82 Sportfire

[johnnycyclone]

That's good you found one and got it ordered. I looked but didn't have any. We are getting more, and more Deere owners from Michigan, so it's nice to know what part your from. Maybe we will meet on the trails someday.

Terre

[MIGreg1]

There is a shaft with 2 idler wheels in the middle of the track I'm trying to get off one side is threaded and the other has a bolt head. I took the wheel and nut off the one side and tried to turn the other side with no luck. Is this a bolt or is it part of a cross shaft I don't want to break it, but cussing isn't helping. I looked at an online manual, but it really didn't show anything helpful.

[jdsnowfire]

it should be a bolt. i think i ended up taking the suspension off and pounding on the idler with a hammer untill it moved enough that i could at least get the snap ring off of the idler. just keep working on it, use lots off penetrating oil, try an impact if you haven't already.

[MIGreg1]

Got it out now I have to find a new one. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get the bearings off of this, I got the wheel off used some pen. oil and some heat, and tried to put a socket to center up on shaft and hit it from the other side still no luck.

[jdsnowfire]

use a small puller or a hydralic press

[MIGreg1]

I got it together unfortunately there seems to be an excessive amount of weight on the seat that makes the snowflap rub the ground while riding. It runs but bogs bad at idle sometimes loading up and dying I noticed that there's gas coming out of the overflow on the bottom of the float bowl possibly the needle valve sticking or the float needs adj. I would really like to get my 76LF running but that probably won't happen until summer. The bearings I was talking about in the previous post had to cut the races off the shafts tried a huge arbor with no success, but it's all good on undercarriage side now.
s

[jdsnowfire]

your suspension shocks are probably dead and need to be replaced, my trailfire is the same way. The snowflap is normaly very close to the ground-that may be normal for the amount of weight on the seat, does the suspension "bottom out" often? on the trailfire there are two spring positions (i believe most sportfires are the same) you could try moving it to the tighter one.
have you cleaned the carb? -idle problem is probably due to a dirty carb, even if you think it is spotless-clean it again just to make sure.

[JDT]

I do not know if the heavy duty springs are avaliable for the Sporty or not but you may try a set of spring helpers.
There is a set on ebay right now.

You did replace the rear springs correct?
Also you could add a coil spring around the shock.

[jdsnowfire]

what coil spring should be used around the shock?

[JDT]

You want to raise the sled up in the back and measure the length that would be required to mount a spring around the shock allowing for some stops.

Then put the sled down on the floor and put your weight on the seat until the running boards are level.
At this point have a buddy measure the shorten length of the compressed shock as stated above.

Now the math...
Subtract 180 from your body weight and look for a spring that that offers this number of pounds of resistance at the deflection rate determined in step one.
In my case, as I weight 280, I used a shock that had a spring rate of 100 lbs at 3 inches.

Please note that this modification should only be done if everything else is up to par.
It is always best to use the OEM designed springs.
Adding a coil over shock will put addition stress on the components of the suspension sytem.
You want to avoid air under the track or there is a risk of breaking parts in the slide system.

As most sleds were designed for a 175 lb rider back in the day something needs to be done to aloow for us plus size guys.
If you have a 2up type machine and weigh say 350 lbs you may be fine riding solo with the suspension set for two persons and in good condition.

A gas charged shock may help some but they are spendy and you can get a spring for $25.

[MIGreg1]

Finally took it for a real ride last night, attempted to clean the carb prior and readjust float. Still got gas coming out didn't figure it was as bad as it was went about twenty miles on a half tank ended up being pulled back by a Polaris. I was told it was ruff on an old sled, but I guess I didn't believe it after running around the yard and street. I was like the Grape Ape my knee's were up to my elbows, might need some highway pegs for a long haul. I think the secondary is tapping out, in the powder it kept disengaging and free revving then you had to baby it to get it moving again. Came up on a fallen log and had to pick up the sled and turn it around it stalled and took about twenty pulls to get it running again. So I think my carb and secondary need alot of attention,or I need a buggy to pull behind me with a full time mechanic.

[nick80lf]

I think you really need to check the inlet needle. The best way is to flip the carb upside down and apply vacuum where the fuel line connects with a Mityvac. It should vacuum for several seconds without falling.

Or the low tech way, with the bowl off the carb lightly press the float lever to partially depress the spring-loaded pin in the inlet needle. Attach a short piece of fuel line and fill the line with carb cleaner or ect. The fluid should not leak. If it does, the engine is essentially flooding.

You can try to clean the needle but most likely you'll have to replace it. Keep in mind that inlet needles are stamped with a number, which corresponds to flow rate. The smaller numbers like 1.2 or 1.5 are what are used on pressure fed systems like snowmobiles. Larger numbers like 3.0 are used for gravity fed systems like motorcycles

Nick

[MIGreg1]

That may be the issue this carb is from a 92 suzuki quad 250 so it should have been a gravity feed did not know about that i'll have to look into it thanks.