I rode behind Brian at one of his several trips to Togowotee and I’ll never forget one day on the way back to the lodge I had all i could do to keep up and he was leading the way witch is the hardest part. He just made it look so easy up there. Super guy…
Around 2008 I went to Togwotee on a Brian Nelson sled trip. The last night in lodge ballroom Brian talked about his I-500 days. Both on Deere and Cat. Brian was a first class guy with his sled excursions and awesome hearing about racing days. Was a great night.
Do know if they used the same motors back then ? I have a 77 340 deere that runs great ! I own an arctic cat 91 700 wildcat with a suzuki motor but i think cat ran kawasaki motors back in 77. My 340 deere uses kawasaki brake parts that i bought for my motorcycle and have not used yet so i put em on. With plenty of snow that john deere runs good and not too rough considering the suspension is so outdated. But that 340 motor really runs good so I'm wondering who made it.
Brian raced the 1977 Cross Country Cat with a special tuned version of the same 340 Suzuki liquid they used in the 77 Z 340 oval racer. You aren’t far off. Cat phased in the Suzuki Spirits for 1976 for trail sleds. 76 XC Cat used a free air Suzuki 340 twin. They weren’t very successful. The 77 was much improved. For trivia masters the last Cat sled sold with a Kawasaki was the limited build 250 twin 1976 Lynx. This was made from leftover 1975 parts. I think they made less than 1500 of them. Styled to look like a 1972 EXT but a very tame 20hp single carb FA twin with single plug heads. Basically a 250cc version of the same 340 engine Kawasaki sold to JD for later Spitfires. Super rare sled. They didn’t sell well and cost almost as much as the 340 Jags.
You look at the absolute pounding these guys took ditchbanging sleds with a few of inches of suspension over a couple of long days. Today's riders with 13"+ travel, heated seats and power steering: "I'm not gonna ride this month because the trails haven't been groomed and it's a little bumpy."
i guess Im asking the wrong place but does any of you know of a method to get back into an instagram account?? I was dumb forgot the login password. I would appreciate any tricks you can offer me
They came out of nowhere with a huge factory effort. There were rumours they rented a lodge to train the drivers in physical fitness - a full court press. Nice to see but hard for amateurs to compete.
If you ever saw a John Deere Liquidator in person you would understand why they stood up to the battering they took..............they were built like a tank, everything was reinforced.
You are 100%. I was JD factory mechanic in Alberta Canada. That Kioritz KEC-340RS/24LC was bolted to a hefty aluminum belly pan and tunnel. The Liquidators were the first LC utilized in the cross country circuit. Those “Dators” only totalled a production of 600 units.
Lots of room for Improvements back then.. Kind of Impressive what John Deere Engineers came up with .. It also looks like they had a Professional Team going there..
Kenric Sukalski my neighbor from mindoro Wisconsin he raced Arctic Cat snowmobiles a quite a few times in the Winnipeg to Saint Paul it was from mindoro Wisconsin he always wore a blue helmet that said the wild child on it his name was Michael Wild and a couple of times he finished the race with one ski
If I have the facts straight John Deere had an all out Factory Cross Country race Team for 2 years.. After that they offered Support Money to Private John Deere racers..
With the money JD put into this year, as shown by the number of Deere racers at the starting lines, it would have been a shock...not to have so many wins.
@@crushthis123 The entire chassis and suspension are designed by JD, Comet primary, JD designed the secondary. Liquid cooled Kioritz engine designed specifically for this sled. The later deeres used Kawasaki engines, the rest was JD
I was part of this I-500 in 76.
For being so old, this footage is awesome! Really well done.
I remember riding Massey Ferguson sleds. They were pretty good. Farm equipment companies used to sell pretty much anything you could think of.
I rode behind Brian at one of his several trips to Togowotee and I’ll never forget one day on the way back to the lodge I had all i could do to keep up and he was leading the way witch is the hardest part. He just made it look so easy up there. Super guy…
Liqudator was an awesome machine
That 340" Dator" won only by the grace of God. We ran one. Heavy as a combine and very over built. Lots of piston seizing problems.
Around 2008 I went to Togwotee on a Brian Nelson sled trip. The last night in lodge ballroom Brian talked about his I-500 days. Both on Deere and Cat. Brian was a first class guy with his sled excursions and awesome hearing about racing days. Was a great night.
Do know if they used the same motors back then ? I have a 77 340 deere that runs great ! I own an arctic cat 91 700 wildcat with a suzuki motor but i think cat ran kawasaki motors back in 77. My 340 deere uses kawasaki brake parts that i bought for my motorcycle and have not used yet so i put em on. With plenty of snow that john deere runs good and not too rough considering the suspension is so outdated. But that 340 motor really runs good so I'm wondering who made it.
Brian raced the 1977 Cross Country Cat with a special tuned version of the same 340 Suzuki liquid they used in the 77 Z 340 oval racer. You aren’t far off. Cat phased in the Suzuki Spirits for 1976 for trail sleds. 76 XC Cat used a free air Suzuki 340 twin. They weren’t very successful. The 77 was much improved. For trivia masters the last Cat sled sold with a Kawasaki was the limited build 250 twin 1976 Lynx. This was made from leftover 1975 parts. I think they made less than 1500 of them. Styled to look like a 1972 EXT but a very tame 20hp single carb FA twin with single plug heads. Basically a 250cc version of the same 340 engine Kawasaki sold to JD for later Spitfires. Super rare sled. They didn’t sell well and cost almost as much as the 340 Jags.
Awesome! Even mentioned my dad in there!!
You look at the absolute pounding these guys took ditchbanging sleds with a few of inches of suspension over a couple of long days.
Today's riders with 13"+ travel, heated seats and power steering: "I'm not gonna ride this month because the trails haven't been groomed and it's a little bumpy."
awesome classic film! thanks for this!
i guess Im asking the wrong place but does any of you know of a method to get back into an instagram account??
I was dumb forgot the login password. I would appreciate any tricks you can offer me
@Lyric Rylan Instablaster :)
They came out of nowhere with a huge factory effort. There were rumours they rented a lodge to train the drivers in physical fitness - a full court press. Nice to see but hard for amateurs to compete.
If you ever saw a John Deere Liquidator in person you would understand why they stood up to the battering they took..............they were built like a tank, everything was reinforced.
You are 100%. I was JD factory mechanic in Alberta Canada. That Kioritz KEC-340RS/24LC was bolted to a hefty aluminum belly pan and tunnel. The Liquidators were the first LC utilized in the cross country circuit.
Those “Dators” only totalled a production of 600 units.
Lots of room for Improvements back then.. Kind of Impressive what John Deere Engineers came up with .. It also looks like they had a Professional Team going there..
I see that they all have leaf spring suspension ..
@@mikeskidmore6754 Ya Polaris were the first to have an independant front suspension in 1979. I believe it was 79.
Super nice video 👍.ty
1:26 ,wow did anyone notice the cross country cat /Pantera that crosses the line has only on ski left
I am sure that has a good story behind it.
Kenric Sukalski my neighbor from mindoro Wisconsin he raced Arctic Cat snowmobiles a quite a few times in the Winnipeg to Saint Paul it was from mindoro Wisconsin he always wore a blue helmet that said the wild child on it his name was Michael Wild and a couple of times he finished the race with one ski
Video after my.own heart. That said I'm a wedge man till the end.
If I have the facts straight John Deere had an all out Factory Cross Country race Team for 2 years.. After that they offered Support Money to Private John Deere racers..
I don't know about $'s but we got upgrades for our racing machines that were not for the same sleds sold to guys from the neighborhood.
Cool!!!
ICCSF ???
How do you spell Tom’s last name did it say he is from Randall Mn ?
Otte
With the money JD put into this year, as shown by the number of Deere racers at the starting lines, it would have been a shock...not to have so many wins.
I just saw my boss running late.......
couldn't do this race anymore with global warming
Kawasaki's in reality
There's nothing kawasaki in these sleds
@@Ethan-ck6iz The engine suspension are kawasaki and you better do some research
@@crushthis123 The entire chassis and suspension are designed by JD, Comet primary, JD designed the secondary. Liquid cooled Kioritz engine designed specifically for this sled.
The later deeres used Kawasaki engines, the rest was JD
Crush you better go talk to a former JD dealer. Kawasaki came along later in JD motor history.