I am going to be doing a good amount of riding in the snow this winter on my Eiger 4x4. My buddy has a cabin on a small mountain on his property that we go up to and camp at during the winter. I was thinking about putting a set of snowmobile skis on an old utility trailer that I have. The trailer is about 4ftx3ft, about the size of a lawnmower trailer but beefier. This would make bringing the generator and beer and stuff up the hill much easier. My question is, do you guys think this will work well, or would I be wasting my time to even bother. I haven't had the Eiger in the snow yet but I've heard it'll handle 8-10 inches with ease. How much snow will it tow through? How about up hill?

 

i say try it! sounds like a good idea. a snow mobile dont have tires,it has skis. theres gotta be a reason for it. works better than tires?

 

May as well give it a shot. Eigers do OK in the snow. If you are only looking at 8-10 inches, you might try the trailer unmodified and see how it does. If it doesn't get around, then try the skis, or chains on the Eiger.

I wouldn't go play in deeper snow unless you or another machine with you has a good winch.

The trail of waist deep snow you zoomed up with no problems just after dawn could turn into an exercise in winching from tree to tree once the afternoon sun softens the crust...

 

I live in CT and we usually don't get more than 8 inches at a time, which sucks 'cause I love the snow. If it gets stuck my brother has a snowmobile to tow me out and if that doesn't work I'll get it with my Jeep which has a locker, 34" super swampers, and a winch, among other things. The Jeep will go through 14+ inches of snow no problem. The reason I was gonna put the skis on the trailer is because it doesn't have an axle, wheels, or tires so I figured it would be simple to just mount the skis to the bottom of the leaf springs.

 

Yeah, go try the skis then.

A winch would still be a nice addition, though, for general purposes. Even if you have another machine you could go get to drag it out, it still stinks to have to hike to go get it.

 

if you're going to be going thru deep snow you want tall skinny tires. They'll put you to the ground the quickest which is where the traction will be. For the wagon... you want something that will ride along in the same ruts... if the ground clearance isn't as high as the quad, then you'll be draggin it thru the snow.

If you want to stick skiis on it, put them directly under the wagon and not where the tires would be. They need to sit inline with the frame of the quad, between the tires...

 

I live in the Western mountains of Maine, and when the snow gets to about 1 foot
deep level ground travel is marginal, but to climb a grade or hill is out. You might
make it up the grade in the atv, but towing a trailer of any kind will drive you over
the edge with problems.