80 Liquifire Track swap into 81 Trailfire Questions

[harleysportster]

You won't know condition of everything until you take it apart. Good luck...as far as tunnel protectors, you can add strips of hyfax to the original ones. If the studs are in good shape, use them but I would remove the ones on the outer belts.

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[Hec In Omaha]

[quote=" If the studs are in good shape, use them but I would remove the ones on the outer belts.[/quote]

Harleysportster,

It seems all the Liquifires in my area have studs on their tracks. The owner of this sled didn't follow Mother Deeres recommended Stud Patterns. Is this reason for concern? He sure punched a bunch of extra holes! I will be riding trails and on frozen lakes. I would think I would benefit from the studs. Why do you recommend removing the studs on the outer belts? Is it due to the narrow widths of the outer belts?

Hec

[harleysportster]

People have run studs on the outer belts and will continue to do so. Studding the outside can inhibit corning on the trails, causing your snowmobile to push straight in the turns, which is fighting the steering effort. If you are going to use the studs, you also need to install carbides to balance out the traction.

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[JDT]

People have run studs on the outer belts and will continue to do so. Studding the outside can inhibit corning on the trails, causing your snowmobile to push straight in the turns, which is fighting the steering effort. If you are going to use the studs, you also need to install carbides to balance out the traction.

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Good explanation and advice Pat.

[Hec In Omaha]

All,

Got to work today on removing the Liquifire Track, Suspension and Drivers from the 80' Liquifire parts sled. The track has missing studs here and there. I will remove all the studs since I have more people recommending a track with no studs rather than one that does. So what do you do with the holes left behind made by the studs? Do you fill the holes with something like Black RTV? The suspension looks pretty good. There are a couple of idler wheels that have little chunks missing on them. One upper rear and one front idler. Have replacements for those lined up!

What do you think?

[skoalmint]

Holly Cow ! Looks like a super clean skid. Most i tear apart are a rusty mess. Brock

[Hec In Omaha]

All,

Question of the day. I have seen a few pictures of '80+ Liquifire suspensions online and have noticed that on a few (To include mine) the lower shock mount location has been moved rearward. Is there an advantage to this? I will be rebuilding my suspension for this conversion and I am wondering if I should mount the lower end of the shock using the location shown on the drawing or like it is now? Is there an advantage to moving it off the stock location? I will also be adding a hoop or skid over the top of the Trailfire's Rear Arm upper shock mount just like the Liquifire has.


Hec

[sledhead16]

My concern would be more tauntness in the track tension using the trailfire up idlers opposed to adding those rear idlers to the trailfire rear arm. I really think you may run into a tension issue, but hey try it and report back. Maybe it won't be as a concern as I'm thinking.

[sledhead16]

Moving the lower shock mount reward pushes the rear arm up higher in elevation, I noticed this to cause knicking of the middle track lugs due to changing the geometry of that arm compared to the track, the stock mount position is best, but if you use the trailfire idlers it could change the angle entirely of how the track rotates around the top of that shock.

[Hec In Omaha]

Moving the lower shock mount reward pushes the rear arm up higher in elevation, I noticed this to cause knicking of the middle track lugs due to changing the geometry of that arm compared to the track, the stock mount position is best, but if you use the trailfire idlers it could change the angle entirely of how the track rotates around the top of that shock.

The hoop or skid welded on the top shock mount on my LF rear arm is polished which tells me the track was contacting it despite the relocated lower shock mount. It seems this is an issue with the LF suspension. Guys like Smitfire have recommended using the LF upper rear idlers on the TF rear arm and raising the rear upper idlers up 1/4". This must be to address this issue? Anybody out there got a converted Sporty or TF using a LF Track that can share the details of their set up?

Hec

[sledhead16]

I have an 82 sportfire that has the full rubber track, what do you wanna know?

[Hec In Omaha]

sledhead16,

I didn't even notice the sporty in your signature! Duh. I guess I need dimensions to convert my TF rear arm to an 82'+ Sporty rear arm. I haven't heard from anyone that has actually used the TF upper idlers in this conversion. So I'm starting to believe that I should be following Mother Deere's lead with copying the '82 + Sporty set up.

* What is the clearance of the upper rear idler wheels to the cross shaft?

* What are the dimensions of the brackets used for the upper rear idler wheels? I will need to fabricate them.

* Do you run studs in your track? Do you recommend studs?

* Do you have any trouble with the track hitting the upper shock mount?

Thank's in advance!

Hec

[sledhead16]

I would only run studs in a racer, that is all. I don't have any issues of the shock hitting the track. I can try and get u some measurements in a day or two

[Hec In Omaha]

Sledhead16

I appreciate it!

Thanks man!

Hec

[TASKY]

I put a rubber Liquifire track in my 82 Trailfire. The only thing I changed was the drivers. I kept everything else Trailfire. I didn't have to drill any holes or weld anything. Very straight forward swap. I have put many trouble free miles on it. You are over thinking it.