John Deere Liquifire 440 Specs

Although known today primarily as a manufacturer of agricultural equipment, there was a time when John Deere tried breaking into the snowmobile market. Beginning in the mid-1970s and ending in 1984, the company released more than 20 different models intended to compete with Ski-Doo and Polaris -- the two manufacturers that were at the time the primary players in the North American snowmobile market. John Deere's Liquifire 440 was one such snowmobile.

  1. Identification

    • The Liquifire 440 is the big brother of the Liquifire 340. First released in 1976, the original Liquifire 440 had a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $2,295. The Liquifire, like all John Deere snowmobiles, is black with either yellow or yellow and green stripe accents, depending on the year of manufacture. The chassis tunnel was built of aluminum, the pan of steel and thermal plastic rubber and the hood of sheet molding compound.

    Engine

    • The Liquifire 440 features a twin-carburetor, liquid-cooled engine. The original Liquifire 440 was built around a Kiortiz KEC-440 23LC engine with 55 horsepower. For the 1977 and 1978 model years, the horsepower was increased to 58 horsepower. Subsequently, the engine was changed to a 436cc Kawasaki two-stroke equipped with just under 70 horsepower. At the time, the Liquifire 440 was considered slightly underpowered, when compared to models released by Polaris and Ski-Doo, both of which offered snowmobiles with upward of 150 cc and 30 horsepower more than what was provided by the Liquifire 440. Most Liquifire 440 models used Mikuni carburetors.

    Function

    • The 1984 Liquifire had a bore of 68 millimeters and a stroke of 60 millimeters. It had a compression ratio of 6.9 to 1 and a capacitor discharge ignition manufactured by Kokusan. In 1981, the ski stance of the Liquifire 440 was 32 inches. By 1984, the overall width had been widened to 39 inches. The Liquifire was built around a slide rail suspension with compression-molded drive sprockets. Tracks were manufactured by Yokohoma and were made of rubber.

    Features

    • By the end of their manufacture, all models in the Liquifire line featured a liquid cooling system with a capacity of three quarts. The cooling system was pressurized with a centrifugal pump. The charging system was built around a flywheel alternator with a capacity of 120 watts. For a powertrain, the Liquifire 440 had a two-speed variable transmission with an enclosed chain final drive with a standard gear ratio of 1.86 to 1.