Well thanks to a fairly local powersports wrecking yard, they had bogie springs off a 1972 Skee Horse, which mechanically is quite similar to my Ghost and Quiet Flite. They stripped down the trucks and gave me 6 springs for 10 Canadian a pop. Best OEM springs online I could find were 20 US apiece before shipping. Done and done. Tomorrow I will install and get the girls running.
Questions on Johnson Golden Ghost and Quietflite sleds
- Thread starter BrianF
- Start date
Good deal on scoring some springs. Keeping antiques running can be a challenge.
I've got my Manta up and running pretty good now. Had to change out the fuel pumps and my reward for that was the recoil rope breaking with all those pulls to get it to pump up and running. At least it broke in the garage. Downside is having to lift the motor to get the recoil off but all is well now. I had to make my own windshield for it but it came out OK
I've got my Manta up and running pretty good now. Had to change out the fuel pumps and my reward for that was the recoil rope breaking with all those pulls to get it to pump up and running. At least it broke in the garage. Downside is having to lift the motor to get the recoil off but all is well now. I had to make my own windshield for it but it came out OK
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Wow, i like that Manta, still just a cool setup. That windshield looks great!!!
It sure is a challenge keeping these old girls working. Thankfully the sleds we got were still in great shape. I would hate to have to source tracks, pistons, gas tanks and such.
I also see you have the same luck as I, to fix one thing you have to wreck another and nothing can be straightforward.....
Anyways, keep the pictures coming!!
It sure is a challenge keeping these old girls working. Thankfully the sleds we got were still in great shape. I would hate to have to source tracks, pistons, gas tanks and such.
I also see you have the same luck as I, to fix one thing you have to wreck another and nothing can be straightforward.....
Anyways, keep the pictures coming!!
Well other than some assembly quirks and a couple bolts that were stubborn to line up, she is all back together. I greased up the pivots, which have some sort of nylon bushing, so I used silicone grease on them. The bearings were not bad but I think I will rip them apart in the spring and change them out.
Well the kids were happy as we all went out for a rip.
Well the kids were happy as we all went out for a rip.
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So I picked up this girl last week. Just over 4000 miles on the clock and a bit rough around the edges. The other day I cleaned out the rancid tank, installed new in tank line with a weighted filter. The rest of the line was in decent enough shape to keep for a bit longer. Primed it and got her to idle and draw from her own tank. Mid and high speed bog to the pint it wouldn't drive and it would stall.
Today I had it in some shop space. No good lights or a work bench but better than out in the snow. Tore the carb off, other than some usual green residue in the bowl, it was pristine. I have found that the usual culprit in the zenith bendix carbs is the o ring sealing the emulsion tube. This one looked intact but it was hard and broke on removal.
A quick clean and it was reinstalled with the factory hi lo settings. 1.5 turns out for both. A few hits of the primer and she came to life and after a little warm up I richened it 1/4 each. She is running a 50:1 on some left over amsoil dominator or eliminator or procrastinator or whatever its called.
I then filled the reverse gear box and chain case with fresh ATF and I must say, it rips!! Both kids had a tear before supper time. I had to park it on a pallet and bring it into the shop so I don't scratch up the concrete.
Next she will get a new battery, lights, a clutch clean double check the drivers and bogies.
Today I had it in some shop space. No good lights or a work bench but better than out in the snow. Tore the carb off, other than some usual green residue in the bowl, it was pristine. I have found that the usual culprit in the zenith bendix carbs is the o ring sealing the emulsion tube. This one looked intact but it was hard and broke on removal.
A quick clean and it was reinstalled with the factory hi lo settings. 1.5 turns out for both. A few hits of the primer and she came to life and after a little warm up I richened it 1/4 each. She is running a 50:1 on some left over amsoil dominator or eliminator or procrastinator or whatever its called.
I then filled the reverse gear box and chain case with fresh ATF and I must say, it rips!! Both kids had a tear before supper time. I had to park it on a pallet and bring it into the shop so I don't scratch up the concrete.
Next she will get a new battery, lights, a clutch clean double check the drivers and bogies.
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Brian, great thread. I just picked up this golden ghost last week (a bit rough around the edges) and have had very little luck tracking down any info and forums on these units. I am having similar issues as what you were having. My unit is a very picky starter and once running it seems to be wanting to idle very high and slowly come down in idle and eventually dies, when it's warm it will fire right up. Gonna start looking into the primer and fuel pump this weekend.
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Justin, thats an awesome sled!!! I am glad you found this thread of interest. While I am no pro, I spent many hours tinkering on these girls.
Start from the tank first and work your way up the fuel line. If original, there is a fuel T under the cowl below the starter, right hand side. It has a check valve in it and is a pain to remove, I have yet to do mine. My other Ghost has some plaque in it and my primer jammed up.
A standard cheapo snowmobile primer fits like a glove and works just fine. There is a spring loaded needle valve on the intake runner so if you pull it apart, be careful as its easily lost. A chunk of bic click pen spring works in its absence.
If the impulse line from the intake, through the various gaskets to the pump is sealed correctly, make sure the pump is clean. There is a mesh screen inside that catches debris. If your sled runs good on restart, the pump is probably fine but maybe an air leak somewhere that has to purge.
Now the hardest part of carb is removing it. Be very careful on the throttle cable. It uses a little cotter pin, which is a pain to remove and install and easy to drop. Use a 90 degree pick to straighten it and pull it out.
9/16" socket and extension to remove the carb. There are locks on the nuts but you need to do some creative hand posturing so you do not loose the locks, nuts and gasket.
If cleaning, strip it down and spray out the low speed circuit on the top. The high speed is simple. Just clean the carb body, brass emulsion tube (9/16" head) and use a fresh o ring. I cannot recall the size right now and will look tomorrow. Use a bit of silicone grease or Vaseline to reinstall and I think its 3/16" float height. Thats all she takes. You can make a bowl gasket from cereal box if needed. Older Harley 's used a version of this carb if you need a rebuild outside of what I mentioned. The o ring fixed the erratic high idle at operating temp on my Evinrude, the flooding on my first Ghost and the rich bog on this new one.
Factory hi lo settings are 1.5 turns out each. No less that 1.25. Mine run better around the 2 mark.
I use a resisted spark plug, just have to check this week what I used. Works fine but allows me to use my multimeter to test voltage.
Clean your battery ground and the CDI grounds. They caused spark issues for me. If in a pinch, disconnect the ignition switch (Indak is the OEM and still in business) and kill switch (big cause of spark loss). It will pull start, run with no lights and choke to kill it.
Thats a start but these are heavy sleds, not fast but comfortable and higher features.
Start from the tank first and work your way up the fuel line. If original, there is a fuel T under the cowl below the starter, right hand side. It has a check valve in it and is a pain to remove, I have yet to do mine. My other Ghost has some plaque in it and my primer jammed up.
A standard cheapo snowmobile primer fits like a glove and works just fine. There is a spring loaded needle valve on the intake runner so if you pull it apart, be careful as its easily lost. A chunk of bic click pen spring works in its absence.
If the impulse line from the intake, through the various gaskets to the pump is sealed correctly, make sure the pump is clean. There is a mesh screen inside that catches debris. If your sled runs good on restart, the pump is probably fine but maybe an air leak somewhere that has to purge.
Now the hardest part of carb is removing it. Be very careful on the throttle cable. It uses a little cotter pin, which is a pain to remove and install and easy to drop. Use a 90 degree pick to straighten it and pull it out.
9/16" socket and extension to remove the carb. There are locks on the nuts but you need to do some creative hand posturing so you do not loose the locks, nuts and gasket.
If cleaning, strip it down and spray out the low speed circuit on the top. The high speed is simple. Just clean the carb body, brass emulsion tube (9/16" head) and use a fresh o ring. I cannot recall the size right now and will look tomorrow. Use a bit of silicone grease or Vaseline to reinstall and I think its 3/16" float height. Thats all she takes. You can make a bowl gasket from cereal box if needed. Older Harley 's used a version of this carb if you need a rebuild outside of what I mentioned. The o ring fixed the erratic high idle at operating temp on my Evinrude, the flooding on my first Ghost and the rich bog on this new one.
Factory hi lo settings are 1.5 turns out each. No less that 1.25. Mine run better around the 2 mark.
I use a resisted spark plug, just have to check this week what I used. Works fine but allows me to use my multimeter to test voltage.
Clean your battery ground and the CDI grounds. They caused spark issues for me. If in a pinch, disconnect the ignition switch (Indak is the OEM and still in business) and kill switch (big cause of spark loss). It will pull start, run with no lights and choke to kill it.
Thats a start but these are heavy sleds, not fast but comfortable and higher features.
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2x on the high-speed carb adjustment. Better on the fat side and eat plugs vs pistons. Do the final adjustment at the temps you will road test it at. It will be too lean set in warm weather. Initial testing on the snow watch the plug color for too lean. An old motor can have crank seals leak air into the motor and lean it out under load.
Bringing my Manta back to life a poor internal connection in the kill switch gave me fits until I woke up and started jumping things out to track it down.
All my old Polaris sleds would take a bit to idle down after being revved up. Even after balancing the carbs with a sync tool. Check the carb boots for cracks / vacuum leaks as that will cause slow idle down and idle stalling.
Once the cold temps come in you'll get it adjusted spot on.
I use gear oil in my chaincases, ATF is thin and can easily seep out the track shaft seals on classics. I use gear oil in my '09 and '13 ski doo's. 10k mils now on the '09 with no issues.
Bringing my Manta back to life a poor internal connection in the kill switch gave me fits until I woke up and started jumping things out to track it down.
All my old Polaris sleds would take a bit to idle down after being revved up. Even after balancing the carbs with a sync tool. Check the carb boots for cracks / vacuum leaks as that will cause slow idle down and idle stalling.
Once the cold temps come in you'll get it adjusted spot on.
I use gear oil in my chaincases, ATF is thin and can easily seep out the track shaft seals on classics. I use gear oil in my '09 and '13 ski doo's. 10k mils now on the '09 with no issues.
Thats a great point on tuning. Fatter is better. Thats the nice thing about these zenith bendix carbs, you just dial it in that day. These old girls just have a paper gasket between the carb and the aluminum intake runner. Super solid and simple.
I had seen you had run gear oil in the chain case. I was always of the thought it was too thick?
I had seen you had run gear oil in the chain case. I was always of the thought it was too thick?
Chain case is usually right next to the muffler, it's gets warmed up. I'm running Redline heavy shockproof gear oil in my Skidoo's currently.
Yah the chaincase has some separation from the hot exhaust on these old girls.
Seeing as my initial run and tune on the old girl was done at -2c and tomorrow for my planned ride it should be around -15c, I fattened her up 1/4 turn on both and will see where I go from there.
Seeing as my initial run and tune on the old girl was done at -2c and tomorrow for my planned ride it should be around -15c, I fattened her up 1/4 turn on both and will see where I go from there.
So I went and bombed through some deep powder today. She starts good but runs out of steam. I have the intake shroud on and nonsign of snow ingestion. I got pretty stuck up some steep hills but managed through.
On the hard pack she rips and got better the fatter i tuned. I am about 2.25 right now and it keeps getting better.
I popped the hood and got it to power out and it looks like the primary clutch is not fully engaging..... which I have on the list to clean yet. The secondary seems to be engaging as it should.
On the hard pack she rips and got better the fatter i tuned. I am about 2.25 right now and it keeps getting better.
I popped the hood and got it to power out and it looks like the primary clutch is not fully engaging..... which I have on the list to clean yet. The secondary seems to be engaging as it should.
The clutch clean was sorely needed but not the fix for the issue I have.
I made it even simpler than the last time. Just a c clamp on the sheaves, leave the belt in place, pivot the neutral lockout and some yellow rope in a cylinder. I used a 1 1/8 socket and some leverage. She was nasty!!
There was old grease, rust, possibly copper paste and dirt. I deglazed the sheaves, cleaned it up and used a bit of rhe #1.5 semi synthetic moly grease on reassembly. It made a world of difference on the performance.
Now she still powered down in the deep powder. No missing or discernable bogging but just no power from idle to full throttle. No loss of idle quality either. I popped the hood and it was piling up snow inside, all the way to the starter which is under the cowl. So if I stay on my tracks it does just fine but she rips now on the hard pack!
I made it even simpler than the last time. Just a c clamp on the sheaves, leave the belt in place, pivot the neutral lockout and some yellow rope in a cylinder. I used a 1 1/8 socket and some leverage. She was nasty!!
There was old grease, rust, possibly copper paste and dirt. I deglazed the sheaves, cleaned it up and used a bit of rhe #1.5 semi synthetic moly grease on reassembly. It made a world of difference on the performance.
Now she still powered down in the deep powder. No missing or discernable bogging but just no power from idle to full throttle. No loss of idle quality either. I popped the hood and it was piling up snow inside, all the way to the starter which is under the cowl. So if I stay on my tracks it does just fine but she rips now on the hard pack!
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How was your plug color after a good rip? Dark tan would be preferred. The darker the safer, I've burnt a ton of pistons over the years.
That old sled is lucky to have 30hp so deep is not it's domain plus small lug track.
With the clutch clean and lubed it should get up the rpm now. On hard pack less resistance so it gets up to peak rpm easier.
Same applies to the driven as if it opens to quickly it will not stay in ''low gear'' to keep rpm up in the powerband under high load.
If driven has different holes that spring goes into I would try winding it tighter one hole to increase its tension. We would use a fish scale to measure driven tension to see how much force it takes to open the driven pulley.
That old sled is lucky to have 30hp so deep is not it's domain plus small lug track.
With the clutch clean and lubed it should get up the rpm now. On hard pack less resistance so it gets up to peak rpm easier.
Same applies to the driven as if it opens to quickly it will not stay in ''low gear'' to keep rpm up in the powerband under high load.
If driven has different holes that spring goes into I would try winding it tighter one hole to increase its tension. We would use a fish scale to measure driven tension to see how much force it takes to open the driven pulley.
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Good points! So I've pulled the plugs and they are black. Not oily fowled but black. She is running great with a slight hint of 4 stroking when piss revved and no real load on the hard pack.
I'm going to do another run in the powder eithrhe hood popped and watch the secondary for its operation. No doubt she is over weight, under powered and my boots have more lug!
I'm going to do another run in the powder eithrhe hood popped and watch the secondary for its operation. No doubt she is over weight, under powered and my boots have more lug!
So I dug into the sled a bit today to figure out the issues. Hood down it powers out in the powder. Hood up and seems to be just fine.
With the hood up the secondary is operating as it should, sheaves opening and closing upon demand. Also saw a spray of powder directly onto the secondary. With the hood up it seems to shed it with no build up.
I got it to power down and then I popped the hood and saw the secondary not opening and closing on my demand. So she's probably slipping a bit.
I propped her up and found some mild deformation to the belly pan. Not bad but perhaps enough to funnel some snow. It will get some love taps to correct the shape.
Now the bad news. Caveat, its to be expected on these sleds. The plastic drivers have begun to crack. Replacements are almost impossible to find but I will spring for the early model aluminum drivers. Expensive but who cares. In the mean time I will clamp them, which may work long term as I'm not a hard rider.
With the hood up the secondary is operating as it should, sheaves opening and closing upon demand. Also saw a spray of powder directly onto the secondary. With the hood up it seems to shed it with no build up.
I got it to power down and then I popped the hood and saw the secondary not opening and closing on my demand. So she's probably slipping a bit.
I propped her up and found some mild deformation to the belly pan. Not bad but perhaps enough to funnel some snow. It will get some love taps to correct the shape.
Now the bad news. Caveat, its to be expected on these sleds. The plastic drivers have begun to crack. Replacements are almost impossible to find but I will spring for the early model aluminum drivers. Expensive but who cares. In the mean time I will clamp them, which may work long term as I'm not a hard rider.
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The downside of old iron, the plastic from back in the day isn't as good. I don't run my Manta over 30 mph as the tracks are made from unobtainium. There are none around and if one needs one and can find one it's mega bucks. My deceased friend bought it new and back in the day it would indicate 85 mph with me in it on the lake, With age cracks in the rubber I don't dare push it.
Once the old plastics start cracking it usually doesn't take long for complete failure.
Once the old plastics start cracking it usually doesn't take long for complete failure.
@repairman54 ain't that the truth! There are no companies that make parts for these anymore. Thankfully she isn't a powerhouse and hard on what parts are left. Best I can get this one is 35mph on hard pack.
Well, the gang is back together! We got a few days of real nice weather left before the deep freeze rolls in mid week. Back to -20c highs......
Well, I got a new battery for my old Ghost, which needs new ski runners and some new lights (ran it the other day with a garbage battery to move it and blew the lights). The Evinrude needs its clutch cleaned and a reseal of the chaincase. The new Ghost needs its track tensioned and the wiring checked on the headlight.
All sleds were found to have cracking drivers so they all got hose clamped. I will monitor how they work as I might move up to band clamps. Regardless, some miles will be put on!
Well, I got a new battery for my old Ghost, which needs new ski runners and some new lights (ran it the other day with a garbage battery to move it and blew the lights). The Evinrude needs its clutch cleaned and a reseal of the chaincase. The new Ghost needs its track tensioned and the wiring checked on the headlight.
All sleds were found to have cracking drivers so they all got hose clamped. I will monitor how they work as I might move up to band clamps. Regardless, some miles will be put on!
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Well boys!!! I spent the morning doing some maintenance. The Evinrude got a clutch clean. I made this even easier than last. No C clamp used, just hand pressure when undoing the main nut.
The old Ghost got lights and the new Ghost got its track tensioned. It was way out!! Thankfully its all mentioned in the owners manual. It made quite a difference. Before she could muster 35mph and after she could hit 40. Not hot rod fast but thats all they got.
After lunch, my girls and I hit the trails. It was a blast and the first time my 12 year old went solo with us. Everyone did great but the new Ghost had a break down and had to be towed home. Some sort of fuelling issue as it could barely idle and then mid/high bog that would kill it. The primer ran dry so I suspected a blockage at the T with a check ball. A few hours later I got it to pump fuel again and she was running like nother ever happened.
The old Ghost got lights and the new Ghost got its track tensioned. It was way out!! Thankfully its all mentioned in the owners manual. It made quite a difference. Before she could muster 35mph and after she could hit 40. Not hot rod fast but thats all they got.
After lunch, my girls and I hit the trails. It was a blast and the first time my 12 year old went solo with us. Everyone did great but the new Ghost had a break down and had to be towed home. Some sort of fuelling issue as it could barely idle and then mid/high bog that would kill it. The primer ran dry so I suspected a blockage at the T with a check ball. A few hours later I got it to pump fuel again and she was running like nother ever happened.
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