Mid-Mount Madness: "Katy's Bogie Bash" Sleds...

[400brian]

The crank is at Jerome's shop. I have some parts on the way, so as soon as the crank comes back re-assembly can begin. This is just a rider, but after I de-greased the case, I found the oxidation unacceptable, sooo... the case got a quick shot with the soda blast. Still have to clean up the sealing surfaces.

[400brian]

Just a quick update; The crank is back from Jerome. Waiting for a couple of small parts yet, but you are looking at NOS jugs, pistons, and the rebuilt crank. The fit of the new center seals is just a HUGE difference! I am really hoping that getting the crank rebuilt is the answer to the issues. BTW guys, despite what it looks like in the photo ( and I see it too ), there is NO mark on the one piston.

[400brian]

The crank is in the case! All the in and out end play is gone, and I am hoping the new seals cure all the ills.

[400brian]

Pistons going on with the genuine JD pin puller.

[400brian]

Jugs going on. Next I have to bolt the intake manifold up, then I can torque the jugs down.

[400brian]

So the the green machine is getting a little love. The bearings in the drivetrain were replaced in the early 2000's, and there were some suspect parts used at the time. So a deep dive was made into the track and suspension.

The Goodyear "Pathfinder" track was installed as an NOS unit at the time of the last rebuild. and it is still serviceable. The rear idler has now been rebuilt with new bearings, an NOS axle, NOS swing arms, and NOS idler wheels. The axle had a bad end where a bearing had spun on it at one time, so that had to go. All the bogie wheels have been replaced with NOS, and an NOS driveshaft has been installed with new bearings. The driveshaft I replaced had been welded up and turned down to fix spun bearing damage, and it had a bit of a bend in it, gone.

[400brian]

The rebuilt 340/5 that has been sitting on the bench for 2 years is going in for a test firing. Here I am test fitting an NOS muffler prior to getting both into the chassis.

[400brian]

Getting close to a first start attempt. Need to get some fuel line, apparently I have none, which makes it tough to connect an impulse line.

[400brian]

So, this engine had been sitting on the bench for 2 years because I was not happy with the spark it was showing. The 440/21 that had been in the sled for the past 2 years had to go in the 73 X8 restoration, so the 340/5 situation needed to be resolved.

After cleaning the points, the engine was installed into the chassis, and it ran on one cylinder just as I feared it would. In the interest of time, I swapped the correct Kukosan out, and installed the Denso that had been in the engine when I first got it. This did not cure all the problems, but instead pointed at other issues. After changing out a coil, I finally had spark at both plugs, and I put the engine back in the chassis once again.

The 340/5 now purred like a kitten. There was no time for a test run, we were leaving for St Germain in hours. So the sled got its first test run just prior to jumping it into the back of the pickup. It ran good, which was fortunate, because my X8, which got a complete engine overhaul in the last week, seems to have some fuel issues, and was not ready for prime time.

So the green machine got around 100 miles put on it up north, and it never caused any problems, so I would like to finally declare victory on this one.

Here it is sitting in front of the Sayner Pub, after we had ridden down from Manitowish Waters.

[JoeRainville]

It seems I have not posted much on the JDX-8 in several years, as progress on the resto has been painfully slow. It did not stop entirely, but life got in the way of really jumping on board and wrapping it up. In the meantime, I was able to restore and race a Liquidator with major help from Adam Leubner, plus mechanically rebuild the 72 JD400 and ride it for past 5 years' Bogie Bashes.

I once posted on there that I didn't recommend stretching out a restoration over 2 years. Well, I really, REALLY don't suggest taking 7 for one either. However, there was some good fortune on my side. First is that the sled does not seem to be damaged for sitting in the shop in a high traffic area. Secondly, and most importantly, I didn't seem to have lost anything major.

Since I last posted, the entire suspension and rear axle were installed, as was the rear grab bars, snowflap and most of front end parts from the skis to the handlebars...

[JoeRainville]

This spring I decided it was high time to put a push on and finish up outstanding projects before starting anything else. So the Buick GN, the 73 JDX and 84 Liquifire are getting some much needed attention.

I cleaned off the shop table and moved all the motor pieces off the parts rack. Took a while to find the re-plated motor hardware, but the box was just buried under another one. The rebuild crank, clean crank cases and spare set, fan tower, NOS pistons, jugs, recoil, case reeds and motor tin were all laid out along with the reconditioned parts.

I was just starting to press a stubborn fan bearing in place when Richard came into the shop and took over. He wanted to operate the press, so I help everything in place while he ran the hydraulic jack to set the second bearing. I think I started that job 4-5 years ago.

After delaying the sled somewhat for fatherhood duties, Richard is now helping work on it. Cool.

-JDJR

[JoeRainville]

After Pressing in the bearings, Richard wanted to keep helping so we worked together on digging out the parts and assembling the rest of the fan assembly. We compared part numbers (handy now that he can read) from the book to NOS parts. The re-plated hardware and upper pully looked really good in gold zinc, as the NOS pulleys were a bit faded just due to time.

I showed him how everything stacked up via the exploded diagram and let him help put it all together and tighten the retaining nut as I held the back side.

I then moved onto installed the fuel tank. I was fortunate enough to have located a bag of NOS correct tank hardware from a 295/s front tank kit years ago, so I had all correct bolts, speed nuts, foam blocks and seals to install the tank. Earlier this years during spring cleaning of the shop I finally found my stash of NOS red fuel filler caps, and was able to purchase the last fuel gauge I could find. Got lucky on both counts.