QuoteReplyTopic: Team #4580 Rocket City Rock Racers Posted: 15 March 2012 at 7:40am
Hello All,
I'll be using this post to keep you up to date with Team JRT Offroad AKA #4580.
Some of you followed me on facebook and saw the details about our trip to Johnson Valley for King of the Hammers. Many people in the club have requested that I keep details here on the forum so that everyone can see.
In the spirit of that request I present to you this thread in which I will post pics and videos of all our trials and tribulations.
For those of you not familiar with what is going on, please let me bring you up to speed. I'm Case, a long time club member with a dismantled project in the garage, and the navigator/co-driver for team JRT Offroad. The driver is Mr. Jordan Townsend, a long time groupie of RCRC...you know the kind...we let him hang out with us but he's not cool enough to be in the club.
The "jeep" we are racing belongs to Jordan and started as a 2004 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.
Its since been upgraded with a mildly built Dodge 360 out of a Ram pickup a dana 60 out of a ford van and a front 60 out of a late model super duty. It now looks like this:
This jeep was built in Jordan's garage over the course of 9 months and one really really ridiculously long weekend. Thanks entirely to the efforts of RCRC members Nick Baugh, Jake White, Ben Meade, and Jeremy Cash as well as great support from our sponsors such as XRR and Nitro Gear and Axle, we were able to get this rig ready to race. Now we look forward to the rest of the year as we travel around the country competing in every race/event that we can possibly afford to.
Tomorrow we head out to North Carolina for the first race of the ECORS 2012 season. Doc volunteered to be stuck in a truck with Jordan for 6 hours on our way to the race so he gets to provide pit support during the race.
I will use this place to post up the details of our trip as well as cross posting some of the updates from the facespace and the twittersphere. Stay tuned for some cool pics, videos, and posts about all the fun we are having and find out why you should become involved too!
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
We are here. Huddled in docs truck and listening to the rain. The course is very muddy and narrow. Couple of awe inspiring jumps including a motocross style jump onto a huge ledge. Will update after race.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Marion, NC, ECORS race. Rig had some issues, the worst of which was it just wouldn't steer right. I think it behaved this way from the pre-run on, and only got worse. Apparently a defective steering box.
This race, from my beginner perspective in the pits, was not managed very well. Somebody broke on the trail, and the course workers wouldn't shunt the guy off into the woods and leave him and instead insisted on trying to recover the guy, and everyone bogged down, bunched up behind the broke rig.
The course reportedly was pretty difficult with more than one jump that you HAD to make in order to get over a deep obstacle. The pit / camping area was a mud-bog, with our particular spot not even level. Someone had parked their tow rig in the spot assigned to us, and while we were waiting for him to move it, another two rig showed up and was told they were supposed to be in that spot. So the event management was certainly not up to the standards of our own KotH.
Jordan and Case can describe the run and the rig problems.
Sorry to hear about the bad luck guys. Did it blow the end out of the shock resorvoir like the right rear did at KOH ? Which one was it this time? Any ideas whats up with the injection?
Let me know if I can help with anything.
TOYOTA FOUR WHEEL DRIVE................need I say more?
I'll post a big update with videos and pics, hopefully later today.
As of right now I'll just report that we DNF'd after breaking a few things and having fuel issues. We were taken out of the race before that by waiting 35 minutes behind a broken rig on a one lane trail. It was only a 2 hour race and we were stuck for 35 minutes of it. Very frustrating.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Our luck for this race was not with us right from the beginning.
As we did final preps on the Jeep we kept finding things that needed to be fixed and/or repaired. This meant that we didn't get everything checked off the list before this race, but we did the best we could. The biggest concern for us leftover over from last race was the steering. We finished our last race without the ability to steer left. In order to fix that we rebuild the steering box mount, bought and modified a new steering box so that it accepted upgraded hardware, and even bought an upgraded power steering pump. We even changed the crank pulley to spin the pump faster. After fixing all this and all the other things we were left very little time to prepare for the race itself.
Doc volunteered to provide race support and we had a very specific timetable and plan for getting the three of us to North Carolina for the race. That all went out the window when my truck started throwing codes and shifting like a turd. Amazingly, Doc offered us the use of his truck and trailer even though we clearly didn't fit:
All the changes in the logistics of travel meant that we were behind schedule arriving to the race course. With just about 30 mins of daylight left I sent Jordan out to run the course while I attended the driver's meeting. Doc set up camp, ran to wal-mart to get us a horn since ours suddenly quit working (right at tech), and organized everything in the pits. After the driver's meeting I met back up with Jordan and asked about the course. His face was white as a ghost and he said:
"This course is no freaking joke".
He didn't say anything else and we piled in and I saw that which he was talking about. They bill King of the Hammers as the toughest off road race in the world, but I'll say ECORS ain't joking around when they setup their courses. There were a couple of narly jumps and a few wicked hill climbs. We were very intimidated by the course and agreed we would take it real easy like the first few trips around the track and bypass the jumps and take the easy routes around the hard hill climbs.
It rained hard that night. One of those deep soaking rains that last for hours and just make life miserable. The next morning the course was soupy and the pits were just a giant mudhole. Doc persevered throughout it all, but it couldn't have been fun for him =(
Of course, we started way way back in the pack so our thought process changed as soon as the green flag dropped. Here is a pic of our first pass:
We were pumped after that, but it quickly went down hill from there. The race format was 12 laps in 2 hours. Due to the extremely narrow course, total for the race we spent well in excess of 45 minutes waiting behind rigs that were stuck and/or still trying to make a hill climb. 35 minutes of that was for 1 rig. We never had a chance at winning. Just a horrible combination of bad luck, starting order, and choosing which route up the hill we did.
We broke a winch line early in the race, lost the ability to turn right after a hard hit into a rock wall, lost fuel pressure slowly until the motor died, blew another shock reservoir, had a flat which ruined yet another wheel and also took out a brake line so we had 0 brakes. We finally called it when we couldn't steer, couldn't get the motor to run, and couldn't winch our selves out of the way. Our shock blew so hard we never found the reservoir or the tube clamps holding it on. The jeep and both of us were covered in shock oil. It was just like a grenade had gone off. Happened on our last jump because we were trying to make up some time...jumped it a little to hard, but man what an incredible feeling soaring through the air like that.
All in all, a very disappointing outcome for our race, but we still had fun. The drive up and back from the race was great and Doc was great company as always. We couldn't have done this without him so we deeply thank him for giving up his time and his truck/trailer. We had a lot of fun despite the outcome of the race and cannot wait to do it again!
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Yeah, it was a tough weekend, and a bit of a let down. BUT, we still did some things VERY well and those jumps were f'ing awesome!
We're going to skip the race in OK and focus and getting things dialed in for the next ECORs race in May. Most of the issues we had were items we planned to fix but ran out of time:
-We lost the tire from damage to wheel. I've picked up Inner Air Lock as a sponsor and will be installing a set of their rock rings to prevent this damage in the future. The brake line will be replaced and is not expected to be an issue in the future.
- I cleaned the pre-pump filter before the race but ran out of time to check the fuel pickups. I knew the foam was a potential issue and will be searching for a suitable alternative. Apparently it REALLY does not like ethanol.
-The shock should NOT have blown. The bumpstops and limit straps are properly sized to prevent shock over compression or extension. For those keeping track, this is not the same one that blew apart at KOH. I am saving my money for a permanent solution, but will fix this shock for the short term.
-The steering is a real bummer. I can't seem to find a box that's in decent condition (the rebuilt units I've been through have all had issues). I'd love to break down and pickup a fancy box from one of the aftermarket companies, but can't seem to find anyone who will build a reverse rotation box with a forward facing pitman arm. I'd LOVE to go full hydro, but want to stay legal for the mod class at ultra 4 events.
Beyond patching up the rig we've got a little work to get the entire race effort more streamlined.
We knew we'd find weak links in a brand new rig and are slowling getting this thing dialed in. I have no doubt we'll be a real contender very soon!
Edited by JRTOffroad - 19 March 2012 at 2:31am
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
Thanks guys! It was a fun course and for once we were able to keep the rig together.
Yes, thanks to Fusion Works Fab & Inner Air Lock the wheels actually survived a race! Also, big thanks for XRR for not only supplying the parts to get the race jeep running again, but a trailer to tow it to the race
Next race will be in Union Point GA July 7th!
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
No flats, and the rock rings you welded up for us held up great. We sideswiped a tree at about 30 and took the whole force on one wheel and it held up great.
i'm fixing to post a writeup here shortly.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Our last race ended badly for us.We broke the sector shaft on our steering
box, stripped the splines on the pitman arm, blew the reservoir off 1 rear
shock, bent the tie rod, clogged up our fuel pickups, and had a flat tire which
took out a brake line.We were so
disappointed in our performance and all the problems with the Jeep that we didn’t
do a whole lot to it when we got home.Jordan ordered up some new steering parts and sent the shocks off to be
repaired and retuned.Then he parked the
Jeep in the garage and we didn’t do much to it until about 2 weeks before this
race.
We do our best work in the wee hours of the morning the
nights leading up to a race apparently.
To get ready for this race:
Replaced steering box with a higher quality remanufactured
astro van box.
Built new tie rod out of solid stock aluminum so that it
will flex without bending.
Replaced all 4 ball joints in the front axle.
Replaced both front brake lines and rerouted the hardline/softline mounts.
Built a new pitman arm, by filing the clocking splines and
cutting off the double shear mount from the old pitman arm and welding it to
the new one.
Installed chromoly front axles because the ears were
stretching on the stock axles.Our great
sponsors at Nitro gear and axle sent us the beefy replacement shafts.http://www.nitro-gear.com
Built a skid for the transmission pan which took a lot of
abuse .
Pulled the old fuel pickup assembly and replaced it with a
new assembly made with brass fittings and copper lines.Cleaned pickups and filters and reassembled everything.
Installed new winch line since the old one broke during the
race.
Checked torque and replaced a few bent grade 8 bolts in the
suspension.
Installed new front diff cover which is a lot tougher and
still has decent clearance for our steering.
Welded on extensions and supportfor the bump stop landing pads on the front
axle.
Install the repaired and retuned shocks and remount all the reservoirs.
Cleaned interior, exterior, and underneath the Jeep.
Broke the wheels down, installed new inner beadlocks, rock
rings welded onto them, and rebalanced.
Jordan picked up a diff cover and winch line from our good
friend Ben at XRR www.extremerocrigs.com.Ben also loaned us a trailer as we don’t have
a short one of our own yet.
We also picked up a new sponsor, InnerAirLock.You can check them out at www.innerairlock.com.
They sent us brand new inner beadlocks and rock rings.The beadlocks are similar in function to the
Stauns everyone was familiar with, but have a different design.The beadlocks were easy to install and worked
fantastic.During the race we slid sideways
into a tree at speed.The rear driver
tire took the entire force and didn’t lose any air at all.
We were having a great deal of trouble keeping our aluminum H2 wheels
whole during our races.Rocks just love
to reach out and grab them, destroying the outer rim and causing flats.The rock rings that InnerAirLock sent us will
prevent this from happening again.John
Griffin at http://fusionworksoffroad.comwelded everything together for us.He also turned down our tie rod and milled
the ends to accept heims.All of his
work was top notch and he worked hard to meet our rushed schedule.Here is a pic of the new wheels:
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
This race, being in Auburn, was practically in our back
yard.We left early in the morning
Friday and got down to Auburn about lunch time.We set up our pit and got straight to prerunning.The course was setup on an old golf course
and the owner of the property had setup a fantastic race track.You can check out the park at http://www.thegreatamericanpark.com
The park is setup as a mixture of mud and rock
obstacles.Our track took us around the
mud holes and through the rock sections.Unfortunately it had rained in Auburn a few days previous and golf
courses are designed to flow water away from the greens.Where our course happened to be waswhere the water wanted to flow.It made for a muddy, slippery track that was
quite the rush, especially in the wooded sections when you are trying to turn
and burn around trees in sloppy mud at 30-40 mph.
The owner of the park provided a free pressure wash station
at the pits and the course dried up over the rest of the day and the following
morning so the race itself was not bad at all.We got lots of time to prerun and were very comfortable with our
strategy and lines.At the driver’s
meeting they announced the starting order and once again we found ourselves
starting in the back.
The race course starts off with a quarter mile drag down
what was once a fairway then veers off to some tight man made obstacles that
really worked the jeep’s suspension.It
then worked up through some rocky sections and then back through some wooded,
faster sections including some fun jumps and steeply banked turns.The race was set for 10 laps.
My GoPro didn’t record this race or I’d post a youtube video
L I hit the button at
the start but apparently it never started recording.Which is too bad because our race was pretty
epic.Starting at the back, we knew we
had to make some passes, but our strategy for this race was to keep the jeep
alive and finish.Early in the first
couple of laps we found some places to pass people, executed the passes, and
found ourselves squarely behind the jeep that started in pole position.At this point we knew we were in the lead
since pole had a few minutes start on us so we settled in and rode behind him
for several laps.He would pull away but
sooner or later we’d catch up.At one
point in the rocks we were able to pass him.Later we got stuck in the woods behind a broken rig and he was able to
pass us when the course officials created a bypass.Jordan found a line that was abit faster than the one he was using which
allowed us to get back in front of him again.It was back and forth all race, but eventually we managed to pull ahead
of him for good.We finished 1st
in B class and unofficially 2nd overall.Had we entered C class as well we would could
have recorded an official 2nd overall.We had the fastest lap time in B class.Overall we took home about 1000 dollars in
prize money and swag!
The jeep did great and we did have a few minor things go
wrong with it.One of our bumpstops is
toast and we tweaked a sway bar mount.Our new beadlocks and rock rings from InnerAirLock worked great at
absorbing the punishing hits from trees and jumps.Our new axles from Nitro Gear and Axle gave
us worry free performance.This race
wouldn’t have been possible without the support of fellow RCRC’ers John at http://fusionworksoffroad.com and Ben at www.extremerocrigs.com.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
its the same one. I verified that it worked before the race, but somehow didn't get it to record during all the excitement.
i haven't warrantied it yet because i didn't want to risk not having one for this race. oh well.
If you're problem is that it simply won't turn on then disregard this.
When you looked at the card did you have just a single image on it? The reason I ask is when I first got my GoPro I didn't realize that you have to enter the settings and tell it what format you want it to be set to when you turn it on. Mine was set to take an image on start-up. So I would set it for 720p (what I wanted) and test it to make sure it was working and then turn it off until I needed it. Then when I turned it back on and hit record I would only end up with a picture. It doesn't default to the last setting you used, it defaults to a setting that you have to set up.
something like that is what happend to me. next time instead of trying to start it at the start line i'll start it before we stage and just cut out the 10 minutes of us waiting to start in post production.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Is this the same one that Doc borrowed? If so, I changed the settings for Doc. It needs to be changed back to the "one" button turn on and start recording mode. I am sorry about that! Give me a call and I can walk you through the settings to change it.
Team 4580 is getting ready for the next race on July 7th at Union Point Georgia. The next race should be a fast one as its hosted at a MX/GP style race course at Durhamtown Plantation.
So what does it take to get ready for a typical race? Keep in mind this is what we need to do to be ready for the next race after a successful previous race in which the rig stayed together. Usually the list is a lot longer. Check out our small to do list:
Since we keep having problems with our steering boxes, we needed to make drastic changes to the steering. Even though the jeep was fast last race, we were having issues steering. The reman'd box we bought was junk and then sometime during the race we ended up stripping the spline on both the steering box and the custom pitman arm we built before the last race:
Since we couldn't find a pitman arm from a stock vehicle we could use we decided to build our own. Using a hole saw we cut the splined portion of a regular pitman arm we had laying around and built the rest of the new arm out of scrap we had laying around the shop:
To take the stress off of the heims on the drag link we angled the splined portion within the new pitman arm:
Next we installed a new box from a different reman shop that has a reputation for quality rebuilds. We ported the box for hydro assist and added a ram. The ram should help absorb some of the stresses that are being transmitted to the steering box as well as assist in steering in the rocks:
It is disconnected for bleeding in this picture.
Since we added weight to our steering setup, we wanted to remove weight elsewhere. This ended up being the result:
The race is only a few days away and this is where we currently stand. We need to finish building a skid for the new pitman arm and drag link since its more exposed, build a dash, change the cage in the dash area, and do the regular fluid checks, torque specs, and housekeeping items before the next race.
Time to get to work!
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
C class race just began, Jordan and Case started on third row. Did I mention that its hot? We had to change a tire they blew just before the checkered on B class race. They are just finishing lap 1. Nc4x4.com is streaming video from start finish line.
"If you didnt buy your 1st gen 4Runner new, then YOU are a newbie!!"
Great racing today. Racing 2 races back to back. Nearly 80 miles covered. We got ahead early in the race and had clean air the whole way.
2nd race with the big boys we battled hard between 2nd and third place most of the race. We ended up coming in second.
In the first race we hit a tree at 30mph that stopped us dead and bent our tierod. We kept going and lost a tire on the last lap. We finished with a flat tire.
2nd race we hit another tree even harder. It was the most violent impact I've been in a motorized veghic
Vehicle. Nearly bit my young in two and bruised my sternum on the straps but the Jeep held together and
we brought it on home for 2nd!
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
What Case and Jordan and their rig accomplished this weekend is no small feat; it was a grueling, hot and incredibly dusty course, and they did 16 laps on it. Most of the rigs did not complete one race, and as far as I know, none of them besides Jordan's rig made two races.
That is AWESOME!!! Driving around a race course and getting used to 13-17 turns is hard. I cant imagine what it would take to get used to 64, 398 turns or whatever it was and an 11 minute lap! WOW! Great video.
Is all that squealing Case or just the suspension?
Not sure (haven't seen the vid yet) but it should be about 5/6's of the way through (the hit was near the end of the 5th lap and the video ends after 6).
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
That is AWESOME!!! Driving around a race course and getting used to 13-17 turns is hard. I cant imagine what it would take to get used to 64, 398 turns or whatever it was and an 11 minute lap! WOW! Great video.
Is all that squealing Case or just the suspension?
Thanks!
You're probably hearing the heims. Before the next race I have a bunch to replace (seems the teflon inserts have not been holding up well).
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
You're probably hearing the heims. Before the next race I have a bunch to replace (seems the teflon inserts have not been holding up well).
What brand heims did you use? Ive heard great things about the Ruffstuff heims and their durability. Just a little WD-40 and they stop squeaking.
Used ruff stuff heims. Heims were all cleaned and lubed thoroughly before this race. Love ruff stuff as a company and their heims are certainly strong (haven't broke one), but many of mine are loose and some are missing their teflon inserts. I will be trying QA1's next.
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
congrats jordan and case that place was awsome we had a blast also i could'nt imagine running both classes like ya'll did, simply amasing. see ya'll at dpg. scott lang
Honestly the hit didn't seem that bad at all...maybe the link bending worked like a crumple zone We were not moving fast when we hit, I'd say <10mph
I'm trying to decide what to do about the housing right now. It doesn't appear bent, but I need to come up with a way to accurately measure. I may just weld this one up, but it's tempting to upgrade. I'd like to shave some weight and go with a lower gear ratio...but to go lower than my current 5.38's I'd need to go with a low pinion and I'm afraid that would cause all kinds of new problems.
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
Doc installed a real radio in #4580 before this race and I went and got my amateur radio license so that we can talk from car to pits.
What an amazing difference that was. Frankly, I don't know how we raced before. Being able to talk to Doc as he moved from observation point to observation point was such a huge advantage. He was a huge help keeping us informed of lap count and position. He also was able to help diagnose damage from the outside of the rig. Huge thanks to Doc for the hours and effort he put into our race effort!
We got to do qualifying laps this time to determine start order so we didn't have to start in the back. We had a comfortable lap around the track to take pole position for B class. For C class Jordan drove like an animal. The poor #4580 screamed around the course and set a blistering fast pace only 7 seconds off the leader, putting us comfortably in 2nd place start for C. C class had a large turnout this time and included 5 of the "pros" from ultra 4 4400 class. After qualifying they were very impressed with our times and commented how competitive we were despite racing up a class.
B race went the same as last race. We won the drag race off the start and kept a comfortable lead the entire race.
C class we drove it like we stole it. Chasing 1st place racer "Chicky" Barton the entire race. We even lapped a few of the C class competitors! We stayed in 2nd through 9 laps despite losing a rear shock because of a broken limit strap. We punched a hole in our front diff cover and lost most of our diff fluid as well as cracked the front housing. The crowd loved us as we made some awesome passes spraying mud, diff fluid, and shock oil everywhere. Once they realized that we had no intention of stopping despite the damage they cheered for us so hard every time we came around. Unfortunately on the 9th lap our radiator was so full of mud that the engine started to overheat. We had to pull over and pour water on the radiator to get it cooled down enough to keep going. We lost about 4.5 minutes during this, allowing several rigs to pass us and putting us in 5th place overall.
Oh well, we gave it hell and put a few folks in c class on notice. Overall a very fun race!
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Doc installed a real radio in #4580 before this race and I went and got my amateur radio license so that we can talk from car to pits.
What an amazing difference that was. Frankly, I don't know how we raced before. Being able to talk to Doc as he moved from observation point to observation point was such a huge advantage. He was a huge help keeping us informed of lap count and position. He also was able to help diagnose damage from the outside of the rig. Huge thanks to Doc for the hours and effort he put into our race effort!
We got to do qualifying laps this time to determine start order so we didn't have to start in the back. We had a comfortable lap around the track to take pole position for B class. For C class Jordan drove like an animal. The poor #4580 screamed around the course and set a blistering fast pace only 7 seconds off the leader, putting us comfortably in 2nd place start for C. C class had a large turnout this time and included 5 of the "pros" from ultra 4 4400 class. After qualifying they were very impressed with our times and commented how competitive we were despite racing up a class.
B race went the same as last race. We won the drag race off the start and kept a comfortable lead the entire race.
C class we drove it like we stole it. Chasing 1st place racer "Chicky" Barton the entire race. We even lapped a few of the C class competitors! We stayed in 2nd through 9 laps despite losing a rear shock because of a broken limit strap. We punched a hole in our front diff cover and lost most of our diff fluid as well as cracked the front housing. The crowd loved us as we made some awesome passes spraying mud, diff fluid, and shock oil everywhere. Once they realized that we had no intention of stopping despite the damage they cheered for us so hard every time we came around. Unfortunately on the 9th lap our radiator was so full of mud that the engine started to overheat. We had to pull over and pour water on the radiator to get it cooled down enough to keep going. We lost about 4.5 minutes during this, allowing several rigs to pass us and putting us in 5th place overall.
Oh well, we gave it hell and put a few folks in c class on notice. Overall a very fun race!
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
awsome job team # 4580 ya' all work very well together and it shows on the track congrats, we tore up a right front shock(blew the resi apart),bent a 380 wall lower link,pancacked the bottom of a 1 1/4 in heim,tranny crossmember,lower truss on front and a whole lot of body damage but we had fun!!!!
awsome job team # 4580 ya' all work very well together and it shows on the track congrats, we tore up a right front shock(blew the resi apart),bent a 380 wall lower link,pancacked the bottom of a 1 1/4 in heim,tranny crossmember,lower truss on front and a whole lot of body damage but we had fun!!!!
that course was all kinds of rough and I thought some of the A class lines were the worst.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
I must have missed it. That stuff might save you some grief one day. We were up at Summertown one year when a buggy rolled over and the roll bar mashed the drivers arm off.
I think everyone who tries to take photography even the least bit seriously every now and then will get a good shot, even if you're a bumbling fool like me. I think this one is pretty damned cool:
The moral of the story: eventually even a blind squirrel finds a nut.
BTW, I have this in high-res, its about 36MB....
Edited by alabamatoy - 03 September 2012 at 11:41am
"If you didnt buy your 1st gen 4Runner new, then YOU are a newbie!!"
i got a big writeup to do, still taking some pics before i post.
Basically, we broke our front dana 60. The housing cracked and threw off the gear alignment which cracked teeth on the ring and pinion. We don't have the tools to repair it correctly so we are switching to a spidertrax 9 inch.
I'll have a detailed post with all the damage and repair shots hopefully in the next couple of days.
we do feel real confident that we will be ready in time.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Well I'm sorry to say that team 4580 has had to change our plans.
While we could make the ECORS race in Windrock, we had to make some tough decisions about our race schedule. Racing at Windrock will create a difficult situation preparing for the Ultra4 National Championships in Texas on Nov 10. Jordan and I sat down and did the math, and the ECORS race was stretching our budget and absolutely destroying our timeline for Texas.
We want to be absolutely prepared for Texas as this is a HUGE opportunity for our team. We were invited to participate with 50 other of the best 4400 teams from around the nation. It is absolutely important to Jordan and I that we show up for this race in the best condition possible. By going to the Windrock race, we would only have 5 working days until we had to pack up and drive to Texas. Preparing for a 150 mile race in less than a week is daunting enough, however ECORS leadership informed the race teams a couple of weeks ago that Windrock would be the most punishing race of the season. We would have very little time to repair badly broken components, and minimal time to clean, re-prep, and making the jeep fit the 4400 class rules and regulations.
While we are having problems coming to terms with missing the ECORS race, we know that the opportunity to race in Texas is an important step in achieving the dream of racing 4400 class in the Ultra4 series. In 2010 Jordan and I vowed to each other that we would race King of the Hammers and we both don't want to just race it, we want to win it. This year we feel we have a very good chance of winning the Every Man Challenge race and we are entering the qualifier for the full King of the Hammers race afterwards! Doing well in Texas means that we will earn a slot in the Big race without having to qualify in California.
ECORS has been an incredible experience for us and we have learned a lot about our rig and our team at every race. The Jeep is faster, stronger, lighter, and our team has made major improvements. The tough truth is a 150 mile desert race prepares us for KOH much better than the race at Windrock will. The difficult decision had to be made and Jordan and I still have our eye firmly on our ultimate goal: A KOH trophy!
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Damage from last race has already been cataloged. Of course the 2 major things were the rear driver limit strap breaking which caused a chain reaction of failed components and the broken dana 60 housing.
The limit strap failure caused a shock to pull apart due to over extension. The shock body rammed beat the tar out of the backside of the jeep. We bent the shock mounts, sway bar arms, sway bar mounts, radiator shroud, and fuel cell. Basically the rear of the jeep is a mess. The radiator was damaged from all the mud from the last race which contributed to our overheating issue so we are replacing that as well.
This post will focus on our efforts to replace the dana 60.
So what happened to the dana 60? Well we hit a rock at race speed. Don't know how fast we were going, but it stopped the jeep dead. The impact punched a hole through our diff cover:
And broke the cast housing:
The crack is right where the carrier bearings sit. This crack through off the alignment of the gears which broke teeth on our ring and pinion. I just want to take a moment of silence for this axle. Despite having very little diff fluid and misaligned ring and pinion, she held up for about 5 more laps to allow us to finish the race. One tough hunk of metal!
Jordan decided to move to a fabricated 9 inch housing rather than source another dana 60:
We couldn't afford all the fancy inner Cs and knuckles at this point, so we improvised:
Cleaned up and lightened the inner Cs:
We wanted to avoid the added unsprung weight of a truss, but the tubes were not as thick as our untrussed dana 60 so we sleeved the tube where it was most likely to bend. We feel this will truss it adequately:
We then cut it to size and attempted to put our inner Cs on. This turned out to be more difficult than we imagined. Despite applying a lot of heat to the Cs and cooling the axle tubes, we just could not get them to go together. John Griffin at Fusion Works Fabrication was able to chuck the entire axle in his lathe and machine the ends of the tubes down for us:
After much hammering and measuring and hammering and measuring we got the stubborn things on there and in place:
We then worked on getting our bracketry setup:
Its now ready for us to plug in our aluminum third member. The third we are using comes with a lot of upgrades including load bolt and girdle studs. It is pretty beef, but i forgot to get a picture of it. We measured for shafts and had them custom made. The front shafts are being gun drilled which will save us additional unsprung weight and rotating mass.
Overall we are extremely pleased with this axle. Switching to this style axle allowed us to gain almost an inch of uptravel and full kitted it out it weighs almost 60 lbs less than our dana 60 did. 60 lbs of unsprung weight is huge. We are very excited about how this axle will preform in the desert. Even though we are going with a low pinion third, we found that the pinion is not as exposed as we were fearing and we feel really good about using it in the rocks.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
The diff housing is 1/4". The numerous bends make the housing very resistant to deflection. Our research has shown that many ultra4 teams successfully run these housing with no addition skid plate.
However, knowing how our d60 met its un-timely demise, there has been some discussion regarding potential reinforcement. We just don't want to add ANY weight that is not absolutely necessary.
For the record, I would not recommend the ARB diff covers, upon further inspection and testing, I am not at all suprised our cover broke. It's is suprisingly thin in many areas.
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
A little note on the weight savings of the fabricated 9" housing.
The 60lbs Case mentioned is an apples to apples comparison of the dana 60 housing, diff cover, inner c's & brackets to the 9" housing, empty 3rd member, inner c's, & brackets. This does not take into additional savings from the lighter gear set, differential, or gun drilled axles. Eventually I hope to shave quite a bit more weight moving to aluminum outer knuckles and lighter brakes.
With this said, we had to make smart choices to save the weight we did. You could easily end up with a 9" that was heavier than your dana 60 if you're not careful.
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
Looking good, guys! What're the dates for the Texas race?
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
we aren't entirely sure as the ECORS seasonal point standings are not updated with any kind of regularity.
That being said, I'm fairly confident it would put us in 2nd place. 1st place was doable if we went to this race, which made this decision so much tougher, but we went into ECORS as practice/prep for KOH and it has been a lot of fun to participate in. However, we cannot let it affect our chances to qualify for the main KOH race.
We noticed spotty participation by the other ultra4 competitors throughout the season and it appears that many of those teams have the same approach to ECORS as we are having to take. There is more money and more sponsors in ultra4 racing...
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
I figured y'all must be in first place or dang close to it as well as you did in the idividual races. Tuff to walk away from a good shot at a class championship, but it sounds like y'all are taking the right decision for the long term.
Apparently the insurance for the event got yanked at the last minute. several teams were already on the road or already there. terrible situation all around and i feel bad for the race organizers and the other teams because everyone works hard and really looks forward to these races.
hopefully they can get the issues straightened out and get us another race before the end of november.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
the way we figure it they can't announce another race in the next couple of weeks because it wouldnt give ECORS time to setup the course at a new location orthe teams enough time to plan and prepare for a new race. the end of november is out due to thanksgiving. Our guess is early in the first 2 weeks of december.
If so, that may be difficult for us to make as well. We have big changes in mind before KOH and it will take all of december/january to pull them off. We will just have to see how it works out.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
Hey guys quick update. Just now getting on the road. Longer weekend than anticipated. Jeep is 99% ready. (Minor wiring) 4580 is lighter, stronger, faster, with more up travel, down travel, ground clearance, and articulation. Tired but excited to be on the road!
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Got to Texas pretty late. Made it through tech but didn't get to prerun the whole course. Qualified 18th out of 48. Not the greatest we've done but these are some of the best rock racing teams in the nation. Race is tomorrow at 9AM. you can watch live on the ULTRA4 site. Don't know how its going to go as we are racing out of our class but we seemed to do OK at qualifying!
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
so according to Ultra4 4580 running about 22nd I don't think some of the vehicle's trackers are working correctly since the leader was traveling at 761MPH. guess we'll just have to wait and see. GOOD LUCK 4580
Thanks for the support guys! Very tired and very sore. Posting from my phone. Will post details when I get home. We didfinish 12th and qualified for the main king of the hammers race!
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
I’m finally
getting some time to do a writeup on our race effort.I was hoping to have a few pics of the
process of getting ready for the race, but there just wasn’t enough time.We were really scrambling to get everything
finished for this race towards the end.We started race prep much early this time, but things have a way of
snowballing and once we see a way to improve the jeep its hard to let it go
until its done right.
We knew that
our front axle was going to need to be replaced and I have already documented
the construction of the new front axle.The new front axle gave us better ground clearance and was lighter than
our old dana 60.We were very happy with
just these two benefits, however as we began to build the link mounts onto the
axle we discovered that we could get more uptravel and more articulation if we
changed the bumpstop mounting locations on the jeep.This does not sound like a huge job, but our
bump stop cans were built into the cage and were very difficult to remove and
fabricate replacements.However, we got
it done: built new mounts, installed new bumpstops, and fabbed landing pads on
the axle housing. We then noticed that our limit strap configuration could be
improved, thus we fabbed new mounts and moved our longer rear straps to the
front.This forced us to change our
limit strap arrangement in the rear….snowball city.
Anyways we
got it done.We finished everything on
our to do list about 10pm on Wednesday.We were supposed to leave for Texas early Wednesday. morning, but we
just couldn’t get everything done in time.We had built a day of extra travel in our schedule so we weren’t
freaking out just yet.We hit the road
around midnight and drove as far as we could before catching a room for a few
hours of sleep.We drove all day
Thursday and got to our hotel in Texas about 10pm Thursday night.We settled in for the night and got ready for
prerunning the next day.
When we got
there we found out that we were a day behind.The original schedule had explicitly stated that there would be no
prerunning on Thursday, but somehow that got changed and caught several teams
unawares.We spent Friday morning
prepping for tech and ogling all the extremely nice and expensive rigs, tow
rigs, and pit crews the other teams had.We went through tech and were one of, if not the only, team to actually
pass under the new 2013 rulebook.Part
of the teching process was to weigh the vehicle.We came in at just over 4100 lbs with a full
tank of fuel and no spare. We had nearly perfect balance front/rear and
side/side.Much heavier than we were
expecting, but we were one of the lighter rigs there!We were really thrilled with the balance
numbers though.We worked really hard on
achieving good front/rear balance.
After tech
we were way, way behind schedule.The
first thing we did was hit the qualifying course so that we could learn it
inside and out.Very first lap we had to
right an overturned rig.The course was
very fast at the beginning but took a turn into a creek bed that wound its way
through some trees, making for some very tight turns…very difficult to navigate
at speed.After we had the qualifying
course down we pre ran the first 5-6 miles of the main course before finding
our way back to the main area for the start of qualifying.
Our qualifying
run was pretty good.We actually were
one of the first half dozen rigs to run the course so after qualifying we had
time for additional race prep, rest, and watching the qualifying lap times roll
in.We ended up qualifying 19th
overall.We sat on our hands until they reopened
the course for more prerunning and then
set out to run the first 28 miles of course including the alternate rock
section.The alternate rock section was
very short compared to the longer, easier route.However, all day long all we heard was that
only 1 or 2 teams had made it up without winching.We decided to try it during prerunning and
were able to do the whole thing without winching.However, we felt like the risk of running
that section were to great for the payout of the shorter course.We decided to stick to the easier line.Just about every team did the same thing.We ran out of daylight after mile 28 and had
to let the other 17 miles go unseen.We
packed up and headed to the hotel to get ready for the race the next day.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
So there we were Saturday morning.Lucky for us Jordan’s brother in law flew in
from the great white north to pit for us, so we had someone to fuel us up.We began getting ready in the pre dawn
darkness.Just plucky little 4580 and
her three man team vs all of the 4400 class rigs with the high dollar parts,
big sponsors, huge pit crews, and big racing budgets.We looked pitiful.The teams around us were quite amused by us,
but everyone was super supportive and very welcoming to us.
The pre race lineup consisted of two rows.Since we would be started one by one with 30
second intervals they put us in two rows.1st 25 qualifiers were in one row and the other 25 in another
row.Since we qualified 19th,
we were towards the end of the 1st row.The rigs around us were all the ones you’ve
seen on the website ads, on TV, in the magazines, YouTube, pirate4x4, etc.Very intimidating company to say the
least.Would we embarrass ourselves?Would we get passed over and over again?We honestly didn’t know.The whole point of going to the Texas race
was to accomplish two things:measure
ourselves against some of the best in the 4400 class and qualify for the main
KOH event.Going into the event our
dream outcome would be to finish in the top 20.We were hoping to finish at least mid pack.Let me tell you, sitting in that lineup, it
was easy to doubt why we came at all.
We knew from prerunning and qualifying that we were
decently fast.However, we also knew
that our shocks were very badly tuned and we were getting beat half to death
out in the fast stuff.We were also
having intermittent fuel delivery problems.It was to late to do anything about either problem.It was time to race!
Once that green flag dropped we were all business.Almost immediately we nearly wiped out on
just the first set of short jumps.The
overly stiff rear suspension bucked like a bronco and nearly sent us sideways
off the course.Jordan wrestled 4580
back under his control and poured on the speed.We quickly passed our first competitor who was having mechanical
problems.Early onwe got passed by a car. Thanks to the
experience we have gathered over the last season of racing, we kept our cool,
stayed out of his dust, and kept moving forward at our pace.Later in the race we passed the same car in a
rock section.
During the race we often caught up to other cars, but
never passed them in the dust.Either
they would pull away from us or we would catch them in a rock section and pass
them there.We knew from the lack of
cars passing us that we were keeping a decent pace.Unfortunately, our fuel issues were rearing
their ugly head and we began having trouble keeping full power to the
wheels.We soldiered on as best we
could.At about mile 66we lost a tire.Climbing a rock section, we hit a ledge in
just the right way and ended up popping the sidewall on our front passenger
krawler.We didn’t bring a spare with us
(on purpose) instead trusting to our runflats to carry us the 7 miles back to
the pits.Between the flat tire and the
fuel issues (which were getting worse) we were passed by a couple of more
cars.Still feeling pressure, but not panicking,
we fought our way back to our pits.Because
we only had 1 guy in our pits, Jordan’s brother in law would have to fuel us up
while Jordan and I changed the tire.When we pulled up, Chris (the brother in law) started dumping fuel while
Jordan climbed out to check on some noises we had been hearing from the from
end.Before I could exit the vehicle,
the pit crew next to ours saw our flat and absolutely flew into action.Before we knew it they had jacked the jeep
up, pulled the remains of our old tire off and were installing the new
tire.I stayed in the Jeep and Jordan
climbed back in and belted himself in while Chris continued adding fuel.Chris got us topped off and we tore out of
the pits only to have the motor nearly die on us.It coughed its way back to life sucked in a
little more fuel and we kept going.
We kept passing rigs that were having mechanical
problems.We kept our pace up as fast as
the motor could give us and just hung on as the suspension tried to shake us
crosseyed and compress our spines in interesting ways.On the last lap we pitted again for a splash
of fuel and a quick repair to our rear sway bar from yet another team’s pit
crew.They told us we were in the
running for top 10!Things got real
quiet as me and Jordan focused all of our energy into willing the jeep to stay
together, stay running until the finish line.I began counting the miles down until the finish and 4580 just kept
going and eating those miles up.The noises
from the front end were getting worse, the fuel issues were getting even more
troublesome, and now our overworked and overheated shocks were screaming at us
to just let them die.She held together
and as we rounded the last turn and took the last few jumps I laid into the
horn as we approached the finish line.We crossed the line in 11th place.Very shortly after we crossed a fellow
competitor from ECORS #4429 crossed.By
overall time he had beaten us so we slipped to 12th place.Still we were only 3 minutes outside a top 10
finish!For a 4500 class rig that is
absolutely amazing.Several teams came
up to us to congratulate us on our race. We were just glad to get out of the jeep
after 5:43:46 of racing so we could pee!
We are very happy about our 12th place finish
and our spot in the King of the Hammers race.However, we can’t help but feel a little down because we knew we left a
ton of speed out on the course.We have
decided to forgo some major changes to the jeep that we had planned pre KOH and
instead focus on shock tuning and just making the Jeep as 100% rock solid as we
can.We are confident that with some
more practice, better tuning, and a little luck we can finish much better!
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Great write-up! Wish I could have been there to see it!
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
That is too funny! Could you imigine the number of folks who would get their panties in a wad about that today?
Have friends who moved to the Dominican Republic. They said we have no idea of what freedom is like after seeing what people do everyday down there: riding as a passanger on a motorcycle (their taxis) with a kitchen table and 4 chairs hanging from arms, around neck etc. all without helments.
Robert
Past President, Rocket City Rock Crawlers Past President, Madison County CERT Association
Case, it's about time you stoped slacking off. Look at that dude! And here you are comfortably strapped it, get your a$$ outside and get to work! Shoot, while you're out there you might as well check the fluids and maybe top up the tank. We could even get you a backpack with some tools if you needed to make some quick repairs.
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
After the Texas National Championship we decided not to make any major changes to the Jeep before KOH in February. We had some repairs to make and really wanted to focus on shock tuning and getting some more seat time. The major issues that we needed to repair were the brand new front differential, the front driveshaft, the fuel issues, and the transmission issues.
Our Yukon front differential was completely toast after the last race. Turns out that the splines twisted on our driveshaft and bound up the slip. This put incredible amounts of force on the third member which backed the bolts out allowing all the fluid to escape. The Yukon aluminum third is tough to kill. Despite losing fluid sometime early in the race, we put probably 100 miles at race speed on it. The fine folks at Yukon really stand behind their product. Despite the failure not being in any way their fault, they replaced the differential by shipping us a brand new unit. The driveshaft failure was determined to be a problem with the hardness of the splines and was replaced with a brand new shaft.
We fixed the fuel problem by pulling the fuel cell apart, rebuilding the pickups with stainless steel line instead of copper, replaced the foam baffling with baffling made from tubes of the same plastic the tank is made out of, replaced all filters, and finally replaced the pump.
We fixed the transmission issue by pulling the motor and transmission and swapping in a LS1 out of a Camaro. So much for not changing anything major . We did some minor work to the motor, got a quality TH400 built and swapped transfer cases to a 241. After one extremely long weekend, 2 nights in a row with 0 sleep, and the help of Ben, Jake, Jeremy, and Nick 4580 is back! Only this time we have a lighter drivetrain, more hp, more torque, and better low end gearing. 4580 stretched her legs on the dyno yesterday afternoon and we were completely blown away by the numbers we were seeing.
I have pictures that I will add in later. There has been 0 time for updates in the last few weeks as we have been in 100% get ready for the big race mode. We leave for the King of the Hammers Wednesday night or Thursday morning. There is still a lot of work to do, but from here on out its reassembly and full on race prep.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Only this time we have a lighter drivetrain, more hp, more torque, and better low end gearing. 4580 stretched her legs on the dyno yesterday afternoon and we were completely blown away by the numbers we were seeing.
You nerd.
You go and tease us like that and don't put a single dyno number in there!
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
For accuracies sake, the engine is actually out of a ~2000 Corvette, the wiring is from a 5.3l truck and PCM is from a 02 camaro.
For a little tech the Camaro PCM was used to support a cable driven TB (instead of teh vette's DBW). The Corvette & Camaro LS1's a VERY similar, but the accesories mounts are different. We ended up being able to retain the stock vette accesory configuration after changine some pulley sizes, but for the most part the camaro belt line has much better aftermarket support if you need to change the location of anything.
Video and pictures to come (along with dyno sheet)
For reference, the old engine put down ~255rwhp & 317ft-lbs on a dyno-jet, we were very happy with these numbers and the performance of the rig.
The new engine put down 343.4rwhp & 329ft-lbs on a dynocom dyno (typically more pessimistic than a dynojet). These runs were made on our 37" krawler race tires at ~18psi.
Edited by JRTOffroad - 29 January 2013 at 8:44am
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
The new engine put down 343.4rwhp & 320ft-lbs on a dyncom dyno (typically more pessimistic than a dynojet). These runs were made on our 37" krawler race tires at ~18psi.
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
Finally on the road. KOH bound! Thanks to some rediculous long hours from Jake Jeremy Ben and Nick we are 99% finished and looking forward to seeing what 4580 can do with the new powerplant and tuned suspension.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Driving through New Mexico now. Gonna be a long day, but should be on the lake bed tonight!
Been real nice to have a sometime to relax, but I've also started remembering all the things I forgot Nothing too bad, but we'll have to pickup a couple things (such as 1 catch can I forgot to re-install).
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
Awesome! Looks like this years race is gonna be a game of strategy and durability intstead of pure speed. The course layout is tough. 4580 is gonna be in for a beatdown. Ya'll try to keep it together. Can't win in a broken rig. Good luck guys.
TOYOTA FOUR WHEEL DRIVE................need I say more?
It has taken me forever to remember my log in information for the Forum.
Sorry.
Case
wanted me to update you guys and let you all know that they did well in
the LCQ with a 4.40 time. I believe this has put them in 4th, but they
will fall back in the line up as more people begin to qualify for the
race. I am hoping they keep their "lower" number. Strategically, they
will do best if they can get in the front of the pack, as soon as
possible. They are still having a few small issues with their
transmission overheating. The plan is to work on it the rest of today,
and start prerunning the course later today and tomorrow.
He
calls me pretty regularly, so I will try to update sooner as I get
information. If you are on FB, become a friend of their page. As I get
updates, I am posting stuff there too. I am a little quicker to post
updates there, so keep an eye out. :)
There is a link where you
can watch the race live, but it appears that you guys are already on top
of that. I am sorry for the delayed post, Case wanted me to update you
guys sooner, but I am just not cut out for "Single Mommyhood". I have
been pretty busy (mostly throwing his stuff out and remodeling the
house. Anyone need any parts? j/k hahah). We really appreciate you guys
support. Thank you all very much.
From Case last night on FB. He says he can't post from his BB.
Ran
extra coolers to try and bring the trans temps down. Helped some. Got
to do some prerunning late this afternoon. The first 40 miles of the
course don't even deserve that name. Its just brutal. Broke a rear d60
ring and pinion at mile 47 and limped on
back to the pits. Gonna wait until hammertown opens in the morning to
get that fixed. So far I hear we are 27th place in starting order with
half the field qualified.
Lee Anna Wright, RCRC Secretary/Membership Director
From Case last night on FB. He says he can't post from his BB.
I call BS. If he can post to FB, he can post here. He may have pw issues or something (which I will be glad to help with), but if the device can do FB it can do this site, which is far simpler than FB.
I wish they would post here, and then put a link on FB to drive people to this site. But whatever.....
"If you didnt buy your 1st gen 4Runner new, then YOU are a newbie!!"
Cell coverage, and consequently data connections, are terrible in the valley I understand.
Ben said they had a remote set up by some service provider last year but now word as of yet if that is the case again this year. I'm sure this is a factor. Perhaps it had to do with his location(s) at the time of trying to post to each (FB, RCRC forum). Could have been in different locations for each. That's my guess.
Replaced rear ring and pinion this morning. Added even
more cooling to the trans. Upgraded the gps and fixed a few other issues. Got
to prerun late this afternoon and 15 minutes later we broke the front third
member in half including ring and pinion on the first attempt at back door.
Scrambling now to find a new housing and ring an pinion for the front.
"If you didnt buy your 1st gen 4Runner new, then YOU are a newbie!!"
Posting from corona Cali. Found a third. This one is iron not aluminum. We should be able to race hopefully! Quick stop at in and out and then 2 hours back to hammer town
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Yeh, they stopped for a while, then got going again, but didn't get very far before they stopped again. Gonna be a high attrition rate with the course as tough as it is.
They are 2-3 miles from pit #2. So...y'all ready for this? CASE WALKED IT to the pit, got a loaner alternator from another team, and is WALKING back. Hopefully, it'll fit!
Man I tell you what if they dont close this place down I want to go out and watch this LIVE. It is amazing what those vehicles can traverse. I've been hooked all afternoon. 3rd place just crossing finish line. Dude quit his job to do this race!!!!
I think that's the guy I met at the race in NC, and he is a rich-boy jerk. He's bankrolled by daddy. If its the guy I think it is. The one that impressed me was the fellow who is terminally ill, and ran with his wife as co-driver. His single bucket-list item was running in the KoH. He finished 5th, I think, with one tire completely gone, running on the rim only.
"If you didnt buy your 1st gen 4Runner new, then YOU are a newbie!!"
He finished 5th, I think, with one tire completely gone, running on the rim only.
When I turned it off last night, I think they only had about 10 rigs finish. So finishing the course and placing 5th in his condition is pretty damn good.
After beating themselves and their cars for over the 8 hours I watched it's surprising that anybody finished this race. Amazing watching some make it up Backdoor towards the end.
From Sarah Townsend Muehleck (I think this is Jordan's Sister) on Facebook late last night:
"Hey
all. Update - they are done. Can't get the Jeep running to get it to
the pit. Chris, Rex, and Ken are going to Hammertown to alert race ops
that they need a lift out of there. Great effort, they gave it their
best shot with some faulty parts and mechanical issues."
I think it was the alternator that did 'em in. Bummer. Good effort guys. The numbers of how many started vs. how many finished tells a lot this year. I think last year folks complained that the course was too easy. So, they "fixed" that. Careful what you wish for. Be safe traveling home guys.
Dang! It sucks that it was something simple as an alternator that took them out. It looked like they were doing great for the part of the race they ran.
Either way, good job guys! I saw first hand last year how much effort goes into just getting to the start line, much less the finish line. Anybody with that much determination is a winner in my book.
TOYOTA FOUR WHEEL DRIVE................need I say more?
First: thanks to all of you for following and supporting us! Without all of you guys none of this would be possible nor would it be as much fun.
Second: what appears to have put us out of the race was an internally damaged red top optima. >=( we could not get it to jump or enough juice thru our jumper cables to bypass it. We initially thought it was our altenator so I hiked about 3.5 miles to the pits and grabbed an alt from another teams pit, some tools, and fluids we were losing. Used a backpack and hiked about 60 pounds of stuff thru some of the steepest and roughest terrain the valley had to offer. Got the alt installed and it didn't resolve the problem. We were dead at the top of sunbonnet as night fell and the temps plummeted and the wind gusted up to 50 MPH. We broke about 12 pm and were recovered by race ops about 1230 AM. Long cold day.
I will post a detailed recap when I'm not on my phone that will include all that happened leading up to the race and some pics.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Red Optima - That was the first new battery I bought for my jeep. Worked fine for about 9 months until I left the cb on and ran it all the way down. Wasn't worth a sh%t after that. Ended up replacing it with a Walmart battery that has lasted 7 years. I have been told that I should have bought a yellow top.
The Blue Marine battery I bought at Advance Auto Parts for the Scrambler (per Doc's recommendation) has been going fine for 3+ years with a few good long winch pulls and one or two drains.
I hate that it was a battery that took y'all out. Optima is a sexy package but the real world results I've been hearing from folks for the past few years tells me more about the rest of the story.
One of those contains a Scrambler owned and raced by a friend of mine, Shawn Rants from Farmington, NM. Shawn competed in EMC again this year (what Jordan and Case ran in last year) and he too, was a DNF. Not sure what got him.
4580 & Team JRTOffroad are back in HSV. Rolled in about 1:30am (sorry neighbors )
Pictures and full write up coming soon. Really not too much to do to get the jeep back in fighting shape, which is good because we've got a few races just around the corner.
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
All I have to say is watch out for next year. After 36 hours of discussion on the way back from Hammertown the 4580 car ans team will be a tough team to beat this racing season and at the 2014 KOH.
We are in pine grove pa (rauche creek) for the ultra4 RCQ. We race Saturday against some of the biggest names in our sport. Jeep is 100% ready to go and we are excited to race. We prerun in the rain tomorrow. Walked the course today and this one is serious east coast rock trails with some faster gravel road sections.
Sorry for the late update, I've been busy with my daughters health issuez
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Weather is terrible, rain and fog. Temperatures in the 40's, windy. Visibility is about 100 feet. Jeep seems to be working well. Glad we have an enclosed trailer. I bought a HF 800 watt 2stroke generator so we have lights inside.
"If you didnt buy your 1st gen 4Runner new, then YOU are a newbie!!"
Rausch Creek is a cool park, got to wheel there once when United had a convention in PA. Doubt the course takes you on the "Rock Creek" area, but you have to check it out while you are there. Like a dry creek bed about 75 yards wide and a mile or better long. Boulders were huge too, most half the size of my jeep. Some of the crevices between rocks went down 5' or better and were a foot to two wide.
Good Luck!
Robert
Past President, Rocket City Rock Crawlers Past President, Madison County CERT Association
Hey, what kinda halfarse race coverage is this? Where's the live in-car web cam and interview with the trophy girl?
Did they run different tires for the mud?
No, we ran the same BFG krawlers. Traction was great, but we had 2 flats on the first lap and our day ended with 1 red label, 2 blue labels, and a KM2 on the jeep. It was a long day...We ended up having to make 2 trips to the pits for parts and tires.
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
Trans was ice cold. Never got above 110. Banged out one lap before time was called. We one shot the muddy hill climb that everyone was afraid of.
We lost two tires and the power steering in a rock garden at the base of a massive rock wall obstacles. We spent most of the day running tires and tools out to the Jeep :(
While repairing we watched the other cars struggle and winch up the wall. There was quite a crowd. During a lull in action some spectators came down to see what was up.with us. By this.time we had two flat krawlers strapped to our roof and a mismatched set of tires including two blues one red and one mud terrain. One of the guys watching asked if we were done or were we gonna winch the hill?
I said: hell no, ever seen a rig with two tires strapped to the roof make it up this hill?
He said no.
I said you are about to!
And jordan made that hill his *****. Crowd loved it. We are hoping someone posts it to YouTube.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Sorry about the issues you guys had, but damn proud of the indefatigable Rocket City Spirit! Hope to see video of the hill being thoroughly spanked!
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
Here in Indiana ready for the race at the Badlands off road park. Jeep is running great. We have new tires ( KRT red labels) and they are awesome. Our race starts late tomorrow afternoon. Live coverage will begin at 330pm your time and the race will start at 4pm cst. WWW.ultra4racing.com/live
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
For me, this was one of the most interesting races yet. Without stealing Case's thunder, the guys blew a tire on the first lap, within a few hundred yards of the start. They did not enter the pits (the course marking was pretty poor) but stopped on the far side of the pits and changed the tire. Shortly after they restarted, the Rugged Radio intercom, which controls the push-to-talk function of the Kenwood TM261 ham radio, somehow locked in transmit. So everything they said over the intercom was transmitted over the VHF link.
I was able to ride along for the most of the race! This was pretty cool. The audio was poor, but mostly understandable. I wandered around the pits with my Kenwood handheld and my race headphones*, listening to every turn, obstacle, pass etc. Really, really cool.
So.....this turned into a death sentence for the little Kenwood radio. It was set to transmit at max power, 50 watts output. These radios are designed for a fairly low duty cycle, something like 5 minutes transmit followed by two minutes receive or similar. But this little buggar was locked in transmit till death.
The proud little Kenwood made it to about 90 minutes. At that point, the audio began to fade, got very scratchy over about 2-3 minutes and finally it went >pop< and that was it, no more transmit. The radio is, as far as I know, completely dead. Fried, toasted, whats-that-funny-smell kaput. But it lasted 90 minutes at full power, being vibrated by 300+HP and thoroughly soaked with mud.
I just typed out a huge race recap and the forum promptly told me to go myself and now its gone.
so now you guys get the short version:
Our race didn't start well. We missed a jump over a rock section right at the beginning of the race. One team was crawling the rocks and we attempted to jump the whole section in order to pass them. We came up short, clipping a boulder which destroyed our driver front tire and badly damaged our hub. We stopped to change the tire right past the pits. With the help of Doc and other pit crews we got going again, but we were dead last.
Jordan pushed hard and we started catching up to the other cars and passing them. We passed some at speed, some in the rocks, and some that had broke down. We steadily pushed our way up the field, knocking out laps. Jordan drove fast and hard, but kept the car together. On the last lap, while attempting to pass 2 other cars in the rock section, the steering box blew up. The box's cast housing blew apart and that was all she wrote for our power steering. We then attempted to winch the rock section, but the car died as soon as we spooled in the winch. She wouldn't start; the alternator was so full of mud that it wasn't charging the battery. We pushed the car over to another vehicle that could jump us off and then Jordan attempted the rock section again. .. this time without power steering. The feedback through the steering without the box or ram was so violent, that Jordan just had to let go of the wheel and let the Jeep find its own way up the rocks. 4580 clawed her way up and we took off again. By this point our radiator was so full of mud that we were starting to overheat. I did what I could by tossing water behind me (rear mount radiator) which helped some but wasn't going to keep it cool forever as I was rapidly running out of water. As we passed mud holes and streams we would plow into the water and then reverse hard for a second which would send a massive wave of cold water onto the radiator and instantly bringing the temps down 30-50 degrees. Jordan muscled the car the rest of the way around the track and up the hill to the finish line where we got our checkered flag.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Have you guys considered doing a screen like a tractor has for the radiator so you can just pull it off and have a relatively clean radiator part way through the race? Washer nozzles and couple of washer pumps to spray the mud off? You guys just can't seem to catch a break with steering stuff.
we actually did run a screen at one of the races and it did an ok job of catching some of the big pieces, but its very hard to screen off that area in a way that works and doesn't interfere with something else.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
WOW I was excited to see you place 8th. I can can only think of where you might have placed if everything stayed together. All I can say is watch out #5, #4580 is just getting warmed up.
We've had a number of steering box related failures, but never the same issue:
-Broken mounts bolts = Updagraded to 1/2"
-Broken Sector shaft = Install Ram to protect box
-Leaking top cover seal = saftey wire bolts to prevent loosening
-Damaged internals = Stop hitting trees and rocks at speed
And most recently blown out front cover (literally broke it in half).
Trust me, I'm SICK of all the steering box problems we've had, but refuse to give up. When it works correctly it's an awesome system and I'm confident we're close to eliminating the weak links. Convieniently, at this race we just so happened to be pitted next to team AGR. SO...#4580 will soon be running a custom steering box from AGR with all the fixings! I won't go into all the details here, but there are a number of reasons this box will be a major upgrade over our old rebuilt JY Astro van boxes. I would have gone this route in the first place but didn't realize a company like AGR could build a custom box for a forward facing pitman arm (PSC told me they could not).
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
WOW I was excited to see you place 8th. I can can only think of where you might have placed if everything stayed together. All I can say is watch out #5, #4580 is just getting warmed up.
CONGRATS!!!!!
XRR
Thanks for the great parts and support!!!
[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab!
We are in Arkansas at the super lift off-road park for the last east coast ultra4 race of the season.
We qualified 7th overall. The course is super rough. There will be lots of carnage tomorrow. Race starts at 11am. Not much signal here so ill post a full update later.
06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
Sucks that you broke and were limited to 3wd! Awesome that you still finished in the top 10! Congrats, guys!
~Sean Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan
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bluetoy wrote:
. We did some minor work to the motor, got a quality TH400 built and swapped transfer cases to a 241. After one extremely long weekend, 2 nights in a row with 0 sleep, and the help of Ben, Jake, Jeremy, and Nick 4580 is back! Only this time we have a lighter drivetrain, more hp, more torque, and better low end gearing. 4580 stretched her legs on the dyno yesterday afternoon and we were completely blown away by the numbers we were seeing.
Nothing too bad, but we'll have to pickup a couple things (such as 1 catch can I forgot to re-install).
)
myself and now its gone. 
