Moving from trucks to a RZR has been the best thing I have done in a long time. With 2 RZRs, the wife drives her own, she actually likes going offroad versus tolerating my habit. I got a 2014 RZR XP1000 2 seater in Feb of 14 after KOH and drove the crap out of it for 8 months and loved every minute. I did identify several issues with them and I now understand what some of the guys at KOH were saying about RZRs so I have set out to improve the stock platform.
Here is my carnage list from those 8 months and 1400 miles:
I also sent all my shocks to Holtz and had cross over rings installed with a full revalve front and rear to try and reduce the bucking out of the rear. While the shocks were out I also ordered 4 seater tenders for the front and new 2 seat fronts that I put in the rear. The new setup was a lot better but I still had a modest buck every time I hit a forest road water bar annoying the crap out of me.
Now on to the reincarnation.
My primary goal was to build a fully welded chassis around the core stock frame, similar to what the desert racing guys are doing. By doing this I could eliminate the chassis flex and have a cage I fully trust in a crash. Second, I want to street legal this sucker and a "home built" chassis with a few things like turn signals a horn, windshield and wipers qualify as a dune buggy in NM. They will not street legal a stock SXS at all, ever. Third I want to eliminate the bucking out of the rear. Fourth, I want a real gas tank (18+ gal) for a decent range. Doing "31 mile" road in the Jemez Mountains out and back had me on the E light. It was actually a 100 miles out and back.
With the groundwork laid, I did a bunch of measuring and starting modeling the new chassis in Solidworks. Here is the first iteration of my concept:
There was a lot I did not like with chassis #1 so I went to idea #2 and dropped a little weight in the process, friends convinced me to drop the Dukes of Hazard window entry and make it a little easier to get in and out. I started coloring what was left of the stock chassis in red:
Better but I then I got inspired by the Rip Rod and started thinking about 30's Fords. My friend had this sitting in his yard and I was amazed at how close the dimensions are between a RZR 1000 and the 37 Ford:
Now being full motivated I moved onto design 3 - 30's style Ford RZR with a little Bouncer style thrown in, bonus is that it was a little lighter than #1 or #2!
I didn't like the flow of some of the chassis so I modified it again and lost a few more lbs of weight. Here is #4:
Then my friends talked me into keeping the stock RZR clip and I was feeling inspired by some of the sick Class 10 cars, so I tweaked all the dimensions again and came up with chassis #5 which was the lightest of all at 210 lb for everything that isn't red (20 lb drop from chassis #1):
Time to go cut some steel.
Here is my carnage list from those 8 months and 1400 miles:
- Cracked a sway bar mount
- Bent both lower a-arms and both lower radius rods (radius rods are easy to straighten in a press because they are solid 3/4" bar)
- Snapped a front engine mount bolt that then wrecked the mount and caused the muffler to snap off the 90 that goes in the header
- Cracked the rear cargo tub plastic in two places from hauling tools and stuff (they were even in tuff bins)
- Wore down both door hinges to the point that you had to pick up the doors to close them (Most likely from chassis flex because these suckers are bolted together)
- Bent the cage when a friend rolled it while drifting (He didn't know that you never lift while in a drift) Amazingly no damage to the plastic from this!
I also sent all my shocks to Holtz and had cross over rings installed with a full revalve front and rear to try and reduce the bucking out of the rear. While the shocks were out I also ordered 4 seater tenders for the front and new 2 seat fronts that I put in the rear. The new setup was a lot better but I still had a modest buck every time I hit a forest road water bar annoying the crap out of me.
Now on to the reincarnation.
My primary goal was to build a fully welded chassis around the core stock frame, similar to what the desert racing guys are doing. By doing this I could eliminate the chassis flex and have a cage I fully trust in a crash. Second, I want to street legal this sucker and a "home built" chassis with a few things like turn signals a horn, windshield and wipers qualify as a dune buggy in NM. They will not street legal a stock SXS at all, ever. Third I want to eliminate the bucking out of the rear. Fourth, I want a real gas tank (18+ gal) for a decent range. Doing "31 mile" road in the Jemez Mountains out and back had me on the E light. It was actually a 100 miles out and back.
With the groundwork laid, I did a bunch of measuring and starting modeling the new chassis in Solidworks. Here is the first iteration of my concept:
There was a lot I did not like with chassis #1 so I went to idea #2 and dropped a little weight in the process, friends convinced me to drop the Dukes of Hazard window entry and make it a little easier to get in and out. I started coloring what was left of the stock chassis in red:
Better but I then I got inspired by the Rip Rod and started thinking about 30's Fords. My friend had this sitting in his yard and I was amazed at how close the dimensions are between a RZR 1000 and the 37 Ford:
Now being full motivated I moved onto design 3 - 30's style Ford RZR with a little Bouncer style thrown in, bonus is that it was a little lighter than #1 or #2!
I didn't like the flow of some of the chassis so I modified it again and lost a few more lbs of weight. Here is #4:
Then my friends talked me into keeping the stock RZR clip and I was feeling inspired by some of the sick Class 10 cars, so I tweaked all the dimensions again and came up with chassis #5 which was the lightest of all at 210 lb for everything that isn't red (20 lb drop from chassis #1):
Time to go cut some steel.