Bolens Diablo Rouge and Hus Ski Discussion Forums

In mid August, our snowmobile club is having an entry in the local small town summer celebration and I have been asked if I would like to join a few of the antique owners by putting the 503 Diablo in the parade. They are not talking about pulling it on wagon or trailer, no, they are talking about actually driving the sleds. Obviously, they are putting wheels on the skis of their machines (skis up front, talk about a dumb design) and suggest we could design a trailing set of wheels to save my precious maple wood skis.

The parade runs about a ten blocks so its not a real long route but the question I have is, will the engine survive on a 90 degree day and also, would the tracks, sprockets, etc survive the pounding on the asphalt?

I'm reluctant to subject the 503 to this type of torture but I think it would be fun at the same time.

I think over heating the engine would be a problem even though several kits were available to convert a snowmobile to summer driving. Opposite to the Model "T" FORD which removed the wheels in lieu of skiis, snowmobile kits provided a wheel assembly to replace the skiis. Cold weather starting is optimal for HUS-SKIs and I believe the same to be true for Diablos.

I have never had any luck with any sled much over 40 deg(F) they generally rely on the COLD air to run good, I have burnt the pistons on a few sleds at 40- 45, including my original husski.

Yikes! I would be afraid that the Diablo would take a tremendous amount of abuse. There is a good chance the sprockets would not survive the hard pavement even if the motor did. If you take on the challenge, be sure to let us know how the Diablo fared.

Bruce

I think I will pass on driving it. I would enjoy putting on a trailer and pulling it but the thought of a a burned piston, or worse, just scares me too much.