Off Track Motorsports new 4500 build

[JohnM4580]

Alrighty, I've been asked by a few people to start a build thread for our new 4500 car, so figured this was as good a place as any. I've raced Ultra 4 / KOH for six years now after buying Jordan Townsend's 4500 car. We have had some success throughout the years, including the WIN in 4500 at this years King of the Hammers EMC. The 4580 has served me well but is certainly showing it's age, and after a pretty good tumble at Stampede this year, I know it's only gonna hold on so much longer. My good friend, club member, and the most talented fabricator I know, Jeremy Benson, has talked for a bit about building a race car for a few years now. I told him (asked him?) that when the time came, he was just going to have to build TWO cars. After racing NORRA and selling his Power Wagon dubbed the "Race Tractor", Jeremy decided it was time to get started. This is not his full time gig, so progress has been a little slow, but we're far enough now I figure it was time to post progress. I'll start here with a couple pics of Jeremy's race tractor, as well as the current 4580 car.

Racing is expensive, time consuming, and will for sure tell you who your real friends are in short order. I couldn't do any of this shit without my buddies who spent countless hours doing this with me. I also couldn't do it without the support of some sponsors:

Yukon Gear and Axle
Milestar Tires
Trailready Beadlock wheels
Masterpull Recovery Gear
Benson Metal Fab
Imagecraft Sign & Graphics
Comp Cams
FAST Fuel / Air / Spark
HP Tuners
ARB
Vision X
PRP Seats
Rugged Radios
Off the Grid Surplus
5zero3 Designs
Redhead Steering Gears
and the guys at my shop, Auburn Car Repair & Offroad

 

[JohnM4580]

So as I said, plan is to build two new cars, while they'll be slightly different cosmetically, they will be nearly identical mechanically. Therefore, we've been referring to them as 'The Twins'. As much as Jeremy was against the idea initially, I think he's going along with it more now. May I present to you, the beginnings of Mary Kate. Yes, Jeremy's car when completed will be "Ashley".

 

[chaplinfj60]

Very cool. Sub ed.

 

[JohnM4580]

More

 

[JohnM4580]

More

 

[DontNeedRoadz]

Rear Upper Bridge reminds me of what the ol' Savvy 88 car has, taken to the next level.

 

[JohnM4580]

Guess I should throw a spec list in here:

All chassis and fabrication hand built by Jeremy Benson AKA Benson Metal Fab. Going to be 84" track width, 110" wheelbase

GMPP LS3 crate engine with the bulk of the Comp Cams and FAST catalog thrown at it.
TCI TH400 transmission, reverse manual valve body, yada yada
Atlas II 3.0 Race Case
BrinkFab Motorsports fabricated housings w/ Spidertrax knuckles, unit bearings, etc.
Yukon 3rd members, 10" gears, Grizzly front and ARB rear lockers
Radflo coil over and bypass shock package as spec'd by Phil @ LMF
PSC JK Big bore steering box and pump (no boat cables here)
Full Summit Machine suspension links, tie rod, drag link
CBR radiator and fan setup
PRP seats, Vision X lights, Warn 9.0RC, Masterpull rope, Jaz Jeepspeed cell
Milestar 37" MT02 tires on TrailReady beadlocks

 

[The Unknown]

Beautiful fab/fit up. Love the lines, reminds me of the old LII car.

 

[Opiebennett]

Good to see pics on here John!

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

Very cool!

 

[JR4X]

Wow already, all we need is John M in a faster car 🤣.

Beautiful work and I loved his old 4400 truck

 

[Penetrode Offroad]

Beautiful fab/fit up. Love the lines, reminds me of the old LII car.

You talking about Fred?

 

[The Unknown]

You talking about Fred?

That would be the one.

 

[JohnM4580]

We've been busy prepping the current car for KOH, but still making some progress on the new car. Plan is to have the new car done, tested, and dialed in for Ultra 4 / YORR Montana race in May.

 

[mobil1syn]

interesting dimples on the truss, i kinda like it

 

[JohnM4580]

interesting dimples on the truss, i kinda like it

I really like what he did with it. We're in the PNW, we race in the mud, this adds some strength while not just making a hole to fill up w/ mud. HAHA

 

[Pickuptrucker]

Cool to see your build on here, the northwest jeepcast guys talk about your shop all the time. I love rooting for the local guys!

 

[broken4_racing]

Glad I found this! Looks great. Lets see the progress..

 

[JohnM4580]

Glad I found this! Looks great. Lets see the progress..

Progress has been SLOW. HAHA My builders' full time job has been keeping him occupied. He's been making progress though, I'm headed North to see it Sunday and I'll post some better updates!

 

[broken4_racing]

Nice, Cant wait to see it. I notice the front upper link is on the drivers side, Is there a specific reason for that? I have mostly seen 3 link uppers on the passenger side for driver drop diffs

 

[Corey Young]

How's it going?

 

[JohnM4580]

Nice, Cant wait to see it. I notice the front upper link is on the drivers side, Is there a specific reason for that? I have mostly seen 3 link uppers on the passenger side for driver drop diffs

We are running drivers drop diff.

 

[JohnM4580]

How's it going?

Slow, but prompted to post updates in the KOH thread, I'll add pics here shortly!

 

[JohnM4580]

OK, yes... still WAY behind schedule, by a year or so now.... LOL Oh well, that's life. Here's some updates for you. Jeremy posts updates occasionally on his IG as well @benson_metal so you can look for updates there too. Enough words, here's some pics:

 

[JohnM4580]

MOAR:

 

[JohnM4580]

And last few for the moment:

 

[ridered3]

Progress is looking ! That's a mighty fast wall in the background with Shannon Campbell's body panels

 

[Opiebennett]

Killer fab work. turning out nice. i like the visors and positioning system.

A few questions, just because curious-

2" main cage or do you think youll make weight?

Why 6 lug vs 8 if you're building all new stuff anyway? I've been tied to 5 on 5.5 since I started down the axle swap road, but think I'd go 8 lug if I were starting fresh.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I really like what he did with it. We're in the PNW, we race in the mud, this adds some strength while not just making a hole to fill up w/ mud. HAHA

I've always wondered about doing something similar. Just figured I'd have to dimple and then weld a cap back on the back side.

I'm assuming you just used a dimple die with no hole?

 

[JohnM4580]

Killer fab work. turning out nice. i like the visors and positioning system.

A few questions, just because curious-

2" main cage or do you think youll make weight?

Why 6 lug vs 8 if you're building all new stuff anyway? I've been tied to 5 on 5.5 since I started down the axle swap road, but think I'd go 8 lug if I were starting fresh.

All main structure is 2" and it's all chromo. Seems all the go fast guys do the 6 on 5.5 w/ 5/8" studs setup... more U4 cars out there with that bolt pattern than anything else that I've observed. As well as same bolt pattern as all my other friends in WA are racing on, so shared spares/compatibility of spares/hubs, etc. all seemed like it would work better that way.