Looking to buy a fire series sled

[jrs]

Hi all new here on the forum but have owned a spitfire for a few years. I live in st Louis Missouri there are not a lot of john deere sleds around here but I have managed to find a few while searching for spitfire parts. I am looking for a bigger sled for a restoration project. I have found an 80 trailfire $125, 76 & 77 liquifire sold as a pair $300 and and a pair of sportfires I think 82's. $500 Trailfire looks great but need s crank seals not to sure about the conditions of the liquifires or the sportfires. I am looking for a sled to restore and ride. My main concerns are are parts availability mainly in the track. Any advice on what would be a good choice and are there any replacement tracks available for any of these or maybe a cross country or all rubber track? Any help would be appreciated I would love to buy all of them but don't have the room. Thanks Guys

[snopro_deere]

Welcome!!!! cant really tell you what sled to get but lucky enough john deere kept every thing pretty standard on drive shaft size and bearings and so forth.. so that being said with a little creativity if you cant find what you are looking for you can make the part or like me I make my own parts. I like to putting new style tracks under my JDs a 121" fits very nice under any fire series sled but you gotta change the drivers and move the skid rails out but once its done your all set any 121"x15 with a 2.52 will work. good luck check out my sled on this page under dyno day!

[ICCSF 108]

Hello & glad you could join us, I live on the other end of the state, We have a quite a few parts for some of the Deere Fire series Liquifires, & Cyclones, older Liquifire sleds mostly used. Sorry no good tracks, but below is what I've heard will work without to much changing of the Deere suspension width.. Also we have repopped a number of no longer available, hard to find, race parts & are still expanding that practice..

The NOS tracks for the 80,s Panthers are 16" x121" and have a 3.29 pitch. These tracks are all over at swaps and salvage yards NOS ....... These tracks were later changed by aftermarket companies in the 90,s to 2.52.
The Cat track I'm referring to is part # 01-02-294..Yokohama

Grumpy

[Matt]

Since you mentioned wanting a rubber track - the '82 and on Sportfires would have come with a rubber track and make a great rider. Plus since it's the same track as the Liquifire, it's fairly common to find good used ones if you happen to get one with issues.

[JoeRainville]

Hello JRS, and welcome to our site!

Based on what you seem to be leaning toward, you can't go wrong with a Trailfire or Sportfire. The Trailfire can be converted to a Liquifire rubber track using a LF drive axle. As Matt said, the 82 Sporty's came with a rubber track and oil injection. And as SPD said, you can convert most any Deere to a modern rubber track with a little work and expense.

Note that any vintage sled with the original motor should have the crank seals replaced, but you can do it on a Kawi with out a total tear down by pulling the clutch and ignition, flipping it over and pulling the bottom of the case. Pistons are readily availble for the Kawi 440's, and the jugs can be recoated if needed, so the motors are pretty serviceable. Comet 102-C are back in production, and there are a lot of NOS and new parts available for them too.

Good luck with whatever sleds you end up with, and don't hesitate to ask for advice or help finding parts.

-Joe

[johnnycyclone]

Welcome to the site jrs. Having owned all of the above, at one time or another, personally I would go with the 82 Sportfires. Like Matt said, the 82's should have the rubber track and oil injection which is high on my list. I would buy both, take the best parts for your restoration, and then you can sell the extra parts to fund the project. The only concern on the Sportfires, is the crankshaft, as I believe you can't buy new rod pins for them so you need at least one of them to have a good crank. Bearings are still available, just not the pins. If I am wrong on that one, I'm sure someone will step and and correct me, but that is what I remember when I had my 82. Bottom line is, it's what you like, so take it for what it is worth. Let us know what you decide, and we love pics, so keep us up to date on your progress.

Terre

[jrs]

I am going tomorrow to pic up an 80 spitfire for parts, he has the trailfire for sale and the 2 liquifires. I am going to check them out if the trailfire looks as good as his pics I will probably buy it. The price is right I will more than likely pass on the first gen liquifires mostly because of the kioritz engines. I will look them over good if anyone is interested in them and pass long the info. The sprtfires belong to family friend he will sell them to me but is not necessarily looking to get rid of them so I may end up buying them later. I think they are both in nice shape . but I wold really like a 2nd gen liquifire I just have a hard time finding one close by and they typically sell for more than I want to spend. I have researched the tracks some is the trailfire track the same a spitfire? or at least similar?

[JoeRainville]

JRS,

There is a track interchange post under the FAQ section, but basically the 79-80 Trailfire and 80 Sportfire tracks will fit the Spit, Sprint and Snowfires. The 81-84 tracks used on the Trail and 81 Sport are a 1/2" wider and do not fit into the direct drive sleds tunnels.

-Joe