I am building a truck for a local Tuff Trucks competition. It will be in Feb , so I have 2 months. What makes a good truck for this type of event.

I have a 90 EFI convertable. No windshield or doors ( I used them on my truck). Should I cut as much tin off as I can and go light? Keep the Center of Gravity down and go wide tires? Stiffen up the front suspension? What have people seen?

I don't want to win, but I sure want to put on a good show:flipoff2: :eek:

I have to put a 6 point cage in to the frame. I plan on calling it " UnderDog " again. I'm not putting the tongue on it this time around....hehehehehehe:flipoff2:

Rick Rogers from Mild to Wild Suzuki's has been very successful for years with his Tuff Truck Samurai. You can call him up (541-471-6044) to get details, but here's a general rundown of his winning combination:

Lightweight. Remove the doors, tailgate, targa bar, and anything else you won't need. Replace that weight with a serious roll cage, because you WILL roll it.

Suzuki motor. Originally he had a 1300, but now he has a 16v 1600. Get something that can go over jumps without flooding out. Rick never takes his foot off the gas during a race.

Get STRONG axles that can take a beating. No matter what he did to truss the stock front axle, Rick was always bending his on big landings. He wound up converting it to 2wd (to cut down the weight) and put a SERIOUSLY beefy tube up front to use as an axle. He hasn't managed to bend it yet. Also, get the front end real wide, for stability.

Tires are a tough choice, because every track's conditions are different. For a while Rick was running wide low-profile street tires on too-wide rims, so that it would slide easily and controllably, and then he grooved the rear tires laterally so that they'd hook up in the dirt for forward propulsion. Since then, he has changed to mud terrain tires with much taller sidewalls and he seems to like how that works too.

Build lots of up and down travel into the suspension. Rick cut through the front fenders and rear tub to allow the tallest shocks he could get to fit vertically for maximum damping effectiveness. I'd recommend sway bars front and rear so that the truck stays flat while cornering with the tail out, but keep lots of up and down travel for jumps.

Lastly, get a good seat. The stock seat won't last you one race. Rick has broken more Samurai seats than anyone I know, and he's just an average-sized guy.

A Samurai with these mods is all it takes to be a SERIOUS contender. Rick and his wife Liddy have amassed a collection of trophies from their racing successes. You don't need a fancy truck, the stock drivetrain works great. Rick races in 2wd low range and doesn't take his foot off the gas. He blows V8 trucks away because he's so light. The Samurai flies over the jumps with ease and won't break when landing.

Good luck!

-- Geoff Beasley

Thx for the info. That has some good basics. I won't be playing with much more than body mods and cage, and tires. I found an 87 for 150.00 , but it is SPOA. So I will reverse that to keep the CG low. I will run 31" MT's aired way down. I am leaving the 4x4 and front axle in. I plan on keeping my foot into it till I crest the jumps, and hitting the brake with my left to keep air time , and bouncing to a minimum. I wonder if there is a rim that I can modify easily buy cutting the center out and rewelding it to give me a bettew offset.

I am trying to keep my cost way down here. If it survives the Tuff Trucks, I am taking it to Tellico as my spare vehicle, and giving it a thrashing there.:bounce: :bounce2: :bounce:

Originally posted by mudlite
Thx for the info. That has some good basics. I won't be playing with much more than body mods and cage, and tires. I found an 87 for 150.00 , but it is SPOA. So I will reverse that to keep the CG low. I will run 31" MT's aired way down. I am leaving the 4x4 and front axle in. I plan on keeping my foot into it till I crest the jumps, and hitting the brake with my left to keep air time , and bouncing to a minimum. I wonder if there is a rim that I can modify easily buy cutting the center out and rewelding it to give me a bettew offset.

I am trying to keep my cost way down here. If it survives the Tuff Trucks, I am taking it to Tellico as my spare vehicle, and giving it a thrashing there.:bounce: :bounce2: :bounce:

I race a Scout II, which is a LOT heavier than a Sammy, but..

Low weight, low center of gravity, and relatively wide are a good setup.

Also, if you can move the engine/trans/xfer back you can get a better front-to-back balance so it'll "fly flatter"

I would NOT air down any tire in a tuff-truck. You'll lose it. I don't think even a Samurai is light enough.. I lose a good tire b/c I failed to check pressures before I ran a race two years ago.. I was surprised by a jump and caught Big Air.. when I came down, I was 3-wheelin' it.. the sidewalls flexed unti the rim smacked the ground. Not good.

I always run max inflation.

Long shocks and lots of travel, however you can get it.

My Scout runs a HEAVY (700lbs) IH 304cid V8 under the hood. I'm also spring-over-axle. Sounds tall, doesn't it? I run uncut fullwidth axles to keep the COG low. I use 12" of the 14" front shocks, and the angled 9" shocks in the back are not long enough. It rides nicely though.

Two approaches to this type of racing (I don't usually run Tuff Trucks, but longer 4x4 rally courses that last 1-2minutes instead of a 30s Tuff Truck).

One is to just keep your foot in it and "never lift".. better make sure your rig will survive big-air.

The other approach is to keep it on the ground. This usually requires "a lot" of motor. Come up to a jump, dynamite the whoa pedal, let the nose just glide over the top a bit and on it's way down, HAMMER IT. Your goal is to gain speed by applying the power to the ground. You only decelerate when you're in the air (but it sure looks good!)

TRUSS the front axle. Rear, too.

I have a broken Chevy HD D44 because I never quite got around to it..

Lota fun. :D

Check rules and regs for as many promotors/sanctioning bodies as you can to make sure your rig is "legal" for as many races as you can attend.

Say.. anyone want to see video of a *stock* Tracker running the Tuff Truck in Bozeman back in April? Now that was some funny stuff!! :D :D

He tried the "never lift" approach! :eek:

-Tom
M4x4A #576 "Little Devil"
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/racer/

Oh yeah.. on the jumps.. if you have enough engine..

At the base of the jump, either "lift" if your compression braking is enough, or tap the brakes a moment - just enough that you get some brake-dive, then STAND ON IT.

The springs' natural rebound will be starting to push you up, then you mash the loud pedal and the torque will want to lift the front end under normal conditions.

Combine that with the spring rebound, and you can really get a nose-up attitude which usually results in a flatter landing (or at least, a not-so-nose-first landing)

It's hard to explain and I didn't really understand it until I rode with a buddy in his rig, and "felt" him doing it all the time across every jump (this, on an hour long couple-mile long "baja" dozen-rigs-at-a-time race.. what a rush!).

Definitely makes the jumps smoother and easier on the rig.. and the crowd likes to see the air. :D

I run a dirt stock car on street radials, and agree on the not airing down as well. My car is 2300 lbs. and I dont have to deal with jumps, but do have alot of side load, and foward bite issues.

I run street radials at 23 lbs on the right side. I would have no idea where to start on a tuff truck, but remember radials like more air preasure than a bias tire would.

I would look at an aftermarket seat as well. With a good seat, and good 5 point harness, its much easier to drive, than with a factory seat, and having to use some energy/concentration just trying to hang on.

Sounds like this truck is going to be alot of fun!!
Jim