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Legends Class 4800 Build - "Tinkerita"
- Thread starter FSU Off-Road
- Start date
ridered3
Low Talent Wheelin
ridered3
Low Talent Wheelin
The USAC scoring shows him in 40th overall as of this post with a 12:18.439
Slander
Team no stickys
Turned the feed on right when he was hitting the course! Sucks on the flat, but could have been worse watching some of the other runs.
Wisconsinite
Red Skull Member
GOOD LUCK TODAY!!!
ridered3
Low Talent Wheelin
chaplinfj60
Well-known member
bummer man
Well, well, well, I don't really know where to begin. It's been a week since we took to the starting line at KOH 2024. To say it was a difficult undertaking would be an understatement. Just getting out to the lakebed from North Carolina was a difficult task as our guys lost a trailer tire (not a big deal) in Texas and trailer leaf spring in Arizona! Unfortunately, this costed some time which set our whole team and plans behind. Hindsight I guess was a good thing as the lakebed was a muddy mess!
Once we arrived at the lakebed, it was a rush to get the car prepped and ready for tech the next morning. We all worked on many different things to finalize everything we needed for tech. Regardless, it's just a different world on the west coast.
The goal was to tech the chassis, get it banded, and head out for some pre-running. Unfortunately, the small inconveniences costed us some precious time as we had to button up a few issues with the firewall that was overlooked during our original tech inspection. Luckily, we had some aluminum tape and cardboard to make a temporary solution allowing us to get a band. What felt like forever, we finally got into the desert with the car. As we went, we were making adjustments to the IBP's but were only able to hit a few course trails before we heard a loud bang under the car. With much disappointment, our brand-new Fox IBP blew apart. So our quick pre-run was over.
Thankfully Fox was on the lakebed and took care of the IBP's for us. They even went through the other rear to make sure there were no other issues. Speculation is that there was too much oil. Regardless, we lost the whole afternoon and didn't utilize qualifying pre-run. Which leads us into Tuesday morning. After getting the IBP's back, we had to rush to get them installed, get suited, and hit the qualifying course. Thankfully we had zero pre-running so of course we went into qualifying blind and way too hot. This costed us a rear driver tire early into our run which slowed us way down. In the end, we made it back and didn't qualify last.
After a quick tire change, we wanted to do some additional shock tuning. We all loaded up and found a good section to run and test out the suspension. After getting more comfortable in the whoops, we were able to carry some speed as we continued to work on the IBP's. In the end we had a top speed of 72 mph in some moderate whoops with the given area with more in the tank. However, this costed us a rear main seal. Once we got back to camp, the car wasn't happy, puking oil from the underside. So, instead of going back out and pre-running more of the course, we were stuck at camp yet again working on the car.
Instead of getting the opportunity to hit some rock trails Wednesday or pre-run some more desert, we were stuck in the trailer trying to get the car back together. I'm glad we had the trailer, as it made working on the car easier. Luckily, it allowed us to find some other issues later in the day. The front third member didn't feel good, so we knew we had to inspect the carrier once the car was out of the trailer. We also took advantage of getting the IBP's off for some internal shimming. In the end, we got the car back together, pulled back into our pits, and spent the rest of the night working on the front axle.
If you're keeping up with days, it's now Thursday which is our tech and contingency and we didn't have the parts we needed to get the frontend back together. As most of you know, the racing community is pretty awesome within Ultra 4, and I was able to source the bearing we needed from JR4X and their team. If it wasn't for them, our plan was to go through tech without the front 3rd installed until we got the bearing we needed. But that wasn't the case, and we were able to make it.
Since we had zero time on the newly tuned IBP's, after tech, we hit some more areas to dial in the suspension one last time before race day. We made quick work of this as they felt much better than before. With the starting line in sight, we went back to camp to prep the car for race day.
Once we arrived at the lakebed, it was a rush to get the car prepped and ready for tech the next morning. We all worked on many different things to finalize everything we needed for tech. Regardless, it's just a different world on the west coast.
The goal was to tech the chassis, get it banded, and head out for some pre-running. Unfortunately, the small inconveniences costed us some precious time as we had to button up a few issues with the firewall that was overlooked during our original tech inspection. Luckily, we had some aluminum tape and cardboard to make a temporary solution allowing us to get a band. What felt like forever, we finally got into the desert with the car. As we went, we were making adjustments to the IBP's but were only able to hit a few course trails before we heard a loud bang under the car. With much disappointment, our brand-new Fox IBP blew apart. So our quick pre-run was over.
Thankfully Fox was on the lakebed and took care of the IBP's for us. They even went through the other rear to make sure there were no other issues. Speculation is that there was too much oil. Regardless, we lost the whole afternoon and didn't utilize qualifying pre-run. Which leads us into Tuesday morning. After getting the IBP's back, we had to rush to get them installed, get suited, and hit the qualifying course. Thankfully we had zero pre-running so of course we went into qualifying blind and way too hot. This costed us a rear driver tire early into our run which slowed us way down. In the end, we made it back and didn't qualify last.
After a quick tire change, we wanted to do some additional shock tuning. We all loaded up and found a good section to run and test out the suspension. After getting more comfortable in the whoops, we were able to carry some speed as we continued to work on the IBP's. In the end we had a top speed of 72 mph in some moderate whoops with the given area with more in the tank. However, this costed us a rear main seal. Once we got back to camp, the car wasn't happy, puking oil from the underside. So, instead of going back out and pre-running more of the course, we were stuck at camp yet again working on the car.
Instead of getting the opportunity to hit some rock trails Wednesday or pre-run some more desert, we were stuck in the trailer trying to get the car back together. I'm glad we had the trailer, as it made working on the car easier. Luckily, it allowed us to find some other issues later in the day. The front third member didn't feel good, so we knew we had to inspect the carrier once the car was out of the trailer. We also took advantage of getting the IBP's off for some internal shimming. In the end, we got the car back together, pulled back into our pits, and spent the rest of the night working on the front axle.
If you're keeping up with days, it's now Thursday which is our tech and contingency and we didn't have the parts we needed to get the frontend back together. As most of you know, the racing community is pretty awesome within Ultra 4, and I was able to source the bearing we needed from JR4X and their team. If it wasn't for them, our plan was to go through tech without the front 3rd installed until we got the bearing we needed. But that wasn't the case, and we were able to make it.
Since we had zero time on the newly tuned IBP's, after tech, we hit some more areas to dial in the suspension one last time before race day. We made quick work of this as they felt much better than before. With the starting line in sight, we went back to camp to prep the car for race day.
Now race day...
It was a beautiful morning, absolutely PERFECT for racing. With all the setbacks behind us, I was eager and ready to take to the course. Our plan was to take it easy, "save the car", and just have fun.
As we lined up prior to the race to start, we were able to just relax and have some good conversations with other racers near us. Small world, we were set to start off with Diezel from NC. He helped us out back in AOP in 21'. Again, just cool people to be affiliated with.
Once the green flag waved, it was all focus as we took the hole shot from him. Learning from our qualifying, we took it much easier in the big whoops and avoided the gotcha rock that kept killing everyone's driver side tires. Very quickly into the race, we were already passing other racers before Turkey Claw. With this speed, the car felt great, not really pushing at all. Once we got into TC, everyone was in a line leaving the middle open. I decided to take the middle lane and pass quite a few other racers in the rocks. Unfortunately, this led me turtled at the pinch rock. Once my co-dawg got out to winch, we realized we didn't have reverse. Immediately this killed the mood, and I knew my day wasn't going to be as fun as I hoped. Once we got through, we ripped a hole in a side wall killing our rear tire. In hopes to make quick work of our tire change, we found out that our impact wasn't on the car. Instead of driving 27 miles to remote pit 1, I decided to run back to main pit. Although not fun, I made it back and we changed the tire only to make it 50 yards killing another tire. At this point we had no choice to continue on at a slower speed. Shortly into our race, now by ourselves, we kept pulling over to broken down cars to see if they had a spare to loan. Much to our Suprise, we were able to get one and carry on with our race.
This is where this story ends tragically. Right around race mile 19, we hit a large gout at 65 sending us up and over, endoing the car. With a couple of flips the car stopped and thankfully both my co-driver and I were able to walk away with no issues. The car however did not have the same luck, but it saved our lives and for that I'm truly grateful.
Wasn't very long afterwards that race recovery showed up checking on us and helping us flip the car back over. Those guys were the real heroes as they dragged the car to powerline road allowing us the opportunity to get it back.
After a few phone calls to the loved ones and our team, we worked on the car. Assessing damage and evaluating our options, we decided to try and limp it back as best we could with all the damage it endured. Thankfully we were able to make our tire strap work to help support the rear and drive slowly back to the main road.
On the way back our guys came with more straps and a spare tire. Further down, we ran into another racer recovering his car. After a few laughs, he offered up his truck and trailer to us. He felt we needed it more than he did. Without hesitation, we loaded up the car and headed back to hammertown.
Without Ryan and his team, I think we would still be driving at 5mph to get the car back. In the end, we got the beat-up car back to camp and our KOH experience was over.
Now the teardown process will begin to make sure the chassis is ok and fix the broken undercarriage.
Regardless, I just want to thank all of our sponsors, supporters, friends, family members, and Irates that have helped along in this journey. Although broke, we're not broken, and we'll be back at the next one.
It was a beautiful morning, absolutely PERFECT for racing. With all the setbacks behind us, I was eager and ready to take to the course. Our plan was to take it easy, "save the car", and just have fun.
As we lined up prior to the race to start, we were able to just relax and have some good conversations with other racers near us. Small world, we were set to start off with Diezel from NC. He helped us out back in AOP in 21'. Again, just cool people to be affiliated with.
Once the green flag waved, it was all focus as we took the hole shot from him. Learning from our qualifying, we took it much easier in the big whoops and avoided the gotcha rock that kept killing everyone's driver side tires. Very quickly into the race, we were already passing other racers before Turkey Claw. With this speed, the car felt great, not really pushing at all. Once we got into TC, everyone was in a line leaving the middle open. I decided to take the middle lane and pass quite a few other racers in the rocks. Unfortunately, this led me turtled at the pinch rock. Once my co-dawg got out to winch, we realized we didn't have reverse. Immediately this killed the mood, and I knew my day wasn't going to be as fun as I hoped. Once we got through, we ripped a hole in a side wall killing our rear tire. In hopes to make quick work of our tire change, we found out that our impact wasn't on the car. Instead of driving 27 miles to remote pit 1, I decided to run back to main pit. Although not fun, I made it back and we changed the tire only to make it 50 yards killing another tire. At this point we had no choice to continue on at a slower speed. Shortly into our race, now by ourselves, we kept pulling over to broken down cars to see if they had a spare to loan. Much to our Suprise, we were able to get one and carry on with our race.
This is where this story ends tragically. Right around race mile 19, we hit a large gout at 65 sending us up and over, endoing the car. With a couple of flips the car stopped and thankfully both my co-driver and I were able to walk away with no issues. The car however did not have the same luck, but it saved our lives and for that I'm truly grateful.
Wasn't very long afterwards that race recovery showed up checking on us and helping us flip the car back over. Those guys were the real heroes as they dragged the car to powerline road allowing us the opportunity to get it back.
After a few phone calls to the loved ones and our team, we worked on the car. Assessing damage and evaluating our options, we decided to try and limp it back as best we could with all the damage it endured. Thankfully we were able to make our tire strap work to help support the rear and drive slowly back to the main road.
On the way back our guys came with more straps and a spare tire. Further down, we ran into another racer recovering his car. After a few laughs, he offered up his truck and trailer to us. He felt we needed it more than he did. Without hesitation, we loaded up the car and headed back to hammertown.
Without Ryan and his team, I think we would still be driving at 5mph to get the car back. In the end, we got the beat-up car back to camp and our KOH experience was over.
Now the teardown process will begin to make sure the chassis is ok and fix the broken undercarriage.
Regardless, I just want to thank all of our sponsors, supporters, friends, family members, and Irates that have helped along in this journey. Although broke, we're not broken, and we'll be back at the next one.
Blase
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2020
- Member Number
- 2043
- Messages
- 228
Glad you guys are ok. That's a pretty serious failure of a link mount!! The desert is tough on parts too. Any chance you can post some pictures of what this area looked like pre crash? As i'm typing i'm thinking I can go back and look for pictures in this thread
. Hopefully the damage isn't too bad on the chassis and tinkeita will live to race another day.
EDIT: To answer my own questions about the link mount pre wreck......
. Hopefully the damage isn't too bad on the chassis and tinkeita will live to race another day.EDIT: To answer my own questions about the link mount pre wreck......
Sorry for the bad luck. I think I broke my front diff mount’s hitting that same G out hard on the brakes because I was going way too fast.
Did you bring us your new bearing you had ordered? Or do I still need to get one to put back in our diff parts box?
Did you bring us your new bearing you had ordered? Or do I still need to get one to put back in our diff parts box?
SurfnSnow
Moderator
ooh man that is not a good link placement at all.
ridered3
Low Talent Wheelin
FSU Off-Road thanks for taking the time for a detailed recap of all things Hammers. Sucks on the rollover but glad y'all were alright overall.
Blase
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2020
- Member Number
- 2043
- Messages
- 228
I see tons of Chassis with the links mounted like this or very similar. Rolls in the desert at speed are very hard on parts!! with some minor bracing and maybe a balanced link mount this should be fine and next time the bolt or link will fail. The force has to go somewhere!!!!!!! The force required to snap the tube like that is high!!!
even without a rollover that tube would fatigue and fail.
a simple tube like Bebop drew is perfect solution. he needs to do it on the front as well
Pickuptrucker
Well-known member
Wild! Way to keep plugging away. Thanks for the recap
I ordered 2, one for you, and will have it at the next race for y'all. After the wreck, all our focus went to getting the car safely loaded up in the stacker trailer. Send me an address in message and I can ship it to you if that works better. Just let me know. And thanks again for the help!
Thanks for the pictures!
Yeah, unfortunately without reverse, I wasn't able to reposition and hug the rock like we planned. There was a lot of issues there for sure.
After speaking with Tim at TMR, they slugged these tubes. Moving forward, I plan on adding some sort of additional structure. Regardless, endoing and side loading the rear, something was going to give regardless.Add a tube here ?
I haven't really had a chance to review all of the damage, but you are correct. Definitely high impact, if you look closer at the upside-down pic, you can see bent chassis brackets, axle brackets, and bent 3/4" bolts.
Agreed! The front and rear are both going to get supported.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Stay tuned... I plan on getting Tinkerita home and stripped down to assess the damages and plan out our new support for the underside. Good news is our 1/4" 2x4 rectangle crossover bar worked perfectly. LOL looking at the positives.
Now with Rush not in the lineup, we have a little more time to focus on getting it back to 100% for the next race!
ridered3
Low Talent Wheelin
FSU Off-Road got any updates?
Well, a lot of time has passed since I posted, my apologies! There have been a lot of life changes and just minimal updates on Tinkerita. However, with that said... I'm back at it.
Shortly after coming home from KOH, my grandmother passed. This was a real bummer as my mother took it pretty badly. Not that it took my time away from the garage, but we all just needed time to be together, especially since we have a newborn now. Life changing events. He has 100% changed my priorities and now that he is getting mobile, we've been able to do small tasks on the jeep. Add those two things with a new job traveling 2-3 weeks a month, my time is limited. Seems like after returning from Hammers, my life hit the fast forward button and went into pure chaos. Honestly it was the break I needed though as the constant grind was getting old. My time away has given me new light though and I'm ready to get ready for Crandon 2024. As a family, we're all excited about racing.
As mentioned, I've been able to spend some time going through/over the chassis from my break away and there is a lot of work to do. A LOT OF WORK. Basically, everything but the main chassis has been either bent, twisted, or broken to sum it up quickly. From front to back, we're going to have to rebuild this whole thing.
My list is long... front bumper (stinger) bent, front sway bar twisted downward, sub chassis broken, mounts bent, tire carrier destroyed, rear axle housing bent, rear sway bar and arms bent, skid plate bent, transfer case shifting issues, transmission no reverse, busted Holley dash, broken antenna mount, battery power issues, busted bumps, exhaust hangers, and many more.
To maximize my rebuild efforts, I just started disassembling everything from the rear. If I had more room, I would have stripped it down to a bare chassis, but we'll start with the problem areas first. I was hopeful of the rebuild until the rear axle housing was bent. Passenger side, the side we rolled on, is bent over 2" off center, literally pulled apart the rear truss seam. Also had 3/4" bolts bent into U shapes so I wasn't able to remove hiems on the passenger side either. To speed things up, I strategically cut some of the lower tubes out.
With tubes cut out, it was easy for me to remove the transfer case and transmission.
To date, I have ordered 90% of everything needed to start the rebuild, tubing, brackets, rear housing, bolts, etc. The transmission has been sent out, and everything else is piled up under the jeep. I have spent a lot of time researching and thinking about my options/ideas before I start the rebuild, but I'm not 100% just yet on what I want to do. A large part of me wants to cut out the whole lower portion out, lower front section (miter cuts), and lower rear section to build back for better shock packaging. I mean I have to cut some of these tubes out anyways. Regardless, lots of time yet to invest before we're moving again.
Hopefully knock out some more disassembly over the 4th and can come up with a decision. Happy 4th fellas.
Shortly after coming home from KOH, my grandmother passed. This was a real bummer as my mother took it pretty badly. Not that it took my time away from the garage, but we all just needed time to be together, especially since we have a newborn now. Life changing events. He has 100% changed my priorities and now that he is getting mobile, we've been able to do small tasks on the jeep. Add those two things with a new job traveling 2-3 weeks a month, my time is limited. Seems like after returning from Hammers, my life hit the fast forward button and went into pure chaos. Honestly it was the break I needed though as the constant grind was getting old. My time away has given me new light though and I'm ready to get ready for Crandon 2024. As a family, we're all excited about racing.
As mentioned, I've been able to spend some time going through/over the chassis from my break away and there is a lot of work to do. A LOT OF WORK. Basically, everything but the main chassis has been either bent, twisted, or broken to sum it up quickly. From front to back, we're going to have to rebuild this whole thing.
My list is long... front bumper (stinger) bent, front sway bar twisted downward, sub chassis broken, mounts bent, tire carrier destroyed, rear axle housing bent, rear sway bar and arms bent, skid plate bent, transfer case shifting issues, transmission no reverse, busted Holley dash, broken antenna mount, battery power issues, busted bumps, exhaust hangers, and many more.
To maximize my rebuild efforts, I just started disassembling everything from the rear. If I had more room, I would have stripped it down to a bare chassis, but we'll start with the problem areas first. I was hopeful of the rebuild until the rear axle housing was bent. Passenger side, the side we rolled on, is bent over 2" off center, literally pulled apart the rear truss seam. Also had 3/4" bolts bent into U shapes so I wasn't able to remove hiems on the passenger side either. To speed things up, I strategically cut some of the lower tubes out.
With tubes cut out, it was easy for me to remove the transfer case and transmission.
To date, I have ordered 90% of everything needed to start the rebuild, tubing, brackets, rear housing, bolts, etc. The transmission has been sent out, and everything else is piled up under the jeep. I have spent a lot of time researching and thinking about my options/ideas before I start the rebuild, but I'm not 100% just yet on what I want to do. A large part of me wants to cut out the whole lower portion out, lower front section (miter cuts), and lower rear section to build back for better shock packaging. I mean I have to cut some of these tubes out anyways. Regardless, lots of time yet to invest before we're moving again.
Hopefully knock out some more disassembly over the 4th and can come up with a decision. Happy 4th fellas.
Sorry for your family's loss. Glad to see you back at it 
CarterKraft
Red Skull Member
glad to see updates.Well, a lot of time has passed since I posted, my apologies! There have been a lot of life changes and just minimal updates on Tinkerita. However, with that said... I'm back at it.
Shortly after coming home from KOH, my grandmother passed. This was a real bummer as my mother took it pretty badly. Not that it took my time away from the garage, but we all just needed time to be together, especially since we have a newborn now. Life changing events. He has 100% changed my priorities and now that he is getting mobile, we've been able to do small tasks on the jeep. Add those two things with a new job traveling 2-3 weeks a month, my time is limited. Seems like after returning from Hammers, my life hit the fast forward button and went into pure chaos. Honestly it was the break I needed though as the constant grind was getting old. My time away has given me new light though and I'm ready to get ready for Crandon 2024. As a family, we're all excited about racing.
As mentioned, I've been able to spend some time going through/over the chassis from my break away and there is a lot of work to do. A LOT OF WORK. Basically, everything but the main chassis has been either bent, twisted, or broken to sum it up quickly. From front to back, we're going to have to rebuild this whole thing.
My list is long... front bumper (stinger) bent, front sway bar twisted downward, sub chassis broken, mounts bent, tire carrier destroyed, rear axle housing bent, rear sway bar and arms bent, skid plate bent, transfer case shifting issues, transmission no reverse, busted Holley dash, broken antenna mount, battery power issues, busted bumps, exhaust hangers, and many more.
To maximize my rebuild efforts, I just started disassembling everything from the rear. If I had more room, I would have stripped it down to a bare chassis, but we'll start with the problem areas first. I was hopeful of the rebuild until the rear axle housing was bent. Passenger side, the side we rolled on, is bent over 2" off center, literally pulled apart the rear truss seam. Also had 3/4" bolts bent into U shapes so I wasn't able to remove hiems on the passenger side either. To speed things up, I strategically cut some of the lower tubes out.
With tubes cut out, it was easy for me to remove the transfer case and transmission.
To date, I have ordered 90% of everything needed to start the rebuild, tubing, brackets, rear housing, bolts, etc. The transmission has been sent out, and everything else is piled up under the jeep. I have spent a lot of time researching and thinking about my options/ideas before I start the rebuild, but I'm not 100% just yet on what I want to do. A large part of me wants to cut out the whole lower portion out, lower front section (miter cuts), and lower rear section to build back for better shock packaging. I mean I have to cut some of these tubes out anyways. Regardless, lots of time yet to invest before we're moving again.
Hopefully knock out some more disassembly over the 4th and can come up with a decision. Happy 4th fellas.
Be warned that little fella gonna kick your life into OD
Definitely not a dumb question. I've thought about looking around, but I've already bought all the tubing regardless of cutting more or less on the chassis. It leaves me options for sure, but keeping the chassis I can also fine tune it as we go. Even if I bought another chassis, I'd find something I'd change which would take time. Maybe in the future when I have more space to work with, I can work on a second chassis.
ridered3
Low Talent Wheelin
FSU Off-Road glad to read an update on Tinkerita and life in general.