78 Liquifire rebuild!

[SS440-80]

Really nice

Remember to put a few drops of oil on the stainless nuts an screws. It does not need much for dry stainless to destroy the threads.

[400brian]

Well, after a few phone calls, the custom Carver shock I ordered in February has arrived.

I hope that completes the suspension. We have a lot of irons in the fire this time of year, but it sure would be nice to get the sled back on its feet.

[400brian]

It has been a busy summer, between the Classic Green Reunion in June, 3 weeks of fishing trips to northern WI, a week at an antique Tractor show, and the grandson and I working on our 1937 Deere B restoration, the sled has sat. Today I took a bit of a nibble on the project. After a lengthy procrastination, I finally went to work on the Yokahama track I intend to run.

The track I have has 96 picks in it ( two per pitch ). Last February I rode my Wife's 340 Cyclone on the vintage Challenge. This was the first time I had put any significant time in the seat. She had been telling me that the sled pushed in the corners, after riding it, I had to agree. The Cyclone has 64 Woody's picks in the stock cleated track, and plastic skis with modern carbides. So I am thinking I do not need 96 in this CC clone, which will also get the plastic skis.

The air ratchet buzzed the nuts off the pics without much effort. I was removing the 2 picks out of every third pitch. I then used a hex bit in the 1/4" ratchet to loosen the stud out of the plastic backer. It didn't take long and I was down to 64 pick goal.

This is a 16" wide track that was used in 90's vintage Cats. You can see that the PN is: 602-239

[400brian]

The time has come to install the track!

Over the years I have experimented with different variations of hardware to attach the bearing retainers to the sides of the tunnel, this is the first time I have welded the nuts to the inside flange, and on the speedo side I have both button head and socket head bolts on hand to try. My complaint there is that the speedo drive doesn't give good clearance to get a socket on the bolt head.

I had to do some digging to find the o-ring for the chaincase side bearing that I was sure I had on hand, but after that was located, it was straight forward work to polish up the flanges and the spacer. The nuts on the drive axle track sprocket bolts were secured with Loctite, as would be the bolts securing the bearing flanges.

With the track in the tunnel, the driveshaft was installed, the o-ring positioned, and the three bolts started into the flange nuts. About this time I realized I wanted to shoot some paint on the speedo drive, which was sitting disassembled on the bench. So I got the holes lined up on the speedo drive side, then tightened the chaincase side bolts up.

[400brian]

The 78 CC suspension is out in the sunlight for the first time in a long time. I purchased the skid at the SHOF Round-Up back in 2013.

On the way out of the house I sat it on the scale. So just for comparison, I will list three:

1976 Cyclone / LF stock steel 53.8 lbs.

1978 Cyclone / LF stock aluminum rails 42.4 lbs.

1978 LF CC alum rails, full set auxiliary idlers 54.4 lbs.

[400brian]

I went to bolt the speed drive and bearing retainer on the end of the drive axle the other night. As I was laying under the upside down sled looking over the situation, it suddenly occurred to me I had a problem. The axle I am putting in is a NOS hex shaft, the problem is that NOS shafts do not come with the speedo drive bushing installed, there is just a 1/4" hole drilled in the end of the shaft.

I definitely DO NOT want to remove the shaft, so I temporarily bolted the flange up tight to hold everything in place, and headed home to look for a drive bushing. I had purchased a couple of speedo hardware kits years ago, and while the drive keys got put into service quickly, the drive bushings are only needed for driveshafts from sleds that didn't come with speedos, like the 300 or Spitfire, or NOS shafts. I found the hardware kits in the first box I looked in, grabbed a bushing, and I was good to go.

A day later back in the garage, I cleaned the hole in the shaft and the bushing with Brake Kleen, and blew them dry. A bit of red Loctite was applied to the knurled part of the bushing just behind the head, slid it into the hole in the shaft, and tapped it home with the ballpein hammer.

OK, back to the speedo drive. The drives on the Cyclones and Liquifires seem slightly different than the ones used on the mid-mounts. On these drives you rally can't get a socket on the bolt head properly. On this sled I am trying button head bolts with nuts welded to the flange. The button heads are more difficult to get started by hand than a hex head bolt, but after some struggle I got them in and tight. I hope I am done with the driveshaft!

[400brian]

October 26 was the big day. The suspension finally went back into the 78 Liquifire!

My wife helped me feed the suspension inside the track where I took stock of the situation. I think in every case to date, I have installed the bolts for the front arm first, then fought the rears in. In this case, when I pulled the skid rearward, I found that the rear arms were close to lining up, whereas
the front ones were about an inch forward of the holes. I had done some measuring the night before, and I knew that using a ratchet strap I could overcome the push of the gas shock and pull the arms together enough to get the measurement I had taken between the holes in the tunnel.

However, it appeared that the issue I hadn't anticipated was the snugness of the track. With Katy doing some gentle prying, I was able to get the two rear bolts in and tightened ( with Loctite ). She then retreated inside to watch the Packer / Steeler game on TV, while I fought with the suspension listening to the game on the radio with the more favorable local crew.

Looping the strap between the rear shaft and the front, I began the process of pulling the front arm rearward. In the end I had the rear springs unhooked, the front springs off completely, had wooden blocks under the arms, and had the ratchet strap pulled as tight as I could get it...and maybe a few taps of encouragement with the hammer. As the game came to a Packer friendly conclusion, I finally got the fourth bolt in! After that it was simple enough to pull the front down enough to pop the front springs back onto the plastic spools.

On Brock's recommendation, I had located my front holes 1 3/4" forward of the originals rather than the 2" the book had called out. In my case with this track, it appears I would have been better off going with the 2" book recommendation. But I did get it on! the track is tight enough to run as is, so I have ALL the adjuster travel to use going forward. I can roll the track around by hand, but it is pretty stiff.

[400brian]

The paint is pretty much off the underside of the sled. I had thought about painting the underside before putting the track and suspension in, but in the end decided that the risk off messing the paint up during the installation process was high. So I ran the palm sander over the pan and boards. The paint is very thin and comes off quite quickly.

Once I started sanding, I immediately found the pan had more dings and creases than I thought. I dug out a body dolly, sanded the rust off it ( hadn't used that in a while ) and started working out some of the spots I could get to. I had pounded the major dents out of the bottom of the pan years ago when it was sitting upright. The areas I had the most success with was the rear sides of the pan by the foot rests. On both sides of the sled that area of the pan had taken damage. I got the proper curve put back in it, or at least got close, and declared victory.

I have known since we flipped the sled on its back that the sled had taken damage ( it hit something ) on the right front side. The part number hand written on the underside of the bumper was the dead giveaway, and the forward section of the right side was rippled. As I took the paint off that section I began to understand why that area looked the way that it did. It appears the pan was straightened with a sledge hammer, then finished with a pick axe. The reason there is still paint on the left hand side in the photo is because of the dents left by the face of a sharped edged hammer. I smoothed out some of it, but the metal has been worked and stretched so much that I decided that the downside of continuing to pound on it was too great. I have no desire to take the pan off, I am not interested in filling the area with bondo, it is on the underside, and the sled's mission is to be a rider.

I removed the 8 bolts on the sides of the pan and got them cleaned up for paint. The bolt near the spindle that came out of the side that took the hit was not the correct fastener. It was a flange head, and when I got it out I discovered it was a pointed bolt of the type used in cars to self align going into poorly fitting panels. So it is clear that the chassis is slightly tweaked.

So now I am down to cleaning and masking in preparation of spraying paint.

[400brian]

Getting ready to make the underside black again.

[400brian]

Today the underside of the sled got some black paint.

I used Case/IH gloss black in a rattle can. Two cans got sprayed here. It was 55 degrees here today, I probably should have warmed the garage up to 75 degrees before I started painting, the stuff ran like water. However, it is the underside, so when I flip the sled over and get ready to paint the sides of the tunnel, I will sand the sides of the pan a bit and try to do better. It is clean and shiny black.

[400brian]

Big milestone today! The sled came off the horses, was flipped, and went on the lift.

The serious re-assembly can begin. The sides of the tunnel, pan, and the foot boards have to be painted yet, but lots of little things are now able to be worked on.

[SS440-80]

Really nice thread to follow

You are doing a amazing job on that Liquifire

[400brian]

Looking at the top side of the sled for the first time in I guess 2 years, I found I was not satisfied with how the dash and vent panels looked. I did some cleaning, but in the end decide they needed to come off.

The vent panels were straight enough, but the right hand side was pushing some corrosion through the paint. I degreased and sanded them. I retrieved the handle bar from the basement where it has been sitting since the warmers had been installed, and gave it the same treatment.

Thinking ahead a little, I decided the steering system needed to go in right away, so I dug the spindles, arms, and tie rods out and got them cleaned up.

Everything that was supposed to be black got a squirt of Blitz Black, and 24 hours later I started bolting things back in. The dash will get a dusting with Krylon Fusion, but for right now I am thinking about the two holes that need to be drilled for the bar heat switch and the tether switch.

[nick80lf]

[400brian]

I decided it was time to work on the Kelsey Hayes brake installation. The racers often used these, but the only Deere sled that came with them standard was the 340/S. It adds a race vibe to the sled, as the unit with the round reservoir cap is quite distinctive mounted on the handlebar.

To mount the caliper on the 80+ chain case, it appeared I needed a 3/8" spacer to get the proper clearance. It just so happened that I had a good sized piece of 3/8" aluminum plate I had purchased a number of years ago. I dug it out and cut a small chunk out of it with a hacksaw. I used one of the spacers that was already on the chain case as a pattern, and began cutting the blank more to size with the hacksaw. As the blank began to take shape, I drilled the two holes, and bolted the factory spacer onto it as a reference. When I got the basic shape close, I switched to removing material with the bench belt sander. In the end I thought the end result quite passable.

So the set up here is that I have the stock 80+ Deere square brake pad installed on the chain case, and the stock Kelsey Hayes round pad in the caliper.
Typically, white plastic brake line was used, connecting each end with simple compression fittings. Here, in keeping with a general mission of over-kill, I plan to use braided stainless brake lines from Wahl Racing.

As I write this, I am waiting on a new HD brake rotor Brock is sending me, I didn't realize these are fairly common at the moment. My stock rotor was not great, so I am upgrading.