80 Trailfire & 81 sportfire

[High Top]

Here is the worst one I’ve got. It’s kinda hard to tell in the picture but there are dents on top and bottom side. I ran the one Trailfire last year with this pipe and I thought it ran fine but my experience with these or any two stokes is fairly limited. I’m fine with leaving dents I just don’t know if one this bad is doing any harm to an engine or not??

[snowmoer]

No expert here, but that one I would not use as is. It could affect how it the motor runs. John Deere had a description in one of their manuals on how their tuned pipe works. It uses energy waves to push some of the unburnt fuel back into the motor for a little extra power. Those dents would disrupt that. The one in your other picture should still work. The dent is not that large.

[High Top]

Thanks Dan for the input. I’ll put this pipe aside for this season and use one of the others. A couple of my trailfires I won’t have time to get ready so I’ll rob one to get this machine done.

[High Top]

Things have been real busy in all aspects of life lately…… the sled shed included……. I got the engine pulled on the trailfire and was requested by the holiday decor committee at my dealer for a prop to add to the showroom. She’s not in the best of cosmetic shape but good enough after a hot pressure washer bath and a little TLC. I’ll try to get engine repairs made and after Kris Kringle is done with the sled; reassembly will begin. There are not a lot of sleds around this part of the country but it’s interesting to hear people tell stories about them from back in the day.

[Cdnturboz]

Looks awesome

[nick80lf]

That's pretty cool that they put it on the showroom floor. Most of the dealers don't want to talk about sleds.

[High Top]

So there appears to be a snowstorm lurking around the corner in the lower Midwest……. Last year I’d just acquired the first two trailfires close to thanksgiving when we got a big snow and I had no idea what I was doing to make them run right at that point. Did my research here on the forum and got one dialed in good for the next snow in January……. Much better experience…… fast forward to present day, feeling good that I now have 3 runners for our first snow. The sport that was acquired this summer and the two trails from last year should be snow worthy. Hauled them out of the shed New Year’s Day and gave each a hot lap around the lagoon gliding on dandelions and hen bit. Football has its place on new years but being surrounded by the smell of 91 octane and klotz in the cool January air just felt right. Upon Santa’s departure the other trailfire made its way back to the stand for reassembly but there are still some carb and wiring issues to work out……. It will have to wait for the next snow.

[High Top]

The storm that was forecast was fairly accurate and we ended up with I'm guessing around 8 inches of snow total since last Sunday. This prompted me to burn up some of the PTO I had been storing up in hopes that at some point this winter we would get such an event. It was worth it! The sportfire and trailfire both performed very well with no major issues. The one thing I noted with the sportfire is that the clutch seems to have a more aggressive engagement then any of the trailfires. Ive got a tach on it and it appears to be engaging at about 4000 rpm. I've not looked into this much since snow was on the ground and we wanted to put some good miles on them before it’s gone.