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A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 11:25 am
by napsta
So the KOH car has gotten a bit confused and thinks it's a rally car:
Specs:
10" belly
4" of up in the front
5" in rear
on 35" BFG's - these tyres look awesome!

We are taking on a Hill Climb next weekend in Colorado, should be fun.

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Bring it on!
Ben

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 11:45 am
by Hekta
:cool: Looks cool!
Can't wait to see pics the hill climb. Have fun dude.

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 11:56 am
by bru21
Thats awesome!!!!!!

Wish we got rid of the rego business in australia so the tt can race anything!!!


all the best mate :armsup:

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 11:59 am
by WICKED
bru21 wrote:Thats awesome!!!!!!

Wish we got rid of the rego business in australia so the tt can race anything!!!


all the best mate :armsup:

Tuff Truck Doesn't need Rego, Hasn't since the end of the 08'

BUT It is Tuff TRUCK not Tuff BUGGY

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:18 pm
by TWISTY
Looks coool! Would be keen to see some vids of it in action with this setup!

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:29 pm
by RUFF
WICKED wrote:
bru21 wrote:Thats awesome!!!!!!

Wish we got rid of the rego business in australia so the tt can race anything!!!


all the best mate :armsup:

Tuff Truck Doesn't need Rego, Hasn't since the end of the 08'

BUT It is Tuff TRUCK not Tuff BUGGY
Trouphy Truck is what Bru is building you retard :roll:

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:45 pm
by WICKED
RUFF wrote:
WICKED wrote:
bru21 wrote:Thats awesome!!!!!!

Wish we got rid of the rego business in australia so the tt can race anything!!!


all the best mate :armsup:

Tuff Truck Doesn't need Rego, Hasn't since the end of the 08'

BUT It is Tuff TRUCK not Tuff BUGGY
Trouphy Truck is what Bru is building you retard :roll:
Woow, I farked that up.....

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:27 pm
by napsta
anyway, all it needs is some limit straps and a shock tune and it's ready to race. I fly out on Tuesday. excited. Not too excited about 14 hours on the plane then 14 hours drive from LA to Colorado towing tho!

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:33 pm
by locktup4x4
Sounds like a good time!!!!

Jason

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:36 pm
by WICKED
napsta wrote:anyway, all it needs is some limit straps and a shock tune and it's ready to race. I fly out on Tuesday. excited. Not too excited about 14 hours on the plane then 14 hours drive from LA to Colorado towing tho!
Who't live with over there?
Who tow's it over there?
Or you hire a storage shed and trcuk trailer all the time? :D

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:16 pm
by napsta
Randy who built it looks after it and stores it for me. I have my own truck (GMC dually) and trailer.
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Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:19 pm
by WICKED
napsta wrote:Randy who built it looks after it and stores it for me. I have my own truck (GMC dually) and trailer.
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Fark! Can I please have a branch of your Money Tree?

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:24 pm
by Roctoy
napsta wrote:Not too excited about 14 hours on the plane then 14 hours drive from LA to Colorado towing tho!
the world's smallest violin is playing your tune... :finger:

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:36 pm
by WICKED
Roctoy Designfab wrote:
napsta wrote:Not too excited about 14 hours on the plane then 14 hours drive from LA to Colorado towing tho!
the world's smallest violin is playing your tune... :finger:

Really? my thought's were something along the lines of "Farking whinging :bad-words: "

Jealousy is a curse

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:41 pm
by napsta
my money tree is well and truely used up now. I've been planting some more, but no luck yet.

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:42 pm
by WICKED
napsta wrote:my money tree is well and truely used up now. I've been planting some more, but no luck yet.

If you do send a seed or two my way dude!

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 4:45 pm
by coxy321
Are you running sway bars for the hill climb?

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 5:40 pm
by DamTriton
Could you drop the front diff and driveshaft out, run stub axles to the front wheels? Could save 50-60kg which is meaningful in a lightish vehicle doing a hillclimb. Less weight = more speed. Front wheel are next to useless for anything other than steering.

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 6:48 pm
by bru21
I'm guessing racing in the states while living in Aus would still work out the same $$ or cheaper?
I'm talking at your level or TT's
A return flight is $1200 odd and all other costs like fuel, food, accom, tyres, would be half or less.
Tow vehicle would be heaps cheaper, race car cheaper, parts cheaper etc

What are your thoughts?
Would you mind running a list of basic costs like entry fees, vehicle prep, etc

I want to get a fair few years under my belt here, but would love to race baja ultimately and do Best of the desert, vagas to reno, san felipe etc as sort of a life goal.
Probably when i'm 50 fat and bald, but gotta plan sometime.

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 10:05 pm
by A.J.
Good questions there bru, I'm interested in a few basic infos myself.
Sounds good :armsup:

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 1:35 am
by napsta
well, i travel a lot for work, so my next 2 LA return flights with Qantas are free, and I have enough AMEX points for a VAustralia return, but flights are cheap as u say.

The GMC is a 2006, leather, pimp model, 6.6L turbo diesel, Alison 6 speed auto with aftermarket chip and exhaust that set me back early 20's.

hill climb entry is 300. KOH and BITD range between 500 and 1200 + tracking subscription. More than we were paying for aussie WERock, but different scale of event. Doubt there were 25,000 people at any events i competed in in Aus.

I will spend a couple od hundred bucks on fuel to get there.

Sponsors help out with a lot.
Those BFG's are race compound stickies... We go through a lot of tyres to be competitive. I currently have about 12 39 inch KOH tyres, 9 37 inch desert tyres, and 5 35 inch hill climb tyres. it takes up a fair bit of room in the shed. They sit on about 20 raceline beadlocks.

Ultra 4 means our cars must be capable of running in 4 Low. Removing the front diff would not be fair. remember I'm not trying to beat the lowered WRX's, just the crawlers.

Spares are where it's at. you can never have enough to be competitive. When we travel to a race we have spare driveshafts, links, 2 spare built nine inch 3rd members, the lot. 3 or 4 fuel pumps, a spare Howe steering pump or two. You can never get enough.

Vehicle prep is a large cost for me because I simply can't do it myself from the otherside of the world. To be competitve in this type of racing a full tear down and rebuild is required each race. I figure 50 hours labour minimum. Then it depends what you break. We ran the Silverstate and thought we had only minor damage. When the car was torn down, it was found that one of the 40 spline rear axels was banana'd in the middle, and the front stub axels had stress fractures. The chassis is unpainted so we can check for cracks and stresses between each race.

Sometime soon I will need a new LS1, or at least rebuild this one. There's only so much dust it can eat.

Trophy Truck is another deal altogether. Word on the street is 20k minimum for a race, most teams budget 50k. It's amazing. They turn up with 5 or 6 F250/350 chase trucks, 1 or 2 loaded semis and maybe a chase helicopter. nuts.

Problem is the competition just keeps getting tougher and tougher. Bypass shocks are the way to go, and my rig desperately needs them. I'd love a front sway bar too.

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 7:40 am
by zookimal
Good luck Ben

Thanks for posting up.
Roctoy Designfab wrote:the world's smallest violin is playing your tune... :finger:
Lol funny as

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 8:23 am
by bru21
Thanks for the insight mate!
Food for thought!
By the sounds of things it looks like its cheaper to race a TT in AUS (but its getting more competitive all the time), but other classes work out much the same / cheaper. Every new part or spare in australia comes from the US and is touched by 10 people that all charge money - so I guess thats where the saving is.

For example my 6 pot wilwoods were like $190ea - here they are $690 with a month wait etc

Such a sweet GMC for a tow car is awesome value! I just ordered a 76 series and I see it as the minimum tow car I can get away with, but at near 3x the price, but I didn't look into GMC's here so maybe not a fair comparison - but I imagine they would be 100k?.

cheers mate Bru

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 8:37 am
by sierrajim
bru21 wrote:Such a sweet GMC for a tow car is awesome value! I just ordered a 76 series and I see it as the minimum tow car I can get away with, but at near 3x the price, but I didn't look into GMC's here so maybe not a fair comparison - but I imagine they would be 100k?.


cheers mate Bru
Here you go Bru, a Dual rear wheel truck is not really a necessity. The single rear wheel 2500HD will still give a 4.5t tow bar and 6.2t gooseneck rating.

here

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 8:55 am
by zzzz
Love it!!
Make sure you post back with some videos :)

Are you going to groove those tyres?

When you are done with all those 37's and 39's can you sell me a set of used red labels...

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:33 am
by napsta
going to groove the rears to make it drift around the corners.

I don't actually have any red label crawlers. Mine are all the KOH specific tyre, the Brawler KRT. Not sure how they would work in Aus, but considering they have no side lugs I am very happy with how they perform in the rocks. We are not crawling werock style tho. If I need a better line there is no penalty for reverse.

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:41 am
by WICKED
napsta wrote:going to groove the rears to make it drift around the corners.

I don't actually have any red label crawlers. Mine are all the KOH specific tyre, the Brawler KRT. Not sure how they would work in Aus, but considering they have no side lugs I am very happy with how they perform in the rocks. We are not crawling werock style tho. If I need a better line there is no penalty for reverse.
Can I have stuffed set pretty please? I'll try them in the rocks! :twisted:

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:52 am
by napsta
ok, where should I ship them? Happy testing:
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Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:54 am
by WICKED
napsta wrote:ok, where should I ship them? Happy testing:
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I'll PM you the addy, Don't worry about the rims I can get rid of them for you, Being damaged and all, My favour to you ;) Only the 39's tho, Don't need the 35's

Re: A confused rock crawler: rally time!

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 1:57 pm
by bru21
Just run a tube with them and they will be sweet!