1973 T'NT Page

AWESOME!!! Is the only thing I can think of for the 1973 model year and the slogan above said it all. The most startling thing was that the T'NTs weren't yellow and black. There were two series of the T'NTs. The fan-cooled came on the basic 15in chassis , but they had new hoods and seats. The fasinating thing was that the hoods and chassis were painted silver. Other than a small reflective yellow stripe at the base of the hood. Who would of known it was a Ski-Doo. The "Silver Bullet" as this perticular model had come to be known as, came in a new 293cc engine, along with the 340 and 440. The bigger power plants, the 640 and 775 were dropped from the 1973 model year. The "Silver Bullets" were a different color because they were promoted as the 15th anniversary sled of Ski-Doo snowmobiles, as the first "little Ski-Doo's" were manufactured in 1958. The sliver bullet came equipped with either bogie wheels or slide rail suspension. The slide rail suspension had a new single rail design. Prior slide suspension's had a double rail suspension. The slide rail also incorpated the use of a shock absorber attached to a rear arm.

In my own personal opinion, the new 1973 free air was definitely one of the sharpest T'NTs other that the RV's that appeared later. The hood came in a yellow, black, white and orange color scheme. The frame and belly pan was new and made out of aluminum. The frame was also the first production sled that Ski-Doo made that featured the engine mounted forwarded. Again the Blizzard was the first to use this concept in their 1972 models. There was two new Rotax free air engines, both equipped with dual carb's. Both had tapered PTO ends so that they could accept an all new high performance clutch. The clutches were built under license from Polaris, and refered to as the HP clutch. Ski-Doo encountered many problems with the clutches. They were prone to vibration failure and were recalled by Ski-Doo and replaced with a Roller Square Shaft unit. The T'NT F/As were equipped with a jackshaft that mounted the drive pulley on the left side and the chaincase on the right. The track was also brand new with fiberglass rods instead on the steel reinforced rods. This provided some flexing in the track and a lighter weight. The life of the track was also greatly improved. This concept in track construction is still used today.

There were a number on mechanical problems, one was the the aluminum front cross member was prone to bend under extreme riding conditions. This would cause the ski post to twist. Another was that the piston skirts were prone to crack.

The F/As dominated the stock classes for the 1972-1973 season. The speed, power and handling was outstanding even with the problems they had.