JD Snowmobile Covers

[johnnycyclone]

In my never ending quest to find covers for my sleds, I have finally decided to give up and make my own. I'm tired of using old bed sheets as a cover for my Liquifire, so this is the solution I am working on.

The first part of the project is to make a custom fit soft cover for both of my fire series sleds and for my 77 sled. The material I have selected for this cover is Tech Fleece 200. It is a very soft material, and it has some weight to it, so it should do a good job protecting the hood. If you have a lot of time and money invested in the paint job on your hood this is a good way of protecting it.

The cover for my Sportfire is going to serve as a pattern for the whole sled cover, the 77 will be based off of this cover also. John Deere did a real nice job on making this cover, but I think there is room for some improvement.

The main areas I would like to improve on.
1. Choice of material - There are some newer materials that are available now that were not available 30 years ago, I will highlight my front runner as far as materials in the end.
2. Fit - Fit is near perfect but it can use some improvement in the windhshield handlebar area. I am also going to slope it a little different from the windshield to the back of the seat, so snow doesn't sit on the seat.
3. Stitching - The covers I have are single stitched seams. I would like to go with double stitched seams, and finished hems.
4. Tie downs - There seems to be room for improvement on the way the cover is held into place.
5. Reinforcement - The cover I have doesn't have much reinforcement in key areas where abrasion could wear through the cover. This will be improved.

As of right now the front runner for the material that I am going to use is WeatherMax. This is a short blurb from there website:

A unique engineered polymer material designed specifically for constant outdoor use. It is extremely UV resistant and extremely resistant to fading and color loss. This material provides breathe ability, abrasion resistant and eliminates sagging. This material is also water repellant and mildew resistant, and unlike coated fabrics will not crack in cold weather. Due to this material’s special formulation it cleans easily with mild detergent. Mildew stains are easily removed with a solution of 1 cup of bleach and ½ cup of mild detergent in a gallon of water, without affecting the color fastness of the material. Eco-friendly WeatherMax fabric is 100% recyclable.

Polyester and Acrylic Polyester are some of the leading materials for making covers. Here are some of the numbers comparing WeatherMax to Acrylic.

Abrasion Resistance - WeatherMax 600 cycles to 90 cycles for Acrylics
Hydrostatic Pressure - WeatherMax is 67% more water resistant than Acrylics
Fabric Strength - 390 lbs, this is the number that determines if a fabric can with stand trailering.
Tear Strength - WeatherMax is 20 lbs. Acrylics - 9 lbs.
Colorfastness - 5 years.
Temperature - Tested to -41 degress, with no cracking.

So far it's a front runner but the decision has not been made, I have a few more to look into.

Early estimates would put the soft cover at around $50 and the complete cover at around $150 to make. Will these be available for sale? Not sure yet, labor will be a factor and also how well they turn out. If anyone is interested let me know. I will post some pics when I get the first prototype done.

[I500]

If you made the cover on the bottom pic than you did a great job. Do you do requests?

[SpitfireKing]

That's a factory cover, but making one wouldn't be impossible but to use the good quality canvas u need a special sowing machine, with a reverser I'm told.... My parents have one without but it's a pain to use unless your a pro

[johnnycyclone]

I hit the submit button a little premature, the post has been updated.

[johnnycyclone]

That's a factory cover, but making one wouldn't be impossible but to use the good quality canvas u need a special sowing machine, with a reverser I'm told.... My parents have one without but it's a pain to use unless your a pro

My wife has been sewing for 30+ years, she owns a machine that cost over $2000, and can sew 2x4's together using about 100 different stitches.

And yes that is a original factory cover that is going to be used as a template. The new one should fit better, look better, and last better than this one.

[I500]

If you use a nylon type material than put me down for 2 . Canvas scratches and not needing one for trailering.

[johnnycyclone]

If you use a nylon type material than put me down for 2 . Canvas scratches and not needing one for trailering.

I have samples of Nylon already, I'm just waiting for samples of Polyester, Acrylic Polyester, WeatherMax and a few other fabrics. Once I have the pattern finalized the cover could be made from any material, so it's entirely possible these can be made from Nylon. Would you want a coated Nylon so it is waterproof, or is that not a concern?

[Norton]

I would be interested in one storage cover too. Have had little luck with covers on the trailer. The 77 and not the Fire series.

keith

[SpitfireKing]

That's a factory cover, but making one wouldn't be impossible but to use the good quality canvas u need a special sowing machine, with a reverser I'm told.... My parents have one without but it's a pain to use unless your a pro

My wife has been sewing for 30+ years, she owns a machine that cost over $2000, and can sew 2x4's together using about 100 different stitches.

And yes that is a original factory cover that is going to be used as a template. The new one should fit better, look better, and last better than this one.

My mother has made me a few seat covers over the last couple years but fought thru it with her regular machine too, and if your thinking of your wife's Surger that wouldn't be much help on a heavy material, my moms got one of those too that does all the different patterns

Don't put yourself in the doghouse with a broken sewing machine

I catch heck every time I ask for one

[johnnycyclone]

Thanks for the tip Spitfire, the good thing is I am the one that bought her the machine, so hopefully that would carry some weight if it were to break. Not likely eh? It's not much of a worry though, I bought her a pretty heavy duty machine, it's not a serger, or like a typical sewing machine. It's designed to handle pretty much anything you can get under the needle including thick wools, leather and multiple layers of material. The good thing is most of the fabrics I have looked at so far for covers including canvas will easily work with this machine. We have done some preliminary sewing with the heaviest samples so far and no issues, it has handled it with ease. Thanks again....Terre

[I500]

I would be in for 2 dust covers. Would not trailer. I kind of vision just like the original that you have pictured for an 80,s sled but the area that is orangeish would be swapped out to Dator green. <no stripping> Now that would be cool but willing to go with what ever colors you come up with.

Thanks for even thinking about the attempt.

[DeereKid9]

I am kind of lost here. Are you making covers for the 80 series LF? And if so, I would like 2 non trailering type.

Bob

[johnnycyclone]

I would be in for 2 dust covers. Would not trailer. I kind of vision just like the original that you have pictured for an 80,s sled but the area that is orangeish would be swapped out to Dator green. <no stripping> Now that would be cool but willing to go with what ever colors you come up with.

Thanks for even thinking about the attempt.

I have been sitting and staring at 15 different samples of Nylon for the last 2 days Chuck, and I think I know which one I'm going to go with for my first dust cover. It comes in a few different colors and although it's not labeled as Dator green, it might be close. Let me get one put together, probably just in black and send it out to you to evaluate. If it passes the test we can see about making a couple more. I will need to secure my labor force first and then finalize the cost to make one. Right now I am just guessing. I pretty know what the materials cost, but I don't know what it will take to put one together. I think we will be close at the previous price stated, but once one is done we will know for sure. Did you want a Dator yellow stripe to go along with the Dator green?

[johnnycyclone]

I am kind of lost here. Are you making covers for the 80 series LF? And if so, I would like 2 non trailering type.

Bob

Bob,
Let me see if I can clear this up.

1. I'm not happy with my current choices on covers for my sleds, old bed sheets and an old JD cover that really doesn't do anything to protect the sled.
2. Universal covers to me just ain't right, been there, done that. I would like a nice, high quality, custom fit, cover for each of my sleds.
3. I decided to make my own covers, for each of my sleds, (see list of sleds below) using the cover in the first post as a template, of course with certain improvements.
4. My original intent was to make soft hood covers and a cover that could withstand the winter weather. This is now turning into soft hood covers, dust covers and outdoor covers.
5. I have made this knowledge public because I may have the opportunity to hire some one reasonably to sew the covers for me, I just can't sew multiple covers, no time. This has not been finalized just yet. I need to produce a finished cover before we can make the decision on whether to mass produce these in quantity. I think it will come together, but I just want to give everyone a heads up.

I think this about does it, I will know more once one is finished. Right now I still have a lot of decisions to make on the final product. What ever happens the cover(s) have to be first rate, or I won't do it. I wouldn't want to sell anyone junk. If you have any more question feel free to ask...Terre

[JDCornFlakes]

Are you considering any screen painting like originals with stripes and logos ?