[x-bird]

Funny you should mention that .... Discovered a not so little error i made during the race while pressure washing it down today. I got about 1/2 a lap further along after hitting the tree, including the roughest section of rocks. It broke in the high-load corner (off camber, rutted, then berm banked steeply up on the outside). I didn't look for the old bolt, just hopped out, slapped a new one in, ran to a nearby campsite for some paper towels to wipe my glasses (LOL) and got on with it. Turns out i forgot about my high misalignment spacers that go on either side and into the heim. i just cranked the nuts to the shank and got rolling again. that left about 1 inch of up down movement of the heim on the bolt, slop through the heim bore (made up by the spacer normally) and it lasted all of 2 laps before snapping in the same spot on the track. I did the same with the second one, slapped it in and went. I was hearing some contact noise up front and kept hammering anyway--steering was not going full lock to the right either and i overshot a fast corner and almost rolled it. witness marks on the lower control arm show the bolt hanging out the bottom of the steering arm was hitting it when i turned right. Now i know why i had a "wee" bit of a moment. That last bolt is presently bent pretty well.

Overall, it's still a sound theory, I'm using 10 mm diameter. if you can go up to around 12 or 7/16ths diameter they will last and save the heim or steering arm in a big hit. with the spacers, i don't think No. 2 would have broken like i commented before. I would have likely been out of commission from the tree hit with a bent steering arm or tie rod had i not had the shear point. about 60-80 percent of the DNFs at Line are from front tie rod/balljoint/arm/hub damage from tree and rock hits. Nobody has put something together like this and it is getting a good amount of interest from other teams i describe it to. over a dozen quads went out with bent tie rods or broken ball joints--and this is the "easy" race. likewise in the trucks/jeeps/buggy classes. Almost always the front corner torn off in some way.

Next change to it will be to go to a vertical heim position, a beefed up arm and cone spacers with 1/2" bore heims and much shorter overall aluminum connection bolts.

Otherwise everything else on the buggy checks out. chain runs are good, sprockets didn't move. centrifugal clutch--well that is a question, but i'm going to buy up several used ones for spares as nothing new is available. and i didnt' have my two front seat bolts tightened )))))

BTW, on that vid--they cut out me going down between the guy in the orange and the next quad that flashes by when the comment "after four minutes " figures ... i had been talking to him at the start, nice guy, understand he definitely had busted ribs and possible pelvis or femur fracture. Those were the utility class quads that started 2 min. before us.