Carlovers Desert Beater Build

[mounty71]

You still planning to do the tuff trucks? I might be attending.

 

[carlover]

i want to, but the frame issues still havent been fully addressed. need to do some plating and add a cross member. just havent had the time or space to do it.

 

[IZwack]

Ouu Tuff trucks would be fun!!! Gogogogogo Sean!!! GOGOGOO!

 

[mounty71]

So in the camp 'n' crawl thread, you mentioned you're going linked now? Interesting! At tuff trucks there were 3 explorers, one linked, one with deavers, and one with i think superlift springs, so i got to see the whole spectrum. I know the deavers work pretty well, but that explorer still bucked like crazy a couple times. There's no comparison to links! Are you going with a cantilever setup? Or mezzanine? Or going through the floor?

And what's up with your front end?

 

[carlover]

Measuring some things to see what will work and what wont. It's looking like a 4 bar 4 link with panhard bar, with coilovers off the axle. Going to use the existing cage/hoop in the rear. Moving the rear end a few inches back, and leaning the shocks forward a bit. Should get 20" of link travel fairly easy which is perfect. The challenge will be the spring rates and lengths due to having to use a triple rate setup.

As for the front the lower a arm mounts are still tweaked and will be fixed and a new subframe cross brace added in the next week. I've been taking it easy on it since i tweaked it.

 

[mounty71]

Sounds like a plan! Oh ya, and are you notching the frame for the rearend while you're there?

 

[carlover]

yep full c notch. if we decide to do a mezzanine arm i will need it with the 24" of travel itll get. just not 100% sure right now, but i am done with leafs. for high speed stuff they suck on explorers with the way the mouting is.

 

[carlover]

new frame problem...

 

[james t]

Wow. Where exactly at the front is that? Looks like its in a spot that would at least be easy to fix. (kinda hard to tell?)

I hope this doesnt stall you parallel 4link plans, as i was hoping you would do all the math and get the bugs worked out and i could just copy it when you're done. :

 

[carlover]

its right between the lower a arm pivots. the hole is the access hole for the motor mount bolt, which of course creates a weak point in the frame. the cracks have been drilled and welded and will be plated this weekend. but it just goes to show the abuse dished out to this thing lol.

we are still weighing options with the links. id love to do a 4 bar with mezzanine arms for the coilovers. the problem with the coilovers off the axle is getting enough spring rate to rebound fast enough so it doesnt pack up through the rough stuff, and still having a light enough spring rate not to be ungodly stiff.

 

[FROADER]

Good grief, Sean. How big are you hucking this thing to break this shiz?

 

[carlover]

not at all actually. just getting faster and faster on the race courses and open desert. most of the recent damage was on a really bad whoops section that snuck up on me and i kinda panicked and hit the brakes. huge no no....

 

[carlover]

Buying a GPS over the weekend. A smaller lowrance with map download capabilities. Will be super nice for the race course, and Mojave road and other things.

And for those socal guys who are interested one of the biggest socal desert races of the year is coming up. The MDR Night Race is August 15th in Lucerne. Super fun race, lots of entries.

 

[carlover]

Also can any of you mods please change the title of this thread to Carlovers Desert Beater Build. Thank you.

 

[james t]

Also can any of you mods please change the title of this thread to Carlovers Desert Beater Build. Thank you.

Consider it done.

[greytext]i didnt get a chance to do it, someone else did [/greytext]

 

[carlover]

This is the GPS i picked up yesterday.
http://www.lowrance.com/en/Products/Automotive/XOG/


If you want an offroad GPS with self mapping and downloadable map capability you will not find a better GPS for the price than this one. So far so good, i like it alot.

 

[Dannyboy]

you still heading to MDR? I'm going to head over Saturday with the AZ crew. Why don't you head on down to San Diego and pick up my wheels/tires from Rockrangers house and meet me up there LOL.

 

[carlover]

you still heading to MDR? I'm going to head over Saturday with the AZ crew. Why don't you head on down to San Diego and pick up my wheels/tires from Rockrangers house and meet me up there LOL.

Yep ill be out at the night race with the BTF guys. My frame is fixed and the lower a arm mounts now have a nice beefy cross member so its ready for a beating. Also buying 100ft of 1 3/4 DOM tommorow, this bad boy will be caged very very soon. I know some people coming up from that area, but im not sure if anyone will have enough room for wheels/tires but i will ask around and see what i can do..

 

[Dannyboy]

sweet, PM me your number, I'll be looking for a ride in the Explorer.

Maybe I'll even take some real pictures and video since all you seem to produce is cell phonetastic photos LOL.

 

[carlover]

Will do. And yeah some nice pics would be nice lol....