On the tooling and gearing part - it really does seem this has become almost dead, you do not see this much anymore, at least I do not, people in the garages working on cars, sleds, bikes, lawn mowers, etc....be it kids or dad in his 30's & 40's these days.
As a new younger person with limited resources, this is how so many in the past could afford to sled, and was also part of the fun of owning a sled, working with friends on them, etc....., and this is also when things were more reasonable from a cost of living standpoint.
Just another thing that I think deters people from the sport and powersports in general.
"Sledding ain't dead" - but it sure has and will continue to change, like so much else in life, it will never be the same as it once was, but you can still make the best of it and have a ton of fun if you have the desire & resources.
Even the OFSC has curbed their stance or initiatives on getting new riders, they tried and as many has said, it did not add to the permit buyers - they need to determine year to year what is needed to support the current system based on the pieces and set the price accordingly based off of that.