CUCV M-1009 Baja Chase/ pit support and Camping Project.

[bob91yj]

I pit with the OP at the BFG pits for the Baja races when my Jeepspeed team isn't actually in the race. I swear some of his repairs in the pits have been so good that we see the same car the next year still running that fix, heheh. I'm on the refueling team, which is close to stupid proof, dump the right flavor of fuel in the right car. The repair guys pull off some miracles, working with next to nothing in the middle of no where.

Our Jeepspeed team gives huge props to the Nelson Racing Services BFG pit crew pit crew in helping us put a broken Jeep back together (we were in an XJ for that race)...front track bar bent, axle shifted over several inches to the passenger side (replace track bar), engine cutting out (diagnose/replace CPS on a hot engine), rear differential leaking (9" third member working loose in the housing), re-aim lights, refuel the car and swap a flat out of the car with a fresh spare, all in less than 45 minutes, at 2 o'clock in the morning... resulting in our '09 Baja 1000 Class Championship.

This is going to be an interesting build to watch. I can't wait to see the project in our pit. I'm sure there will be some out of the box ideas with meticulous workmanship! Knowing the OP and some of the crowd he runs with, I cringe at the thought of all that ugly sleeping together in the back of a Blazer!

 

[etech]

true measurements of a 39" project depends on quite a few factors. rim, pressure ect.
but they measure 39" tall not on the car with air, and mine have about 50psi in them and about 85% tread and they are right at 38.25" tall mounted to the blazer. they are 13" wide on a 8.5" wide wheel, they also have about 1.25" to 1.5" thick side walls, only Kevlar and steel belting and they appear to be full of air with only 5 psi in them due to the thick side walls they hardly bulge.

I can not say enough how tough they are, and they work for daily drivers too, I got 50K out of a set of 37's on my old 1 ton crewcab. the only real down side to them is the weight, a 35x12.50x15 class one project weighs as much or more then any other 37" tire I have ever weighed. I have a set of 40" goodyears on axis wheels we use for mock up and they are easily 30+/- pounds less then a mounted 39" bfg.

 

[etech]

I pit with the OP at the BFG pits for the Baja races when my Jeepspeed team isn't actually in the race. I swear some of his repairs in the pits have been so good that we see the same car the next year still running that fix, heheh. I'm on the refueling team, which is close to stupid proof, dump the right flavor of fuel in the right car. The repair guys pull off some miracles, working with next to nothing in the middle of no where.

Thanks Bob, for the complements, I too am amazed at some of the repairs that are done in our pit, and how many of them have held. Some Times for season after season... This is one of the reasons I work with BFG and Nelson Race services, when you work for a team you get to know the car very good, but you only see one way to do it. Working at BFG pits I see up to 200+ cars and teams and how they do it, some ideas are great, some are really really bad.There is no other way in racing to see so much in so little time.

This is going to be an interesting build to watch. I can't wait to see the project in our pit. I'm sure there will be some out of the box ideas with meticulous workmanship! Knowing the OP and some of the crowd he runs with, I cringe at the thought of all that ugly sleeping together in the back of a Blazer!

I hope I can make decent amount of progress on it as to not drag it out too long, and as for all the ugly in the back, Ya your right about that...:Wow1:,

 

[etech]

I could probably come up with responses to each one of your points, because your project is so similar to the goals I have with my M1009, but I'll just pick one.

I bought a few 3" coil overs to play with but have decided not to use them, they will be better suited on my Bronco build I'm doing, Once that project is done then I will maybe post that one up if people want me to. Its more of a race horse then a bronco.

You really caught my interest with the airbag suspension idea. I've got similar plans for a front and rear suspension inspired by all of the desert guys I hang out with, but like you, have some different requirements. The front will be pretty straightforward: a 3 or 4 link with a panhard bar on 3.0 coilovers. Because I plan on carrying a varied load (fuel, water, tools, light towing) I want a rear suspension capable of handling it. I'll keep it leaf-sprung (progressive) along with a bell crank setup to carry the airbags and shocks for packaging reasons. I'm not against putting the shocks through the floor, but the largest airbags I can find only pull 11" of travel, so I figure paralleling them on the same structure makes sense. I'd like to get crafty and build a little progression into the ratio, but this is already getting a bit skunkworks.

this is very similar to what I had planed. I am thinking something along the lines of a radius arm set up with an adjustable caster bar on the arm with a panhard bar as well, at first I was thinking about long travel and big shocks, but then I quickly pulled my self back to earth, I have driven many long travel trucks and they are not always what I would prefer to take on the street loaded to the teeth with gear, they lean and that can get a little crazy in the corners on tight twisty roads in baja, in a tall, heavy short wheel base blazer. So I will add some travel but keep it mild should be about 12 very Quality inches of travel up front and about 14+/- in the back.

I'm curious if you've found any desert-oriented trucks with airbag suspensions in your research; I've never seen it. I have seen the sand cars with King shock/airbag combos, but they're not easily available and are most likely outside my budget. Some of the slower-moving guys include removable pins and plates that the airbags whack into when the suspension compresses, but that just won't hold up to speed.

Currently other then the Funco buggies that you have talked about above, no one to my knowledge is running them, I have built a couple trucks and crawlers that used bags and have had great luck with them.

The hardest part about running bags is calculating the spring rate of a air bag, We have 2 solutions, one your can do the math and then you have to find a bag with those dimensions, this is very very hard, not the math, but finding the bag that fits your specs.

The other is a bit of a trade off between proper math and Just making the best of it, mount the bag with an arm and a adjustable link so you can play with pressures and then set the correct ride height with the link by making it longer and or shorter. As for bag travel, 11" is huge, they can handle a lot and feel free to increase your leverage ratio, I too do not want to go through the body, so If i go this route then I will be making a leverage system as well. if I just run leafs with a good shock I will mount them on a bell crank for the rear as to not make any more holes in the body that dust can creep into. If you run bags and want them to last, just do not let them touch anything.

sounds like were on the same basic page with our builds.

 

[Master-Pull]

I pit with the OP at the BFG pits for the Baja races when my Jeepspeed team isn't actually in the race. I swear some of his repairs in the pits have been so good that we see the same car the next year still running that fix, heheh. I'm on the refueling team, which is close to stupid proof, dump the right flavor of fuel in the right car.

OT for a minute.

Last year in Baja we had a diesel powered H1 Alpha racing. During our briefings we (the pit crews) were told to get to the fuel guys before the rig pulled in and tell them a few things (word for word off the powerpoint):

Tell them that 861 takes diesel.
Tell them again that 861 takes diesel.
Tell the mother *********** that 861 takes diesel.

I think the BFG guys hated us when we told them three times, then the driver came in shouting at them for diesel.

-Alex

 

[bob91yj]

We've got all the car numbers that we are fueling along with the quantity and flavor of fuel that they need posted in the pit. In the six years I've been doing itg we have NEVER dumped the wrong flavor in a car at our pit. Trust me, we know EXACTLY which trucks are taking diesel. None of us like dumping diesel, it's heavier than gasoline, and it doesn't evaporate out of your fire suit if any gets spilled. That and for what ever reason the Hummers (H1 or H2) fuel filler locations generally suck, they are too high off the ground for an easy stick with the fuel cans.

 

[racemedic]

I don't look around the full size forum very often but came across this thread and noticed you are also in Blythe. I do think I have also seen your Blazer parked once over at O'Reilly auto parts, nice Blazer.

 

[etech]

in regard to the fuel thing at prior baja race, almost every team dose the same sort of thing.

There are many pit services that are not as professional, and also Most race teams are filled with a bunch of guy that want to be part of it, But really don't know whats going on to the fullest. So as such teams feel the need to state the obvious over and over.. Redundancy in baja means reliability, which is a good way to ensure success in racing, as you really never know what level the person your talking to is at.

However at our pit, I don't believe there is a person there that dose not know whats going on. Even the cook is well versed in most things and not only in making some really killer potato soup.:chef:

Nelson racing service is one of the most professional pits I have ever worked with. In fact at the just past baja 500,( as with most races) there were Trophy truck, class 1 and many other crew chiefs taking notes and asking tons of questions, from how we operate to tool placement and lay out, what items we know are needed.

Many say its one of the smoothest pits they have ever seen, and this is also being compared to the other pits bfg offer. I have been with their crew since 2006, since then only 4 cars have not left our pit under their own power. 2 were due to the driver and co-driver giving up and thinking they could not make it to the next check point in time and packed it up, 1 car lost most of the internals in his engine... and one car came in with a 3 inch hole in his head on a VW engine, and after a few houres with a die grinder and aluminum, kuicksteel and jb quick we had filled in the head, reshaped the combustion chamber and made a new spark plug port. To all of our surprises, This engine fired and ran, but the driver did not feel confident in it and packed it in with no spare head on his pit trucks.

In 2006 and 07 BFG took all who registered, At the 2006 baja 1000 (we were the first pit at race mile 113) we hand pumped and dumped 2392 gallons of fuel and about 250 gallons of jet-A for helicopters, the fuelers had over 370 cars registered to fill up, the mechanics and fab guys in the pit serviced 93 cars from bent tie rods, to wiring issues, up to 4 link and trailing arms being torn off the chassis, cracking frames, to both entire upper a-arms being pulled off a class 8 truck, we even repaired the bent shock shafts and remounted them, he finished the race.

After those years they put a limit on how many cars we would service and made it a first come first serve registration.

I can remember one time we welded up and set the back lash on a rocker arm that broke in half, and blew all the threads out of the adjusters, he finished the race, and went from 5th place to finish 2nd, he also won the championship that year by a very small margin, had he not finished that race he would not have won the championship...

And the real kicker is this is a free service... some of the most professional people and no charge, all you gotta do is run their tires which are great and very tough.

They are some of the most professional and thoughtful people I have ever had the pleasure to work with and I'm glad I can be a part of it with them. I know you know what I mean, right Bob.

the last image was in a magazine and it came through out pit, we did a bunch of work to it, then also secured the arms up and out of the way and he went on to finish the race... there is something to be said for not giving up,

 

[etech]

I don't look around the full size forum very often but came across this thread and noticed you are also in Blythe. I do think I have also seen your Blazer parked once over at O'Reilly auto parts, nice Blazer.

Yes sir that was most likely me. I dont go to O'reilly's very often as I like AutoZOne better but do go once in a while also autozone is closer to my house.

thanks, its far from being done, ( if it's ever is truly done) but I do drive it as my daily currently. Mostly to work out the bugs with it before taking it on a long baja voyage.

Im am currently having a problem that's perplexing me and perhaps some one here can offer some assistance. I drove it to Brenda Az the other day to help a friend with his truck.
When I got out I noticed the entire back of the blazer had a fine coat of tranny fluid on it, I crawled under it and it looked as though my tranny was leaking mostly everywhere, a fine coat over most of it, but I could not tell where from, it dose not leak when parked or driving around town and not on short trips on the freeway, but long trips on the freeway and I got oil on the back of my blazer, fluid levels are good, tranny pan gasket is good, I'm thinking a problem with the vent and pressure building over long trips then seals back up when the pressure vents? any advice, its a th400, and a 208 t-case.

 

[racemedic]

I like Autozone better too, I was coming out of Kmart and saw it sitting there. With the heat we have been having I would guess on the vent issue. My Bronco pushed trans fluid out the dipstick once on a long hot drive from Vegas to Hemet when I lived there. On short drives when its not real hot out it does fine, but it did it only that one time.

 

[etech]

I like Autozone better too, I was coming out of Kmart and saw it sitting there. With the heat we have been having I would guess on the vent issue. My Bronco pushed trans fluid out the dipstick once on a long hot drive from Vegas to Hemet when I lived there. On short drives when its not real hot out it does fine, but it did it only that one time.

it has done it 2x times now, once when not too hot going to the parker 425, ( but we were doing about 80+mph to get there in time), in feb, and again in june when I went to brenda. its going to take some time but I'll get it fixed.

what do you drive?

 

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

Cool build, cool thread.

 

[racemedic]

I have a '93 Bronco that is parked in Riverside at a friends house. Trying to figure out if I want to sell it or put some money into it and keep it. I have a new to me '03 Tacoma Double cab that i'm working on setting up for general off-roading and camping and drive it when I'm not in my work vehicle an '07 Tahoe.

 

[bob91yj]

Being a military rig, any chance the transmission is pressurized by design for water fording?

 

[etech]

Being a military rig, any chance the transmission is pressurized by design for water fording?

that is something that I never thought of, I supposed its possible, but really don't know. in the military they never drive over 55 and I drive it 70 to 80 mph on a regular basis. In Arizona if your not going almost 80 you get ran over. perhaps building up too much pressure, I dont know if thats the case. I'll check with the guys at Steel Solders, thats one of the best tech places I have been to for military trucks.

and to race medic, here are a couple teasers of one of the 3 bronco's I have been currently working on, also the 3" coil overs that I picked up, 2x 16" travel and 2X 18" travel and my new GPS for the cucv project. and the beam pivots for the bronco is a 1" Teflon lined uniball mounted in a 4130 bearing cup.

This bronco specs are 91" wide from out side to out side the front tires, ( rear suspension is not on it yet but will be about 90" wide and swing about 27" rear travel.) it sports 39" bfg projects with bfg run flat inner liners, on 17x8" bead locks, swings 21" of front travel with only 3 inches of suspension lift, and maintains a functional 4x4 system. only speed bump so far is the tire hitting the a/c blower motor under full compression, so were going to custom build a bracket and move it...it also has 5 seats in it.