Cyclone and JDX8 Snowmobile Recondtioning
This is how the ‘75 JDX8 and the ’78 Cyclone looked when I brought them home. They had been sitting inside a closed-in pole shed on a farm. The birds that flew inside had used them as target practice. The sled dolly was part of the deal.
I found these sleds listed in a farming newspaper, “The Lancaster Farmer”. They were located south of me in the state of Delaware. The drive was about 1 ½ hours. I was mainly interested in the 78 Cyclone but I couldn’t resist buying both sleds. The JDX8 has over 4,000 miles on the speedo and the cyclone has over 2,000 miles.
I noticed both sleds had previous Pa. State registration numbers on them. The owner said he bought both sleds from a farmer in Northeast Pa. The dealer sticker is still visible on the tunnels and it turns out they were sold here in Pa. by R.E. Little’s. (You may have noticed items sold by pj50yr(Paul) on ebay), it is his family’s JD business. I contacted the dealership and they still had records of the sale. He gave me the original owner’s phone number after he made contact with him. I called the original owner and had a nice chat about his old sleds.
I started to work on the cyclone first. I was told that it ran when parked. It had been sitting for many years. It seemed to have good compression by the force required to pull the recoil. All the fuel lines had dried up and had crumbled. Before I went to deeply into the Cyclone, I wanted to see if I could get the engine to run. I pressure tested the engine, all seals seemed good. (I replaced the crank seals at a later date). I checked for spark, which was good. ( I replaced the stator even though it had good spark because the ohm reading on the low speed windings were low) . I cleaned the fuel tank, carb and installed all new fuel lines and filters. The engine fired right up. Next was dismantling everything for inspection and parts replacement.
All engine parts that are aluminum had suffered typical corrosion. I spent many hours cleaning the aluminum and repainting.
Belly pan cleaned and tunnel reinforced behind the lower steering support
Once the engine was removed, I removed the inner frame support and chaincase to clean them up and repaint.
Here is the inner frame cleaned up, painted and the engine installed.
The crankseals and fan bearings were replaced.
After removing the rear suspension, I discovered that several aluminum shafts were worn very badly and need replaced.
Since the pivot shafts are no longer available, I fabricated new ones. I purchased Air-Craft quality aluminum round stock from McMaster Carr, cut pieces to the proper length, drilled and tapped the ends for the mounting bolts. I drilled a hole in my wood bench top for the pivot shafts to drop down thru. I used a piece of scrap wood to clamp the shafts into and hold them in center with the drill press.
Prior to the installation of the rear suspension, the driveshaft was removed.
New bearings were installed
Next came the dash, handlebar pad and fuel tank which required a good cleaning from all the bird-do and then a fresh coat of plastic/vinyl restorer.
The mounts for the fuel tank had been hacked. I fabricated a system that will allow easy removal the next time.
This is a small strip of aluminum with blind rivet-nuts attached. The mount is placed from the bottom side of the tunnel and the screws threaded into it from the top.
I used stainless steel screws and washers.
The skis cleaned up nicely and repainted. I had to patch a piece of metal on one on the skis near the back stud mount for the runner.
The front shocks were shot and leaking oil. I picked up a pair of aftermarket shocks from Greensleds. I had to make spacers to fit the mounts. Someone had mentioned that it is possible to press out the center bushings of the old shocks and install them in the new ones but I didn’t do this.
New reproduction slider cushions were also installed.
Here is final assembly with new windshield, passenger grips and a nicely recovered seat from John’s Upholstery. All bearings and bushings were inspected and replaced where needed. The original paint of the hood and tunnel buffed up nicely. The footrest area has patches of bare spots but I decided not to repaint it.
Options that have been installed on this cyclone include:
Electric start
Tachometer
More info on the restoration of the JDX8 coming soon.