RARE, John Deere experimental sled

[JDT]

I called it.
It is the Wisconsin branch office of the CIA.

(the plot thickens)

[Wildfire II]

Easy Guys!! I have some info. I will put it together tommorow. Short of time right now. One thing I will say is nice rare find. (Tunnel only) will give my opinion in depth tommorrow. ED

[Matt]

Ed, you tease.

[MBSleds]

Got it off the trailer and washed up. I took a # of more pictures for you guys, since alot of people have been asking for more pics. Wildfire II, you're killing me with the wait.

[MBSleds]

In case anyone doesn't know, click on the picture to view the whole picture.

[75rat]

Interesting find!

Look's like you've got a 295/S tunnel. The RH side of the pan has hole for a 295/S pipe and the tunnel has holes punched for different suspensions. Also, swear I've seen an engine cover drilled full of holes like that too...just can't remember where.

Ed's the best guy to have checking into this.

Good luck, could be a real neat project.
Jim

[400brian]

The tuner pipe hole in the pan jumped out at me as well. The other thing was the weld at the rear of the tunnel, tying the side to the foot board. One ski is a '73, the other may be a '74.

How neat would that look polished?

[MBSleds]

Some people have asked for this stuff... The carb is a WRA-31, and it looks like a Comet 100 C-P clutch. The engine serial # is 5602331.

[Wildfire II]

Sorry I didn't post last night but the Pickers and Pawn shop took top priority!! Well here is my take on this sled. Remember -- This is my opinion, years have pased,, this is to the best of my knowledge as to how we tested back then. Impossible for me to remember what every test sled looked like or what each sled had for test components. With that said this sled as it stands does not rign a bell. We would not add striping to hood so this was added later.
Contacted Dick Teal and he does not recall this sled either but gave this on the tunnel tag. He wrote -- X for experimental--the next three was enginering order # The E.O. was weitten for the 74 model year 300.400,500,600, sleds. per Dick So to the best or our knowledge you have a RARE TEST TUNNEL.
So now lets put the rest of the sled in order. Things just don't add up. I very much doubt we would mix match old already proven parts with new. We just would not build a test sled like the one you see. Lets start with the suspension. We would not cut off the shaft mounting tabs to add old style, why old wheels with new. track looks ok. have question on mud flap. Flap looks to have nicks on bottom from track studs. Would like to conferm by looking under tunnel. One thing to note WE NEVER TESTED WITH STUDS on our test sleds. Eng cowling would not have holes from our build up. If we would be having trouble with vapor lock while we were testing out in the field we would remove the two side panels or top panel to continue testing. Those holes would not have been an option for production. Must have been added later. Crome shocks? I doubt it. Skis that are two years? No. Now the front sub frame. Unlikely we would put old style steel frame on This Exp. tunnel. Dosen't add up. The workmanship under the hood from the little you can see is not from our shop. Lack of J clamps for fuel line and wire harness is one thing. Would like to look at eng area with cowling removed for more evidence. Possable we could be testing with 102 clutch and plastic gas tank and also alluminumnn (you spell it) bumper. Dosen't make sence to test with old parts. One other note is I would like to see the hood and mud flap restraning cables. Reason too long to type a'm already taking too long
Now the big one!!! I'm going to have to make a new post for this

[Wildfire II]

I'm Back. You guys know i'm giving up watching The Price is Right!!!! I love my job!!
Ok here we go. This is my take on how this tunnel made it out of the factory. Remember this is my opinion based on how our factory operated. I can see from the other vintage site that Artic and other companies did things different. THE ONLY test sled that made it out was the famous Wildfire Strut and that was by mistake. Those sleds were to be scraped before shipping all parts and inventory was loaded to Polaris. (Alittle side note when I am ever together with a bunch ou you guys remind me to tell a good story about this) The standing policy was after a season of testing and all information was collected from the test sleds they were put on pallets and placed in our back lot. Come summer these sleds were stripped of all exp. parts and the parts were destroyed. All other parts were placed in our scrap yard seperated Allum--steel = etc. you get it. We also had a pile of engines that were sold a employes sale (anouther good story on this). Now to the alluminum scrap pile. John deere had a contract with a local scrap company to come in remove all scrap. This companie had a reputation of removing good parts that were not damaged and were reused. This is only one idea how the tunnel got out. the other was there was and day a week or month that employes could buy scrap steel allum etc. by the pound. This is anouther idea, I know as my 340/s came from this. (anouther good story) It was soon after the company realised this cannot go on and the PLASMA cutter started getting a work out. Once a year one of our wortkers spent months cutting all parts for scrap. He left nothing you could reconize. there were NO TEST SLEDS sold on employes sale. Everything sold was brought up to good used condition. Had to be brought up to production products. Could you see someone taking this test sled to a dealer for repair tell him it's not running right????
So you can see where my bottom line is. Very rare tunnel with assorted parts added later. One thing i noted about this is the way it was put together, different bogie shafts, wheels, skis, all in certian order. look it over and see what you think. We would not have tested like this. Looks like it was put together to look like a test sled. If there was only two owners maybe we could try harder for more info. By the way Watertown Wi. is only a few miles away. Many people from Watertown worked here. OK I'm done now. I am open for questions. So what do you think. Does this all make sense ED

[MBSleds]

Wow, thanks for the info. hope you were able to see who won on the price is right. i will try and get ahold of the people I bought this from and find out some more on where they got it. The guy seems to get a lot of stuff meessed up but I will try.

[yamadeere]

Ed, your info is priceless, this is very cool info
keep it going

[JoeRainville]

Ed,

Great posts, and thanks for sharing the information from you and Dick Teal. I knew you were the right guy to check this out, and thanks for doing it.

MB,

Darn nice find there! Holler if you get tired of it:>)

-Joe Rainville

[400brian]

Thanks Ed, we appreciate it !

[monte44]

Try calling the phone number on the VIN tag!!!LOL!!!