Make A Wish Project 340/S kickoff

[JoeRainville]

Clack,

Your crank was shipped to Jerome yesterday, and I will see if I have any better driven clutches. Although simular to other Comet 90-D drivens, they are mostly unique parts to the 340/s.

Kenny, holler if you can't find your parts. I have several covers and gaskets, so I will be on backup!

-Rainville

[clackinator]

Thanks again Joe and Kenny. We had really hope to make the secondary we have look nice, but it was just too far gone.

[ICCSF 108]

Clack, I'll get the cover out in the next couple of days, I only had one cover gasket left so Rainville will be sending a gasket from the East Beach Whse.

Kenny

[JoeRainville]

Clack,

I have found two more 340/s driven clutches in my stash. Can you send me pic's of yours so that I can see if mine is any better off. I will also send a new gasket ASAP as Kenny said, I had a few of them left.

-Rainville
joerainville@hotmail.com

[Nutter]

Can someone fact check something for me?

I looked up the individual sheaves for the 340S on JDparts.com and it looks like just those two pieces of the 340S secondary cross to several tunnel mount sleds (except the 300). Part numbers for the sheaves appear to be AM53546 and A53741.The whole assembly doesn't cross because the helix and spring are different.

If this is correct, could they use the sheaves from a tunnel mount sled (except a 300) with the helix and spring from the 340S to make a good 340S clutch?


Nutter

[ICCSF 108]

The biggest thing is the parts have to come from a doner with a serial number of 30,001 - .. Yes you are correct that the newer 400, 600, 800, JDX 4, 6, & 8, Used the AM53546 & AM53741 parts, the older sleds used the smaller ID hole on the stationary just like the 295/S does. The other problem is that usually the secondaries are stuck to the shaft & are usually harder to get off the sleds that use the short shaft than they are coming off a sled with a jackshaft.. Unless someone has some NOS ones they want to part with..

Kenny

[clackinator]

Clack,

I have found two more 340/s driven clutches in my stash. Can you send me pic's of yours so that I can see if mine is any better off. I will also send a new gasket ASAP as Kenny said, I had a few of them left.

-Rainville
joerainville@hotmail.com

Hi Joe, the secondary is at Jack Palokangas' house. He is the one who is restoring that part of the machine. I don't have access to it right now or I would take a photo. If you have got one that looks restorable and not so pitted, that is what we need. Usually a DA sander can take most of the blemishes out, but the pits in this one are just too deep. Jack, if you are reading this thread, can you snap a photo for Joe? Thanks.

[clackinator]

Here is an update on the John Deere Make A Wish sled.

The project is winding down now and the final build date has been set. It will be October 17th at (lloyd Krohn) "Mercdivers" place near Forest Lake, MN. Within the next couple of weeks, we plan a small get together of some local guys up here near Menahga and we will be installing the suspension, track and fitting the seat on the machine. We will have a head start on the build if we can get that stuff done in advance.

John's Upholstery has the seat on its way to us via UPS. So many people have helped out so much with the build and the very, very hard to find parts! Nearly everything on a 340/S is unique to a 340/S and this has presented us with quite a challenge. Special thanks to Kenny Heins, Joe Rainville and Don Amber for their assitance with some very unique parts. If not for their generosity, this project would not have happened.

Jerome Kretzman has been a project saver as well. Donating his time to rebuild the crankshaft for us. The 340/S crank was also completely unique to the 340/S only. Our original was beyond saving and 2 donated extras were also not salvageable. We had a very generous benefactor donate an excellent crank that Jerome is in the process of freshening up. I'm still looking for another crank to replace the one that was donated. The gentleman that donated the crank needed it, but he also knows there is a chance we wont be able to replace it. If anyone out there has another crank, even a rebuildable one, I would sure like to lay my hands on it so I can return one to the generous donor.

Also, Brian400 has helped so much with the suspension! He and Pete Minderman have rebuilt the suspension and it looks fantastic! Everyone who had a hand in this build is very appreciated! Thanks to all of you.

The body repair and paint work alone on the chassis has been a huge job! I told my body/paint guy that whatever we had left over from the donated funds would be going to him for his time and effort. To date, we only have $136 left in the kitty. It would feel much better to hand him a bit more money than that for all of his effort. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks some more donations will come in so we can compensate him a little better.

Its a great group of vintage sled enthusiasts who have made this possilble. It has been a joint effort between many members from 4 different vintage sled websites and has managed to bring together many new friends. All in the name of charity. It doesn't get much better than that!

[I500#54]

ClacK.....Will the sled retain the stock graphics or have you considered a remake of one of the racers? JRC

[clackinator]

Hmm. I hadn't thought of that at all. We just got a decal set from JD sled decals dot com and that was what I was planning. However, the decal kit does not come with the air box warning decal, so I am having that one made here locally.

Do you think it would be a better option to install some nostalgic decals from the old racing days? Do you have any particular sled in mind?

[400brian]

The thing about the 340S is that there aren't many decals to go on it. You have a leaping Deere logo on each side of the hood, and the 340S logo at the front, that is it. This leaves you with this huge area just begging to be used as a billboard!

You could replicate a particular rider or sponsor's look, or come up with a generic race look on your own. Chris Dotzler has the ETD decals like I have on my sled, which was actually used a couple of years later. This would give a generic race look, while recognizing the history.

Or you could have the sled custom lettered in a particular racers colors.
Rainville might have something to add.

[clackinator]

Yes, it would be the perfect spot for some custom type lettering. Should there be mention of Make A Wish? Or should we just have that on all the banners that are with the sled. I'm open to any suggestions. The "Enduro Team Deere" graphics do look great on that machine.

[JDT]

A "Make-a-Wish" decal would be appropriate on the sled as long as it was one easily removed.

I would think that a stock looking machine would be more appealing to a potential buyer/bidder.

While we as Deere lovers and forum members appreciate the history of the racers, some may not.

[JDT]

Maybe a ETD graphic could be included with the machine to be installed at the new owners option?

It is a very cool looking decal!

[400brian]

A thought I have been mulling around... 2010 is the 35 year anniversary of the running of the '75 I-500. The one these 340s' were built to conquer!

Troy had a decal made last year, based on the patch shown below, that he put on his 340S' hood. Some of us had wanted smaller versions of the decal for the sides of our hoods.

More recently I had pondered if we could get a quantity made, altered slightly to recognize the 35 year mark. Also, another version could be made up to hand out to the Vintage Challenge survivors this year.

Troy is looking in to it. We don't know if we can get the cost down to where we can just hand them out, but if there was enough interest, perhaps we could get some made.

Clack

You no doubt want to mention "make a wish" on the sled somewhere. How big depends on your overall theme. Union Carbide numbers might also be a possibility. Graphics don't com real cheap, and I don't know how many times we can go to the well here.