Bolens Diablo Rouge and Hus Ski Discussion Forums

got my 444 hus ski going to day but found that the recoil would not go back in all the way and would not flip the engine over enouff to start i ended up takeing the recoil off and raping a rope around the pulley then started quite easly has any one else run into this problem and if they have how did you fix it

Well, Wallis1924 you may be looking at the famous JLO recoil rebuild! You will have to a take a deep breath and approach it with caution. First thing...was it very cold when it would not return? Did it return properly last year when you stopped driving?

That is a very common problem with JLO recoils. On the inside of the recoil you will see a sheet metal plate held on with machine screws. Take this plate off and clean all the old, thick grease off of it with brakeclean or something similiar. There is also another sheetmetal plate down lower that needs to be cleaned. In between these plates are two "dogs" and 4 small "pucks". Each pair of "pucks has a small spring in between them. All these parts get gummed up and need to be cleaned. On most vintage/antique sled forums, people say to assemble all these parts dry. I haven't had good luck with putting them together dry. I use ATF or other light weight oil as a lubricant on the surface of the sheetmetal plates. Below the second sheetmetal plate is the sheave that the steel cable is wrapped around, don't remove this if you don't have to, because there is also a rewind spring under the sheave and it can be troublsome to get back together. As far as the oil or don't oil theory, what have other people done?

Barrie, I wasn't trying to interupt your analasis with Wallis 1924, you just happened to answer while I was typing. What to you do, assemble these recoils dry or lube them?

Actually you have told him all I would have, thanks for saving my typing fingers. I assemble with a light coating of oil on the cups and dog pins. However if this minor dismantling doesn't work, the more critical problem may be rust on the recoil spring. The spring must also slide upon itself. If the spring is rusty, then it is sluggish on the return. If you get good recoil with the minor dismantle, then your problem is most likely solved. The rope sheave rotates on a post on the inside of the recoil housing. This post can be oiled by removing the nylon plug with "JLO" on it, which is on the outside center of the recoil housing.

the recoile did work ok but was slow in rewinding when it was cold but it was not very cold last night i replaced the paws and cups last year wich helped a little and sanded the rust off of the plates but i did not tuch the spring i wounder what would happen if i oiled it for i put it together dry

Before you tackle the spring it is worthwhile to oil the cups and see how it works. Be prepared to go to the heart of your recoil. There is an outside chance that the end is broken off your recoil spring. It works for awhile due to rust issues and old sluggish oil but eventually the spring relaxes and has no more tension to pull the cord back in.

i had a look at the recoil and noticed that thier is side to side movement in the drum that the cable is wound on also when you pull the cable and it rewindes it sounds like the drum is hiting something metal and wont turn any more even if i try to turn it with pliers

Sounds like you have a worn recoil drum post. With constant tension fromt the spring, the drum causes more wear on one side of the post than the other thus creating an oval post rather than round. With wear the recoil drum rubs against the inside of the recoil housing causing a brake effect. The good news is that the drum post is aluminum and can be built up with aluminum weld then machined round again to fit the drum.

thanks for the info looks like its going to be a rope start for awhile how much does it cost to get welded and machined for i dont have a spare recoile