80 Trailfire 440 issues

[jdtrailfire80]

In Dec. I bought a 1980 Trailfire 440. The previous owner, drained fuel tank and new lines in Fall 09. We finally got some snow. The sled ran great for 10 minutes. I made two laps around the neighborhood and died near my driveway. I let it sit for 10 mins. It started right up. drive 1 lap around the house and then bogged down around 3500-4000 rpm. When I put it on jacks it would go up to 4000 rpm, bogg down for 1 second and then cruise above 5000 +. When I sat down on the seat, it would bogg down at 4000 and would not pull the sled.

I have read several posts and downloaded deere manuals on carbs. I thought I had an issue with the pilot jet. I disassembled miki carb and soaked for an hour. I have spark and compression. I reassembled carb, bought new plugs. It was a pain in the butt trying to put the carb, air silencer back on the sled. Everything made sense on carb 101 and manual re-build. How important is the choke setting and air screw and pilot screw. I returned everything to what the specs said.

I can't get the sled to turnover. The pull start seems hard. My previous sled was a 85 skidoo 250 and I could pull it with my pinky. My 440 takes 2 hands to pull the cord and I am tried after 10 pulls. Any help would be appreciated. My next step is the snowmobile dealer 2 counties away.

New to jdsleds. Great site.

Thanks for any help,
Henry S.

1985 Ski Doo Citation LS 250 sold
1980 John Deere Trailfire 440 current seld

[harleysportster]

jdtrailfire80,
Weclome aboard. With the ignition off, remove the spark plugs and pull the recoil over to see if the crankcase loaded up with gas. If it did, gas will spray out so be careful. The float could be sticking and flooding out the carb.

[JDT]

Sounds like a crankseal issue.

Piston melted?

[jdtrailfire80]

Harleysportster,
I do not see gas shooting out of carb. I will check the floats again, but were free when I re-assembled.

JDT, I'll look into the crankseal issue, I hope I do not have a melted piston.

Thanks for the advice.

Does anyone know if I replace the starter recoil, will that make the pull start easier?

Henry S

1980 John Deere Trailfire 440 current seld
1985 Ski Doo Citation LS 250 sold

[JDT]

With the spark plugs removed you should be able to rotate the clutch with ease.

If you find it turns hard or has sticky spots, removed the recoil assy and try again.

Than pull the fan belt. If it still does not turn easy 360 degress than you have a project in front of you.

[jdtrailfire80]

In my orginal post, i said my sled would not turnover. What I meant to say, "I can't get the sled to fire" I may have ignition problem. I have spark and motor is not locked up. Now I need to rebuild my recoil. The inner workings of the pull start broke after pull over 200 times without the stupid thing firing.

[lwb140]

in my opinion the trailfires as a rule pull hard i think it is because of the conservative porting which lends them to having great low end torque higher cylinder pressures but a lower peak rpm and power band , just my take on it , but they are great sleds like jdt suggested crank seals may be a great investment the job requires a flywheel and clutch puller but well worth it in the end , up to snuff and reasonably tuned up it should fire right up in a pull or too . CHOKE ADJUSTMENT be sure it is done with the dash down, when the dash is raised and lowered the bending of the flexible cable ratically changes the adjustment of the choke to be sure it is closing all the way or going off make sure the choke lever has a little slack or that the cable isnt being pulled when down ,the lever should easily go in the full choke position if it is tight or you have to force the lever to get to go to full choke or past straight out them loosen adjustment or lower the cable to be sure choke is going off i hope some of this helps wade

[jdtrailfire80]

thanks for reply wade
I actually knew about the dash being lowered.
I think I am going to have to tear it apart more. I tried squirting gas directly into port and it still did not fire.
then I tried at last resort a little bit of starting fluid. I have spark but it will not fire.
My garage is not heated, so I may wait until Spring.

My pull start is shot. Does anyone know if the 340 and 440 pull starts are identical.

[ljm]

Yep they are the same

All the Kawasaki motors used the same pull start

[lwb140]

if it wont start on either stick a new set of plugs in it ,not that ive tried it hahah wade