Bought myself a John Deere

[Custom200]

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]

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]

I have a 1980 John Deere trailfire 440 and I still enjoy ripping it up and down the trails from time to time.

[fabiodriven]

I've always wanted one of those. The vintage sleds are my favorite.

[Custom200]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Any new updates? I picked up another spitfire last weekend.

[Custom200]

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]

old free airs are the best! I had a tx500 triple free air that thing was awesome...

[trimoto.125]

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]

old free airs are the best! I had a tx500 triple free air that thing was awesome...

Those were nice sleds.

[Custom200]

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.