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‘De-tuning’ for a race sled?
The final touch was a kit racers had to install to lower hp. Deere offered a restrictive Y-pipe kit to bring the 47-hp sled into compliance along with a set of “W” weights for the Comet 102-C drive. These had to be added by the owners, as the sleds were not built with them.
The build numbers were very limited compared to Deere’s past cross country efforts. The 295/s of 1974 and the 340/s of 1975 were both built in volumes of about 1,000 while about 600 Liquidators were built for 1976. There were no factory specials from Deere in ’77, but “Up-Dator” kits were offered to keep the Liquidator competitive. Deere assembled only 174 Cross Country Liquifires for 1978, with a serial number range of 80751 to 80924.
To prepare the sled for the rigors of cross country racing, Deere again offered factory race tips full of suggestions to strengthen and tune the new machine. Deere offered a roller chain tensioner kit to help prevent chain failures.
In addition, Deere offered a full race kit including the rubber track, long-travel suspension and drive axle that could be used to update consumer 1976-78 Liquifire 340s.
Deere independent and factory supported racers came very close to winning the I-500 in 1978. Cross Country Liquifires were near the lead the entire race. Ron Riemer was leading the last day until he crashed hard and knocked himself out. He got back on his machine and managed 3rd place. Jon Carlson’s fading motor reduced his top speed to about 45 mph by the last day, but hung in long enough for 4th place despite being flagged in the wrong direction over open water near the finish.
Many of the advanced features of the Cross Country Liquifire were foreshadowing things to come in the future Deere lineup. The all new Liquifire for 1980 shared many of the same features of the CC-Liquifire including a shorter version of the same Yokahama track, a very similar appearing skidframe with a full wheel kit and a hex drive shaft with triple-sprocket drive. The chaincase featured a roller tensioner standard. One final released feature was the “dual cool” radiator and bulkhead mounted heat exchanger. While small in build, the ’78 Cross Country Liquifire’s DNA was passed down to later Deere consumer sleds.