Our car is in a continual state of change, whether because of problems we discover during races, improvements we want to make, or rule changes we are forced to comply with; the only constant is change......  I'll attempt to show some of the things that we've done over the course of the car's life.

Installing a rear "torsion adjuster"

When we initially built the car, we didn't install a center torsion adjuster on the rear housing; I don't remember why, but it was a mistake for two important reasons.  The first issue is that the stock torsion housing center splines will not stand up to the abuse they receive in off-road racing.  They will quickly strip out, leaving the car with no rear spring support.  That would obviously mean that the rear suspension would collapse, leaving no ground or tire/wheel well clearance......  The "King Kong" center adjuster we use is much stronger than the stock center splines.  The second issue is adjustability.  Adjusting the torsion bar pre-load (ride height) with the stock hardware requires disassembly of nearly the entire rear suspension system and "re-clocking" of the torsion bars, a time consuming affair (at least 45 minutes to do both sides when in our shop).  With the center adjuster installed, we can change pre-load at will in just a few seconds.  Those are two major advantages for a desert race car.

Original non-adjustable "stock" center spline unit
Pre-load adjustments are time consuming and the splines are prone to failure in off-road racing

"King Kong" center adjuster taking place of stock center splines
Much easier to adjust and stronger.  If we break one of the adjustable spline "fingers" we can
just drop a new one in it's place.  We carry a spare in the car.

The two set screws bear upon individually adjustable Left and Right spline units to set pre-load

Right side rear suspension components after the 2012 Baja 500
You can see both torsion "fingers" on their respective torsion bars - they are not attached
to each other, allowing each side to be set independently.

Back 

Next