Simmons ski's

[BordnBill]

Has anyone taken the ski loop off of a Simmon's ski? My saddles are rusting for some reason, so I was going to take off the saddles and have them powercoated. Is there any issue powercoating the saddles? It looks like to remove the saddle, that you have to remove the front of the loop from the front of the ski and thread the flexi loop from the front thru the saddle? I'm assuming this is a pretty easy to do item, but need to make sure in order to go out in the dark tonight to remove them. Would hate to find out if it's an absolute pain in the arse.

 

[BordnBill]

Doesn't matter now. I removed the front hardware to the ski loop, but I couldn't thread it thru the loop holder or the saddle because where the welded part is on the saddle. Only have about 2" between where the loop threads to the saddle and the welded piece that holds the OEM rubber for the spindle bolt. If I ever broke the loop, I don't think I can just simply replace the loop. Either way, I've got an email fired off to Hope at Simmons with pictures. I talked to her earlier and she said that they have seen very little rust on there after years of being on the sled.

 

[BordnBill]

Here's a picture.

 

[BordnBill]

And another.

 

[BordnBill]

And the last.

 

[swelly]

To me it looks like the rust is coming from the nuts and weeping down to the stainless.

You can leave the loops on the skis, just undo the mounts and turn them some and the handle will slide on out.

Just did it when I installed new carbides.

 

[tapex_07]

I agree swelly, it really looks like the rust is from the mount bolts and running down on the saddle...

 

[Super Sled]

swelly and Tapex have it right -- it's your fanged eye bolts and the nuts that are rusting, not your ski saddle. I had this happen on an older set of Simmons I had. I believe it was from road salt. Anyways I actually has a bolt break on me, never lost a ski, but it did rust through. I spoke with Hope and she very graciously sent out new hardware to me at no cost. They have excellent customer service.

 

[swelly]

I love cool vendors. Snowmobile Vendors are some of the best in the world.

 

[BordnBill]

I figured since the saddle is stainless, the hardware would be stainless. Hope thought it was, but went to my local nuts and bolts shop today, and they are not stainless. So I picked up enough stainless nuts to replace what's on there.

 

[BordnBill]

Hope just emailed back and said that Val will send out a new set of hardware and to return the one's that are rusted. He said that it's not suppose to do that.

On a side note... does anyone know the spindle bolt torque spec? I seemed to have lost my Simmons sheet that came with the skis that has all that info on it. Thanks.