Cost of Winning: The Monster Mav Chronicles

[SickStick]

Not to get off topic, but where are you at SickStick? It says Nor Cal on your ID. I too have a Maverick and I'm also interested in changing the rear of my car.

I'm a fabricator by trade, and have a shop, although my experience is in commercial and industrial fabrication, maybe with some of mearsman's and Reid's info we could stretch our cars out.

Also, thanks for your post, I had all the same questions. Saved me some typing.

Or we could just go trail riding once my leg heals.

Ok, back to the thread and the knowledge.

I'm in EG too. Get that leg healed up & we'll hit the trails. I've been wanting to pick Reids brain on this for awhile now - just had some spare time so started searching & came across this forum.

 

[badassmav]

As you can see from the pics, I moved the diff back only far enough so that the axle/cv assy. cleared the stock rear pivot bracket. Extending the wheelbase to the rear only loads the front tires more, and this is never good in any kind of off road environment, with the possible exception of those crazy Ultra-4 hill-climbing marvels.

To max out the wheelbase BITD/SCORE rules, I extended the front diff and axle as well. They allow 8" over stock, and I went 4 1/2" in the rear, and 3" in the front. You'll notice it is quite complex where I had to modify the rear section of the frame to squeeze the diff in there. I also built a tubing sub structure inside of the boxed skin for 2 reasons.
First is redundancy in design, whereas if the arm receives hard impacts again and again (as ours does), the inner tubing frame acts as a last line of defense by tying in the inner pivot weld bungs to the outer pivot rod ends. Twice in 2014, this design saved us from timely on track repairs, as post race tear down inspections revealed the weld bungs completely cracked where they attached to the outer box-plates, while the inner tubing/weld bung connection held together. In both cases, we won the race.

Secondly, and quite simply, it is the easiest way without weld fixtures or mechanical drawings to piece together the arm so that it goes where you want it to go. After the tube structure has proven the new layout through cycling the suspension, and checking for axle plunge and dynamic clearances, simply add polastes to the outside to complete yoiur arm.

Gotta get back to fab'n. Check back later.

 

[SickStick]

I was thinking you did all the stretch in the rear, didn't realize you moved the front also. Which heims did you use & size tubing on the arms? Did you also widen it as well? I was curious on what the weight distribution would be before & aft stretching the wheel base. Not sure what the ideal ratio would be front vs rear, kinda wanted to weigh all corners before cutting it up - gotta see if I can talk to my sprint car buddy and borrow their scales.

 

[hardcharger81]

I'm in EG too. Get that leg healed up & we'll hit the trails. I've been wanting to pick Reids brain on this for awhile now - just had some spare time so started searching & came across this forum.

No Way! Small world. My house/shop is in old EG behind the wood mill.

Who do you know in sprint cars? I raced a little in the 90's and still go out to Placerville once in a while.

Anyway, I too thought that you just moved the rear. I see now what you're saying about it loading the nose some now that you mention it.

This is great info, I had planned to start these mod's this winter and maybe race VORRA a little. But having a broken leg has stopped that. But it's allowed me to read these forums and particularly this thread. It's giving me a game plan instead of just going off half cocked and cutting up a perfectly good car.

Thanks again, awesome stuff.

 

[SickStick]

Small indeed, I'm about a mile as the crow flies from you. I live on the east side near Bradshaw. I would love to race again but I've retired from the race scene(old Quad racer). I just want to have awesome suspension and tire clearance.

 

[badassmav]

I was thinking you did all the stretch in the rear, didn't realize you moved the front also. Which heims did you use & size tubing on the arms? Did you also widen it as well? I was curious on what the weight distribution would be before & aft stretching the wheel base. Not sure what the ideal ratio would be front vs rear, kinda wanted to weigh all corners before cutting it up - gotta see if I can talk to my sprint car buddy and borrow their scales.

I was thinking you did all the stretch in the rear, didn't realize you moved the front also. Which heims did you use & size tubing on the arms? All inboard pivots use JMX 12 ENDS(3/4" x 3/4") Did you also widen it as well? FRONT IS +6 1/2" PER SIDE, REAR IS + 5 3/4"/SIDE.I was curious on what the weight distribution would be before & aft stretching the wheel base. I believe the weight bias, as delivered from the dealer is 46/54 F/R respectfully. I think ours , in racetrim, is 42/58 F/R. Doesn't really matter too much what percentage more the rear weighs than the front. More critical is how much of the rear weight is directly over the rear axle. Unless you can get the weight over the axle, you will be forever chasing a bucking or bottoming rear end. That's the packaging challenge in building a 2 seat platform. Not sure what the ideal ratio would be front vs rear, kinda wanted to weigh all corners before cutting it up - gotta see if I can talk to my sprint car buddy and borrow their scales.

 

[SickStick]

Are you using the same heims on the hub side as well. I think I read somewhere that you relocated the rear radius rods in front of the axle but it looks like in the pics Ive seen that it is still located at the rear of the hub(stock position) & bent for clearance to mount in the stock location on the frame. Which aftermarket axle would you recommend, I have no experience with the aft axle companies & would you recommend the beefier outer cv stub by, I think it was gorilla axle?

 

[SickStick]

Also with your set-up, did you guys have to go with a longer shocks or did you run stock length?

 

[BrianReno]

Also with your set-up, did you guys have to go with a longer shocks or did you run stock length?

They run longer shocks on the Monster Mav.

 

[badassmav]

Are you using the same heims on the hub side as well. think I read somewhere that you relocated the rear radius rods in front of the axle but it looks like in the pics Ive seen that it is still located at the rear of the hub(stock position) & bent for clearance to mount in the stock location on the frame. Which aftermarket axle would you recommend, I have no experience with the aft axle companies & would you recommend the beefier outer cv stub by, I think it was gorilla axle?

Are you using the same heims on the hub side as well. 7/8" uniballs on front spindles, and 7/8" x 7/8" jmx's on rear outers. Front tie rods and rear toe links use 5/8" x 5/8" jmx's. The sway bar has 1/2" x 1/2" high misalignment rod ends for the links..I think I read somewhere that you relocated the rear radius rods in front of the axle but it looks like in the pics Ive seen that it is still located at the rear of the hub(stock position) & bent for clearance to mount in the stock location on the frame. All stock pivots. Correct, I bent the bar to clear the axle.Which aftermarket axle would you recommend, I have no experience with the aft axle companies & would you recommend the beefier outer cv stub by, I think it was gorilla axle?Summers bros 300m

 

[badassmav]

Also with your set-up, did you guys have to go with a longer shocks or did you run stock length?

Sorry for the delay. I was just overwhelmed with the new car and making the first race.
Longer shocks for sure. Actually, we built the suspension around the coil over shocks. I used 16" stroke shocks in the rear that are 42 1/2" long extended, and 14" stroke shocks in the front that are 37 1/2" long extended. They are 2.5" internal bypass shocks made for us by Fox's truck division. These are not anywhere close to the podium shocks sold by Fox's UTV division. The rears weigh in at 39 pounds. The design of my kit will allow stock length shocks in the rear if desired, but the fronts are run off of the lower arm, and need to be longer.

 

[hardcharger81]

When you say "your kit" are you planning on building a kit to help us out?

As a fabricator by trade, I could probably build a long travel kit from scratch if I wanted, but I would much rather have something that's been battle tested than me reinventing the wheel.

 

[badassmav]

When you say "your kit" are you planning on building a kit to help us out?

As a fabricator by trade, I could probably build a long travel kit from scratch if I wanted, but I would much rather have something that's been battle tested than me reinventing the wheel.

I'm saying that I have the parts for a complete set of arms identical to what we run on the Monster Mav already cut out.

 

[BrianReno]

I'm saying that I have the parts for a complete set of arms identical to what we run on the Monster Mav already cut out.

How much?

 

[hardcharger81]

Sooo... It'd be a "Weld it yourself" kit?