New sled

[b00stinGTP]

My dad was talking to a guy at work about an old John Deere he had.. so my dad wrote down the number and gave it to me. I was initially excited because the guy said he had a 78 Liquifire, and when I asked him to describe it, it sounded like it was a 78. The second phone call I had him check the VIN and it was a 77, I was a little disapointed, but after going to get the sled I was quite happy. The sled was about 45 minutes from my parents house, and I was happy to see a very nice condition 77 Liquifire 440.. started right up after two pulls. It has a very nice original seat, a non cracked hood, all good paint, 1385 miles. Only thing that is an issue is the track, EVERY cleet is broken. I didnt get a good chance to look at the track closely, not sure if it is salvageable or not. Pictures to come. One question though, I have an extra lightweight suspension out of a 78 Cyclone, would it be a direct swap with this suspension, I am not sure if the bolt holes line up.

[b00stinGTP]

Is it really worth the effort to do this suspension swap... It really is not that important I just figured since i plan on riding this sled a decent amount it might be something to look in to. Anyways, here are a couple of pictures:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/ ... led2-1.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/ ... LED1-1.jpg

The sled is registered for 09, but whoever had it before me ruined the underside of the thing. The skiis are all the way worn through, the track got ruined from letting the hyfaxes get destroyed.. all in all not too much damage, ive seen worse.

[harleysportster]

My humble opinion, yes it is worth it. I own a 76 liquifire and a 78 cyclone. The 78 cylone rides smoother.

[b00stinGTP]

Rich could you find that post you were talking about?

[S_Kyle]

http://s12.zetaboards.com/jdsleds/topic/9574/1/

Fifth post down,

To install '78 suspension in '76 or '77 Cyclone/Liquifire:

Front Holes back 2 1/4" & up 3/4"

Rear holes back 2 7/8"

-RICH

Hope this helps.

[b00stinGTP]

Thanks for finding that post for me, I know I had read it a while back but couldnt remember where. How would one go about reinforcing that area for the new bolt holes? I am liking the idea of doing the conversion as the 78 suspension is so much easier to take in and out.

[b00stinGTP]

Thanks for the information, I think I will do the suspension swap since I have all the parts I need to rebuild the extra 78 suspension. What is the horsepower rating for this sled just out of curiosity?

[S_Kyle]

55hp for the 76 (55001-70000) and 58hp for the 77 (70001-80000) from the tech manual

[b00stinGTP]

58 horsepower? wow that is actually quite impressive, I did not think it would be rated that high. Now I am really looking forward to testing this thing out