Crush Motorsports "Deuce" build

Dwest · Dec 17, 2009

So after taking 5th place in the 08 XRRA national finals in my absence, my co-driver, Ritchie Keller has had the bug to be in the drivers seat. Ever since that race he has been aiming to get into a buggy, and all he had to do to get one was get out of the dog house with his wife. After getting her Kennel built a few months ago (they raise Bulldogs) he had the green light to proceed.

Ritchie, myself and Kyle, (Ritchie's brother) have been a team since 03 and will continue to do so under the Crush Motorsports name. Hell, I might even get a little spotter duty now!

Here are some pictures of Ritchies Jeep that got tore apart for parts for this build.

And now on to the new: I will try to take better pictures, just got a new phone/camera I am getting used to.

Main parts list:

Jimmy's 4x4 chassis and bracketry
Jimmy's 4x4 Colorado skins
5.3 V-8
Turbo 400
Dana 60 / Detroit / 4.88
Dana 70 / Detroit / 4.88 (Soon to be ARB)
Atlas II 3.8
BFGoodrich tires
Raceline wheels
Radflo 2.5" coilovers
Branik shafts and links

Of course we went to Randy Rodd, owner of Jimmy's Outback 4x4 for a chassis. Without his help I don't think we could pull this off, and I am still not convinced that we can. This car is to debut at KOH on Feb. 9th. The thing that may save us is that Jimmy's has tons of bracketry for us to simply weld into this car, if we had to fab all of this stuff there is no way we could do this.

Here is the chassis as of last Saturday

Having the axles already built (except for steering) is going to really help.

We got the chassis and axles at ride static ride level and started putting brackets on for links.

After realizing that the tires were going to hit the links at about 35 degrees, the towers were moved in a couple more inches to allow steering in the 45-50degree range. So far I think all of the link brackets have been moved at least once and now the motor mounts as well. And after last night we are just slightly further than the last pictures. So after doing everything twice so far and having already registering with the number 202 for the LCQ and being the 2nd Crush Motorsports buggy, came the name "Deuce". Hopefully this build ends up only taking on the numerical meaning! Once we get the stuff out of the way that we have never done before (mainly suspension setup) out of the way I think we will be cruising right along. Links have been measured and Branik will have them to us shortly!

Here are a few more parts pictures

50 degrees axles from Branik

Raceline wheels for some bling

5.3L with Turbo 400

Dwest · Dec 17, 2009

Some of the brackets we have from Jimmy's so far

Fuel cell

Misc

lxh0318 · Dec 17, 2009

Nice! Are you guys running your new car in the LCQ too?

Dwest · Dec 17, 2009

Planning on it. I think Jimmy's should start bending up my chassis soon.

YredJ · Dec 17, 2009

Damn derek looking good.... Is the 5.3 gunna get any special treatment? Cam, intake, pan? Cant wait to see this thing around.
Subscribed

bigsilly · Dec 17, 2009

Wow Derek, you guys have plenty of time :flipoff2:

inphobic · Dec 17, 2009

Can't wait to get home and check out the pictures.
Good Luck guys!
Jake

Dwest · Dec 18, 2009

A few more parts from Branik. Thanks for the super quick turn-around time Stan! Hopefully we can make some good progress this weekend.

camo · Dec 19, 2009

:smokin:

seeyouonthetrail · Dec 19, 2009

awesome

Guys looking good I hope to see you at KOH alive and Kicking and Winning!!!.....

Dwest · Dec 20, 2009

Here is where the front tower ended up, we are going to heat the cast and use use some nickel rod to try and make it stick for good.

We requested from Randy that the chassis be able to handle sharp steering with big tires and a narrow axle and he delivered. The only problem was that our old headers werent that tight, rather than go through the hassle of finding something that might work we just modded the ones we had. Nothing fancy but it works.

Passenger side

Driver side

pre-fabbed link towers, weld em and go

We decided to add some engine support in the rear. With racing it seems that the engine mounts and tranny mounts wont stay tight unless it is very well supported. We also made a cradle to go under the pan on the front two mounts.

Side view

mrboyle · Dec 20, 2009

Damn good idea with the extra engine supports!

2D EDGE · Dec 20, 2009

What the hell is that exhaust on the floor going on???

Dwest · Dec 20, 2009

Ducting from outside furnace.

wngrog · Dec 20, 2009

Ritchie is going to kick your ass

POPS58 · Dec 21, 2009

Ritchie wants to be a member of the BEAT D WEST CLUB................Looking good:smokin:

caddishack · Dec 25, 2009

Its a small club:flipoff2:

JIMMYS 4X4 · Dec 21, 2009

Looks good, when you guys are done come west we have 3-more to finish...

Dwest · Dec 25, 2009

The brown Santa brought a few more parts.

Here is a shot of the engine mounting with a coat of paint. Due to time constraints we are not going to tear down for paint, we are going to paint as we go.

broncolou · Dec 25, 2009

PIMPIN!!!!:smokin:

WideJ · Dec 25, 2009

Wow! Ambitious timetable.

Are you able to use a one-piece driveshaft up front?
Are you using a kickdown cable on the TH400?

Dwest · Dec 25, 2009

Yes, we will have a one piece front shaft. I am assuming the 400 has a kickdown, I have never ran a 400 myself. Ritchie, care to elaborate on the kickdow cable and get your post count above 0?:flipoff2:

broncolou · Dec 25, 2009

C'mon Ritchie...you know everyone here has kid gloves

Post up! It's fawking Christmas for pete's sake....just do it.....

katesoffspring · Dec 25, 2009

Looks great guys, Jimmys products are the real deal. keep the pics and updates coming.

HouseofDiesel · Dec 25, 2009

Nice. I need some 4" Diameter Branik links for the SuperCrawler. lol Those things look sweet, keep up the good work, and god luck.

BranikMotorsports · Dec 27, 2009

lookin GOOD

Hey fellas, looks great! I'll be watching through till KOH!
then its awn! cannot wait, to see both Crush rigs tradin' paint:smokin:

Redeye · Dec 27, 2009

looking good.
I heard from a little birdie that Ritchie was a better driver.:flipoff2:
So know you can be in 2 places at 1 time.
cant wait to see it done.

jasongjco1 · Dec 30, 2009

Thank you

Looks sweet. Big thanks to Ritchie for the Atlas trade. I was going to call to give you a verbal thanks, but I lost your number. Good luck. Jason

Dwest · Dec 30, 2009

jasongjco1 said:
Looks sweet. Big thanks to Ritchie for the Atlas trade. I was going to call to give you a verbal thanks, but I lost your number. Good luck. Jason

Thanks to Pirate4x4 Ritchie was able to trade gearsets with Jason to get a higher ratio (3.8) for racing. Jason sent the transfercase to us and we took out 4.3 gears and put in the 3.8 and sent the case back out, everyone was happy.

Dwest · Dec 30, 2009

For the most part the shocks are mounted up and full bump has been obtained. We are getting really aggressive with the uptravel. This picture shows full bump allthough I doubt it will ever see this much compression as the air bumps get very progressive at the last inch of travel.

Kyle had to dig into the header again as it was coming out directly into the drive shaft.

Kyle also had to re-make this aluminum bracket that holds the alternator and power steering pump to allow for the uptravel. The alternator is hugging the underside of the head.

And a few shots of shock mounting.

If only we had dimple dies...

Shocks are going to stick through the hood a bit.

Crush Motorsports "Deuce" build

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