Nice welds. And that looks way better than the factory oragomy mount they come with.
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U4 4600 Samurai "The Ham Sami"
- Thread starter the_ham_sami
- Start date
FleshEater
Ordinary Average Guy
Those are beautiful welds. I was feeling good about mine and then I see those.
This is such a cool build.
wvracer821
Well-known member
man, I love everything about this one. I hope to see y'all on the lakebed in January.
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2021
- Member Number
- 3864
- Messages
- 47
The next step in preparation for KOH24 is an anti-wrap bar. We're so down on power that axle wrap hasn't been that bad of an issue. However, in certain situations, mainly sandy uphills, it has caused me to back off the throttle when I really need to be mashed to the floor. Nothing is more frustrating than struggling up sandy sections at KOH because I'm forced to back off in fear of nuking a u-joint. So here's what I've built so far.
I pulled a bonehead move and forgot to bolt everything down in the fixture while welding and I didn't even realize until after I completely welded the entire bar. That's why there is a splice on the upper bar. It pulled about 1/8" off and wouldn't bolt back into the axle bracket. So I put a slight bend in it and went out to Johnson Valley for a test run. It ended up cracking the tube right where I tweaked it. It's 1.5" x 0.120" DOM thats now sleeved with 1.25" x 0.120" DOM. I haven't driven it yet since the repair but I'm thinking that will be plenty strong now with the inner sleeve. I guess we'll see what happens.
Thanks all for the compliments, I've been working on my welds and am really happy with my progress lately. Especially on TIG.
Only pic I took while out testing the anti-wrap bar. It cracked within the first 30 minutes on the trail, talk about frustrating. We cruised around and pretty much did a sight-seeing trip with a few trails mixed in after it cracked.
I pulled a bonehead move and forgot to bolt everything down in the fixture while welding and I didn't even realize until after I completely welded the entire bar. That's why there is a splice on the upper bar. It pulled about 1/8" off and wouldn't bolt back into the axle bracket. So I put a slight bend in it and went out to Johnson Valley for a test run. It ended up cracking the tube right where I tweaked it. It's 1.5" x 0.120" DOM thats now sleeved with 1.25" x 0.120" DOM. I haven't driven it yet since the repair but I'm thinking that will be plenty strong now with the inner sleeve. I guess we'll see what happens.
Thanks all for the compliments, I've been working on my welds and am really happy with my progress lately. Especially on TIG.
Only pic I took while out testing the anti-wrap bar. It cracked within the first 30 minutes on the trail, talk about frustrating. We cruised around and pretty much did a sight-seeing trip with a few trails mixed in after it cracked.
chaplinfj60
Well-known member
damn thats a track bar for sure. love it....
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2021
- Member Number
- 3864
- Messages
- 47
Right on! I need to get some more of those made for this year
JohnnyJ
Low Range Drifter
Where did it crack? Any thoughts on why? Too constrained?
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2021
- Member Number
- 3864
- Messages
- 47
On the upper tube, right next to the short piece of tube that is notched into it. You can see where I cut it, sleeved it and welded the two halves back together. That's right where it cracked.
I forgot to bolt down the two bushing ends into the fixture before welding and it pulled them together, so now the bushings didn't line up with the bracket on the axle. I tried to jimmy-rig it in my bender but couldn't get it to fit. I only needed to move the eye of the upper bushing up an 1/8". I ran a zip wheel about 2/3 of the way through the upper tube, bent it up and that got me back the 1/8" I needed. Beveled it and ran a bead to close it back up. It cracked right next to that weld, in the HAZ.
It wasn't ideal but I was on a time crunch before our trip so I gambled on it. Should have spent the extra hour or two sleeving it.
SHARPMACHINE
Web Wheeler
Probably a dumb idea, but could the shackle angle be introducing a lot of pressure on the top tube? In the picture it looks like the upper shackle mount should be further forward? Or, the shackle may be able to be shorter?
Also, any sign of anything hitting at full bump?
Also, any sign of anything hitting at full bump?
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2021
- Member Number
- 3864
- Messages
- 47
No sign of anything hitting at full bump. What I was shooting for was low Anti-Squat, so that’s why I have the shackle at that angle. My understanding is that basically the more angle you add in that direction the less AS it’ll produce. Oversimplification but holds true for my setup.
I’m really not sure how to minimize the forces that the anti wrap will see. I think you could move pivot points around and change whether a certain tube will be in compression or tension but the magnitude of forces will still be the same.
I’ll be taking the samurai out over New Years weekend to do one last shakedown before KOH. I’ll get a chance to put some miles on it and get a better feel for it.
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
Anti wrap bars are very underestimated in how much force they see.
Basically once to add that in, it controls all axle wrap. My first on I folded in half, rebuilt it thicker, then twisted the Toyota housing. All in a 2500 lb Sami on 37s
Basically once to add that in, it controls all axle wrap. My first on I folded in half, rebuilt it thicker, then twisted the Toyota housing. All in a 2500 lb Sami on 37s
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2021
- Member Number
- 3864
- Messages
- 47
Every year we inch closer and closer to that finish line at King of the Hammers. This year was no exception.
We took the green flag just before 9:00AM on Friday. We were moving pretty good along the cross-grain leaving Hammertown. We even passed the 4Runner that was next to us off the line. The first climb over Heartbreak Ridge would become the single most frustrating experience I’ve ever had at the Hammers. We’ve always taken the right line up this loose hill climb and have had zero problems prior to race day. Unfortunately a large rock shelf caught the underside of the samurai and completely stopped us. We were completely turtled at this point with no option but to pull winch line.
Of course, with dozens of racers approaching pulling cable would not be easy on this hillside. Andrew, was able to safely get us hooked up to a 4500 car that was broken higher up the hill. At this point the entire field had passed us. I’m not sure how much time we lost but it felt like an eternity while sitting there.
Now we’ve cleared Heartbreak Ridge and headed for Turkey Claw. We drop into the wash and find a long line of race cars, of which none are moving an inch. The traffic jam happened to be one long line on the right-hand side of the trail which meant the left side was wide open. We cut our way in and worked up the left side and made a successful pass on at least a dozen cars. At this point the main line towards the top was still plugged up, so we waited a bit and eventually we worked our way through and out into the open desert.
At this point the clock is working against us, we lost valuable time in the first couple miles of the race. Now is the time to gain some back. We put down a blistering pace and caught and passed a few cars before coming into pit 1. We had some serious fade with our right rear shock which slowed us down through the last half of the Fry Mountain mining hills. The washes through this section were chopped up bad and had a lot of exposed rock. With the hurt rear shock we had to back off the pace coming out of there.
We took fuel at pit 1 and my team said nothing was visibly wrong with that right rear shock, so we pushed on with the rest of lap 1.
As we got going, the course became less choppy and a lot smoother for us. This helped with the shock and we were able get a really good pace going. We made it to Resolution at the tale-end of lap 1 and worked our way down without issue and headed into Hammertown.
Our plan was to keep going and avoid stopping at Main Pit. However, I was worried about fuel consumption and we decided to play it safe. Thank you to everyone at the Milestar Main Pit for helping and Dustin Isenhour (and his team) for donating a few gallons of fuel to us! It turns out we were burning about double what we had during prerunning.
With a full tank, we left for lap 2. Turkey Claw had one car on the main line and we moved through it much faster this time around. We put down a good pace all the way to Compaction Hill where we’d have some bad luck again. Coming over a blind crest, we’d find a few cars winching/broken. Neither of us could see what was holding everyone up and once everything cleared we dropped over the crest right onto a big rock. We found ourselves completely turtled once again! Andrew hopped out and pulled line over to the biggest closest rock in front of us. I started to winch-in and the winch line snapped.
I think it must have just caught an edge enough to slice it. There was not nearly enough pressure for it to have broken on its own.
Andrew worked quickly despite the setback and we utilized our rear winch to get us out of that bad spot. Meanwhile, Amber, in her Samurai, had been right on our tail since Resolution on lap 1. While we dealt with that debacle, Amber made her way by us a few minutes before we got moving again. Coming into Aftershock we could see her just in front of us and we pushed forward to catch her. Coming down Aftershock and up through HWY 19/20 we were bumper to bumper, pushing these Samurai’s as hard as we could. Even pushing passed traffic with creative lines, doing whatever it took! Neither of us wanting to give an inch! It was definitely the highlight of our race and probably some of the most fun I’ve had racing ever!
We would end up getting caught up at the top of HWY 20 and Amber pulled some time on us coming into pit 2. We made a quick stop, fueled up and continued on. We made our way down Fissure Mtn, Jack Hammer, LaserNut Alley, Her Problem and Idle Issues and now coming up to Chocolate Thunder.
We see a few cars not moving and Amber up on the right line. We worked our way up and after a few tries we opted to pull winch line. Once we were hooked up I lost the front driver tire down into a hole and put the Samurai on its side. Luckily, I was able to winch-in and pull us back onto all 4 a few seconds later. Chocolate Thunder was destroyed and our favored line was no longer passable for us. Our first attempt winching would not go smoothly, after righting the tip over the winch line once again snapped. Likely due to having been tied back together in a knot. No fault on Andrew’s part, a knotted winch line is weaker. We had no other choice. Also a big thank you to Scott, driver of 4626, he helped us hookup and keep Andrew in the Samurai. Scott and his co-driver helped us get hooked up for the second time also and we successfully got through on the far left line.
After Chocolate, on our way to Jack North we lost power steering. And through that section with all the nuisance rocks we were forced to pull over. I could not hang on to the steering wheel. Andrew hopped out and found a loose fitting on the power steering cooler. He made quick work of it and we got moving again.
Jack North and Bender Alley went well, no issues through there. Next up was Wrecking Ball, we’d find a 4800 car turned backwards with front wheels up in the air abandoned on the waterfall. With the main line plugged we had to take the Shannon Campbell bypass around the waterfall. I know it’s called a “bypass” but nothing about it makes it easier than the main line. It’s steep, loose and not Samurai friendly. At this point our winch had gotten backed into and broke the control box. 2 cars ahead of us had issues and by the time we got through it over an hour had passed.
It was roughly 6:00PM by now, we had about 45 minutes until we timed out. With a broken winch and some hurt components on the Samurai, we decided to call it a day. We had too much course left to make the cutoff time.
Coming back from KOH with anything other than a finish is always a disappointment. However, I can’t help but see all the progress we’ve made and feel a certain level of satisfaction at the end of the day. We have found a lot of speed on lap 1 and each year we get better through the rocks. All we need to do is eliminate a few mistakes and that official finish will be ours.
Thank you to my family, friends and the companies that support our efforts.
Without them I could not do any of this.
We took the green flag just before 9:00AM on Friday. We were moving pretty good along the cross-grain leaving Hammertown. We even passed the 4Runner that was next to us off the line. The first climb over Heartbreak Ridge would become the single most frustrating experience I’ve ever had at the Hammers. We’ve always taken the right line up this loose hill climb and have had zero problems prior to race day. Unfortunately a large rock shelf caught the underside of the samurai and completely stopped us. We were completely turtled at this point with no option but to pull winch line.
Of course, with dozens of racers approaching pulling cable would not be easy on this hillside. Andrew, was able to safely get us hooked up to a 4500 car that was broken higher up the hill. At this point the entire field had passed us. I’m not sure how much time we lost but it felt like an eternity while sitting there.
Now we’ve cleared Heartbreak Ridge and headed for Turkey Claw. We drop into the wash and find a long line of race cars, of which none are moving an inch. The traffic jam happened to be one long line on the right-hand side of the trail which meant the left side was wide open. We cut our way in and worked up the left side and made a successful pass on at least a dozen cars. At this point the main line towards the top was still plugged up, so we waited a bit and eventually we worked our way through and out into the open desert.
At this point the clock is working against us, we lost valuable time in the first couple miles of the race. Now is the time to gain some back. We put down a blistering pace and caught and passed a few cars before coming into pit 1. We had some serious fade with our right rear shock which slowed us down through the last half of the Fry Mountain mining hills. The washes through this section were chopped up bad and had a lot of exposed rock. With the hurt rear shock we had to back off the pace coming out of there.
We took fuel at pit 1 and my team said nothing was visibly wrong with that right rear shock, so we pushed on with the rest of lap 1.
As we got going, the course became less choppy and a lot smoother for us. This helped with the shock and we were able get a really good pace going. We made it to Resolution at the tale-end of lap 1 and worked our way down without issue and headed into Hammertown.
Our plan was to keep going and avoid stopping at Main Pit. However, I was worried about fuel consumption and we decided to play it safe. Thank you to everyone at the Milestar Main Pit for helping and Dustin Isenhour (and his team) for donating a few gallons of fuel to us! It turns out we were burning about double what we had during prerunning.
With a full tank, we left for lap 2. Turkey Claw had one car on the main line and we moved through it much faster this time around. We put down a good pace all the way to Compaction Hill where we’d have some bad luck again. Coming over a blind crest, we’d find a few cars winching/broken. Neither of us could see what was holding everyone up and once everything cleared we dropped over the crest right onto a big rock. We found ourselves completely turtled once again! Andrew hopped out and pulled line over to the biggest closest rock in front of us. I started to winch-in and the winch line snapped.
I think it must have just caught an edge enough to slice it. There was not nearly enough pressure for it to have broken on its own.
Andrew worked quickly despite the setback and we utilized our rear winch to get us out of that bad spot. Meanwhile, Amber, in her Samurai, had been right on our tail since Resolution on lap 1. While we dealt with that debacle, Amber made her way by us a few minutes before we got moving again. Coming into Aftershock we could see her just in front of us and we pushed forward to catch her. Coming down Aftershock and up through HWY 19/20 we were bumper to bumper, pushing these Samurai’s as hard as we could. Even pushing passed traffic with creative lines, doing whatever it took! Neither of us wanting to give an inch! It was definitely the highlight of our race and probably some of the most fun I’ve had racing ever!
We would end up getting caught up at the top of HWY 20 and Amber pulled some time on us coming into pit 2. We made a quick stop, fueled up and continued on. We made our way down Fissure Mtn, Jack Hammer, LaserNut Alley, Her Problem and Idle Issues and now coming up to Chocolate Thunder.
We see a few cars not moving and Amber up on the right line. We worked our way up and after a few tries we opted to pull winch line. Once we were hooked up I lost the front driver tire down into a hole and put the Samurai on its side. Luckily, I was able to winch-in and pull us back onto all 4 a few seconds later. Chocolate Thunder was destroyed and our favored line was no longer passable for us. Our first attempt winching would not go smoothly, after righting the tip over the winch line once again snapped. Likely due to having been tied back together in a knot. No fault on Andrew’s part, a knotted winch line is weaker. We had no other choice. Also a big thank you to Scott, driver of 4626, he helped us hookup and keep Andrew in the Samurai. Scott and his co-driver helped us get hooked up for the second time also and we successfully got through on the far left line.
After Chocolate, on our way to Jack North we lost power steering. And through that section with all the nuisance rocks we were forced to pull over. I could not hang on to the steering wheel. Andrew hopped out and found a loose fitting on the power steering cooler. He made quick work of it and we got moving again.
Jack North and Bender Alley went well, no issues through there. Next up was Wrecking Ball, we’d find a 4800 car turned backwards with front wheels up in the air abandoned on the waterfall. With the main line plugged we had to take the Shannon Campbell bypass around the waterfall. I know it’s called a “bypass” but nothing about it makes it easier than the main line. It’s steep, loose and not Samurai friendly. At this point our winch had gotten backed into and broke the control box. 2 cars ahead of us had issues and by the time we got through it over an hour had passed.
It was roughly 6:00PM by now, we had about 45 minutes until we timed out. With a broken winch and some hurt components on the Samurai, we decided to call it a day. We had too much course left to make the cutoff time.
Coming back from KOH with anything other than a finish is always a disappointment. However, I can’t help but see all the progress we’ve made and feel a certain level of satisfaction at the end of the day. We have found a lot of speed on lap 1 and each year we get better through the rocks. All we need to do is eliminate a few mistakes and that official finish will be ours.
Thank you to my family, friends and the companies that support our efforts.
Without them I could not do any of this.
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2021
- Member Number
- 3864
- Messages
- 47
Sorry about the DNF. I got a matching one and didn’t make it near as far.
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
Your story is great, keep up the perseverance.
Although I'm not sure a Sami will podium anytime soon, I can only imagine how fun it would be racing other samurais and leaf sprung Toyotas.
Not to mention passing multiple rigs
Although I'm not sure a Sami will podium anytime soon, I can only imagine how fun it would be racing other samurais and leaf sprung Toyotas.
Not to mention passing multiple rigs
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2021
- Member Number
- 3864
- Messages
- 47
Bummer, all the makings of a killer comeback are there for 2025. Sounds like a few of us need redemption.
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2021
- Member Number
- 3864
- Messages
- 47
Your story is great, keep up the perseverance.
Although I'm not sure a Sami will podium anytime soon, I can only imagine how fun it would be racing other samurais and leaf sprung Toyotas.
Not to mention passing multiple rigs
The Samurais kind of have their own "race within the race" kind of thing going. Each one of us wants to claim the title of first 4600 samurai to get an official finish at KOH. It's a solid group of racers, I really enjoy competing with them.
Penetrode Offroad
Red Skull Member
- Joined
- May 20, 2020
- Member Number
- 493
- Messages
- 380
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2021
- Member Number
- 3864
- Messages
- 47
Here's some shots of us on race day at KOH24. I'm 99% sure this at the bottom of Jack Hammer before you turn into the wash near the "Hammers" sign.
chaplinfj60
Well-known member
these last photos look like a model or RC car out messing around wow so cool