Waconia Panic has set-in

[greenblood]

If the road to Waconia were paved with good intentions, it would be smooth sailing. Unfortunately, there are a few potholes yet.

I'm trying to get a pretty rough 83 Sportfire ready for the ride on Saturday, and I busted the gas tank fitting. I assume (with much hope) that these are common parts that one can get at a sled shop? Or does JD still use something on a lawn/garden machine? All I need is something serviceable, certainly not a restoration.

Bearings replaced, suspension cleaned up and greased (it actually came apart!), skis replaced, steering improved, and many other things tightened, bolted or otherwise strapped down. I was cleaning out the gas tank and thought I could carefully pull the fitting out and replace the pickup hose...not to be.

Go Vikes!!

[JoeRainville]

Dave,

I don't think the 90 deg fitting is available, but a straight one should be. The grommet is still availalbe, P/N M66005. Good luck getting your sled ready. I think mine is about ready to go...I think. And then I hope there is enough snow for the ride too!

-Rainville

[greenblood]

Thanks for the info Joe. Weather lately has sucked. Rained much of Saturday. Things are pretty slushy, not things will be rutted ice as the cold comes back later in the week. We still have a foot of snow on the ground around my house, and I am about 15 miles west of Waconia, so hopefully the lake will not be too slushy and still have good snow cover. At least the weather will be cold (predicted to be about 15 deg) instead of the 45 or so of last year (I parked in a low spot and came back to a 4" deep puddle under my truck and trailer, yuck).

[Matt]

It's a pretty common item, you could probably pick one up at a sled shop as well.

[JDXspec]

After scrambling for dator pistons (after the burndown last saturday ) and coming up empty I think I still have a chance of making it with a running dator allbeit using a Liquifire engine. Which BTW is kind of a pain to put in. I made a custom engine plate to mount it. Still have some small things to finish but it is almost ready to go.

Dave
The grommet should be able to get from Deere yet. See you there.

[69camaro]

Oh Yeah, it just gets better all the time. I am only bringing my 84 Liquifire so I go to start it today for the first time and it is flooded. New set of plugs and had it running, just about to clean out. Flooded again. Staybil, fogged, drained the gas from last year. Took it for a 25 mile ride at the end of the year and it ran flawless. WTF

[SpitfireKing]

I hear ya boys, been working on one of my 300's to get it ready for the last 3 weeks in the evenings, and all together and can't get the carb to work right, and haven't even touched the second sled I was taking for the Mrs. to ride....pretty sure I'm just going to call it quits and come down empty...more opportunity to load up while I'm there!

[ChickenRat]

Dave,

Those tank fittings and grommets are common items. Dennis Kirk has the 90 degree fitting and rubber grommet so you should have no probs.

Robb

[guitardude081]

Duane,
Check your needle/seats. I've got some here if you need a couple. Otherwise, Mikuni part# VM28/511 size 1.5.

Am I the only one having luck here? I've had the Trailfire running for about 2 1/2 weeks..always a 1st pull, I've got a Sprintfire as a backup, I've got a running _____ getting dropped off here any day...hopefully and my uncle just dropped off his '77 Liquifire for a preseason and a new CDI box in hopes that it will be detailed and running like a top for Waconia. The Liquifire only has 616.2 miles on it. He bought it 5 years ago with 374 miles on it. If you guys need some help and are able to make it up to Brainerd, I'd be willing to pull an all-nighter or two to get you going. I'm not too busy since we've had near tropical weather for the last 2 weeks and our snow cover is decimated.
~Jack

[greenblood]

Mission accomplished! At least part 1... Went through Waconia on the way to work and stopped at the Waconia Farm Supply (Arctic Cat dealer) and picked up a couple of Arctic Cat grommets (Kitty Cat tank uses them). $1.27 each (the Toro branded part was $4.50). I am now an optimist that the sled will fire-up with clean gas!

4 days and counting!

Waconia still has snow, the ditches and lake are white, so the ride should be OK if not a bit icy.

[nick80lf]

I'm a little late here but for future reference here are other manufacturer numbers for the tank bushings there common to most lawn and garden equipment.

Bolens 1738433,
Exmark 513645,
MTD 735-0149,
Noma 42690,
Scag 48309,
Simplicity 1654930,
Snapper 1-2337,
Tecumseh 33679,
Toro 46-6560,
Wheelhorse 104047 Fits 33/64" diameter tank hole

[69camaro]

I guess sta-bil has a shelf life in the carbs. They were full of that greenish yellow gunk. They are both soaking in those 1-gallon carb cleaning solution cans. I don't mess around, I have two of them. Hopefully she'll be running like a Deere today. Thanks for the advise Jack. See everone in a few days. DG

[69camaro]

Wow, It is hard to believe that a sled that seemed ready to go needed so much work. After cleaning the carbs it ran good for about 5 minutes. I thought everything was fine until I went to idle, it started going crazy and sounded like a John Deere B. Of course it was that stupid rev-limiter. I go for another spin and then there is gas everywhwere. Now it is the gas cap. I had to steal a new guage from the Sprintfire which is too short but at least it doesn't leak anymore. Next I'm cleaning it up and there is a mouse nest under the motor. I have no idea how they get in but at least I always keep a little bait out just in case and he must have died before he chewed on the sled. I did find a dead one this fall. No biggie but the tailight bulb was burned out. Deep breath. Now ready to go. Duane