Lickliter21
Well-Known Member
I used to own the buggy called RELENTLESS.
When I sold Relentless buggy, I was going the the same route as everyone else. 2" axles and rockwell sized joints huge engine blah blah blah....... It didnt turn out that way.
Talked to Proformance out of Australia one night and he talked about the portal hubs, after talking with him is when i decided on the IFS. I though if IFS is good IRS has to be better. In hind sight probably not.
I'll go into that later. On to the build!
I knew I wanted rear engine and a flat belly. We set everything on the table and started bending tube.
Went to North Carolina and picked up 5 Hmmwv hubs. 2 gear style that are reverse rotation. Then a quick call to Sunfire Offroad and the Currie F9 housings was on their way.
Housing where set at 114" for the wheel base and the buggy began to take shape.
Next was figuring out the A-Arms. They went through many changes and ended up with hmmwv 300m lower ball joints and 1.25 hiem on the uppers. Rear used uniball on the lower and 1.25 hiems on the uppers
Drivetrain is mounted on a cradle for say and drops out the bottom of the buggy.
starting to come together
course it had to have a name. After much debate THE KRACKEN was born
Interior was next on the list. The engine is pretty much in the passenger compartment, We wanted it to be as safe as possible from fire and fluid sprays. Witch I find out later I'm glad i did lol.
Hmmwv wheels and 43" stickie tires
On to the panels. Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel
roof was way to much fun.......
time to take it apart and finish few welds and paint
12" King 2.5 IBP shocks good for 24" of wheel travel. 8" down and 16" of compression with safe CV angles. Belly 6" off the ground at full bump. Ride height of 21"
So pretty
First time outside. Decided to take it to the offroad expo in Louisville. Richie and I had a Horsepower Heroes booth we wanted to put something in.
The RTI trailer was on hand so we thought we'd try our luck. Best I remember it scored a 670
After show and tell it was time for some go!!!
Done a little shock tuning and spring changes we headed for DTOR for some seat time. This is where i saw the IRS was a disadvantage. Trailing arm set up with straight axle been much better.
Climbed the obstacle but it had some consequences........
Started over and rebuilt the upper A-arms stronger. Took it out the farm for some quick testing. The 25K bounty hill was fast approaching and we wanted to be ready.... We didn't make it in the KRACKEN
Tracked the fire down to an O ring on the injector. It was on fire for about 20 seconds before i realized it. Now I was super glad we sealed the passenger compartment from the engine. Had a 5lbs extinguisher and a 2.5 extinguisher on bored and wasn't near enough. I now have two 5 lbs on bored. Mainly burnt wiring and hoses nothing major was hurt.
The KRACKEN is back together and doing good. Had several small issues that are annoying and come with new build and specially an IFS/IRS rock bouncer. It's been a fun build and with a little more suspension tuning its really gong to do well. The ride is unbelievably smooth over some super rough terrain. eats up some huge bumps. Gotta learn to drive it still, used to hitting a bump and the front end lifting wheres this buggy just glides over. Time will tell how well it does so far I love it and cant wait for race season to start.
Cant forget my buddy Richie. He helped on the build and in the boring parts.......
When I sold Relentless buggy, I was going the the same route as everyone else. 2" axles and rockwell sized joints huge engine blah blah blah....... It didnt turn out that way.
Talked to Proformance out of Australia one night and he talked about the portal hubs, after talking with him is when i decided on the IFS. I though if IFS is good IRS has to be better. In hind sight probably not.
I'll go into that later. On to the build!
I knew I wanted rear engine and a flat belly. We set everything on the table and started bending tube.
Went to North Carolina and picked up 5 Hmmwv hubs. 2 gear style that are reverse rotation. Then a quick call to Sunfire Offroad and the Currie F9 housings was on their way.
Housing where set at 114" for the wheel base and the buggy began to take shape.
Next was figuring out the A-Arms. They went through many changes and ended up with hmmwv 300m lower ball joints and 1.25 hiem on the uppers. Rear used uniball on the lower and 1.25 hiems on the uppers
Drivetrain is mounted on a cradle for say and drops out the bottom of the buggy.
starting to come together
course it had to have a name. After much debate THE KRACKEN was born
Interior was next on the list. The engine is pretty much in the passenger compartment, We wanted it to be as safe as possible from fire and fluid sprays. Witch I find out later I'm glad i did lol.
Hmmwv wheels and 43" stickie tires
On to the panels. Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel
roof was way to much fun.......
time to take it apart and finish few welds and paint
12" King 2.5 IBP shocks good for 24" of wheel travel. 8" down and 16" of compression with safe CV angles. Belly 6" off the ground at full bump. Ride height of 21"
So pretty
First time outside. Decided to take it to the offroad expo in Louisville. Richie and I had a Horsepower Heroes booth we wanted to put something in.
The RTI trailer was on hand so we thought we'd try our luck. Best I remember it scored a 670
After show and tell it was time for some go!!!
Done a little shock tuning and spring changes we headed for DTOR for some seat time. This is where i saw the IRS was a disadvantage. Trailing arm set up with straight axle been much better.
Climbed the obstacle but it had some consequences........
Started over and rebuilt the upper A-arms stronger. Took it out the farm for some quick testing. The 25K bounty hill was fast approaching and we wanted to be ready.... We didn't make it in the KRACKEN
Tracked the fire down to an O ring on the injector. It was on fire for about 20 seconds before i realized it. Now I was super glad we sealed the passenger compartment from the engine. Had a 5lbs extinguisher and a 2.5 extinguisher on bored and wasn't near enough. I now have two 5 lbs on bored. Mainly burnt wiring and hoses nothing major was hurt.
The KRACKEN is back together and doing good. Had several small issues that are annoying and come with new build and specially an IFS/IRS rock bouncer. It's been a fun build and with a little more suspension tuning its really gong to do well. The ride is unbelievably smooth over some super rough terrain. eats up some huge bumps. Gotta learn to drive it still, used to hitting a bump and the front end lifting wheres this buggy just glides over. Time will tell how well it does so far I love it and cant wait for race season to start.
Cant forget my buddy Richie. He helped on the build and in the boring parts.......
