Legends Class 4800 Build - “Tinkerita”

[FSU Off-Road]

Ok, the biggest update to date!

As noted, there is a lot going on with the car right now. When we got back to NC, there was no rush on getting the car unloaded; we knew there was a lot of work to be done in order to get it ready again. Knowing we weren't going to race Nationals, all of our focus has been on improvements, fixing the knowns, and preparing for KOH24. We've had a couple of work weekends with the car now and have solutions for each.

First things first, we needed to go over the car and see what all was damaged and inspect everything closely. Thankfully we had a few guys come help with this, which made disassembly of the car much easier.

As you may have noticed, while disassembling the powertrain, we went ahead and cut out the mangled crossover tube. Made for an easier disassembly. We already knew this was going to be something we did as we needed to beef this crossover tube up for the future. The goal is to utilize 1/4" rectangle tubing in its place to add strength and protect everything in the future. You can see the overall idea below and to make sure everything would fit, we went ahead and put the transmission back in to verify.

Again, it's close to the pan, just as the original tube was, however I had some ideas to make this work better for us. With a solution to fix the crossover tube, we disassembled the Colossus case to see what went wrong. Didn't take long to see that the D300 gears didn't hold up to the abuse from Crandon. All of the front gears were broken, leaving us with only 2wd. So, I searched the good old marketplace for some spares. Luckily, I was able to find a replacement D300 with a spare set of gears and rebuilt the case after a good cleaning and thorough inspection.

After the rebuild, I focused on the crossover tube again. In order to create a little space, I notched the rectangular tube for the trans pan. This will allow us some extra space for removing the pan if needed in the future as well as running into the same clearance issue. Not only did the notch help with clearance, but I was also able to internally gusset this area as well making for a stronger center section. With a couple of scrap pieces, I was able to close it all back up and get it ready for the link mounts and carrier bearing mount. I reused some old link mounts for the front, grinding away a little material for them to set flush on the rectangular tube versus round tube. As for the carrier bearing mount, the original design was based off two separate round tubes, with the rectangular tube, I was able to put both mounts on this crossover tube. This allowed me to have a better gusset in between making this mount much stronger to any loads. The only thing I need to add are the tube clamps for the skid plates.

All we have to do now is install the crossover tube and get it welded in place and we'll be good to go! Nope, not even close lol.

Now as for the other knowns and issues, we have the following that we are addressing and will need to take care of before KOH!
1. Transmission pan: With the old beaten and bent steel pan (leaked like crazy), we do have a new pan to install. However, we need to re-tap a few bolt holes in order to install the new pan. This was an issue when we installed the pan at Crandon. Simple fix, but still pressing.
2. Belly Pan Height: Unfortunately, this falls on me as I designed the ride height with 40's not 37's. Therefore, the belly sits a little lower than we want. Worked well for Crandon and the short course, however we want to add a couple of inches for the other races. This will also help us with a couple of other issues with max up-travel. Killing two birds I suppose but is going to take some time to redo the suspension.
3. Colossus D300 Case: Although we upgraded everything internally with 32 splines shafts, the gears themselves are not going to hold up. We could convert the gears to JB Conversions 4:1, however we do not need that gearing. Therefore, the D300 is out! We are now going with the Colossus NP205 (I've created a good relationship with Behemoth, and JB Conversions). We will be utilizing the new 3:1 from JB Conversions within the 205 case. All will be here December for install. Until then, we'll put the D300 back in for mobility purposes.
4. Coilovers: As you all are aware, our 2.5" coilovers are not exactly the "go to" when it comes to racing applications with single shocks per corner. They do have adjusters and worked well (I still recommend), but for the longer races and high speeds we would benefit from IBP's more. With that said, I was able to source some 3" IBP's from Fox. With the larger diameter springs, we are going to run into some clearance issues on the chassis I believe. I assume we'll be doing some more tube notching for the 3" IBP's to fit. With that said, they are a little longer than our 2.5", so we're hoping we will be able to utilize the existing mounts without any drastic changes to the mount locations giving us our additional belly height. Fingers crossed. But we will still have to change bump locations and limit strap lengths regardless.
5. Links: With the 2" lowers bananad after one race, I can only image what more races would do. In order to save the chassis alignments, I reached out to Tim at TMR Customs for their new aluminum links. Other than the rear trailing arms, we now have a full set of aluminum links on the way for both the front and the rear.
6. Spare tire carrier: As some of you pointed out, the small material on the tire carrier didn't hold up. Not a problem moving forward. We are now designing a new tire carrier that will not swivel down; however, it will be removable by utilizing tube clamps. It will be more structurally sound and allow us to build a few areas for spares and tools, which is our next big hurdle.
7. With all that KOH brings to the table, spare parts, tools, a jack, etc. are essential! To date, we don't have any of this stuff addressed. We have some good ideas on spares and a tool bag, but we need some more time to figure it all out. This is something we will be working on after we address the other issues.
8. Misc things: There are a few additional things we need to add and fix before KOH. Rock lights, a few Holley adjustments, transmission temp sensor fixed, things like that. Not super pressing, but things we do need for KOH.

YES, I know... it's a lot to address in a little timeframe. Don't remind me! But I assure you, we'll knock it out! KOH 2024 here we come!

Cheers!

 

[BRUISER]

I have an idea for a jack for you.

Ill get pics and info and send it over

 

[FSU Off-Road]

I have an idea for a jack for you.

Ill get pics and info and send it over

Sounds like a plan to me.

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

Are you going to have to get your driveshafts rebuilt due to the change to the 205?

 

[FSU Off-Road]

Are you going to have to get your driveshafts rebuilt due to the change to the 205?

Not 100% sure yet. If we do, it'll be shorting them just a little, but I think there's enough slip. Regardless, we'll have to get a spare set made.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

With the long list of things to do, I've been doing my best to gather the needed parts to get Tinkerita ready for KOH24. After a few last-minute buys, I was able to get everything loaded up and took everything to the shop to start getting this thing put back together. To say the least, the truck was full both inside and out.

With limited time, our team has put together a timeline of everything to do to get it ready. First on the list was get the new crossover tube installed so we can start assembling things. Prior to burning it in completely, we triple checked everything to make sure it would all align. With a few minor adjustments, we were able to get it completely welded in as well as all of our tube clamps for the supports and skid plates. After we let it cool down, we got it all painted and ready for everything else to be installed.

During the process of welding, cooling, cleaning and painting, our team also worked on getting the transmission all cleaned up to install the new pan. During the frantic rush at Crandon, we did have some issues with our hardware on the trans pan, so while everything was a part, we also took the time to chase all the treads and get new bolts. Unfortunately, the pan gasket went missing during the late night, so we have to get another one prior to installing the transmission. This will take place this week.

While working on the TH400, we were also working on our new NP205 upgrade. As some of you are aware, Midnight Metalworks tanked, and Behemoth Drivetrain has taken most of that business. Therefore, lead times have been a little longer, however Dylan at Behemoth worked directly with me on getting me a case in time. I'm very grateful for this and was able to do a shop tour. If you are ever in the market for a D300 or NP205 case, I highly recommend them. Everything is 100% manufactured in KY and they have future plans to expand their portfolio. I won't go into great detail; however, they are working on more economic cases, manufacturing USA made gears, and more!!! With that said, we started our disassembly of our donor case in order to get us our Colossus NP205 case built. I also partnered with JB Conversions on the 3:1 gearing as well for additional options in the future and SPARES! I'm looking forward to getting this installed, it's a beefy case and I highly doubt we'll have any further issues.

Once we get the new NP205 case together, we sourced a new mount from TMR Customs to replace the D300 mount. Once we get the t-case all assembled and installed, we'll be able to make short work of the mount. Then our goal is to make it a roller again and move it that way we can start on the suspension while establishing the new belly pan height. Lots of work to do still, but small progress is better than no progress. Thankfully I have a great support system and team that is helping get this thing ready without me having to be there. Luckily, I'll have some time off to be able to focus on dialing everything in before the New Years!

 

[FSU Off-Road]

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. While most were celebrating, I utilized most of my time off to tackle some of our "to do" list. Since the car isn't at the house, I'm having to do what I can to get parts ready to install, for when I do go to the shop. I decided to work on the new Behemoth Colossus NP05 case and get it ready to install. I'm still waiting on my JB Conversions parts to arrive (Saturday), however I put the case together as best as I could. When I install the new parts, I'll put on the new retainers as well. Just a side note, the gear differences between the D300 and NP205 are massive. I suspect zero failures with the transfer case now!

While I was away, some of the guys got the transmission all done and installed. The new pan is nice and beefy and with the new crossover tube, we should eliminate any transmission pan issues.

When I was at the shop, we ran into an issue with the NP205. Luckily, we have some good partners that have helped us get what we need. With the short 32 spline input, we don't have enough seal engagement with the Novak adapter. After a pathway forward, we went ahead and installed the new case for driveline measuremenst and verification. The last thing we still need to knock out is the mount. But I have an idea for that.

With progress finally moving forward, we wanted to move Tinkerita off the lift and into another bay to work on the suspension. In order to move it, we needed to install the lower links. We finally got to install something new and shiny without having to remove it again in the future. Unfortunately, we didn't get to install the uppers just yet. That'll come soon enough.

The last thing we got to work on was the new 3" IBP's. These things are massive and causing some fitment issues with the chassis. We've decided to notch out the front to get them to fit, double up the upper brackets, and build new brackets for the rear. By doing this, we should be able to add 2" to our belly height and keep everything relatively close. We're really looking forward to having these installed and feeling the difference.

Stay tuned, we officially leave in 4 weeks. There's so much left to do, but one bite at a time.

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

What was the fix for the trans/case? Incase someone has the same issue

 

[FSU Off-Road]

Happy New Years Everyone!

While most were recovering yesterday, I spent the day in the shop trying to make some progress on the race Jeep. It was a rollercoaster of a day to say the least. We moved Tinkerita in the upper room to set our new desired ride height and go from there. Once we got it moved and established, the fun began...

Once we came up with some ideas, we started getting some preliminary mounts in place for testing on the front IBP's. It was early on that I noticed we had rotated the upper coilover mount on the driver side. Even with the support, it wasn't enough to stop the rotation of the tube. I'm thankful we saw this as it allows us to strengthen this in the future. However, for now, I cut it on the back to rotate it down again.

After fixing the upper mount, we worked on mocking up lower mounts onto the axle. After spitting some ideas around, we had a solution to plate and double plate some stuff with what we had laying around. Unfortunately, the 3" IBP's are a bit larger than the 2.5" and we ran into all kinds of clearance issues. To say the least, in my frustrations I decided to leave it for now and come back to it with a clear mindset.

Instead of wasting time on the front, I decided to double check the rear. I was able to utilize the old mount, just on the outside. After a few measurements, flex test, and more measurements, I was happy with there the rear was sitting. In our crunch for KOH, this is going to have to do for now. I'll plate all of this in for support and we should be good to go on the rear IBP's.

After a long and hard-fought day at the shop, I knew I had to bring this thing home so I can have more time to work on it. We spent the next couple of hours getting this and all the parts loaded so I could head back home. It was a bittersweet day as we made some progress, just not enough to give me the warm and fuzzies.

This week I plan on finishing the rear mounts so I can completely finish the rear suspension setup. This includes the bumps and limits. After that, it's just one thing at a time. As I look over the car, try to plan ahead, and order what parts are needed, it feels as if the list is growing.

Will definitely be a down to the wire KOH prep for sure.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

What was the fix for the trans/case? Incase someone has the same issue

Stay tuned for this. Working with Behemoth on this issue and they have a solution.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

As time permits, I'll do my best to keep things up to date. As you all know, Last week I loaded up the Jeep and brought it back to its beginnings... my little house garage. I was in high spirits to get this thing unloaded and knocked out, however unloading everything I tweaked my back leaving me in a lot of discomfort... making the next few days' progression slow. As if we aren't already on a crunch, it's these things that we all neglect to think about that cause more delays. Regardless, this past weekend I worked both day and night to push through KOH prep to get TInkerita ready. After establishing our new belly height at the house on Friday night, I went right back to the rear to finish it up on Saturday. Unfortunately, after a few additional measurements, there were some changes that needed to happen to get our travel numbers. The original 2.5 coilovers were 16" in length, therefore we lost 2" in stroke with the new IBP's. With a few moved mounting locations, we were left with the same travel as before. With the increased belly height, I also had to add some bump extensions. After a quick spray of paint and bolt install, I completed the rear suspension.

Although a long Saturday, I spent most of Sunday afternoon and night working on a new tire carrier. Most people would work on the front suspension but I'm still working on some final details on the front. To eliminate any delays, the tire carrier is second on the importance list to finish. I liked the overall appearance of the last carrier, it just wasn't supported enough. With that said, I kept a similar appearance on the chassis just changing the lengths up and mounting locations to add rigidity. Also, while working on the carrier, I proactively configured the spare drive shaft location, jack, tool/spare parts box, etc. All of which will be contained in the rear for weight distribution. Should work out well.

My plan is to finish the last few supporting tubes tonight, rear tire bar, and install the strap tie downs for the y-strap. After the tire carrier is all finished up (tonight/tomorrow), I'll focus on getting everything ready for the front suspension. My goal is to have the suspension completed this weekend and finalize the NP-205 output mount, leaving me with 1 final week to finish the small insignificant items on the list. Regardless, we're making progress!

 

[FSU Off-Road]

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since I updated the progress on Tinkerita. To say the least, it's been a long two weeks with many late nights and absolutely no sleep it feels. Last I left off, I was finishing up the tire carrier as I awaited some brackets and miscellaneous other parts. Once I had the overall design, I knew I wanted to add a retainer bar on the back to support the tire since I was removing the unit bearing design, but I did however utilize some of the tubes from the old carrier. Also added hook points for the y-strap, a pivot mount for the jack, and custom brackets to hold the spare driveshaft. Was able to finish that up last week before the weekend hit.

... now to last weekend. Luckily, I have some great friends that will sacrifice just as much time as I do for race prep. Last weekend was no different as I was going to attempt to tackle the front suspension yet again. After I ran into clearance issues with the original design, I knew I had to cut off the chassis mounts and the bump mounts. Since I had already cut the axle mounts off, I knew there really wasn't any going back to the 2.5" coilovers. However, I do appreciate the input and concerns with time restraints (I was concerned too). Since we decided there was no going back, I didn't have a choice but to figure out a way for them to work. After many hours of mocking up, flexing, cutting, and fitting brackets in different configurations, we were able to squeeze new 3" IBP's onto the front. With literally no room to spare, they FIT! Got everything burned in, then had to figure out the bump location.

Unfortunately, we had to notch the chassis to get the bumps to fit with the new coilover package. Not a big deal but took a lot of extra time. Due to the tight packaging, we also had to add bump pad extensions. At 2am after burning in the new can location and gussets for support, extensions, we were able to install the springs and get Tinkerita under her own weight again.

With over 30 hours invested last weekend, I was able to go to sleep knowing it was at least under its own suspension. We'll have to set ride height and mount the reservoirs, etc. but we're one step closer. There was a ton left to do, but thankfully the list was manageable at this point.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

Now for the final countdown... This past week I had to travel to Texas for a couple of days, keeping my progress minimal. With a long list of things to do, I focused my time on the most important things first for this past weekend. First things first, get the NP205 all done. Huge thanks to Behemoth Drivetrain, JB Conversions, Novak, and NWF for all the parts to make this happen. Originally, we installed the stock gear set with the old bearings, seals, etc. After a complete disassembly, we were able to reassemble everything with the brand new 3:1 gear set (massive gears), new bearings, seals, and retainers. As for the input, I was able to utilize Novak's insert in my TH400 mount and Behemoths low profile retainer to have enough seal engagement on the input shaft. Due to the D300 mount, to keep everything simple, I utilized NWF output retainer and their output mount. Was able to make quick work of this mount and got everything installed.

With the suspension buttoned up (for the most part anyways), and the drivetrain all installed, it was time to focus on other important KOH related things like storage. I was able to source an aluminum box to practically fit under the tire carrier, by design of course. After a couple of brackets, I was able to get the storage box installed. Should be plenty of storage for parts and tools. Also knocked out a few tabs and small items as well.

As for yesterday, Sunday, it was my deadline to get the car loaded up and back to the race shop for tuning. Yesterday was frantic as I was pushing to get every little last-minute thing buttoned up and parts loaded. Took way too long to get loaded up and packed up, but at the end of the day, after fluid, battery charging, panel installs, I was able to load up Tinkerita for KOH24!

There are still a few things to go over and button up, but she's as ready as I could get her in the time that I had. Got her to the shop late last night and she's now off my hands for a week.

We still have to mount the new Atturo Tires, install the skid plates, take care of a few small items, and install a few electrical plugs and wires, but she's KOH bound as far as I'm concerned. I'll mark it as a victory!

 

[BRUISER]

Go have fun.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

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.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

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 everyone else that have helped along in this journey. Although broke, we're not broken, and we'll be back at the next one.

 

[BRUISER]

man it stinks to hear about the roll. you did an awesome build with the car and hope to see you fix it and continue on

 

[FSU Off-Road]

man it stinks to hear about the roll. you did an awesome build with the car and hope to see you fix it and continue on

You know better than any, that's just what we do. Race it/wheel it, break it, rebuild it back better, and keep on with this vicious cycle. Yes it does stink, but we walked away and the chassis can be fixed. That's exactly what I plan to do, that way I can go wheeling with that Unicorn of yours!