The Tool You Don’t Carry Does You No Good

Welcome to our “From Problem to Product” blog, where we tell the stories behind the inspiration for some of our most popular product designs. We share how a problem we faced out there riding inspired the Mountain Lab product that provides a solution.

Wide Open Throttle (WOT) Snowmobile Tool Kit: The Tool You Don’t Carry Does You No Good

The Problem: Big, Bulky Tool Kits

Something we had been thinking about and wanting to do for a while was to bring a powersports specific field repair tool kit to market.

Why do it, you might ask? Most riders have a collection of tools around their shops already. Why not just wrap up a bunch of those and bring them with you? Yup, this is how we used to do it too.

Here are some of the problems of bringing along some of the shop tools you may already have:

1. Typically, consumer shop tools are sized for bigger jobs, like light truck and car duty. That means they are bulky and heavier than what we need for most powersports repair jobs. You definitely don’t need 1/2” (or even 3/8” in most cases) drive and sockets for example. Sure, hefty tools are great in a shop for big jobs, but not when you have to carry them.
2. Standard tool kits aren’t meant to leave the shop. The range of tools you’ll need for just about any modern snowmobile field repair is surprisingly quite small when you dig into it. You won’t need 90% the stuff that comes in tool kit you get from Canadian Tire or NAPA. It’s better to have a very specific selection of tools for handling only the jobs you’re likely to encounter while riding, and a convenient way to carry them.
3. Otherwise, if you’re pulling tools out of your shop set for riding, then they need to go back there between rides or else you’ll be missing those tools for other jobs. It’s ideal to have a dedicated set that can be committed to your riding adventures.
4. Taking your tools out riding is actually really hard on them. They’re exposed to all kinds of jostling and hits, and worse, water exposure. Ultimately, those tools are likely to suffer corrosion and damage from water, snow and mud if they’re not well protected.

Manyn powersports vehicle fasteners do not require a high torque specification, so a lightweight 1/4" drive does the trick and keeps the weight down. Often a t-handle is the quickest way to remove a small bolt or nut

We’re riders after all, and we recognized a need for a repair tool kit that is designed specifically for snowmobiles, the field repairs they may need and in a size you’re actually willing to bring with you.

The Product: Wide Open Throttle (WOT) Tool Kit

Before the WOT Tool Kit, this same line of thinking led us to develop our Backcountry tool kit (covered in a different blog post) which is larger and geared more for general powersports use  with a wider assortment tools.

Based on the success of the Backcountry tool kit, we wanted to refine even further the selection of tools into a kit specifically for snowmobiling. There’s no sense carrying around tools you’re never going to need especially where storage and carrying capacity is even more limited as in the case of a snowmobile compared to a side-by-side or a big highway cruising bike for example.

If you choose carefully, all the tools we need can fit in one hand

For mountain riding in particular, you could generally say we’re trying to go as light as possible. But it’s also in our best interest to be adequately prepared for the sort of mechanical mishaps that can tend to happen in the backcountry. Or the front country for that matter. Towing a sled is not fun, and if you can do a quick fix and keep riding, even better. And it’s sure a heck of lot cheaper that a helicopter recovery. So that was the impetus for the WOT tool kit.

To refine down the list of tools in the kit, we looked at every fastener (short of pulling the engine) found on all late model sleds from Ski-Doo, Lynx, Polaris, Arctic Cat and Yamaha to determine what tools would make the cut.

An early WOT tool kit prototype. We tested lightweight wrenches (shown) but found they were not strong enough

First, we wanted to make the kit work universally well for all makes and models. That means including all the basic tools needed but omitting any model specific ones, like for example a 1/8^th Allen for adjusting belt deflection on a Polaris secondary. That doesn’t help a guy on a Lynx. It’s just added weight and size in that case.

An early layout sketch, before we determine that rolling would maximize space efficiency better than an accordian fold

The layout of this early prototype was adjusted to allow for a tighter roll

Looking closer at each fastener, we had to consider that in some places a wrench won’t fit but a socket will. In other cases, like an exhaust temp sensor for example, an open-ended wrench is required. Or, in another specific example, to remove or tighten the carbides on a Doo, a standard 13 mm socket is barely deep enough, so we include a deep 13 mm socket instead.

In other cases, you might need to turn two of the same size fasteners at the same time. In many of these instances, one tool can be a socket and the other can be a wrench. So we can eliminate redundancy (aka bulk and weight) that way by not doubling up on everything. 

And then there is the odd case, for example the rear shock mounts on the RMK, which require two 17 mm tools. Since this is a rare case, to save on weight we include only one 17 mm wrench and 6” needle nose locking pliers. This combination is more versatile and can hold the nut from spinning well enough to get the job done in a crunch for those few and far between exceptions.

Reducing the size and weight of the kit as much possible demanded careful considerations like these.

As needed, brand specific or additional tools can be added by the user—there is a little bit of extra space designed into the case specifically for this reason. Personally, I add a small folding knife/saw multi-tool in there for any cutting I might have to do, as well as a few extra zip ties for backup.

Our first stab at sizing an EVA carry case proved to be too big when the tool organizer is rolled tightly, so the size and shape was further optimized

After all our efforts, we managed to get all the tools we need into a waterproof and protective custom EVA case with tool organizer roll inside.

The WOT snowmobile tool kit weighs in at 1256 grams (2 lb 12 oz. ) and compact 230 x 105 x 65 mm (9 x 4 x 2.5 in.)

We hope you find it to be the right solution for you. And may you never need it!

 

– Pat Winslow, Mountain Lab Product Manager