionally installed. The gearbox is controlled using a lever and a rigid rod.
Installation of a snowmobile cabin, the role of which is played by the car body.

In a similar way, you can assemble a structure from Oka with your own hands.

From a moped

The easiest way is to make a snowmobile from a scooter with your own hands. This is due to the fact that no special changes will be made to the design. This will allow you to use it as a snowmobile in winter, and as a moped in the warmer months.

Converting a scooter into a snowmobile is carried out using the following technology:

Prepare all the details in advance. You will need a caterpillar, skis (plastic ones are possible), a driven sprocket of the intermediate shaft from a Buran snow scooter, 2 wheels from a children's scooter and 2 wheels with bearings.
Now you can start remaking the moped. For a scooter rider it will be easy. The drive wheel must be removed and replaced with another one of smaller diameter in order to replace the gear ratio. This will reduce the maximum possible speed for scooters of this design, since when driving on snow, the load on the engine increases, which means that high speed can be detrimental to it.
Cut a hole for the shaft from the drive wheel disk, and then make hooks for the caterpillar. Make a bandage from a sheet of metal and attach the hooks to it. The result should be a wheel with hooks.
Connect the drive sprocket to the wheels with bearings.
Make a frame from metal corners.
Attach the ski to the front fork through a special rack. This will allow you to leave the ski on a flat surface when tilting the snowmobile.
Make a small cover over the caterpillar to prevent snow from getting into the body kit.
Make a platform for your feet from a metal sheet.

From the cultivator

A snowmobile made from a cultivator can be wheeled, tracked or combined. The advantage of this design is that there will be a minimum of rework work. It is easiest to make a wheeled one, but homemade tracked snowmobiles are also easy to make from this product. To do this you will need:

Make a frame for a snowmobile from metal pipes. You can use corners instead. The frame should be in the shape of a rectangle.
Attach the seat to the base. It can be a box or any similar device.
Make skis from sheets of metal and then weld them to the frame.
The resulting structure can be attached to a motor cultivator. Now you can pour gasoline into the tank and use the product for its intended purpose.

From Friendship

The Friendship chainsaw has a powerful engine that can propel a small vehicle. Therefore, you can make a mini snowmobile based on it if you follow the instructions:

Frame assembly. To do this, you need to prepare steel corners measuring 50*36 cm or sheets with a thickness of more than 2 mm in advance. Angles are used to assemble the middle part of the frame, and sheets are used for the front and back. The metal is bent at an angle of 90° to ensure the required rigidity of the structure.
Make two through holes that are necessary for attaching the track shaft and track guide wheels. The last parts are installed on both sides of the side members and are designed to adjust the track tension.
Brackets for installing track rollers are attached to the bottom of the side members. It is better to fix these parts by welding.
Place the rollers in rubber covers and fix them on five axes, placing them at the bottom of the grooves. The axles themselves can be attached with nuts or bolts.
Now, between all the elements, install bushings, which are recommended to be made of duralumin.
Make three racks from metal corners. The chainsaw gearbox will be located on them. To strengthen the structure, you can use scarves.
Now you can install the seat on the frame. It should be located between the middle and rear parts of the structure.
The steering wheel will be located in front of the frame. You first need to make a hole for it. A pipe with control handles can act as a steering wheel. To create a control system, it is still better to take equipment from a motorcycle or moped.
Now you need to make the drive shaft. To do this, you can take a metal pipe into which you insert a round flange to fix the gears.

From a motorized dog

A motorized dog is a motorized towing vehicle. It's easy to convert it into a tracked snowmobile. The sequence of actions is no different from the previous options. You can make a snowmobile on tracks with your own hands, following the instructions:

Welding a frame from metal pipes or corners. It is recommended to draw a diagram and determine the dimensions in advance.
Assembly of the track block. In particular, it requires the manufacture of a caterpillar, inside of which wheels of small diameter are installed.
Installation of track block and engine. These parts are mounted on the frame.
Steering column assembly. It is recommended to take a ready-made steering system from a motorized dog and not make any changes to it.
Installation of body and skis. If these parts were made of wood, then they must be coated with enamel before use.

Container

A motorcycle storage container is a sealed metal box that is quite mobile (can be moved if necessary) and sealed. All the pros and cons in one bottle. Yes, it’s easy to install a container in your local area, but intruders can also do this - that is, take and drag away your container along with the motorcycle inside. Airtightness, on the one hand, seems like a plus - it protects against weather conditions, but in reality, the lack of ventilation can contribute to improper humidity, condensation, mold, etc. Ventilation is an important point when storing a motorcycle for a long time.

Winter

Summer

Pros: the container is easy to install and move by yourself, protects from snow and rain.

Cons: not heated, not ventilated, not very reliable.

Manufacturing of individual snowmobile elements

The principle of converting a motorcycle, chainsaw and moped is almost the same. If you learn how to make individual elements, it will be much easier.

Suspension

When converting a vehicle into a snowmobile, special attention is paid to the rear suspension. It definitely needs improvement. To make it you need to prepare:

chassis;
two levers;
connecting rails;
hinges

After preparation, you can begin making the pendant:

The front arm is connected to the sliding rails on one side and to the chassis on the other using hinges.
Do the same with the rear lever.
Position the torsion springs between the sliding rails and the rear torque rod.
Place the fastening of two power elements between the suspension arms.

To secure the suspension, use tie rods.

Engine

Choosing an engine for a snowmobile is an important step, since the power of the vehicle and its ability to move on snowy roads depend on it.

The optimal engine power for a snowmobile is considered to be in the range of 6-30 hp. With.

Therefore, most often these vehicles are made with a Lifan engine or with a part from a motorcycle or moped.

Snowmobile lift

This device may be needed if your snowmobile is stuck in the snow or needs repairs. It’s not difficult to make a kind of jack:

Make a channel-type structure from a metal corner 25 mm wide. Height - 19 cm. Make two holes in the middle for attaching the fork.
Weld a plate to the bottom that will act as a guide. Place a similar part on top, but do not fix it. The distance between them is 14 cm.
Make holes in these plates through which to pass the jack pipe. Make the top one spring-loaded.
Next to the top plate, place another part at an angle, which will act as a hook and hold the spring-loaded part.
Make a fork for the lift. Its length is 12 cm. Fix one side in the channel. Place the second fastening axis at a distance of 67 mm. Insert a piece of pipe into the fork that passes through the second axle. Weld a metal ring to this pipe (you can take a metal plate in which to make additional holes for rubber bands), through which you pass the jack pipe.
Secure this ring with motorcycle rubber bands to the area under the spring of the top plate. To prevent the elastic bands from slipping, they can be secured with screws.

Wheels

For good cross-country ability, the vehicle is built on inner tubes. Snowmobile wheels must be large in diameter. But it is better to equip the structure with skis. They can be made from plywood and large diameter pipes. If there is such an opportunity, then they can be taken from another snowmobile, including a children’s one. Additionally, it will be necessary to make rotation bushings for them, while the presence of bearings in this system is not necessary.

Homemade tracked snowmobiles perform well. It is possible to make this part yourself. The caterpillar is driven by wheels that are located inside it, for which wheels from garden equipment are suitable. The part itself can be made of plastic pipes, even if two-track snow scooters are made. Pipes with a diameter of 4 cm are suitable. If they are cut, they can serve as caterpillar lugs.

Regardless of what vehicle is being converted to a snowmobile, how extensive the modification is, or who built the design, it is recommended that it be tested in an open area first. If they passed without problems, then you can go to longer distances.

Main parts of a moped

First, let's look at the main parts of this technique. In other words, let's take our future scooter apart, so to speak, and find out its main elements so that making a moped is easy.

Engine

It is clear that without a good engine you cannot go far on a scooter. In this case, it is usually installed on the D-6 power unit. Recently, chainsaws have also become very popular, from which a homemade moped is made. In the video instructions you can see in detail how to do this. Chainsaws will be discussed in more detail below.

Exhaust system: forward flow

It is necessary to carefully consider a high-quality exhaust system so that the muffler does not have a negative impact on the power unit with which homemade mopeds are equipped, but, on the contrary, helps to quickly get rid of the remaining air-fuel mixture. A direct flow made by yourself will be what you need.

Suspension: pendulum fork

A pendulum fork that looks much better than other versions of this part of the scooter. The fact is that a large number of varieties of forks can be made, but any expert will confidently tell you that nothing is better than a pendulum one, nothing has been invented yet. As you know, this part of the scooter bears the hardest work. It is the fork that takes the brunt of the impact when going over various bumps, and generally uneven sections of the road. This is a kind of suspension on which the driving characteristics depend. Thanks to the pendulum fork, you can achieve stability of the scooter on any road.

Operating a scooter in winter

The scooter is not intended for use in winter. Therefore, before use, it is necessary to prepare it: wash it from hard lumps of dirt and fill the tank full, otherwise the moped will jam while riding, and the gasoline will run out ahead of time, since in winter any equipment consumes more fuel.

All moving parts of the scooter, except the brake disc, must be lubricated with engine oil before riding in winter - this will allow you to control the scooter and detect a malfunction in time. There are also special liquids that can be used to protect scooter rubber from corrosion, frost and brittleness. They are usually sold in cans.

Another danger of winter trips around the city is the salt that is sprinkled on the road surface. It corrodes the paint and metal parts of not only scooters, but also cars, and additional wiping and treatment with a solution is necessary to protect against damage.

To ride a scooter steadily in winter, you need to change the tires, since regular tires are not designed for snow and ice, but there are also options for winter tires. The installed tires for difficult driving on snow require a pressure 0.3 atmospheres lower than the summer one. Due to strong temperature changes, rubber constantly changes its density and hardness, which can lead to ruptures of the cylinders. To prevent this situation, you need to use special sprayers and wash the disc before and after each trip.

Scooter and tricycle made from a chainsaw

Chainsaws, as mentioned above, are very popular among home craftsmen. They are distinguished by their light weight and dimensions, and in terms of power they are what you need. Today on the Internet you can watch many video tutorials on how to make a tricycle, scooter or moped from a chainsaw. More often mopeds and scooters are made from the Druzhba chainsaw. An old bicycle is also taken, onto which all the parts are installed, including a forward flow muffler.

Muffler

It is the forward flow muffler that becomes almost the main feature of making a homemade scooter, because you need to know some of the secrets of its installation. The forward flow muffler was originally invented for sports cars. A forward flow muffler in itself already increases the power of a scooter engine.

Tools and materials

The required components will be:

supporting elements (wheels, runners or tracks of your choice);
motor;
gear and transmission links;
fuel tank;
movers;
steering controls;
the frame on which all other components rest.

Most often, snowmobiles are not mounted on tracks or skis, as is usually thought, but on wide pneumatic wheels.

But the most passionate people make them with their own hands. The following can be used to make tracks:

conveyor belt;
truck tires;
V-belts.

Additionally you will need:

drive shaft;
drive unit;
gasoline tank;
a star transmitting and receiving impulse;
wheel axles;
pendants;
body;
one or more seats;
welding machine;
files;
screwdrivers;
grinding machines;
fasteners (nuts, bolts, screws);
drill;
drill;
saw for metal.

Final decision

Touring enduros can be divided into two types. The former feel great in off-road conditions and cope excellently with any conditions on the road, but are less comfortable when driving on the highway. The latter, on the contrary, are comfortable, but can fail in difficult areas.

There is always some dualism in choosing such a motorcycle. As a rule, almost any route consists mainly of driving on the highway, and only some, although often the most beautiful places, will have to be driven off-road, which may turn out to be quite passable under normal weather conditions. Therefore, you should decide what is better: to endure inconvenience during the main route, but easily pass difficult places, or to drive comfortably along the highway and “sweat” through difficulties.