Day of the Deere

[skiroule]

Must be winter, the Deere are herding up, in small herds anyway.

Finished converting my brother’s John Deere Model 400 (powered by a 340 CCW) to a Mikuni carb today so it only made sense to let it out for a run with its cousin.

This is just a silly little three-minute video sampling of the experience. After a day of riding these fine machines, you’re allowed a little silliness.

 

[J.Glenn]

Great little video! I cut my teeth riding the old Deere sleds, a 1975 JD 800 and a 1981 JD Trailfire 440, and as a Deere & Company employee, it's good to see these machines still going!

Not sure if I've missed it or not, but have you tackled a JD restoration?

 

[kirk600]

Looks like a great day to ride with your brother. They both sound great, the 400 looks like it could use some ski spreaders as it appears to be tipsy. Or maybe it was the operator.......

 

[skiroule]

Great little video! I cut my teeth riding the old Deere sleds, a 1975 JD 800 and a 1981 JD Trailfire 440, and as a Deere & Company employee, it's good to see these machines still going!

Not sure if I've missed it or not, but have you tackled a JD restoration?

Other than the Mikuni conversion, one repainted hood, and a duct tape seat cover, both sleds are basically untouched since they rolled off the John Deere Horicon Works assembly line. These sleds are tough and a lot of fun to ride.

The John Deere influence really showed through in their approach to sled building and documentation. I’m pretty sure the rear suspension springs on my 76 Cyclone would support a hay baler and my service manual for that sled .is 260 pages long. It’s thorough.

I have not done a Deere rebuild but I think it would be a very interesting project. Something i need to keep in mind, should I decide to break out the sandblaster and impact wrench again.

Looks like a great day to ride with your brother. They both sound great, the 400 looks like it could use some ski spreaders as it appears to be tipsy. Or maybe it was the operator.......

Funny. You might be right on both counts. That little sled is a handful on uneven terrain and demands that you participate, but having something that resembled reaction time would also help.

 

[mezz]

As the commercial back in the day use to say: "Nothing runs like a Deere"..... Love it!

 

[euphoric1]

Cool video!! now we watch and laugh, hood wider than ski stance, tippy, carburetors right between our legs and lets not even talk about how mush travel there was in rear suspension or wasn't, but back then... you were the bee's knee's having snowmobiles. I had and I don't remember the year a Liquifire that had the liquid cooled Kirowitz motor in it and my buddy had a 340 Trailfire. Cool vid skiroule!

 

[Rupp Collector]

My In-Laws bought two new John Deere Tractors in 1981 and thrown in the deal were two new Liqufier's. Their Daughter (now my Wife) took the Liquifire's to the Keweenaw for our Honeymoon in January of 1982. Great sleds that didn't like deep snow!

 

[skiroule]

Cool video!! now we watch and laugh, hood wider than ski stance, tippy, carburetors right between our legs and lets not even talk about how much travel there was in rear suspension or wasn't, but back then... you were the bee's knee's having snowmobiles.

This is a great summary of the experience and although might be a little hard to understand why, people loved it. Looking at production/shipment numbers from Snowgoer for the model years 1970 through 1972, manufacturers produced/shipped roughly 1,700,000 sleds. That’s a lot of old iron.

My In-Laws bought two new John Deere Tractors in 1981 and thrown in the deal were two new Liqufier's. Their Daughter (now my Wife) took the Liquifire's to the Keweenaw for our Honeymoon in January of 1982. Great sleds that didn't like deep snow!

Talk about a sweet deal! Guess it's a marketing angle John Deere could afford. Nice touch, taking a honeymoon sledding trip. Now it might not be a first choice for many couples but back then it made perfect sense. And yes, the JD sleds weren’t strong on deep snow but sure were durable and a lot of fun to ride.

 

[Rupp Collector]

Talk about a sweet deal! Guess it's a marketing angle John Deere could afford. Nice touch, taking a honeymoon sledding trip. Now it might not be a first choice for many couples but back then it made perfect sense. And yes, the JD sleds weren’t strong on deep snow but sure were durable and a lot of fun to ride.

We've been back every year since to snowmobile for our anniversary, maybe not the Keweenaw but somewhere in the Yoop.

 

[skiroule]

How cool is that? Congrats to you two for carrying on a tradition and keeping all the fires burning.