its official - i have a problem

[snocrazy]

How do you say no to buying relic snowmobiles?
Was talking to a guy from work this past Friday. Some how snowmobiles came up...
Next thing you know a buddy has 2 old sleds in corner of garage for 10 years and next thing u know I am hauling them away.
a matching set of 1976 john deere liquifier 440. (with sled dollies) 200$
One fires up when you fuel the plug holes....
The other seems to have issues. piston or bearing + maybe a bearing.
I really want to get them both running. So should be fun fitting in between my 50 other projects.
Will post pics this week.

 

[sweeperguy]

I hear ya.
I'm afraid to go get a set of track shocks from my regular guy. Because he has decided to sell his Raider, and I want one. However I really don't have the storage space for another sled.

 

[skiroule]

I sure don't see any problem here.

I like the comment: "Somehow snowmobiles came up." What are the odds?

Those Liquifires are deceptively fast. I think the second fastest sled in the Copper Harbor vintage radar run last winter was a 76 Liquifire. Add the fact that the chassis is almost bullet-proof and you have a great vintage rider.

I love my 340 Cyclone (air-cooled version of the same chassis) and picked up a Liquifire dual carb setup (manifolds, carbs, pipe, etc.) to give it a little more HP but it runs so dang good I can't bring myself to mess with the current single carb configuration.

Can't remember where I found it, but a while back I read a really interesting article on the design of the 76 Liquifire. This was a major design effort on the part of John Deere and by today's standards took an eternity to finalize. Interestingly, it was originally supposed to be silver with black accents. Somewhat by accident it ended up with the reverse color scheme, which is awesome.

Looking forward to the photos. Love the Deere's!

 

[fish633]

The liquifire / trailfire where re-branded Kawasaki invaders/intruders.You are correct they are fast, back in the day my 340 would run circles around 500 class sleds of the era.I still have and ride my 340 and 440.

 

[snocrazy]

Here is a link to the google photo album I have set up.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FCnCvAVNVck4EzVy2
Sorry it will not embed.

Buddy bringing them up from IL today. Excited to get working on these bad boys.
Take a look at the hoods. Are those names Snowbuster and Snowblaster some thing that some one added to these sleds?

 

[Tracker]

cool

 

[skiroule]

Beauties! You got a deal on these – a running sled and a parts sled in one shot for $200. You’ll have a blast this winter - they will feel like a rocket compared to the Johnson luxury cruiser. Will be fun to see at least one of them back on the snow.

Fish633 is right that the Liquifire essentially became a Kawasaki in Deere skin but that didn’t happen until the 80’s. The 76 – 78 models were a pure Deere design with CCW (Kiortz) engines. Your Liquifire is a not-to-distant relative of the beastly, race-purpose Liquidator, which I think might be the coolest sled built in the 70's.

Not sure if I can make these links work but I’ll give it a shot.

This article is a little detail oriented but it has a lot of info on how the Liquidator came into existence.

http://www.jdsleds.com/articles/asnowmobileisborn.html

Also a potentially useful item – a complete Cyclone/Liquifire service manual. I’ve used this on more than one occasion.

http://www.vintagesnow.com/John_Deere_files/1976_cyclone_SM.pdf

 

[snocrazy]

Thanks for the service manual link!

 

[skiroule]

No Problem - By the way, the Snowbuster and Snowblaster names are definitely "custom". Looks like someone had a lot of fun with them.

 

[snocrazy]

Been working on them. Looks like I will only be getting one back running. The hyfax were wore on both to metal on one side. So between the 2 tracks I can make one real good one.

Found seat covers. The plywood on bottom of seats is rotted. Any one know what glue - foam to use to install new wood?

Other than that I have stripped down and steam cleaned the tunnels, engines, and suspensions.

2-10 is the relic ride at jack pine I am trying to make. Less than a month. Time flies!

I did replace all fuel lines and fixed spark plug cap issue with the johnson. Went thru carb. Thing runs like a champ. Had a lot of fun doing laps in the yard last weekend.