295/s

[Matt]

Here is an example. Those real idlers are specific to this setup as well.

[78LF]

[78LF]

[78LF]

[78LF]

[400brian]

Ooooohhhhh, you got lucky. Whether you restore it or sell it, you have something a bit uncommon there. Good find!

[JDT]

Cool. Kind of like a Scorpion Para-rail.
They came out with this in 72.

[Greenxcracer76]

Very nice..great find!

[JoeRainville]

Darn nice find there. Deere built about 1,000 of the 295/s sleds for the 1974 model year, the only year they were built. Most came with slide rails and a cleated track, but there was a factory option for bogies. Not sure of the split, but I would guess 1/4 to 1/3 of them had bogies as an estimate.

Jesse tells me no 295/s' were factory equipt with the bogie-slide suspension, it was a dealer installed option. I have no idea how many kits were built, but I would guess "maybe" 100 to 150 to take a stab at it. On top of that, the 295/s was the only sled from Deere with factory optional suspensions, but the bogie-slide was not the last kit. Deere also offered a "Dator-Lite" aluminum rear suspension in 77 to update Liquidators and Liquifires for cross country racing. That kit was the predicessor to the 78 Cyclone/Liquifire skid. The last kit was the 1978 Cross Country kit for 340 Liquifire's that included a rubber track and a rear skid that looked a lot like a 1980 Liquifire.

Glad you saved that one.
-Joe Rainville

[Matt]

Joe/Jesse, I never heard that it was a kit, but that makes sense, as those factory team sleds that had them were probably early serial numbers, and this is a very late one. Looks like it bolts right up to the slide suspension mounts.

[HoosierDeereMan]

This suspension is interesting. In the photo of the ETD sled Matt posted there are 4 bogie wheels down the side. This sled has 5 and the rear one has the rubber cut down. I suppose to clear the big rear axle idler?

Troy

[deere memorabilia]

The John Deere specs that they sent to the Winter Carnavel for the 295/s to prove that the sled was legal to run the I-500 say. "75% slide, 25% bogie and 5% slide bogie (field option)" . This would make about 50 bogie silde suspentions produced. The 295/s sales brochure says slide standard and bogie optional.

[78LF]

In my first post I asked what would be a fair price for a 295/s, now I guess I should ask what would be a fair price for this 295/s? If the suspension was a kit, is there a way to tell what suspension the sled left the factory with?

[lwb140]

super cool deal there way to go !!

[JD600]

My guess would be that it came factory with the slide skid because if it had been equipped with bogies, it would have the extra extrusion under the running boards to hold the bogie axles and springs.