Things have gotten pretty interesting!

I posted my light bar on an off road forum and a member contacted me to build one for his rail. He was happy with the light bar I built for him so he hired me to build nerf bars for his rail too.

Since then I have been contacted to build a front bumper for a Jeep cherokee and a rear bumper/tire carrier for a Jeep Wrangler.

With all of this going on I decided to buy a plasma cutter. I ordered a Hobart 12ci and it should be here in a few days.

I'll be sure to keep the blog up to date with developments.

Light bar build

I decided to go in a different direction for lights. I don't want the rail to look like every other rail out there so I fabricated a Baja style light bar with Hella lights.

In true overboard fashion I decided to install a linear actuator to adjust the lights on the fly.  

1982 Chenowth

The Barracuda is on hold for a while. I picked up this old 1982 Chenowth last year with the idea that I could restore it and sell it for a profit. I figured I get somewhere in the ballpark of $4-5K locally. I tore it down and started stripping it for paint and it started to grow on me. It has a strong duel port motor (not sure what size), a 5 rib Bus Transaxle, disc brakes, Link pin/King pin front beam, and cutting brakes. I like the idea of 2 seats and reverse, which my Barracuda doesn't have. If I get what I want out of the Edge Barracuda and possibly the trailer then I could go nuts on the rail's suspension and make it very capable. I can also take my kids with me out in the dirt. It's still a tough choice! I built the Barracuda myself over a 4 year period and I'm proud of it! It is a routy ride with a 2004 GSX-R1000 motor and 100 MPH feels insane! But after taking a nasty roll in it (and walking away without a scratch) I'm thinking less routy is probably a good thing.

Barracuda Repairs

I had a hard time getting motivated after the crash. I think I had to step away from the project to clear my mind. But finally after nearly a year of seeing it smashed up in the garage I got started on the rebuild. 

Clearly, the lower rear A-Arms weren't nearly strong enough with the original design. 

The first order of business was to beef up the design. These should be much stronger and hopefully the heim joints will shear before the A-arms yield now.

Next up was to address the roll cage. The designer swears that a down tube is not necessary with the stock plans. I deviated from the plans on a few things. One of which was the length of the buggy. I am 6'2" and there is no way I would fit in the stock design so I stretched the buggy 4" in the cockpit to compensate for my height. So the repair also included much needed down tubes to keep the roof bar from bending in the future. 

Huge Crash!

Disaster! 

After a very long build it was hard to take that I crashed the buggy on the second time out! It was a fun ride though! The good news is the cage held fairly well for a hard hit. The rear suspension, not so much! I guess the good news is it was on camera!!! 

100 MPH!

High speed run! 

At 2:51 in the video I opened up the GSX-R1000 and hit 6th gear. I'm not sure how accurate the speedo is, but it showed 102 MPH at top speed. Unfortunately, the GoPro was roof mounted and it started to tilt back so the shot wasn't the greatest. 

Custom Trailer Build

I wanted to build a custom trailer that would allow me to park the trailer in the garage with the buggy loaded and still allow for room to park my wife's car beside the trailer. This meant I needed a narrow axle that would put the tires track width no wider than the trailer deck. A snowmobile trailer would have been perfect, but I also had to make sure the buggy would fit under the garage opening so the deck could not sit above the tires. 

 I went with a 2,200lb capacity torsion axle from Northern Tool.

I used 2"x4" square tubing to case the trailer deck and house the LED marker lights and brake lights. 

The Deck dimensions are 7' x 11'. I was able to fit 2 ATVs on this trailer parked sideways for last year's hunting trip. 

I also purchased the tires and wheels as well as Jeep style trailer fenders from Northern Tool. The Jeep style fenders weren't the obvious choice since they were very tall and are designed to bolt to the outside of an enclosed trailer, but the idea was to cut them down to the necessary size and weld them to the deck for strength since the buggy would need to roll over the fenders when loading and unloading. 

I used Gloss Black Rustoleum spray paint for the finish. What a mess! I should know better than painting in the garage by now! 

Overall, I am very pleased with the result! The buggy fits perfectly and the trailer tracks nicely when towed. I have since added a spare tire carrier and an ATV winch to the front of the trailer as can be seen in the last photo.