My Yerf upgrade thread

[x-bird]

Front suspension is pretty well settled in place. still need to add the bracing. Total travel works out to 16"


Had to rebuild one lower a-arm that was bent back a bit. 4 years old and a lot of rock hits on .058 wall chrome-moly tubing. did the same rebuild to the other side last year. i think i did this one in with the jump session last year or when i pegged a big rock outcrop that launched the front end last season.
new shock mounts below the tube level. still need to add some protective plating.


Fixed the starter issues and did a carb, air & fuel system clean up in order to get the LTZ to start and idle. it ran off bump start, but the starter and pilot fuel and air circuit was a mess. i'll eventually do away with the CV carb.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S6pjsAtMkg

Going to chop the frame and weld it right to the back end of the Rockhound.

[SYCARMS]

looking good X.

[x-bird]

Thanks Tom.
More progress ...
Quad's in the garage undergoing teardown.

Ignore the slightly crooked stance, nothing's dialed in or tight on the front suspension, shocks aren't settled level and tire pressures are all over the place.






Used 1-1/8th x .058 cromo for the support tubes.

[scjeep4.7HO]

Good job. That's allot of travel.

[liduno]

Is it just me? Does the top not match the bottom? The bottom looks like it's ready for war but the top looks a little tall and skinny.

Is there a lot of sag when you add your weight and the engine weight?

[x-bird]

It's not just you LOL. Year after year i've pushed ground clearance up. As it sits now unloaded, it's 16" up front and 17" at the rear, I'm shooting for 2 to 4 inches of sag.

Cage trim and rework is on the list. while its new tubing from a couple years ago, it roughly follows the old Yerf profile.
Front hoop is getting dropped by about 3 inches, Top arch-over will be eliminated for a flat angle-down-to-front profile. Where that meets in the pic below (red line) will be the top hoop corner.
The doors are getting replaced with a run from the rear shock mounts that will be paneled in like the rest. Haven't decided to parallel the front or rear angle (yellow is front) rear not shown would follow the rear lines. to the same point on the lower framework. i think what's shown will be stronger. inside of the front hoop will have diagonal tubes from center up to the new junctions.

rough sketchy ...

[liduno]

Should look killer.

I was a little worried about your center of gravity but then remembered there was no engine or driver in it..lol Worse case scenario, you could just raise the top shock mounts to lower it. Easier than making it wider.

[x-bird]

Originally Posted by liduno

Should look killer.

I was a little worried about your center of gravity but then remembered there was no engine or driver in it..lol Worse case scenario, you could just raise the top shock mounts to lower it. Easier than making it wider.

shock mounts can't go any higher or the hub sprockets will snag the drive chain run. Everything suspension-wise front and rear on this puppy is constrained down to about 1/4 inch. 10-inchers really pushed it to the limit of what i've built. 8.5s would've been the better choice, but i couldn't pass on the price on the 10s.

[liduno]

You could always limit the travel of the shock.

[x-bird]

Slowly getting the quad engine in. It's a 400 with Athena 434 kit. HMF pipe also includes the header, from what i've found on atv sites, i should be in the near 50hp ballpark.

I'm sticking with the quad frame and subframe, going to have quite the "stinger" tail. Setting up the quad frame as a bolt-in.



Also going to try to build a bash/splash guard up front out of the quad bumper and heel guards. I've got to come up with something to stop the wall of water that hits me right at eye level when i drive through the deeper water holes. That issue costs me more time per lap than anything else.

[x-bird]

Bolt in engine cradle finished. Had to cut off the forward quad frame tubes and install new ones on a more vertical angle since the originals hit the jackshaft by 1/2 inch.

19 5/16ths-18 bolts hold it all together. Still have to weld the nuts to the backsides of the upper mount plates.

Bolt in aspect is already proving a time and agony saver. I'm working on setting up and installing the engine's output shaft extension hangar with it the whole works sitting on the bench.

For engine install, i'm making a basic flat plate for my floor jack. I'll be able to set the engine in place with the frame on the jack, hook up the rear subframe, all the electrical, exhaust, oil system and cooling and wheel it over and plug it into the frame.

Also got rid of all of the old seat frame and mounting structure and have gotten the first seat slider in for the new seat.

Lucked out in that i can reuse my shifter and reverse gear lever. Clutch is going to be foot activated using the quad's rear brake lever, I think if found a place to squeeze it in.

I don't have time to create new front hubs for a front brake setup, so i've got to find a way to fix the rear brakes. The sliding pin bores in the caliper are worn out and they grab and chatter while riding without applying them---not good. Parking brake has been removed for now.

[x-bird]

Motorin along ...

Installed the fuel tank, taillight and rad today, located the oil tank, needs 2 tabs. Getting into the controls now ...

Sunday's pics ...

I'm really liking the long tail layout. I may even have room for a little toolbag shelf behind the rad. Flipped the rad around and made it more vertical from what's shown in this pic.



Cut it really close with the output shaft hangar, gonna put in button heads. Shaft will get trimmed. 12.5 inches travel at full bump, presently uses 2.5 inches of shock travel with full tank, engine and fruit loop installed.



BTW, bolt-in cradle ... manna from heaven ... Did the engine and bearing hangar on the bench, dropped it on the jack and roller her in easier than my duck boots go on. Setting it up so that only cables, electrical plugs, and unfortunately, the oil tank lines need removed to pull the entire works off.

[x-bird]

Got it mostly done in time for the race. but of course, with cutting it too close, I encountered a few hiccups. first off, don't go with a left foot clutch when your right foot can't get to the brake!

Starter decided to quit working 1/2 hour before the race and a crack in the rad appeared 1 hour before the race. stop leak for that. nothing for the starter but to smack it with a rock, or rock it while in gear--which is what i did at the race start.

Managed to move up from 14th to 9th on lap one, but heard the right chain skipping right from the get go. 1/3rd of the way on lap two i heard the dreaded big bang of a pillow blow bearing shell blowing out. made it to the hill climb with 1 wheel drive, couldn't pull it, rolled back into the mud hole and ended up stuck there for about 20 minutes until i got towed out.

despite all that, pretty happy for running with just about zero pre test time. (2 laps around the yard which revealed a WOT sticking throttle then on the trailer.)

clutch has been changed to hand op on shift lever, the fan holed the rad in other spots and drained it all, so good that the bearing blew out. rad has been epoxied so i can flush the sytem and see if it still runs and also figure out the starter problem.

I think the jackshaft is torque twisting because it was the right side bearing yet again. going back to 11T sprockets (never had an issue) and also going to change to axle style bearing hangars and flanged axle bearings. no more cast pillow blocks with the shell taking all the pull.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPyT0stXq8U

[SYCARMS]

Kool video!!

[x-bird]

Hopefully next vid will be far better!
Been going at it since a few days after the race to resolve the jackshaft issues once and for all and to also improve the roll cage.

1-1/8th 4130 cro-mo for the new top bars and rear diagonals. still need to add some cross braces to the top 3 tubes, similar to what i did with the Sunl-zuki


Also bashed on the pretty twisted LTZ front bumper and made some mounts for it. Got it fairly well straightened out. Mulling over using the rear LTZ fenders reversed as front fenders. need some better splash protection.



Jackshaft is Azusa tubular cro-mo, 1 1/4 OD, 1/4 wall. Pricey bugger. Went the cheap route on the bearings and flangettes for now, can get better bearings with cassette mounts, but not in the budget at the moment. These spin with far less drag than the pillow blocks. Hardest part of the job was cleaning off the old mounts.


Alignment was as simple as shimming the trailing arm bolts to fit snug into the jackshaft and keeping it long enough during this phase to catch both bolts. Put it right on pivot center with no futzing with levels and all that junk.


Going with 4 interlocking hangars, 2 on the frame, 2 on the engine cradle. Engine and cradle have to come out to pull the jackshaft, but so far it's proving to be 20-30-minutes to pull the entire works. Second time i've reinstalled it, all 19 of the 5/16ths bolt holes and welded nuts lined up on the money.





Bumped up to a 22 T driven and 12Ts as the drivers on the jackshaft. LTZ proved to have more than ample power for the 5.60 ratio I ran, this puts it down into the 5.0 range, should give the lower gears longer legs, she was winding up pretty fast with the 5.60 setup.

[x-bird]

In paint and reassembly phase. Down to less than a week to wrap it up for the next race. (18th)

Work pace wasn't too bad til i threw in the idea to add in a firewall, tired of the mud deluge in the electrical and seat area.

[2SlickNick]

Diggin the paint scheme!
This is the most evolved and greatest yerf dog ever!

[SYCARMS]

Like your color choices

[x-bird]

Remember the days of the great Sunrise Red shortage? I have now created the great NE metalcast anodized shortage. Seems every auto parts store only stocks a couple cans ... emptied 5 stores just to get a 90 percent coating on it .... I hate rattle can, but just had to do it ....

[x-bird]

huge hurdle cleared, all sprockets aligned and locked down, trailing arms gone through and reinstalled, chains on with good tension. Had a good scare withthe engine chain, new sprockets of different sizes put me in that need for an offset link size, or an idler pulley in addition to my tensioner. Thankfully, a sprocket swap resolved it without the need to start fabbing on the engine cradle. Changed the run from 12-22 to 11-22 and was able to get the chain on with no link changes. final ratio went from a 4.88 to a 5.33, ok though, it was at 5.60 last race, so it'll still top end better. bottom end is monster!

[x-bird]

Some of the final work.
Firewall in, bit of a bugger to fit, but not too bad to remove.


Aluminum c-channel for a skid plate.


Reflecting the necessary mindset needed to pilot this thing. It's stupid powerful in the mid range/3rd and 4th gear.





Post race update ... Usual luck, another DNF to add to my tally, but not a bad run with a lap and a quarter completed (5 miles per lap).

Race morning rest ...



Of all things, the steering coupler on the steering wheel shaft dropped off the intermediate shaft. It's a pinch-bolt style stub shaft that i had to make from parts from 2 different companies. Where the pinch bolt goes through, it does not set down into the groove in the end of the shaft. Instead, it relies on the clamped pressure around the shaft, during reassembly i must have clocked it in a position that didn't clamp well. Fell off with the pinch bolt still fully tight.

With that little drama occurring at about 40 mph on a fireroad section, things got interesting in a hurry! I pounded it back in place with a rock, but it fell off another 1/2 dozen times on lap 1 until i finally drove one-handed and held it in place with the other. tried a pit stop to fix it, took the bolt out, reinstalled all the way and tightened it. Fell off on lap two in just about the same place on track so I called it a day.

Had i soldiered around, i could've claimed a 3rd to 5th place finish and some cash. attrition was so bad that only 4 out of 9 made it through both laps and two were heavily damaged. Raced against 7 Razrs and 1 teryx. Rad also cracked again and blew all the coolant out, so likely a good thing that i parked it since it was backfiring pretty badly at the end.

Running up the hill climb in the steam plume of the Teryx. Despite a slow start, i managed to pass an xp 850 and some quads by this point and was chasing the Teryx. I stalled it in the mud hole at the bottom after getting forced into the deepest part. Restarted and pulled through and up the hill with no issues.




About the furthest point from camp/start, valley bottom after running through the first section of rock gardens. At this point it's all one-handed driving and a lot of rock sections left to go. Needless to say, it was not a very quick lap (52 min) This is about 2 plus miles from camp and is just a few yards to where i destroyed the rear end at the first race I attempted back in 2012. Not the area to get stranded in! The modded XP1k that was leading the race on the first lap tore its right front completely off in the same area and ended up finishing in fourth place after driving back to the finish line in reverse the remaining 2 miles.




Jackshaft bearing mods held up, no chain issues except for some expected loosening. Wore the brake pads completely out and hand clutch is the way to go.
Radiator and cooling fan are wasted, new ones already on the way along with a plan to add some support brackets under the side tanks. They are sagging way down, probably a combination of aged aluminum plus being hung at the tail end and taking a lot of up and down cycling.

Steering coupler and shaft have been drilled and locked together with a 3/16th roll pin.

Now i just have to get better at getting started and off the line, I need to move my starter button to the right side.

Thankfully, not much left to do before september's race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwOjuM0KfHE

[jmansracerocket]

nice pics x bird

[x-bird]

Took a little too much time off from the Rockhound since July's race and turned the last couple week's into the usual over-stressed "git er done" push for the final race of the season this weekend.

Treated it to a valve job, new timing chain & guide and a manual timing chain tensioner. The cams have no timing marks (2nd gen hot cams) and that led to race day woes .... Desptie talking with Hot cams tech twice about setting them, still ended up off time on Thursday, redid it Friday night at the race campground by flashlight on the trailer ... still no dice, hard starting and breaking up on mid to top end load in the upper gears

A better fender job has been on my list a long time, finally got them done.
Short pre-race video ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm82ZJYI9x0

Race video is giving me fits, have a corrupt clip that's crashing the system ... Pt1 is uploading, pt 2 is ticking me off! I finished 7th out of 13, picked up some points. First time ever getting a full lap of the 7-miler on the books (I did screw up on course, missed checkpoints, let them know and they still gave me a recorded lap time--must have been a mercy call after the hell i went through ....), started on lap 2, but ran out of time.

With this engine correctly timed and carb tuned to it , along with front brakes (wore out the rears again by 2nd mile and ran the rest with nothing but engine braking--really slow way to race!) it'll be on pace. Suspension-wise, it lived up to its name and ate up a lot of big rock hits and only has a couple small rim dings.

[x-bird]

Race vid part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOzOE2-K-Sw

and part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdN1mIkQj0

[x-bird]

Since i have yet to take any beauty shots of the latest mods, a couple shot by race photog Cody Schreier will have to do ---he's the guy who I tossed my go pro to last time around ... These are shot just coming out of an area close to the start called the obstacle course which they use as a short track head to head timed race on Sundays. Very short choppy bumps you don't want to try and launch on and tight corners...








And the moment of the go pro toss from the last race Thought it was pretty funny he got a shot about a second before i threw the camera at him


I did update my "my buggy" thread down in the "pictures and videos" section at the bottom of the index page, but apparently threads down there don't pop up in the "latest threads" box on the left of the site.


Reset the cams more than a half dozen times on Saturday, finally got them where i think they should be. got the cam pull/ valve check/change routine down to a science to say the least.

A little back yard testing. They'll be coming back out and get sent to Hot cams to get degreed and marked for certain. This is the way it should have been running at the race. All 3rd gear or up, torque like a beasty.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNbuPs5fkb0

[x-bird]

Since I mentioned it in the other thread ... been awhile, so some carnage pics ...well not so bad carnage, but she's still sidelined til i get the time to grab some cro mo and make more parts. i was hitting an old deck i'd pushed into the woods years ago, goosed it hard one lap and when i drove up onto the deck, the back end kicked out under power, rail jobbed the front end right into mr mulberry stump and threw the rest of the buggy up in the air to the left where it met another tree.

Kind of tough to see, but the upper arm is twisted back and up with the rearward tubing miter at the heim joint collapsed and buckled inward.



I did get this straightened the other day. opposing tie rod AND the 5/8ths a/s spec heim bent from the hit, even with 3/4 inch of rubber damper travel in the tie rod. Still haven't figure out how it over drove that much through the steering, but i have yet to inspect to see if i skipped any teeth on the steering rack.


Also did some core sampling with the back end. there' about a 3-inch plug in the fender tube, nerf end tube is pretty well smooshed over and spit out it's tree feast.


On the bright side, there's an FCR 41mm carb, front adapter lugs, rotors, 4 decent polaris calipers and a brand new razr master awaiting install. still need rims and tires.

[jmansracerocket]

nice work X

[mtbdudex]

I read thru these 8 pages and for what you've accomplished in your 4 year journey, kudos.

[x-bird]

And the journey still isn't over. Much as I love the fact that it started with a yerf, at this stage it would've been a lot easier to buy a set of protodie's plans and parts ....

[x-bird]

been a long time since i've updated. Got engine pretty well sorted, had a cupped valve causing a lot of my tuning/running issues. New Ferrea stainless valves, DRz springs and an FCR 42mm flatslide.

New shoes, 25" all the way around.

front brakes added with new master. Had to continue to use the roketa calipers in the back.

fixed a-arms and added a 3rd leg to the lowers for added support.

thrashed like a maniac and made first race, still bolting parts on 1/2 hour before start.

Race start to 2+ minute mark where i wipe out the go pro mount.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsV8km0n_9c

corrected time after a couple "need-and-can't-find" reverse issues (i9ncluding that put it in the trees power oversteer moment lol) was a 19 minute lap on a 7 mile course with no pre-ride. Fastest of others was 15m

lap two, had the boogies shoes on for real and saw the left rear rim come loose, destroyed hub and rim. and parked it on course with 1 lug nut holding it on.

ITP rim was made for 12mm studs, didn't realize it and had 10mms in there. Not good. next race June 4th, have new hub, gotta drop a c-note for the rims and drill the hubs for 12mm studs.

Never ends LOL

[x-bird]

got 2 out of 3 laps in at the latest race.

my drive extension shaft moved over about 1 minute from the finish line on lap one and landed the splined portion right in the snap ring groove, leaving me with no drive. spent 20 minutes directing traffic around me til i grabbed a rock and smacked it back in place. 2 minute fix.

also fogged up the goggles and ran without resulting mud in the eyes again. cut my pace way back becasue of that and the amount of mud on course, very wet weekend.

UTV ran as our own race again with interval starts, we had 50 minutes to get 2 in and start our third, i missed the cutoff by ten minutes. lap 2 i stopped to put my harnesses back on and also had to stop to switch the fuel tank to reserve.

lap 2 with the stops cut out for a "corrected time" lap. ended up 14th out of 18, still waiting for lap times to post, but fastest laps were in the 14-16 minute range i think.

the old yerf monster is right in the middle of the mix if i can keep my eyes clear and the little stuff from occurring. full face with tear-offs is next, the roll-off goggles/glasses combo fogs up to easy and isn't comfortable at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIOFZMqag5o

[tkeagle]

So wondering if in the race they announce it as a Yerfdog???? Think might confuse ppl. . Bad looking YD.

We don't have anything like that around here. So go a few questions. You running a open class? pretty much anything goes? Or is there a certain class the YD falls into?

Looks like on the video, if you can make it through the full race, without breaking something, or your neck, your doing pretty good. I thought some of the trails we went down, was kind of ruff. But HOLY COW, you got that beat by far.

And curious. So what do you mainly race against? And what machines mainly make it on top? This all custom event? or ppl racing Razors out of the box?
Pretty cool

[jmansracerocket]

Cool video, and that's def. Some rough terrain. Was there any Polaris ace there racing?

[x-bird]

No Aces yet. UTV class is pretty much open to anything with four wheels that isn't a quad and isn't big enough for the main jeep/truck/tube chassis and vw rail classes.

Real mix, teryx, razrs, can ams, yammers some heavily modded, some bone stock. i'm the only homebuilt. you could run an odyssey in it if you wanted. int he past they got tossed in with the quads. havne't seen one there in over ten years, not enough suspension.

first mile or so looks really rough cause i didn't have my harnesses back on. the point where i stop and the vid "breaks" is where i belted in. second pause in the muddy section is where i stopped to switch the fuel. forgot to top up after the last race.

finishing a lap at Line is a minor victory, finishing all laps is a major victory and placing near the top is icing on the cake. the big boys have just as hard of a time at it as we do.

[x-bird]

Latest update on the season, managed to finish all the laps in the July race, but the old girl paid the price with some pretty well destroyed rims, cracked frame at the left rear trailing arm and tore that side's rear caliper off when the arm kicked inward and made contact with the engine mount framework. and broke both my thumbs. Finished 7th out of around 18.

I've had a very busy summer with work, fixed up the above items in time for the final race on Sept. 17

cut out the worn out and bent trailing arm mounts, welded up the crack in the tubing they attach to and made new/plated everything with 1/4-in.

Running the 2/5 backspace golf cart rims reversed like i have to makes them very susceptible to rock hits so i made rock rings using sections of the trashed rims and 3/16ths x 1 1/4 flat stock.

We've been running the UTV class at 8:30 am start time with 10 second timed intervals, no longer mixed in with the quads and bikes.

That deal gave us 30 minutes to finish lap one which was 8.5 miles this year, with 1.5 miles of new trail added in.

I had planned on an easy lap one, then beating the hell out of her on lap two, but the 30 minute time frame killed that plan.

So, for the first time, here's video of the Rockhound actually running on course at close to the pace i've designed it for. i went at it at about 75-85 percent. was a little afraid for my thumbs LOL.

My start was a little inauspicious to say the least but i began to pick up the pace more and more until my boo boo at the end of part 1.

It took me about 15 minutes to extricate her from that mess, and knowing I'd like missed the 30 min cutoff i started hitting it even harder so part 2 is pretty cool ... until i flatted a tire (a new tire that i had a shop put on and i forgot to air up to 15 psi like the rest) and then cracked the steering arm off the spindle enough that the right wheel was pointed right and she wouldn't turn left.

Tried using reverse to finish the lap, with 1 mile to go i got it turned around but must have broke something in the transmission cause she got stuck in neutral.

20 minutes part 1 of lap 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEwvNuglzTw

10 minutes part 2 of lap 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr34rDEtwu8

despite some of the setbacks, over the 4 races of the 2016 season, she brought me home to 7th place overall out of 30. The only homebuilt, only 1 of 2 with no power steering (my buddy's teryx being the other) and running against some pretty heavy GNCC series racers running heavily modified XPs, YXZs and can ams.

This winter looking forward to a new rack with shortened steering arms and a new location for it involving a lot of heavy front end cutting and fabbing, electric power steering and possibly converting the air shocks to coil overs.

This race is just too brutal for direct manual rack and pinion and the air shock's progressive spring rates aren't helping matters any on the big hits. very nice in the mild to moderate sections, but the big hits are too hard deep in the travel.

[x-bird]

Winter's over, buggy work almost over first racing coming way too soon!

Wiring on this deal going in right now Chevy equinox power steering from steering wheel to rack U-joint, 50 bucks. Epowersteering basic controller kit, 55 bucks. Some chop and reweld on the column, support tube and input shaft and a cut and mate of the yerf u-joint shaft to the Chevy shaft.

26-inchers at $20 a tire Kevlar belted, tore the sidewall on a brand new replacement front tire at the last race, so I figured these would be a nice upgrade.

Ripped up the yard yesterday, so far all is working well, have a 20 amp fuse on the eps, blew it twice, sort of expected that since the system needs a 60 amper. I intend to grab one of those soon then test again to see how badly the eps is hitting the battery.While it worked it was a beautiful thing!

[x-bird]

Added some support to the front hoop, that job has only been on the to-do list for 4 years






Also moved the trail tech to the center of the steering wheel along with a toggle for on/off and a start button. Finally got rid of the quad's handlebar switch deal--that piece was getting pretty "iffy" since it only had one screw and zip ties holding it together. Wiring harness is in finally stage of clean up and re-routing. After that, panels go back on with a few modifications up front and it is essentially done.

Test ride session #2 with 60-amp fuse on the steering supply was successful, 15 minutes and no issues along with an increase in "end time" battery voltage with a lot of eps use during the test session. My battery has sat untended all winter and was also used to power my electric trailer jack several times. It started with 11.40 volts and is presently up to 11.90. Not an ideal method, but a good one to show if the EPS is going to overdraw the battery/stator.

[x-bird]

Survived the first race of the season, no breakdowns, EPS system ran without a hitch through 15 miles of racing and constant use. I did add a second battery into the system.

Finished 11th out of 20 with 19, then 18, then 17 minute lap times.
Still the only homebuilt underdog going against an ever tougher field of UTVs.

Most of those ahead of me ran large in the 11 to 15 minute lap range, the 11s put in by the two top dogs, one of whom holds the fastest lap of line ever in a VW buggy that runs in ultra modified class--he uses UTV as a pre-run and smoked the field til he broke it -- i beat him LOL.

Turning 26-inch tall tires with the present gearing is a bit of a torque hit on the chain system. swapping from 32T to 39T driven sprockets at the rear hubs, 2nd gear wound out too often but 3rd wasn't up to the rough stuff, causing me stalls every lap in the rough to the tune of 1-2 minutes per lap lost.

Rear trailing arm angle is also an issue with too much anti squat. To much bounce in the rough, so a shock re-valve, and a 4 inch move of the upper shock mounts is underway to get the arms into upward vs rearward travel arc with softer rebound rate and faster compression shim changes.

Ran the short obstacle course on sunday, a first for me since i can't usually stay the extra day. Head to head on an inside/outside loop course with lots of turns, berms. rocks n ruts. Would have done well but the throttle stuck twice, so my buddy in the Teryx beat me. Had his number otherwise.

Also ran the same deal in the Overall version of the event, which puts everything from quads to KOH style rigs in the mix for top doggy in double elimination format. Made it through 8 runs, beat a quad, a vw buggy and blew the start against a long wheel base jeep and also lost to a koh style rig, but woke them up with some close races.

first lap of the coal buck race vid


My first ever short course lap in UTV -- got better as i got the turns memorized -- throttle stuck while in 3rd and i overshot the turn while locking it up and stalling it out.

[x-bird]

Latest Race

Changes include bumping final drive sprockets from 32 to 39T and moving rear shock upper mounts upwards 5 inches to kill the anti-squat issues. changes worked well.

Made it a lap and 3/4, tossed a chain at the end of lap one and she still pulled the hillclimb with 1 wheel drive.

7th place out of 15 or so, sitting tied for 7th in points out of 25 in UTV class.

Also ran the short course again, Slightly different variation using the dragstrip with a loop at the end and a loop of the obstacle course at the other end. Really fun with the improved gearing and a lot faster than the other version. Ended up 2nd in class--beat an xp1k first round, then stalled it at the start and got nipped by my buddy in a modded Teryx at the line by less than a second.

in the overall, beat a 3 wheeler, a quad, lost to a LWD big block truck and took home 4th place.

Things were really wet, so this is a clipped vid because the go pro was too muddy for most of it. Parts of lap one, including the aftermath of missing the turn at the hillclimb that cost me a buttload of time getting back on course. last part is a section of lap two

[x-bird]

Another race season has come to a close following last weekend's 7-miler. Spent more time working on the camper than the buggy. When the time came to tend to a few minor details, I ended up having to do a swingarm pivot bearing replacement job. Couple days of dirty work and that was a done deal and made it to the races with some breathing room.

Left the go pro in the home office and my camera is down for the count, so unfortunately no vid or pics. This shot is from the previous race.






Final race is always the biggest, the 7-miler, which is the full course, and is now actually 8.5 miles per lap.
11 of us showed for UTV, with some of the top points position racers absent, much to my benefit since I went in sitting tied for 7th in points.

Class is pretty well settled in giving us 1 hour to run before the ATVS and bikes go off the line, so 2 laps is the max one can get in on the 7-miler.

Got off the line fine, settled into a pretty normal pace for me which meant staying a bit conservative. More comfortable with the new gear ratios, definitely was able to stay in 3rd a lot longer andsmooth out the rough stuff by running faster. Water and mud on the course was normal, not as bad as last race, but conditions were as expected--rough rocky and worse than the last race in regards to loose boulders all over. Within mile 1, I passed the first who went off the line, a Yamaha out with a broken tie rod, good dude named jason who's had crap luck this year and is on engine #3 in his Y. got picked off shortly there-after by two who'd started behind me. not much later, i pulled over to let another by only to have him catch a tree next to us and rip off his entire front left. Avoided his wheel and nearly flipping ride, made sure they were ok and continued on.
From that point and pushing it maybe a little harder than ever, I didn't have anyone else get by me, ran through the rocks a lot better but began hearing some noise from the left rear (chain again) within a couple more miles.
Close the 8 mile mark i came across my buddy Ron stopped in the middle of a downhill off camber right hander--he'd rolled it and couldn't refire. Trying to get by him i caught the left front on his rear tire followed by the left rear on the same. a couple yards later I got stuck in a muddy rut. DNF??? Damage assessment time.

Upper front A-arm snapped at a weld near the kingpin, left rear sprocket loose and no chain. About a half a mile to the finish, no way was i gonna call it quits. Ronnie killed his battery trying to refire--i found my chain, intact, a couple feet past his rig. knocked the master off with a rock and spent a good half hour trying to get the muddied up master link in place. mud grit kept it from closing up enough for the snap clip to seat in the grooves so i kept at it by pouring handfuls of muddy water on it and managed to push the clip home with the snout of my fire extinguisher. With the chain on, albeit on a very loose sprocket, i was off again for the last bit of the course which included the hillclimb. Babied her around it the last rocky sections, pulled the hillclimb and crossed the finish line at the 1 hour and 46 second mark.

End result was an 8th place, First through 5th made 2 laps, 6-8th got 1 done and 3 dnf'd.

One of the locals welded up my a-arm sunday morning, I tightened the sprocket and called it good to go for some short course fun. Only ronnie and I had at it in the UTV class. Racing started with the V-8 trucks, which kept getting stuck in one corner. Come our turn, and with no pre-walk on the course I found where they were getting stuck alright. about a 4-foot deep pottery clay thickness mud rut in a right hander that swallowed my front left so deep that it put her on her side. No damage but to the ol ego, drove it out of the mud under it's own power (unlike the trucks) and got clipped by Ron by a second or so on round 2.
Fun way to end the season, still running, largely all in one piece and probably my best points season yet.

Did find y that at some point I ripped the engine guard (3-foot 2x4 aluminum C-channel) off the underside and put a pretty massive dent the right front lower A-arm.

Final series points put me in 5th overall for the season. No rewards for it, but nice to have the bragging rights for the only "Built Not Bought" racer to be well inside the top 10 out of 30-plus entrants.

Winter plans include "modularizing" the jackshaft bearing mounts and swingarm pivots into single, removable framework that will improve their alignment and eliminate some of the wear im getting at the pivot bolt, going to taperlock sprockets on the jackshaft and replacing the sprockets i made with custom ones. This past few race's chain issues were caused by the bolt center being a hair off on the centers i welded in. The same sprocket consistently loosens its bolts and tosses the chain intact.

[x-bird]

Identical opening to the above post LOL.
Took all year, but I finally got my taper lock sprockets and HD chain installed a couple weeks ago.
Race 1 this season, i rolled it on the hill climb in a big way. top to bottom, a time and a half over ... later found out i had a major frame crack on the right rear trailing arm mount framework, think that issue helped cause the roll. Finished 6th place at the checkered flag.

Race 2, had a flat tire while still on the trailer ...never ran

Race 3, the biggie of the season and she rolled off on me while I was unloading the jeep. smashed under another trailer and wasted the left front shock. didn't run the main event.

Sunday came with the short obstacle head to head races and after smacking the front bumper with a sledge a few times to get it clear of the steering rack, i decided to send it folded shock and all.

6 rounds and took home my first piece of line mtn hardware in 6 years!
1ST IN utv.

Race pics courtesy Adam Ultimo, and a lousy phone pic from me.

Got some winter work upgrade plans once i scrape up enough coin to rebuild the shock (main tube, head cap and valve piston)--pretty sure i cracked the while racing, kept getting stuck in up travel along with occasional steering lock up.

[SYCARMS]

Congratts!!!

[wildbob]

Whooohooooo!!!!!

[SYCARMS]

Is it running like a raped ape?

[x-bird]

Originally Posted by SYCARMS

Is it running like a raped ape?

for a built 400 going against what is now a class of full-on 1000 cc power adder GNCC/Dirt Riot race machines I have no complaints whatsoever. Despite it being what, 3 years? I have yet to tap top rpm in 4th or 5th gear. The course conditions in the main and short obstacle never give a long enough run to stay in it to get that far. The torque is more than enough to move this thing very well, the engine build falls in the 45-50 hp range based on similar builds tested by riders on the LTZ forums.

In redoing the jackshaft sprockets, the 1.25 dia. shaft caused a bit of head scratching in getting a final gear ratio. the various positive locking bushing types relate to shaft OD and to get taperlocks that fit i had to go with 15T sprockets, which are larger than I've ever run on the jackshaft. final runs ended up 11/21 on the engine drive and 15/39 on the wheel drives for a final ratio of 4.96.

I had been in the high 5s and was really looking forward to running this new ratio which stretched out the 2nd gear range and would cut down the need to shift up in down 2/3 when the course goes from really rough to moderate--which it does a lot.

As always I have plans for the winter in the noggin, whether i get to them or not remains to be seen, especially with the jeep now in the stable.

the front kingpins are worn to worrisome levels, a ton of slop up in that area, same with the steering rack, the whole front needs a chop job to relocate that to kill the bump steer. the EPS is doing a good job of "hiding" that issue, but it still needs done.

At the back I want to lengthen the trailing arms and move the mounts about 6 inches in towards the front and get rid of the clamshell-clamp eccentric hub and go with tensioners. lighter and the clamshells are stretched so the hub slips no matter how tight. I also have plans for a rear anti-sway bar using leftover leaf spring leaves from the jeep, I have too many near-rollovers in the deep off camber ruts on the course. A bar back there would've likely prevented the barrel roll job i did down the hillclimb in the first race this season.

a set of coil spring radflos would be nice too ...anyone have a winning lotto ticket to sell? ....

[x-bird]

And ironically 1 year later ... here's the latest update Have not been on the forums anywhere much this year. Getting the go kart track going really ate up my free time.

After last year's run, the old yerf rack finally died on me after turning two laps in the back yard. locked up with mangled teeth. Redesigned the front a little bit and put an 8.5-in. latest rage rack in it. not a fun ordeal, narrower rack, better for mine in some ways, made new spindles with shorter steering arms but still not enough room to run the tie rods direct off of clevises on the end of the rack. So i came up with a new version of the "spreader."

Race 1 in june with that, made it all of 1/4 mile or so and blew the clevis bolts that hold the spreader right out of the rack. way too small and some other issues going on there.

Redesigned rack setup, Race 2 in july. Finished a lap, jackshaft shifted to the right in the bearings and i threw the chain maybe 1/2 mile before the finish line. had the ignoble fun of getting pulled thru the finish line after Mr 1-wheel peel dug himself a nice tire hole at the tiny little hill at the finish line.
Bent the new spreader.

Later discovered that the rack shaft was rotating upwards, pulling the tie rods in and giving some pretty drastic toe-in. felt it in the handling during the race, very skittish/darty right from the get gone. Came very close to rolling it in the first turn when i hit the hill on the steep side with the sun in my eyes.
Have redesigned the rack setup yet again for the final race of the season in 2 weeks.

vid of that race, and a pic of the new setup. old shock tie rods are finally done and gone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjYrSLvpWBo

[x-bird]

Well, as has been my luck over the years, final race of the season arrived and I was in good shape with both the buggy and the jeep being ready to roll onto the trailer a day or two before the race.

Now, if you all know how my luck heading to the races goes, you know that statement isn't quite right .... I'm never finished a day or two prior to load time!

Well, i've had an engine knock in the Suzy for 2 seasons now that I could never pin down. It finally let me know what it was ... while doing a couple quick test laps before loading on the trailer. Loose exhaust valve seat slapping away. It finally dropped and snapped the valve head. Tasty carnage pics for everyone, who don't like that

So the 7-miler was a jeep only affair, finally beat the demon in completing a lap in the jeep. Pretty decent accomplishment for its second season. Took me 5 years to get 1 official 7-miler lap in with the buggy. Made it 7.5 miles of the 8 miles on the second lap but blew the rear driveshaft on the hillclimb. Recurring issue caused by axle wrap, made a ladder bar for it that i took out this season. Its going back in.

Meantime on the buggy side of things I scored a "complete" 400 for $400, which is dirt cheap for an LTZ. I grabbed it for the top end parts, which turned out to be full of butchery issues. Spent a week fixing wasted bolt holes etc. and installed it with my cams, valve springs, clutch, carb and pipe. Only to find they'd buggered the bottom end too. 1 forward gear, shifting up to the next put it into reverse .... not good LOL.


Out it came for a split session and I finally managed to split my original case after a long session drilling out the swingarm shaft that's been seized in it since i got it. Turns out they missed the reverse lockout shaft spring, a small roller spacer on the shift shaft end and an oil pump pin that locks the gear onto the shaft. Good thing they messed up with the spring.

So she's back and running, but down to 400 ccs. Plan is to pick up another bbk and head over the winter and restore my old bottom end with a few parts to have a full stock spare engine that i can resell or keep.




Jeep doesn't run anywhere near as quick as the buggy on course, here's the 2 part vids of Lap 1. Language warning for the little ones LOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXcE-NzcYms&t=893s



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdRuLEgWaeY&t=322s

[x-bird]

Oops!

[x-bird]

Couldn't leave ya'll hanging.

So the game plan for the latest go-round is to lengthen the trailing arms to kill off most of the remaining anti-squat and smooth out the rear end hits without altering the wheelbase. Track is going to be 4" wider. basic paint sketch ..



With everything chopped out of the way, I built the jackshaft cross-piece on the bench, much easier to get it set up on center.



Re-hung the engine frame to make sure that was on the money, put in the jackshaft frame and tied the engine mount back in place. Of course, things get heavy in a hurry bracing it for the rock hits it will take. With the j-shaft hanging low, I went with 1/4 to frame the floor ramp.



Ramp floor aka Rock diffuser is 1/8th.


And the basic layout of the 1/4 plate to extend the arms, this is just the sides, will be fully box including the angle.



Also on the plate is a quick release for the steering wheel (already ordered), cable shift to replace my balky and sloppy old rod setup, new clutch and throttle cables (old ones are two piece cobbled together and sticky) and of course restructuring the rear cage sides.

If i can pull the budget together, 30-inch tires and maybe coil overs, but mucho dinero on both of those items.

[x-bird]

KOH week and I still managed to get something done

First arm with its side plates welded up and the head tube tacked in for an alignment test. Had to give it one tweak, test fitted again, good to go, so that got welded up last night. Hoping to get the pieces for the angle gusset from the head tube to the main arm cut and welded up today and get started on arm #2.





Afraid to stick these on the scale when they're done!

[x-bird]

They are monsters 39 pounds each for a total 60 pounds with the hubs/axles in place. Going to be rolling on 28s for the start of the season, built to handle up to a 30" tire.





Set at approximate ride height so I can begin upper shock mount ideas. Working on a trade, a pair of my 10" airs for a pair of 34" walker evens coil-overs with adjustable rezzies from a razr. will likely have to respring those.



Finally got a QR hub, Speedway motors garage sale item. Likely fastest mod I ever did, took about 1/2 hour to install since i had to weld in a spacer tube.



Shiny adapters for the front hubs, 4x4 to 4x 156. Pair of 28" Maxxis Carnivores on alloy beadlocks (used) for the fronts should be showing up this week. Will have to install different studs. Talked to the company that made these (been waiting forever for a way to get off the 4x4 pattern. They said they've had them for years but only recently began to advertise them. go figure LOL. 14-inch rim will finally give me the room I need up front ...

Still on the hunt for a pair of front shocks. Two 10" 2.0 Airs with fresh oil and new seals are available if anyone's interested.

[metalstudman1]

Those trailing arms are BEEFY!! Nice work. It's hard to believe the transformation of a Yerfdog 3203 into a high performance race ready buggy. I'm sorry I haven't been right there with you over the years and your constant modifications/improvements as you've gone well past the weekend warrior! Most people don't have a clue about how many brain cells are expended in our hobby and you've definitely SPENT alot of time and money on yours over the years!!! Keep up the good work-we know you will.

[SYCARMS]

That trail arm is just like the Roketa GK13 and Blade 250SX

[x-bird]

Thanks Metal and Tom, Just glad to hear you're ok Metal and see you back. You're builds are a lot of the inspiration that got me going.

Originally Posted by SYCARMS

That trail arm is just like the Roketa GK13 and Blade 250SX

They are the GK-13 or 19 ones that PoorDad hooked me up with when I put the 250 in it going on what 6 years+ ago? I cut the bolt-thru head mount tubes off them, ran 1/4" plate all around and made them 11 inches longer with heim mounts. Wheelbase stays the same, jackshaft/arm pivot is under my seat. Would have gone with 3/16ths, but what the scrapyard has is what it gets lol. Decided to ditch the rear brakes. Rotors are too bent up and too spendy for new.

Did a straight up swap with a pair of the air shocks for WE's off a rzr. Not the cream of the crop with alloy bodies but going to help a lot. Both have some issues, but I've got them covered. Will be fresh rebuild internals with modded valving. Spring rates is 100/200, Not sure how that's gonna work out. Still have to get C/Os for the front. Just about done building the the other side's mount. There are 3 mount points to help soften the spring rate. Fingers crossed on that. Then the focus moves to tying the rear cage back together.





http://buggymasters.com/forum/attach...1&d=1583795101

Went with a pair of used 28" Maxxis Carnivores on alloy beadlocks. Going to have to revise both the floor and upper corner of the front end for clearance unless a 24.5 2.0 rzr coil-over cuts the bump travel enough. If so, i only need to knock the front corners off.




Hoped for ride height once all is said and done. gotta visualize the rear tire

[metalstudman1]

What a tangled mess!!!!guess you gotta be there to make sense of it- hard to conceive all the intricate mod's to get the shocks ,wheels and rider comfortable and still fit a motor back in place.Massive shocks & tires though! Can't wait to see just how you squeeze it all back into place.

[x-bird]

LOL! that's one way to put it!

Shocks are canted into the cage, the rezzies will be mounted inside so I can access the compression adjustment. This will be going into the first race with no real "rough" riding testing, I'll have my shock pump with me so I can tune without getting out of the harness.

The upper mount was the hardest since it located into thin air essentially--bumping the trailing arms outboard 2 inches each side moved it off the frame tubing.

The lower half of the cage is tricky as well, the shaft to hub chain runs rise to about 6 inches above floor level at full bump, so i have to have that section "tunneled".

Oil tank location is really my biggest worry, that was inside next to the seat, never liked it there. but not a lot of options. I have a spare tank and lines after blowing up the last engine so it will find a home ...hopefully lol.

[metalstudman1]

[What a tangled mess!!!] I didn't know any other way to put it- just a bunch of mental/physical capacity(better you than me) to be expended in hard to reach areas -hard for me to wrap my head around all the things you need to do to accomplish your goal- as this is way more complicated than my toys!! Can't wait to see it back together and performing what you need it too.

[x-bird]

I Just let the tubing lead where it may--into some form of triangulation/non dead-end or interference! Ran into a bit of an issue the other day when measuring for the new right mount tube.

At some point years ago i set the right upper side rail more inboard, (when viewed from the front) which made that corner sit back further too. Was the source of my left side rear shock always feeling much softer than the right even when setup identical and swapped for testing. Drove me nuts. I'd park after riding and it would sit crooked. About a 7 degree shock inclination difference. Apparently I never measured the 3rd side of the triangle to verify.

Due to that, I had to pie cut some tubing to shift things a bit and I've got an asymmetrical pair of rear upper mounts now. But the numbers that matter--shock placement are correct as ugly as it looks.





Meantime, that strapped in cross tube has been installed, as has been the outside vertical tube tying the corner together. Things will get done quicker now that I'm past the mounts.

[metalstudman1]

Things make a lot better sense now!!! Can't wait to see the shocks on it.

[x-bird]

Went thru the mad push the last few weeks. got the chassis in paint and reassembled enough for a test drive.
walk around
https://youtu.be/KWvr6cQsGCg

first test run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur_ZIPYFHsg

[metalstudman1]

It's looks-sounds-drives awesome!!! great job! Can't wait for your race vid's to prove your hard work and expended brain power was all worth the time.

[SYCARMS]

Nice job, looks like you have the right suspension, good bit of travel too.

[x-bird]

"battle" I'm having now is spring rate. the rears have 200 pounders in them, too stiff. The little compression spring is designed to fully compress in a rzr, it's 100 lb. when i max that spring out and get into the 200, it's a pretty abrupt stop to the travel. Situation is compounded by the fact that the WE shock is setup for a 3.0 inch ID spring, of course it's a rare animal. Man can I choose them! Up front I'm considering converting the Airs to coil over. Price on that deal is close to a used set of coil overs due to spring costs. and again, if i got with rzr coil overs, i've got to replace those springs.

[SYCARMS]

Don't know the method used to figure spring weight but total travel of wheel along with weight is what is used by the shock builders.

[x-bird]

From all the years of running at Line, I pretty much know the base range of what I'm after rate wise. it's actually finding springs in the correct rate and size because what i need is lighter than anything used in UTVs and heavier than any atv or sled. Current stack at the rear sits at 67 lbs then transitions to 200. I think i've found a combo that might be the ticket, but it's gonna hit the wallet a lot harder than I wanted.

The terrain at line has never really correlated to any off-a-chart setup, It's pretty much a mini KOH/Ultra 4 course. Shock/spring tuning has always been key. Interestingly enough, when the U4s came to Line about 5 years ago, they all broke or did poorly. At the same time, our Line mtn guys started running the Hammers and U-4 and cleaning house. pretty sure it was all down to decades of suspension tuning experience. This year's winner Josh Blyler and his dad Rusty are long time Line mtn runners. Chad Owens owned the top spot in the class I run my jeep in for years---I'm glad he moved up to U-4 LOL.

If you follow the dirt riot series moving thru the mid-atlantic, keep your eyes open for Levi Metzinger and Austin Lahr in UTV class, latest generation of Line mtn "kids". They've got generations of racing support behind them. Austin also races 'Ol Minty, a red/whit ford powered jeep that's been raced every year since something like 1971. Got its name running the Mint 400. I'm researching whether it's the longest continually series raced vehicle out there, and I'm talking about across all forms of racing.

[metalstudman1]

As a middle aged man I found out my bio-dad was a racer! He raced the Mint several times and was big in stadium racing.He raced a VW in both and I heard he made a pretty good name and living from it before he died in 2014 from cancer. I'm glad I wasn't raised by him but would've loved to been around all of that racing to have picked up a few secrets/tips for the off-road racing industry. I'm like most of us here and have to experiment with everything we build to provide a working solution- your efforts provide all of us with important data to use in our own projects, keep up the good work! and hope your next trip to Line proves successful.

[x-bird]

Originally Posted by metalstudman1

As a middle aged man I found out my bio-dad was a racer! He raced the Mint several times and was big in stadium racing.He raced a VW in both and I heard he made a pretty good name and living from it before he died in 2014 from cancer. I'm glad I wasn't raised by him but would've loved to been around all of that racing to have picked up a few secrets/tips for the off-road racing industry. I'm like most of us here and have to experiment with everything we build to provide a working solution- your efforts provide all of us with important data to use in our own projects, keep up the good work! and hope your next trip to Line proves successful.

I don't know if you are on facebook at all, but if so, you might want to check out the group "Off Road Racing Buggies" They post a lot of vintage pictures of the vws racing the mint, baja etc.

[metalstudman1]

Sorry but I laid down the smart phone 9-10 yrs. ago. This site is the only social media I subscribe too!!! but my wife does Facebook- I'll get her to look it up. Thanx

[x-bird]

Long overdue update time. I did manage to get the old girl finished and a set of springs worked out (triples). With all that's going on in the world, I hit a western PA race series AWRCS and made a 5+ hour one way haul to get a race in. I've already skipped my first Line Mtn. race due to reopening my biz recently. With all the social distancing requirements etc. it's very challenging to keep the place under control and there's no way i could make round 1. I might make round 2 (July) and 3 (sept.) at Line, but not sure here's some completed pics and the race video.

Among the additions, i added limit straps on the rear trailing arms to control the roll. I went thru 3 shift cables to find one that survived. The rack and pinion setup is going to get redone, the 8.5 latest rage rack just cannot take the punishment. Tires are 28x10 all around.

And oh yeah, did do a roll cage test! I wish i had taken more picture so the underside view. )))


As far as the race went, very cool 5.6 mile woods course. No real rocks, but a LOT of off camber corners and very wet conditions made it a challenge. Video is lap 1, very easy pace since I had no run time on the build. No issues, ran a 17 minute with the Pros running 14s.

Lap two was going better and was on pro pace til I hit a water hole fast and deep and stalled. took a while to refire til the water cleared through. Popped my ball/socket shift cable end off the shifter and ran the rest of the lap in 4th. Also stretched my ancient clutch cable to the point that the clutch drags so it was a royal pain any time i stalled and had restart.

Lap 3 pushing again and I ended up wedged between two trees on a blown out off camber corner. Basically got used as a berm -- no damage to me, but a lot of can am body parts piled up under my buggy I have a way to add tree/nerf bars to prevent that from happening again. new frame required i chop out my old ones.

2nd in 800cc-under class and 26th out of 39.

If you have a little patience, I do clear off the mud that gets on the go pro at various spots ... Lap 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiWnoJKnr1I

[metalstudman1]

Great jobThanx for an up-date. Loved the vid. and thanx for clearing the lens pretty regular! Great belly shot I notice that course didn't have very big hills or rocks, did you feel like you were on a different planet compared to the Line course? Nerf bars should be standard equipment as I'm making them standard now, they save on repairs!!!

[x-bird]

Originally Posted by metalstudman1

Great jobThanx for an up-date. Loved the vid. and thanx for clearing the lens pretty regular! Great belly shot I notice that course didn't have very big hills or rocks, did you feel like you were on a different planet compared to the Line course? Nerf bars should be standard equipment as I'm making them standard now, they save on repairs!!!

Absolutely ...different solar system!
After I did lap one pretty conservative, it felt sooooo good to be able to start ripping along without worrying about what big ol chunky rock was laying around the next corner that wasn't there the lap before. I rolled up on my 28" tires and nearly everyone else including the pro turbos were on 25/26s. At Line they're on 30s+ with MRT having come out with utv tires up to 35 now. Unfortunately the series runs the western side of the state so i really can't chase it, but they do have a fall race that I'm going to make the trek out to, and its at a ski resort I used to race my mtn bike at. It's pretty rocky, so i may hit that one with an advantage over a lot of the them.

Couple of pics from the race, at one point i nose planted a sharp ditch on a downhill that went immediately uphill after the ditch, blew out my steering rack retainer. rack started rolling upwards on bump after that and making the steering toe in very heavy. That's the final aspect I'm working on, ..... and making my own coil overs out of my Airs. .... I'll never forget a certain comment long ago ..."and now the development begins ..."

For chits and giggles, here's the "hey let's get a shot of the underside vid" I had to ditch my rear brakes until i can afford new rotors. Kind of led to the situation ..... Roketaparts wants an arm and a leg for the dang things and I can't find another source.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUU293a9N70

[metalstudman1]

I wish I was set up for tires that size- maybe one of my new projects will! The vid. is priceless and gentle on the cringe reaction. How hard is your toy to turn back over by yourself with those 28's?

[x-bird]

brutal LOL 1 tree with 2 ratchet straps and the jeep (see pic, going into 3rd season with it --the old driving range ball picker jeep) with a 3rd ... 3" straps at that ...
I've rolled it twice at line and the workers and spectators thought it was going to be easy to flip back over .. their looks of surprise were also a little priceless ))))

[metalstudman1]

I owned/built a Jeep like that!! Gave it to my son and he refused/couldn't drive it as it was a stick shift w/350 small block chevy.
I suspected your buggy was hard to upright with those tall tires & miles of tubing.

[x-bird]

this season. swallowed a pile of water and lifted the head. next 2 races rusted up contactor plate and spring in the spark plug boot started killing the coil when it got hot.

https://youtu.be/u5tJHj2TLiY?si=t_NaAi4owvhx1uqe

https://youtu.be/xP-juktfIAM?si=BeEL9ERYikSQYqzk

[metalstudman1]

Takes a beating and you just keep going! I love the fact that you've consistently engineered the bugs out of it.Nice vid's and how they show how abusive this track is. Great job!!!

[x-bird]

Originally Posted by metalstudman1

Takes a beating and you just keep going! I love the fact that you've consistently engineered the bugs out of it.Nice vid's and how they show how abusive this track is. Great job!!!

Thanks metal. Seems like a loooong time ago after I posted that I had finished it, someone said "now you're going to do a lot of work developing it ..." or something along those lines

last couple seasons have been stupid little gremlins, It's actually ready for next season for once. the jeep on the other hand is a bit of a mess after the last race.

If you skip the muddy lens parts of the vids and watch the bumper through the rocks, she really is that smooth, my jeep is like the old bobble head doll Rockhound of 2012. I was looking forward to really hanging it out the next lap when the engine went dead.

some shots, I abandoned the heims on the trailing arms this past winter after snapping one them every other race for the past several years. 3/8ths plate tab with 3/4" dia bolts. first race with that setup went well til i stuck it in a really deep one-sided rut and took out the right side chain, brake caliper and rotor all in one shot. managed to limp it home for a lap and 5th place.

mtsrev.jpg

mts2rev.jpg

rockgsrev.jpg

jeeprev.jpg

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ronnie.jpg

so for the next race i said no more chain worries and made rock rings. shoulda done these years ago. had to ditch my rear brakes. have a plan to put a rotor and caliper on the jackshaft.

I have the permanent #69, granting this ol dog the last spot on the starting line. Most of the guys racing with me now are nationally ranked pros with Ultra 4, We have a turbo and no turbo class. Don't know how long that will last as it was only 5 last race and I know 2 of the guys are stepping up to turbo with new rides the coming season.


Remember my little buggy girl? ... yeah she's all grown up and co-dawging the jeep with me. 5th overall for our class and 11th for the group that day, other trophy is for the buggy. ended up 5th in class for the season, not bad for a little 4 banger on 33s against a pile of coil spring V-8s on 35s-37s. jeep's now on 35s for next season.

built a garage up here to work on my junk, 28w-32 deep. Normally ol beasty lives in there, but I'm doing a full gut resto on a 75 minnie winnie for kathryn. did the same with the jamboree 2 winter's back. even the jeep has been kicked out lol.

My buddy Ron Egloff, son of George "Iron Butt" Egloff. Used to race UTV class, teryx "amish" buggy. He wanted back in the game. Brought me his sammy for a roll cage build, damn thing turned into a 4 month restoration. was a total rust bucket setup for crawling. He rolled it last race, cage works.

Anywho, hope you been well, going to try and catch up here more often.

Thanks for the encouraging words and support, there have been many, many times I've done the walk of shame and thought about hanging it up on the buggy.