RZR S build and hello
- Thread starter racemx587
- Start date
I talked with a few people who are familiar with my strength and have tried the electric unit, they both said that it is not strong enough for me. Too bad, because it would make this thing A LOT easier/ more simple. Yea, that sucks they got rid of the stock class this year, looks like I'm going to go broke building up the motor and chassis on this thing... haha
I'm thinking I'll try and do that to keep my options open. I need to find someone in the Las Vegas or San Diego area that has one. If not, I'll be at the LOORRS race in May, I'm sure more than a few guys are running them
james, i'm a c4-5 and i use the unisteer, i race the redline revolt. pm me your number i'd be interested in talking to you and helping out the best i could, i live in the riverside area and you could check out my car it has the single lever like your talking about doing. here's a couple links of my mods http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e371/SELFMADE922/hand%20controls/
revolt mods pictures by SELFMADE922 - Photobucket
looking forward to your call jerry
revolt mods pictures by SELFMADE922 - Photobucket
looking forward to your call jerry
Great news!!! We finally got this thing dialed in and its finally done!!!!
We really had to do a ton of work to get it working right and with the help of some awesome people it's dialed in just about perfectly. I'll give you guys a quick summary of what went into it, but as we all know a few pictures and paragraph do not do the work justice. It took literally months of planning and research to even get it started and the hours and hours of fab time. Did the first chunk of it in May, then had to dial in a few more things and buttoned it up early August.
First off, I need to thank Dean Kuhn of Race Cars by Dean Kuhn and Jonny Garcia of J5 Design and Fabrication, if any of you guys are in or around the San Diego area, these guys do amazing work for an unbelievably fair price.
As I mentioned in the previous posts in my thread, we found that I needed to have the steering wheel near flat in my lap. This is where I could get most of my strength to the wheel, making my reactions much quicker and not having to rely on as aggressive power steering. This was a huge problem earlier because one, the u-joints were binding bad, and two it would be impossible to get me in and out of the seat with the wheel in my lap. We had to figure out a way to make it adjustable and figure out something to do with the steering shaft. After much, much research we found a right hand drive machine box to help us with our steering shaft-to-wheel problem, and long story short Jonny found out how to make the wheel set-up easily sway up to get me in and out. Believe me, this set up is trick, I could write pages on how detailed it got and the pictures still dont do it justice.
We then had to get the plumbing all redone for the power steering, to get a fresh start. We took it to Lee Manufacturing and these guys went to town on it, they really focused on keeping the fluid temp low because we are running such high pressure it gets crazy hot. There are coolers in the lines and reservoirs and filters everywhere, it actually turned out pretty sweet, I have never seen so much stuff going on in a small machine like this. Anyways, long story short again, the power steering runs awesome now. We just had to play around with some pump pulley sizes, got that figured out and we're good to go.
Next was the throttle/brake. I was originally running daily driver hand controls that are attached to the foot pedals. They were terrible, super sloppy and not precise at all. I wanted to run a lever directly to the brake master cylinder and throttle cable. We just got rid of the foot pedals all together, moved the brake inside, and again long story short started fabbing. It works unreal for me now, it feels so natural and I now get a ton of leverage on the brakes so I can lock up the car effortlessly.
Safety was a pretty big concern for us too. I ended up ditching the PRP suspension seat for an aluminum bucket seat. We filled it with fast curing foam and molded it to my body. I'm held in so much better, but now I really feel it when I bottom the shocks haha. We put in bars to hold my legs and are in the process of making straps. One issue I have had since I got hurt is that I cannot sweat to regulate my body temperature so I overheat very easily. We ordered a CoolShirt and put it in. It's an on-board ice chest that pumps cold water through a shirt with tubing through it to cool off your core temp. It is the greatest thing I've ever bought, I'd recommend it to everyone. It lengthens your riding season by months. We also had a huge problem in our first test, the tail of my lap belt got caught in the power steering pulley
that hurt!!! haha. We the put sheet metal over basically every moving part underneath the seats so that wouldn't happen again. Last, we are getting ready to do a race cage, this stock one scares me haha.
Here are some build pics from May...
Stripped down and ready to go
Gas and brake in progress
Steering servo getting there
Eyeballing out the steering box
Holding my legs in place
All put together
Gas and brake shot
2 a.m. after a long week of work, we all know how good the finished product feels
I'll post up some more detailed pics from our first test day soon, but like I said.. these do not do it justice. Truly one of a kind
We really had to do a ton of work to get it working right and with the help of some awesome people it's dialed in just about perfectly. I'll give you guys a quick summary of what went into it, but as we all know a few pictures and paragraph do not do the work justice. It took literally months of planning and research to even get it started and the hours and hours of fab time. Did the first chunk of it in May, then had to dial in a few more things and buttoned it up early August.
First off, I need to thank Dean Kuhn of Race Cars by Dean Kuhn and Jonny Garcia of J5 Design and Fabrication, if any of you guys are in or around the San Diego area, these guys do amazing work for an unbelievably fair price.
As I mentioned in the previous posts in my thread, we found that I needed to have the steering wheel near flat in my lap. This is where I could get most of my strength to the wheel, making my reactions much quicker and not having to rely on as aggressive power steering. This was a huge problem earlier because one, the u-joints were binding bad, and two it would be impossible to get me in and out of the seat with the wheel in my lap. We had to figure out a way to make it adjustable and figure out something to do with the steering shaft. After much, much research we found a right hand drive machine box to help us with our steering shaft-to-wheel problem, and long story short Jonny found out how to make the wheel set-up easily sway up to get me in and out. Believe me, this set up is trick, I could write pages on how detailed it got and the pictures still dont do it justice.
We then had to get the plumbing all redone for the power steering, to get a fresh start. We took it to Lee Manufacturing and these guys went to town on it, they really focused on keeping the fluid temp low because we are running such high pressure it gets crazy hot. There are coolers in the lines and reservoirs and filters everywhere, it actually turned out pretty sweet, I have never seen so much stuff going on in a small machine like this. Anyways, long story short again, the power steering runs awesome now. We just had to play around with some pump pulley sizes, got that figured out and we're good to go.
Next was the throttle/brake. I was originally running daily driver hand controls that are attached to the foot pedals. They were terrible, super sloppy and not precise at all. I wanted to run a lever directly to the brake master cylinder and throttle cable. We just got rid of the foot pedals all together, moved the brake inside, and again long story short started fabbing. It works unreal for me now, it feels so natural and I now get a ton of leverage on the brakes so I can lock up the car effortlessly.
Safety was a pretty big concern for us too. I ended up ditching the PRP suspension seat for an aluminum bucket seat. We filled it with fast curing foam and molded it to my body. I'm held in so much better, but now I really feel it when I bottom the shocks haha. We put in bars to hold my legs and are in the process of making straps. One issue I have had since I got hurt is that I cannot sweat to regulate my body temperature so I overheat very easily. We ordered a CoolShirt and put it in. It's an on-board ice chest that pumps cold water through a shirt with tubing through it to cool off your core temp. It is the greatest thing I've ever bought, I'd recommend it to everyone. It lengthens your riding season by months. We also had a huge problem in our first test, the tail of my lap belt got caught in the power steering pulley
that hurt!!! haha. We the put sheet metal over basically every moving part underneath the seats so that wouldn't happen again. Last, we are getting ready to do a race cage, this stock one scares me haha.Here are some build pics from May...
Stripped down and ready to go
Gas and brake in progress
Steering servo getting there
Eyeballing out the steering box
Holding my legs in place
All put together
Gas and brake shot
2 a.m. after a long week of work, we all know how good the finished product feels
I'll post up some more detailed pics from our first test day soon, but like I said.. these do not do it justice. Truly one of a kind
JoeyD23
#utvunderground
This is one of the coolest builds I have ever seen on a UTV! Way to go James!!!!
I cant begin to tell you how much respect I have for guys like you, Jerry, Chris Blais, etc who keep doing whatever it takes to get back out in the deserts and on the tracks! The UTV has become more than just a toy for you guys and for that I am pumped!!!!
Keep the pics and info coming. When you get it all together I would love to make this thread a home page news story for a few days!
I cant begin to tell you how much respect I have for guys like you, Jerry, Chris Blais, etc who keep doing whatever it takes to get back out in the deserts and on the tracks! The UTV has become more than just a toy for you guys and for that I am pumped!!!!
Keep the pics and info coming. When you get it all together I would love to make this thread a home page news story for a few days!
Here are some pics from our first test. We picked it up from the power steering guy and took a quick spin in the desert. Just had to make a few changes, change pulley sizes and make sure that lap belt doesnt get caught again.. hurts months later! haha
Finned power steering reservoir, keeps it cooool
Getting the controls all snapped into place
Lifted up in position to get me out
U joints and servo all into place
Another shot of everything lifted up
Making some quick adjustments
A detailed look
Best day I've had in a long time. Its been about 5 years since I've gone riding with some buddies... It was Awesome!!!
Another overhead shot
And another
Having some fun, it felt too good
I cant believe how good it feels that I can finally drive it how I want. Even though it took two years to get it right, it was so worth it. It works flawlessly and built solid as a rock. I cant believe how natural the controls feel, it's perfect!
Finned power steering reservoir, keeps it cooool
Getting the controls all snapped into place
Lifted up in position to get me out
U joints and servo all into place
Another shot of everything lifted up
Making some quick adjustments
A detailed look
Best day I've had in a long time. Its been about 5 years since I've gone riding with some buddies... It was Awesome!!!
Another overhead shot
And another
Having some fun, it felt too good
I cant believe how good it feels that I can finally drive it how I want. Even though it took two years to get it right, it was so worth it. It works flawlessly and built solid as a rock. I cant believe how natural the controls feel, it's perfect!
Awesome!!! Thanks Joey. I've got a couple of recent pics taking it out to the track I got hurt at I'll get you too, they turned out awesome. I'm surprised how well this thing jumps haha. I'll dig them up and post them asap.
Honestly, it is much more than a toy. I cant even begin to describe how good it feels railing around again and feeling a passion for something again like I do for motocross. As cliche as it sounds, it really is life changing and gives me back so much of what I had lost.
Awesome, what are you looking at? If you need help getting it all dialed in, I know a guy...
i got a full race legal desert rhino i'm going to post up pics and info later today
Sweet, I can't wait to see it
here's a link to it james
http://www.utvunderground.com/f5/finally-got-desert-racer-4642.html#post45786
Here's an opportunity I got that I figure I'd share. It was actually pretty cool. Kind of "celebrates" the completion of the build. I got to take my rzr out to the track I got hurt at back in September 2004. The guys at Sandy Valley Motocross were super cool and let me stay out a couple hours after all the riders left, so I could have the track to myself. It was an awesome feeling being back out on a racetrack again, hitting the jumps, the weightless feeling, and turns and all. It was the little things about being out there that I thought I'd never be able to experience again. Like the feeling of trying a new jump, hitting the corner just right, and just hanging with friends.
I was pretty impressed how well this thing did on a motocross track. It jumps a lot better than I expected and can actually take the corners pretty decent. I cleared a lot of the jumps out there and once I do some suspension work (this stock setup killed me a couple of times haha) and the confidence of a decent cage (I do not trust this stock bolt on one at all) I should be able to clear just about everything. I just still cant get over how good it felt getting back out on a track like that, desert riding is cool and everything but there's nothing like ripping around a track. One things for sure, I'm getting on hooking up nice +8 kit asap on this thing, I had some rough landings and some bad bucking on this thing. A cage too, if I want to keep doing this. The money pit never ends... haha
Here are some pics from the track...
My friend helping me get all settled in
A first jump over the finish
This was a fun floater in the back
And again later that week
Playing on a step-up.. bottomed bad on this haha
Taking by buddy Wyatt on a ride, he helped me get the day set up
Down into the pit, you can see the CoolShirt setup in the back
Spun out on the lip, this was almost bad
And a few over the finish
Again, it was awesome getting out there again. I loved it because of how close of a feeling it was back to motocross, it was like all the easy/fun parts without the risk. I cant wait to get back out there
I was pretty impressed how well this thing did on a motocross track. It jumps a lot better than I expected and can actually take the corners pretty decent. I cleared a lot of the jumps out there and once I do some suspension work (this stock setup killed me a couple of times haha) and the confidence of a decent cage (I do not trust this stock bolt on one at all) I should be able to clear just about everything. I just still cant get over how good it felt getting back out on a track like that, desert riding is cool and everything but there's nothing like ripping around a track. One things for sure, I'm getting on hooking up nice +8 kit asap on this thing, I had some rough landings and some bad bucking on this thing. A cage too, if I want to keep doing this. The money pit never ends... haha
Here are some pics from the track...
My friend helping me get all settled in
A first jump over the finish
This was a fun floater in the back
And again later that week
Playing on a step-up.. bottomed bad on this haha
Taking by buddy Wyatt on a ride, he helped me get the day set up
Down into the pit, you can see the CoolShirt setup in the back
Spun out on the lip, this was almost bad
And a few over the finish
Again, it was awesome getting out there again. I loved it because of how close of a feeling it was back to motocross, it was like all the easy/fun parts without the risk. I cant wait to get back out there
akextrememotorsports
New Member
Sweet! I too am handicapped and the side x side works much better than a automatic quad for me i can still walk with a walker but my arms are weak so whenever i tried to jump my quad id get tossed now i can tear it up 
I have another update. After being able to really drive the rzr hard, I knew that the stock roll cage wouldn't hold up in a bad crash. Built a roll cage in December, we built the whole thing in about 4 days, lot's of early mornings and long nights haha. We built it all out of .095 chromoly, it's amazing how fast those 20' sticks get used up. This was my first cage, I learned a lot throughout the whole process and have a whole lot of ideas for next time (whenever that is).
Initially, I wanted to chop the top of the cage down quite a bit more than we did. I also had a different idea for the door. However, the ways I initially wanted to build it would make it way more difficult to get me in and out. The door would be more complicated to close, get locked in and be sturdy. It would also make it much more difficult to get in and out. Time constraints and barely having enough tubing also changed some of our plans. But, like I said, I learned a lot and have some great ideas for next time. I cant complain, it's built solid as a rock, but I realized that to really build a utv right, you really have to start from the ground up.
Btw, I have a great fabricator that helped me out. He's in the San Diego area, does great work for an even better price. Message me if you're interested.
Here a some pictures...
We made some extra support for the frame.
Made a frame for the door
The door attached with heims
Sheet metal work
We had to use a front end loader to bent that hood haha
I love how this back end turned out
I love this shot, makes you want to go riding..
The cage is basically finished, we just have some finishing touches. I'll powdercoat the aluminum panels whenever I can make my mind up on a color haha
Initially, I wanted to chop the top of the cage down quite a bit more than we did. I also had a different idea for the door. However, the ways I initially wanted to build it would make it way more difficult to get me in and out. The door would be more complicated to close, get locked in and be sturdy. It would also make it much more difficult to get in and out. Time constraints and barely having enough tubing also changed some of our plans. But, like I said, I learned a lot and have some great ideas for next time. I cant complain, it's built solid as a rock, but I realized that to really build a utv right, you really have to start from the ground up.
Btw, I have a great fabricator that helped me out. He's in the San Diego area, does great work for an even better price. Message me if you're interested.
Here a some pictures...
We made some extra support for the frame.
Made a frame for the door
The door attached with heims
Sheet metal work
We had to use a front end loader to bent that hood haha
I love how this back end turned out
I love this shot, makes you want to go riding..
The cage is basically finished, we just have some finishing touches. I'll powdercoat the aluminum panels whenever I can make my mind up on a color haha
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