I helped my 12 year old son buy his first sled from a buddy of mine. My friend wanted $2,700 for the sled. He said he would give it to him for $2,300 if Tim (My son) would work at the barn for 40 hours cleaning stalls, spreading manuer, stuff like that. He said great. I told him "You not off the hook yet" and proceded to tell him that I wanted $500 in my hands by the end of the summer to help me pay for this sled.
I did this because 1) It is the right thing to do to have him help pay for his fun, and 2) just maybe he will treat the sled better that way and take care of it.
He handed me $500 after baby sitting, mowing lawns, painting etc. Took him all summer to come up with the cash. (Well it all was not exactly cash, about $50 of it was Itunes gift cards, a target gift card, and a Cabelas gift card. I balked at this but his mother pressed me to let it go, which I did)
Fast forward to last February. We went up to Visit my buddy Hilly on Snowest here. Tim brought his sled along to ride with Hillys girls around his yard.
As he was starting his sled, I yelled to him "Hey Tim did you check the oil? Remember, you need to do that every time you start the sled"
Tim: "Yep, dad I sure did and its just fine" (He was so excited apparently to get riding, that he would have said anything to get on that sled and go)
Me: "Ok then go have fun"
Me and Hilly were inside having a cocktail when Tim and Hilly's girls go over to another field 1/4 mile away. They were gone a long time. Suddenly my cell phone rang
Tim: "Dad?"
Me: "What"
Tim: "My sled died and I cannot even pull it to get it started, somethings wrong"
Me: "Tim do me a favor, open up the oil fill cap and tell me what you see"
Tim: ----------Silence---------------
Me: "Did you hear me?"
Tim: "ok"
Tim: "The oil tank is empty"
Me: now really pissed because he lied to me about checking the oil level "Ok Tim I will be there in a few minutes"
So I threw a gallon of oil in the back of Hilly's truck and head over to where Tim and the girls were in the field.
I walk up in knee deep snow with my tennis shoes on (I am royally p!$$ed at this point because I know exactly what the problem is)
Me: "Tim WTF, you could not have checked the oil. You didn't did you?"
Tim: "No, I guess not"
Me: "GTF out of the way and let me see if I can break this thing loose (Which almost never happens, 99.99999% of the time, the motor, crank, cylinder, piston, one or all of those is toast)
He was crying with his back to Hilly's girls so they could not see him.
Me: "YOu crying? F'in right you should be crying. This is potentially a $1,000 mistake. And buddy boy, guess who is going to pay for fixing YOUR stupidity? Thats right ,,,,,,,,,,,, YOU!"
Tim: "Dad, I promise, I will work doubly hard and pay you back every dollar"
Me: "Well, lets see what the deal is with this sled first, but probably you will be paying"
Took the spark plugs out and poured a few table spoons of oil into the cylinders. Grabbed the primary and started to work it back and forth. Then added more oil, repeat, more oil repeat. Finally it worked its way loose.
Me: "Well, it looks like me might have at least partially dodged a bullet. BTW take this oil can and fill up the oil tank ALL the way"
Put the spark plugs back in and told him to start it. It took about 25 pulls, but finally it started and smoked like a mother.....
Me: "Now, I put a bunch of oil in the gas tank, go ride it. It will either grenade itself, or it will be just fine, but stay close to the house, if it grenades, I dont want to be pulling that thing 2 miles back here"
I checked the compression, just fine on both sides........ I think he got very lucky. I have never seized an engine in my life without having at least a piston or a cylinder get taken out. He rode it for another several hours and it runs just fine. Now, if it were 10 years ago, I would have opened up the top end and fully checked the cylinders and pistons, but now, if it runs, its probably alright.
It ended well, but he ALWAYS checks the oil every morning before we ride, LOL
By the way, the sled is a 2002 Summit 700
I did this because 1) It is the right thing to do to have him help pay for his fun, and 2) just maybe he will treat the sled better that way and take care of it.
He handed me $500 after baby sitting, mowing lawns, painting etc. Took him all summer to come up with the cash. (Well it all was not exactly cash, about $50 of it was Itunes gift cards, a target gift card, and a Cabelas gift card. I balked at this but his mother pressed me to let it go, which I did)
Fast forward to last February. We went up to Visit my buddy Hilly on Snowest here. Tim brought his sled along to ride with Hillys girls around his yard.
As he was starting his sled, I yelled to him "Hey Tim did you check the oil? Remember, you need to do that every time you start the sled"
Tim: "Yep, dad I sure did and its just fine" (He was so excited apparently to get riding, that he would have said anything to get on that sled and go)
Me: "Ok then go have fun"
Me and Hilly were inside having a cocktail when Tim and Hilly's girls go over to another field 1/4 mile away. They were gone a long time. Suddenly my cell phone rang
Tim: "Dad?"
Me: "What"
Tim: "My sled died and I cannot even pull it to get it started, somethings wrong"
Me: "Tim do me a favor, open up the oil fill cap and tell me what you see"
Tim: ----------Silence---------------
Me: "Did you hear me?"
Tim: "ok"
Tim: "The oil tank is empty"
Me: now really pissed because he lied to me about checking the oil level "Ok Tim I will be there in a few minutes"
So I threw a gallon of oil in the back of Hilly's truck and head over to where Tim and the girls were in the field.
I walk up in knee deep snow with my tennis shoes on (I am royally p!$$ed at this point because I know exactly what the problem is)
Me: "Tim WTF, you could not have checked the oil. You didn't did you?"
Tim: "No, I guess not"
Me: "GTF out of the way and let me see if I can break this thing loose (Which almost never happens, 99.99999% of the time, the motor, crank, cylinder, piston, one or all of those is toast)
He was crying with his back to Hilly's girls so they could not see him.
Me: "YOu crying? F'in right you should be crying. This is potentially a $1,000 mistake. And buddy boy, guess who is going to pay for fixing YOUR stupidity? Thats right ,,,,,,,,,,,, YOU!"
Tim: "Dad, I promise, I will work doubly hard and pay you back every dollar"
Me: "Well, lets see what the deal is with this sled first, but probably you will be paying"
Took the spark plugs out and poured a few table spoons of oil into the cylinders. Grabbed the primary and started to work it back and forth. Then added more oil, repeat, more oil repeat. Finally it worked its way loose.
Me: "Well, it looks like me might have at least partially dodged a bullet. BTW take this oil can and fill up the oil tank ALL the way"
Put the spark plugs back in and told him to start it. It took about 25 pulls, but finally it started and smoked like a mother.....
Me: "Now, I put a bunch of oil in the gas tank, go ride it. It will either grenade itself, or it will be just fine, but stay close to the house, if it grenades, I dont want to be pulling that thing 2 miles back here"
I checked the compression, just fine on both sides........ I think he got very lucky. I have never seized an engine in my life without having at least a piston or a cylinder get taken out. He rode it for another several hours and it runs just fine. Now, if it were 10 years ago, I would have opened up the top end and fully checked the cylinders and pistons, but now, if it runs, its probably alright.
It ended well, but he ALWAYS checks the oil every morning before we ride, LOL
By the way, the sled is a 2002 Summit 700
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But now after buying 3 of my own sleds and breaking about everything possible on them, blowing up numerous times, learning to change skies, to handlebars, to tracks, to completley rebuilding a motor, and having to pay for most of all of it my self, i've learned a great deal from my dad for getting after me for stupid mistakes.
