The last update

[jep_800]

That's good to know Brian. I believe I will be rebuilding another WRA-31 soon, so this will help.

jep_800

[skoalmint]

Looks great Brian ! Brock

[400brian]

Progress slowly continues...

It took a lot of heat, but the skis, spindles, and springs were separated. The pivot bushings were corroded solidly into the spindles, and the rear pins into the skis. A 2' piece of steel tube has been purchased for bushings, along with some aircraft grade bolts.

The steel strip that holds the snow flap on has been freshened up, progress comes in small increments.

[400brian]

I had tried to time the engine last spring, but found I couldn't get a good signal from my test light, so I walked away until this last week. After installing new aftermarket points, and giving them a swipe with 600 grit, I had a good signal, so timing could continue.

Apparently I tend to set the points a bit tight. Both sides were between TDC and the specified timing point ( .023 ).
I got half of that turning the breaker plate, the rest by opening up the points.

Here's the whole set-up:

[400brian]

Work continues with the fan tower and recoil installed. New bearings, new belt. The fan guard appears to be NOS, but I can't recall where I got it. I need to get some wires on it, and check for spark.

[afponiky]

Brian, nice thread!

Can't wait to see it finished!


GRP

[400brian]

The engine has been pretty much finished up. Plug wires and caps were installed, and a pull of the rope shows spark on both sides!

That was gratifying, now onward and upward!

[400brian]

Well, I haven't posted an update to this thread for over a year. The tunnel is sitting in the shop on the saw horses, waiting for some Blitz Black and the stripe to be put back on. Most of the parts have been reconditioned, and are ready for re-assembly.

The skis and springs are one thing that has yet to be cleaned up and painted. Today I decided to make some parts. I have always cut my own ski spindle bushings. I buy 4130 chrome moly aircraft tubing @ $1.05 per foot, and go to work with the hacksaw.

The 72 and 73s used a fairly complicated ski shock mounting system, at least compared to what has used after 74. I have to cut the normal spindle bushing, and also a pair of spacers that are only 3/16ths of an inch long. I cut the pieces a bit long, then square them up and bring them to length with a bench belt sander. The spacers are a little tricky, as you have to hold them with ViseGrips to do it.

The photo shows the parts. The bolt is a drilled shank aircraft bolt with castellated nut.

[400brian]

So Rainville calls me up a while back, and asks me how many steel pivot bushings I have? I had to think about that for a while, then go dig through the used bogie suspension parts box, before I concluded that I have NONE! These are typically seized solid in the suspension pivot plate, and/or the pivot bolt. I said; don't you have a bunch of NOS ones? He claims he does not.

OK, these are nothing special, just 9/16 OD x 3/8 ID tube, about 2 1/2" long. The tubing is $1.05 per foot, and I think I can get 5 sets out of 2 feet. The shipping will be way more than the material, but that is the deal. Engineer boy is or course allergic to fabricating parts, in this case running a hacksaw, so I assume I will have to cut them out.

The carb I rebuilt for this sled was tested on the Wife's green machine this February. On the first test, the carb ran gas out the throat, so disassembly commenced. What I found was that some idiot had installed the gasket on the main body of the carb upside down, so that the port for the return was covered. Easy fix, but do not know how that happened. But it should be ready to go now.

[JoeRainville]

Just to clarify Lindork's remark: I have an aversion to fabricating parts I can otherwise purchase, such as spindle bushings. However, I embrace having Linder fabricate rear pivot or front shock bracket bushings and then sending them to me.

It also seems we are in a "slow race" to the finish line, since both of us have been working on 1973 JDX-8's for about 2 years, and neither one is done...

-JDJR

[400brian]

The "slow race" thing is kinda what I was getting at in a different post where I was saying that full resto is overkill in many cases. My '74 X8 is not restored, it has been very much been gone through, but the engine has never been opened. I bought it showing around 500 miles on the clock, and now I am well over 2000. The sled has been ridden every winter for the last 11 years, no lengthy downtime ever.

The restos tend to take on a life of their own, and suck up all your time and money. I really like restored sleds, my '72 400 falls into that category, but they come at a cost! This '73 X8 project was not supposed to be into its 3 year! This was supposed to just be a freshening up! I am not restoring this sled to the same level that Rainville is, I have been there done that. This one is a rider, but it has still taken too darn long.

I told Rainville years ago that he would never ride his, and he has grudgingly came to agree with that assessment. So now he has to build a rider as well! My point is we only have so much time folks...

[400brian]

Well, it's been 5 years since this thread was started. A lot of water has went under the bridge, but this sled is still sitting in the middle of the shop collecting dust. The 440/21 has been powering the wife's green machine for 2 seasons, and most of the parts for the sled are refinished and sitting in the basement. This needs to go forward so that other projects can happen...so here goes!

The tunnel has been rattle canned Blitz Black. The chaincase is in, and the stripe has been applied. Time to flip it over and install the drive train!

[SS440-80]

WOW! This thread is fun reading
Keep up the good work.

[400brian]

We flipped the tunnel over Saturday night, and the first thing I did was toss in the NOS Gates track. Dustin Elder has commented that he has installed driveshafts at least twice without the track installed, and while this greatly simplifies the shaft install, it is a wasted effort without the track in place. This is the last NOS track I have and I considered putting a few picks in it, but in the end I decided I just could not drill holes in a 40 year old NOS part.

I considered adding an idler wheel between the track drivers on the shaft, but I removed it before the installation. We are running the black drivers that were used on the cleated tracks, because the white drivers used on the bogie tracks are all cracked, whether they are NOS or used. The concern is that the idler, while supporting the track ( and matching the 3 idlers at the rear ), might just reduce the contact pressure on the drivers and make ratcheting a bigger issue. I would like to try it, but the downside is all the work to remove it if I am not happy with it . So I just took it off.

So, the grab bars are on. The driveshaft is in as far as the stuff to do on the underside, and the first 2 bogie shafts are installed. I am using stainless carriage bolts and nuts on the bogie retainers, as the original JD logo fasteners were ratty. I had a set painted silver, but decided to go stainless.

[400brian]

OK, the track and suspension are in! Rainville had set me up with a set of the correct slot head countersunk screws that hold the bearing cups onto the pivot plate, so the philips head ones were swapped out. Most everything in the rear suspension parts are NOS ( not including the axle and idlers ). The bogie tubes have new plastic bushings in them, while the tubes and related hardware were cleaned and painted. About ready to flip it onto it's feet, and continue from the top side.