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View Full Version : Bought myself a John Deere



Custom200
08-04-2009, 08:59 PM
Tonight i took a small trip to look at a 1980 John deere spitfire and ended up

taking it home. It runs good but needs some cosmetic work. These are pretty

intersting sleds. It has a nice free air motor sticking out the hood with a full

alumium body. Also it has direct drive. No chaincase . The secondary is attached

to the drive cogs. These are supposed to be peppy sleds. Anyone have

experience with these. The only down fall ive seen is trying to get a track for them

but luckily the track on this one is in great shape.. Anywyas I'll try to get some

pics up later on.

rdlsz24
08-04-2009, 09:36 PM
Sweet when I was in grade school in the early 90s we had a Trail Fire and LiquiFire. They seemed like the fastest machines ever created to me and my brother, especially the LiquiFire lol.

Rob

old-yellow
08-05-2009, 10:52 PM
I have a 1980 John Deere trailfire 440 and I still enjoy ripping it up and down the trails from time to time.

fabiodriven
08-06-2009, 12:06 PM
I've always wanted one of those. The vintage sleds are my favorite.

Custom200
08-06-2009, 05:05 PM
Hey fabio i think the vintage sleds are where its at. To be honest this is the first

one i've seen personally even for sale. As soon as i noticed I grabbed it. Its

defintly the most unique sled I've had yet.

trimoto.125
08-07-2009, 11:46 PM
I have 5 jd sleds: 1978 trailfire 440 steel tunnel prototype, 1979 sportfire 440, 1977 spitfire 340, 1978 spitfire, 1982 spitfire. The arctic cat jag cleated track fit with a few easy mods to the sled.

Custom200
08-08-2009, 10:32 AM
This is the only JD around my area that I'm aware of. Would you be able to

elaborate on the Arctic Cat swap. I would like to have another option besides

trying to find a JD track in the situation that my track would fail. I had an Arctic

Cat with the free air and cleated track and thought about it but after reading

many posts about the Spitfire track swap I disregarded the idea. Any info is

apreciated.

trimoto.125
08-09-2009, 06:40 PM
Well, you need a set of yamaha bravo drive cogs (square shaft) bore them out 1" diameter to fit the arctic cat track. The slides,width and langth are the same when it comes to the spitfire and the jag cleated tracks. Just line up the Bravo sprockets with the jag track. Also adjust your secondary ramp spring( do testing first).

Custom200
08-11-2009, 04:13 PM
thanks for the info. I have a set of Bravo codgs in the garage now. Compared to what most people have said about the track that seems pretty easy. Thanks

trimoto.125
08-24-2009, 09:01 PM
Any new updates? I picked up another spitfire last weekend.

Custom200
08-25-2009, 06:15 PM
Well since ive stripped the deere down to the tunnel. Theres no cracks in the body. Ive painted some stuff up like skid and the exhuast. Basically waiting on some parts like new hyfax for the suspension and new stickers. I fixed a few small cracks in the hood and shot a coat of primer. Thats about it.

lndy650
08-26-2009, 11:11 PM
old free airs are the best! I had a tx500 triple free air that thing was awesome...

trimoto.125
08-26-2009, 11:18 PM
Well since ive stripped the deere down to the tunnel. Theres no cracks in the body. Ive painted some stuff up like skid and the exhuast. Basically waiting on some parts like new hyfax for the suspension and new stickers. I fixed a few small cracks in the hood and shot a coat of primer. Thats about it.

I need a new set of hyfax also $15 at royal distributing. I need to replace every cleat on the track. The belting is decent so I will re-cleat it.

trimoto.125
08-26-2009, 11:19 PM
old free airs are the best! I had a tx500 triple free air that thing was awesome...

Those were nice sleds.

Custom200
08-28-2009, 08:05 PM
Surpisingly my track is very good and needs no new cleats at all. That surprised

me. I dont see alot of deere parts in Royal Distrubiting but when i was doiing

work on my Elan they were a great resource. The motor is excellent. No grime or

anything built up from anytype of gasket leak. Each cylinder has good compresion

and there isnt any play in the crank. I figured to leave well anough alone.

Also today i picked up bearning for the idler wheels and drive shaft.

trimoto.125
08-29-2009, 11:17 PM
I know they don't have many motor parts, they do have tracks slides, tracks for some, grouser bars and a few parts for the jd sleds. Sometimes they arn't even listed and some parts can be cross referenced that are the same. I just bought slides to the spitfire today $36.

Custom200
09-01-2009, 10:35 AM
Well progress is gonna be slow for a bit. Just moved into my apparment for

colledge. Had registration today and starts the welding program tommorow. Only

be home an odd weekend so the John Deere is gonna be slow going.

trimoto.125
09-01-2009, 02:22 PM
Yeah college in a week here...the projects are gonna slow wayyy down.

Custom200
09-03-2009, 01:13 PM
Well this colledge thing is working out all right for my project after all. Basically I have full machine shop at my access and the instructor has no trouble letting anyone

bring projcts in. I have access to stick, mig, and tig welders he will weld for me if needed. Lathes , sandblaster cnc machines tubing benders and metal breaks plus alot

of metal if needed. It's pretty sweet.

trimoto.125
09-04-2009, 11:42 AM
:drool: Thats sweet, I wish I had all that equipment to work on sleds with.

Custom200
09-05-2009, 03:54 PM
Tell me about it. I walked in and was like holy sh**. Yeah this is better than high school.

1984ATC200S
09-05-2009, 10:57 PM
i no where theres a 78 440 liquafire that sapositly runs and cabs in one pice guy tells me to make him an offer what would you figure id be worth? hasnt been run in a while though.

trimoto.125
09-06-2009, 09:23 PM
All depends on where you live, try $100, then $200, if he wants more than $300 I wouldn't buy it. They had a problem with crankseals, cleated tracks(can be changed) other than that, good sleds.

1984ATC200S
09-06-2009, 10:22 PM
All depends on where you live, try $100, then $200, if he wants more than $300 I wouldn't buy it. They had a problem with crankseals, cleated tracks(can be changed) other than that, good sleds.

i heard there wicked fast for what they are, and i love a cleated track so i doubt id be ditching than i might try 60$ to see if he bites, sorry to hi jack the thread but not too much about the old JD's out there.

trimoto.125
09-07-2009, 11:28 AM
I didn't say I didn't like the cleated tracks, I said they can be a problem, the cleats sometimes need replacing because the hyfax is worn down to the metal rails of the skid frame . Check the hyfax, they are usually worn down. They are pretty fast sleds also.

1984ATC200S
09-07-2009, 11:48 AM
ah ok that makes sense my 71 AC 292 is really fast and the only reason is the full cleated track, she hooks up and goes. and hyfax? is that the sliders haven't really heard it called the hyfax before just wondering

trimoto.125
09-07-2009, 07:16 PM
Yeah, the hyfax are also known as the sliders. They usually wear by the angle on the rails near the front of the suspension. Just because you have a cleated track, doesn't mean the sled is super fast. The kawasaki 292 singles were good engines, for one lunger racing. They have a problem with the coil burning out though.

1984ATC200S
09-07-2009, 09:38 PM
i think ill start my own thread about the AC as i would like to no more about it, so please cheack it out.

Custom200
12-01-2009, 09:41 PM
Totally forgot about this thread. Here are some pics froma few weels ago.

Tecate250
12-02-2009, 01:29 PM
Odd looking sled. Wonder why they didnt use the liquid kawie motor back then. Don't the free air sleds burn up in warmer weather?

Custom200
12-02-2009, 03:15 PM
I would assume , they dont run as cool as the others. There was always something about a free air motor, I liked espically sticking out the hood, Just check out the hole in the hood gand on vintage sleds, I'm in with this beast and they have some of the craziest vintage sleds.

MagicJames
12-03-2009, 10:36 AM
My dad has 2 Old John Deere's that he said I could have them this summer, but I haven't gone to pick them up. I know there is a old Polaris 540 XJD or something there too. It's got a bad track and he said that they don't make parts for them anymore. But I'm hoping i can coax him out of it.

Tecate250
12-04-2009, 06:11 PM
Oh yeah I love the free air machines. My dream machine is a 1972 650 Sno Jet Thunder jet. Man do those look nice. Ever see an aloutte or something like that?

Custom200
12-06-2009, 04:00 PM
I've looked at lots of pictures but never one in person. Those are awsome machines. Im actually in my garage getting the sleds ready. If i never put it off i could be on them now. The plows havent went through yet and there are skidoos going around everywhere.