400 restoration project

[BillNH]

Barrie, what is the best way to cut the track belting on a Hus Ski? I have a 444 with a Hirth 300 sticking up thru the hood, the tracks are too wide and I need to take about an inch off each side. Then I will be working to restore this to an actual 444.

[myoldhus-ski]

Hello Bill: Probably get the proper belting, but if you want to cut it, I cross cut some belting the other day using my band saw. I was making patches for my baler belts and cutting them with a knife has always been a problem. I tried the band saw and was happy with the result. I have a 3/8 blade with 3 teeth per inch on it and it worked very well. Jim

[Barrie2777]

My first thought about trimming an inch is what happens to the holes? A bandsaw would work. The more teeth the better. If you are good with a tablesaw that would work also but the speed of the blade might cause the rubber to melt if you feed too slow. Another method would be to clamp it between a board and a straight edge then trim with an exacto knife. It takes several passes of the knife to pass through the belting.

[BillNH]

First, there are no holes, the edge sticks out past the cleats more than an inch, and past the fender/body by about an inch. Whoever made the tracks cut it with something, as I can see some uneven spots, the other edge, inside, has a smoother cut. They also used two pieces for each length, as there are 2 sets of lacers, about six inches apart. Thanks, Bill

[Barrie2777]

Is the inner belt 4" or 5" wide? If it is 4" wide then that would explain why you have a 6" belt on the outside... Your tracks were for a 200-A. Having two lancers 6" apart just means the length was miscalculated by two cleats.

[fap67]

I've made several sets of tracks and I used a straight edge and a utility knife.

[Barrie2777]

With a covering of snow from the deep snow riding that we HUS-SKI riders do, these anti slip areas for your feet are necessary since the marine varnish is very slippery. The strips are 3/4" wide and 16" long. It is anti-slip tape made by 3M. These anti slip areas were an option when buying a HUS-SKI. Back in the 60's when a buyer wanted these anti slip areas, a worker from HUS-SKI would drive over to the local PASCAL'S HARDWARE STORE and buy enough tape to do a pair.

[BillNH]

The angle of the photo makes those skis look like a kids boots on the wrong feet. Haha

[Barrie2777]

I changed to photo but even with this pair the left toe clip makes things look odd. We are dealing with things done by hand so if the toe clip is not a proper circle compared to the ski tip it will look odd. Place them two feet apart on a seater and it won't be noticed.

[BillNH]

YUP, but it's fun to think what they look like in the pic.