Snagged the "Triplefire 500"

Danzig · Post by **Danzig** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:57 pm

I may be wrong but I do think this sled was built in a shop in North Carolina. I could be wrong and have been before. But who cares anyhow its cool machine.

liquitisplit80 · Post by **liquitisplit80** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 11:35 pm

Just curious, what is the build date on the tunnel? And why would Polaris use 80/81 stripes?? Very cool though. Gives me ideas...

Post by **SKNOWCAT** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 12:02 am

Hey Bob, what happened to your post? I thought it was great.
Steve T.

400brian · Post by **400brian** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 1:26 am

Steve, I think you scared him

kenwaters · Post by **kenwaters** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 9:48 am

Guys,

Like Joe has said, I have been all over this story for a while. Six years ago, (that is as far back as anyone can track this sled to date) a single discreet ad was placed on vsca.com advertising the sale of an "80 Liquifire that has a 3 cylinder fuji 500 cc motor with triple pipes and 38mm carbs" it stated that "DO NOT email me simply asking for pics." because the guy that owned it "didn't want every picture collector and teenager bothering him." So, I called him anyways. The guy was amiable, we had one conversation about the sled. I stated to him right away that I wasn't able to buy the sled, but did want to hear its history as he knew it.

The guy was from upper Michigan, and he had owned the sled for a little while. He knew what the sled was, and didn't want to sell it just to anybody. He explained everything to me that Joe knows about the sled, The fact that it was a proto-type test mule for what JD/Polaris could do with the Liquifire line.

JoeRainville · Post by **JoeRainville** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 5:58 pm

Danzig wrote:I may be wrong but I do think this sled was built in a shop in North Carolina. I could be wrong and have been before. But who cares anyhow its cool machine.

Paul, I took the pic's you posted of the sled at JRC's garage on Balsom Lake, WI around 09 or so. He did not build the sled however.

Guys, With some digging, Kenny came up with the original ad for the sled from 2006:

For Sale: John Deere Liquifire
Posted By: Time Posted: 2006-09-13 10:51:18
Location: Negaunee, MI

I have for sale what I am told is an 80 Liquifire that was built in the JD r-d dept. It has a 3 cylinder fugi 500 cc motor with triple pipes and 38mm carbs which all look to be factory installed. I was told that the r-d dept was testing different engines in the liquifires and that this was one of 2 put together. The sled is still in like new condition, runs great. I rode it once and it totally rips. If you are interested in this sled call for more info. DO NOT email me simply asking for pics. Asking 2750.00

This was the seller Kenny contacted about the sled. JRC purchased it from this seller, then it was with a collector in WI who sold it to me this summer. I am working to document the origins of this sled, as it's a pretty interesting story.

The base sled appears to be a production 1980 Liquifire, serial number starts with 122,000. The tunnel was polished, but not the bottoms sides of the running boards. She was updated to a 3 wheel rear idler set up, and the chassis was altered quite a bit to fit the 500 triple.

She sounds pretty

-Joe

Post by **Wildfire II** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:30 pm

Hi Joe. Nice sled. Looks well built and fast. But I have to say that it was not built or tested in our R/Dshop at Horicon. Will be interesting to see what you come up with in your research. I'm going to give the late Lee Hardesty right hand man a call and we see what he knows. First time I ever seen that sled was when JRC showed it. Could have been outsourced to someone, if it was it was a well kept secret.

Danzig · Post by **Danzig** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 8:13 pm

I told you I was wrong...but I talked to Jon today about this also just to confirm it.

sledder670 · Post by **sledder670** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 8:35 pm

I bet it sounds awsome. I love the old tripples how they sound. I will always have one around. Nice sled Joe dont get it stuck I bet there is a little more ski presure on it.

JoeRainville · Post by **JoeRainville** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 2:11 pm

Wildfire II wrote:Hi Joe. Nice sled. Looks well built and fast. But I have to say that it was not built or tested in our R/Dshop at Horicon. Will be interesting to see what you come up with in your research. I'm going to give the late Lee Hardesty right hand man a call and we see what he knows. First time I ever seen that sled was when JRC showed it. Could have been outsourced to someone, if it was it was a well kept secret.

Ed, Thank you for your incite to the story. I would be thankful for any info you can come up with. We believe the sled was built by Polaris to show what the 85 Polaris branded Deere sleds could be like. I do not think Deere R&D was involved as the seller thought.

I am not sure who exactly built her, but she is a beauty. Someone paid big bucks for those very nice custom pipes and chassis work. If Polaris did not do the build, I think they commissioned it then.

Thanks!
-Joe

PS: Sledder, she does sound SWEEEET!

jdrob · Post by **jdrob** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 2:27 pm

I think it would have taken the cake if it would have been fitted with IFS ! Also Polaris Prolly knew better than to HACK up an 82and up chassis ! Just saying :lol22:

DeereKid9 · Post by **DeereKid9** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:19 pm

SKNOWCAT wrote:Hey Bob, what happened to your post? I thought it was great.
Steve T.

Steve,

PM sent.

69camaro · Post by **69camaro** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 11:25 am

Only thing to say is "WOW". Way to go! Congrats.

Horicon Joe · Post by **Horicon Joe** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:04 pm

http://vintagesleds.com/bs/index.php/to ... 5.480.html
http://vintagesleds.com/bs/index.php/to ... 16.45.html

After reading all this I have come to one conclusion ....... this is a cool sled and we all can agree on that. Please tell us about or show us just one piece of tangible evidence to support all these claims because I know you would not do all this on here-say alone. I know you would never say things like ....... "This sled is the only known Polaris/Deere hybred that I am aware of, and is a nice example of what could have been." ....... if you did not have proof. Rainville ..... silence all the naysayers out there and tell/show them the secret you are keeping from them. I hope this thing is what you say it is because it would be fantastic!

Post by **Norton** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 9:30 pm

At about the time period this sled would have been built (1984/85), Polaris had gone to the 600cc but what really makes me wonder is the triple pipes. Polaris was not so good at building a consumer/trail sled triple with triple pipes and they knew it. So in my never to be humble opinion, Roseau or contractor build would have never built it with those pipes. A nice fat single pipe under that hood would have been more attractive to JD dealers and Polaris had the tooling and single pipe tuning down to a fine art. Love the sound of a two stroke triple/triple to this day!!!

kb

Snagged the "Triplefire 500"

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