2008 Rubberbelly Racing

We are very excited about the start if the 08 season at Hannibal this weekend. I thought I'd share a couple of changes we made over the off season.
Here is the build link from last year.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=528100

Turning was a big problem last year. The combination of spools front and rear and not being able to turn lock to lock hurt us in some situations. Surprisingly we were abll to make due with it pretty well though. The first order of business was to build a front axle that would allow us to move the control arms inside of the frame so that we could turn lock to lock. I had just finished build a junkyard spidertrax "609" for the front of my bronco and we set out to build one our selves. It turned out the 9" housing would have to be retubed to make it fit. So I just bit the billet and ordered another spidertrax housing. The seals were really one of the things that makes these housings really nice. Nothing to fab to hold seals just put them and screw in the set screw. We machined out some stock d44 inner c's so that they would slip on the new tube diameter.

Some other things That went into the front axle we some alloy USA shafts and some Solid Axle Drive Flanges. Both from 4wheel Drive Hardware. Inner shafts are also alloy usa that were custom machined by Currie Enterprises.
Check out these drive flanges! These things are beefy! so is the snap ring too.






Another 2008 partner, Detroit Locker, Helped us out with getting the right detroit lockers for our 9" axles front and rear. This has already made a big difference in freeing the car up to turn. Getting those spools out of there with out getting into the extra stuff of selectables.

One last thing that we were able to do this year for RROCK was to add cutting brakes. We had already added one for the rear, thats all that RROCK allowed in 07, So we set about to add one for the front as well. We went with the 2-in 2-out CNC. While we were at it we upgraded the master cylinder. We started with a corvette master but didn't like the volume it was putting out. So we tried a 76 or mercury master with 4-wheel dick brakes. This one was the ticket. With an adjustment to the brake rod it bolted right up.
Here is a picture of the brake lines and the cutting brakes plumbed. What fun that was! We almost ditched the power brakes just so we could use plastic lines!