Twin Oval Build

[chriszildjian17]

Before I got to carried away assembling I almost forgot one Important that needed to be installed. The tunnel Protectors. This sled will be full of razor sharp ice Pixs. Very important to get these mounted so i don't destroy the tunnel. I had a few extra sets I had purchased a year ago from Dennis Kirk for my old cyclone. These seem to mesure out just right. Although I had to drill holes to mount them, they seem to fit perfect. The I did not use any specific measurements as far as where they were mounted. I Placed them where they are at from experience seeing oval sleds dig into tunnels. Taught is would be the best position to mount them.


Dennis Kirk part# 06-40T

[chriszildjian17]

Also got a little work in on the rear suspension. Sand blasted most of it. Still have the rails and a few more parts to go yet. I am going to be using the Tf skid, With the lf front arm. I do not need the front and middle wheels the liquifires have due to how the rear suspension is going to be adjusted. Basically Most of the front of the skid will be pulled up for maxim ski pressure. So, even if I kept the front and middle Liquifre wheels. they would not be touching the track. This sled will be run on ice only. Might as well save the weight and only use what i need.



Also managed to make tabs, on the trailfire upper rear arm to mount the liquifire idler shaft and wheels. I didn't get a chance to sneak a picture, But also drilled and welded in nuts to mount grease certs on both front and rear arms for the cross shafts.

[sledhead16]

I like it! So your gonna make basically an 82-84 Sportfire rear arm? It's starting to look like a sled quickly!

[chriszildjian17]

Honestly Alan I've never owned or had a sportfire taken apart to know. lol

Made some progress. Although I did not finish this sled to take it to Honda East like I planned, Its still moving along.

Got A Much needed box of parts from Newbreed. It was like Christmas


Mounted the TPR panels along with the steering support bar. Now at this point, the sled is not any different from a stock style sled. Will get into details the few little tricks and things I need to do to prepare the beast for the ice.

[chriszildjian17]

Managed to install most of the steering,Fuel Tank, Chain case, Jackshaft and mounted the fuel rebuilt fuel pump. I polished both tie rods by screwing in a 3/8-24 bolt with the head cut off. Used the cut off end to put in my air drill and used it like a lath. started out with a 220 grit. moved to a 400 grit 600 grit, 800 grit, then used a final 1200. from there a light coat of mothers polish and it was good as new. total time per rod, from start to finish was about 10 minutes. Now the toe rod mounting from the steering stem to the right arm, Well lets just say it felt like my hand was going to fall off. lol.

Also replaced the 3 rod ends that are serviceable . I am lucky enough that the crimped on rod end on the steering post is tight and in good shape. I have hard time spending $15-$25 on rod ends from power sports suppers. So I purchased them from Jegs at $2.99 each. 3/8x24 right hand thread x2 and 1 Left hand thread along with jam nuts from my local hardware.
All fasteners are grade 8 along with Nylon locking nuts. You don"t want to loose your nuts

[chriszildjian17]

Now to install the leaf spring mounts to the spindles. I will be Installing generic ski spreaders that i Had laying around. for the stk class i really don"t need anything special. They help out tremendously to add stability in the corners. How I will be mounting these is a bit different than your average sled, Although I would not recommend ski spreaders on a trail sled.

Here Is the left side. As you can see the spreader is bolted flat to the spring mount as you would typical mount them. Also a new bushing-bolt kit from DA over at busco bullet. love those kits.makes the mount to the spindle nice and tight. Id recommend everyone to purchase them for all jd sleds. Proud to have Busco Bullet Inc. as a sponsor this season.
Now for the right side, Will be a little different. I was given some shims from a fellow racer last season to give my right ski a negative camber. Unbelievable what a difference they make. The sled basically steers itself in the corners. That is Great so I can concentrate more on the track vs trying to muscle the sled around the ice. Also allows you to carry a lot more speed going through the corners.

Here they are. Buddie purchased them from Fastenal. The are a 2 1/2 degree shim designed for aligning structural steel beams in buildings. They come in raw steel form so I have these powder coated as I do most all parts on this build.


Here is a side view of them

[chriszildjian17]

Now to Mount the right side. Here is a picture of how everything will sit as they are assembled


Here is the front view with all the bolts tightened up so you can see the camber it will put on the carbides for the front skis. I say the Carbides Because on the ice, the skis never actually touch the ground. its all carbide


Also used grade 8 fasteners here as well. Used this set up pretty hard last season on the cyclone. Even after the sled rolling end over end. It still never did shear the bolts off. I was worried due to the stress and angle of the bolt. But no worries now

[WinnipegStPaul9]

Looking great Chris!!!

DA

[JDT]

Chris you can use what is called a leveling washer on the bolts that have the angled shims to eliminate the stress on the bolts.
They have a maximum angle of 3 deg so they will work great with your 2.5 deg shims.
MCM has them. They also have the shims and available in SS so that would be a plus also.

[acesillini06]

Way to represent Deere on the oval track. Making good progress keep up the good work

[Cabindweller]

Awesome!

[Liquify]

Sorry to hear about the Cyclone - you had a nice looking sled. In case you ever build another Cyclone, I wanted to pass along our experience in setting up our '78 Cyclone for ovals in MN. Our first test run on the ice with new Woodys carbides was scary - the sled would drive straight then suddenly dart one way or the other. We made a number of adjustments to carbide placement, ski alignment, and ski pressure but could not eliminate the darting. I still had a 35 year old set of Woodys carbides that were in good condition so we decided to mount those. To our surprise, no more darting, the sled handled beautifully. The old and new sets of carbides had the same number of inserts and were the same height. The only obvious difference was the host bar - it extended beyond the front insert by about 3.5" on the old set whereas there is no extension on the new set. The longer host bar made a world of difference in handling on the '78. One other thing, we also have a '80 Liquifire and '80 Sportfire set up for ovals. We use the new carbides on these sleds and have no handling issues. Good luck with your projects!

[chriszildjian17]

Thanks guys. That"s really interesting Liquify. Has me thinking . It"s been a bit since my last post. I have been working nonstop on my race sled. some of it I may have flown threw it enough where i didn't get pictures. So I am going to try and play catch up here.
Thans to the help of D.A I sent my seat out and had that recovered in his local town. Seat turned out great. Its A tad dusty here. Hard to keep everything clean with the sand blast cabinet going non-stop.

Love the yellow piping.

[chriszildjian17]

Wanted to share with you guys my rear tail light. As far as oval racing goes, Most rules require a Battery powered Tail light that will be on if the sled is running or not. But this my work great for trail riders as well.
This is a Led Oval light, and bracket that i purchased at my local TSC for $30.00. Mounted the taillight in the the bracket.Only had to drill the holes for the light itself, And the 2 holes where it mounts to the chassis. Fits really well In the stock slot for the taillight.
As you can see it fits really nice


This light Came with a try-me switch on it that runs off a small battery pack that takes 12v battery. those battery's are half the size of a AA battery. I snipped the switch and wired in a toggle switch to run off the back of the housing. And these lights are crazy bright compared to the factory originals.

[chriszildjian17]

skids all done. All been blasted and powder coated. These shaft gave me fits coming out. Took a trip to Brian Brown place for a few other parts, And he gladly showed me his air hammer method of taking them out. I installed a shorter shock on the tf rear arm to pull the rear height down and stiffen the rear as well. the lower the better in this application.


Before the skid was mounted into the chassis. I Made a trip to the hardware store for some clear 1/4in tubing and some barbed fittings. This is going to my my lube system. Its mounted on the front of the skid about where the front lower idlers originally mounted. a few zip ties secures them in place. Will finish hooking up this system in a later post.