Post by dando127 on Nov 9, 2021 6:00:00 GMT
775TnT
Decided to freshen up the skis on the 1971 and 1970 Nordic. Easy to remove the leaf springs from the skis to get blasted, but will take some compression to the leaf springs to reassemble the skis.
Any successful recommendations as to compressing the leaf spring onto the ski so the front pin can be assembled after being painted?
Thank you in advance.
Before ski disassembly:
1970TNT
I JUST PUT THE FRONT OF THE SPRING IN FIRST. YETI
775TnT
Once the front pin is in, one has to compress the leaf spring down to allow the rear pin to be able to be inserted into the rear of the leaf spring.
I was wondering if people just allow the weight of the sled to compress the leaf spring down, and then insert the rear pin?
Or what is used to compress the leaf spring down for ski assembly prior to attaching ski to sled?
Thanks in advance.
1970TNT
I USE BOOTS HE IS GOOD AT COMPRESSING SPRINGS YA JUST GET SOMEONE TO HELP YA YETI
Joe Olympique
1. Install main spring only, rear pin first, front pin second.
2. Loosely align remaining springs on top of the main.
Run a long bolt or punch through the front saddle hole to index
all springs together.
3. Wrap a towel around the front of the spring cluster to protect
paint and clamp with vice grips to compress all springs.
4. Remove guide bolt.
5. Install ski saddle, rear hole first. Snug but not tight. You have to
be off-set a bit from the front hole to avoid the vice grips.
6. Remove vice grips and fasten the front saddle bolt.
775TnT
Unfortunately I'm having trouble with disassembling the 1971 Nordic leaf spring unit from the ski itself.
The 1971 Nordic ski has a ski housing welded to the ski in the front and rear of the ski (which was not present in 1970). The assembled leaf spring unit fits within the front and rear ski housings.
I removed the front and rear leaf spring pins, thus somewhat freeing the leaf spring.
My question is without disassembling each leaf from the spring, how does one remove the assembled leaf spring unit from the ski after the front and rear pins have been removed? One would think that after the pins are removed from the leaf spring, one would be able to lift the leaf spring out from the ski as in 1970. BUT the 1971 new welded ski housings are preventing me from separating the leaf spring unit from the ski as seen below.
Thank you for any help.
oly_man
To get the bottom leaf in and out of that ski it has to be bent. Each end has to come towards each other as you'd expect, but to be able to do that - its a whole lot easier if you unbolt the leafs from each other. If you dont you are losing the little amount of bend you get at the center of the leaf.
No matter what way you do it you have to force that big spring to shrink up enough to clear one end or the other of the ski. I found it best to take the leafs apart so that i could clean off the rust on all sides of each leaf and then repaint them each, but to each their own.
775TnT
Thank you Joe Olympique and oly_man for procedure. The goal was to just "freshening-up" the skis, however to doo it right will require to disassemble the leaf spring unit.
Oh well. The bright spot with the project is that it is 80 degrees this week to attack the project.
Thank you again for the correct direction.
775TnT
Love these "freshening up" projects that always turn into a slippery slope.
Tried to save some $ and went with the rattle can of Krylon Sunburst Yellow. In the store it seemed like a good match. Got the skis repainted after being sand blasted. Reassembled and was satisfied with the fresh look of the skis.
Returned to the garage several times during the week and "something" was wrong. Then it occurred to me that the skis looked like some kid tried to save some $ by painting the skis an "off' color. In other words, it looked like crap.
Took a spare headlight door to an automotive paint company and had them match the color of the headlight door.
Re-prepped the skis and re-shot the correct color. Then re-assembled the leaf springs/ski combo.
I then noticed that close to 50 years of boot scuffs and moisture entrapment messed with the chassis. Remove the back rest and seat for repair and re-paint. The Slippery Slope.
I still have my 1972 775TnT. Why would anyone spend this amount of time with a slow family machine? Well, the Nordic was the first form of powered independence and freedom that will long be cherished, hence the energy expended to keep her fresh in appearance and function. Round two with the 1970 Nordic to be addressed next.
Thanks again for the direction of ski preparation.
Joe Olympique
Now that's a Nordic. I love it. Beautiful job, gorgeous sled. As Dave Barnhill once told me...doo it right or doo it over. Now you can appreciate those words of wisdom.
oly_man
Right on man - that looks better than new! Definitely worth the re-doo! What kind of paint did you end up going with? I have to do some yellow on a 71 txt myself and want to try to get a better match than a rattle can from the store, just like you wrote about.
Cheers
GaWajn
Looks awesome!
VSDPS
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. As Joe Oly stated, I did say that and had the same experience with a 70 Olympique cab re paint. And like you I did it over. With much better results.
775TnT
Oly_man, I just took the '71 Nordic headlight door to a local automotive paint company asking them to match it. Was about $25.00 for the '71 color. Also took the 1970 Nordic 399 backrest and had them match the inside of the backrest color. Another $25.00 for the '70 color. They nailed both colors "right on". Really no formula on the paint except "PPG with Custom Formula" which wasn't revealed. Hope that helps.
As previously mentioned, I freshened up the '70 Nordic 399 skis also. Same slippery slope with the chassis boot scuffs and moisture entrapped chassis light surface rust. Cleaned and repainted the chassis along with leaf springs and skis.
Yeah...I do have a soft spot for the early Nordics. First picture is the Krylon Sunburst yellow on the '70 skis. That color shade was just wrong.
Again guys, thanks for the correct direction and feedback. It truly is appreciated. It also is quite remarkable that I have been riding these Ski Doos for 50 years now. Where did that time go?
Doo640ER
Absolutely beautiful Nordics you have there 775TnT. I really need to give my 72 Nordic some TLC just as you have done. Did you use the John Deere Medium Gloss Black on the chassis of both sleds? Are they all original otherwise in the windshield and chrome departments? Just really nice eye candy there. I can drink a lot of beer just staring at those!
