Steel City Racing: King of the Hammers 2019 Toyota 4Runner IFS 4600 Build Thread

[momo.75]

i hate that for him and all involved but to just even be there is something they can be very proud of.

 

[Inv4drZm]

i hate that for him and all involved but to just even be there is something they can be very proud of.

There is another race on Friday they were going to enter in.

If its easily repairable by then that is. I hope its repairable. :cheer2:

It's both exciting and terrifying to say that our Steel City Racing 4th Gen V8 IFS 4Runner will not only be racing 4600 EMC on Wednesday, but will also be racing in the 4400 Ultra4 Unlimited Class Main Event on Friday!

How?

For 4600 EMC Class, I'll be Driving and a close friend of mine who is a local Fire Fighter in AL will be Co-Driving.

But on Friday, I'll be Co-Driving for Hobie Smith, an OG13, who will be Driving this car on Friday in the 4400 Unlimited Class.

Our goal for 4600 EMC is to Win our class. Our goal for 4400 Unlimited Main Event is to Finish the race. If we can finish both, that would be an amazing win for both our team and our sponsors!

Fortunately this year EMC got pushed back to Wed, so we have all day Thurs to make sure the car is prepped and ready for Friday's Main Event.

 

[YetiX]

Per his Instagram account: "Unfortunately we clipped a large rock at speed on a goat trial at Mile 25.5 and teh steering connection to the spindle gave way. 100% driver error. We then had an adventure, backing out of the canyon for miles and then [MENTION=8301]ultra[/MENTION]4racing came and pulled us out (Thank You Darick and JT)."

No word yet on whether they'll be able to compete on Friday.

 

[duffdog]

I'm hoping that they just weld some thicker plate where the spindles broke and keep on racing. I would do it for them if they needed me to- the pic of the 4th gen in the air kicking a55 is totally worth all the work.

 

[Inv4drZm]

I'm hoping that they just weld some thicker plate where the spindles broke and keep on racing. I would do it for them if they needed me to- the pic of the 4th gen in the air kicking a55 is totally worth all the work.

The tie rod actually held up, and if the steering rack survived that, the whole system is stupid strong. It's interesting to know the weak points, looks promising.

That totally sucks though. I remember how I felt when I broke my rear diff in Moab.

 

[Bumbo]

Just re-posting it from their Facebook site... figure people here want to see it.

That's a real big ouch... At least this looks like it could be patch fixed to get them back in the race.

 

[WhiteBoomer04]

Thank you guys for this info. I saw them start the race and then could only watch the coverage from my phone with no sound (work - roll eyes). I lost track of them and spent the day trying to watch for an update. Bummer. Looks like a pretty simple weld job tho to get things rolling again.

 

[blackoutt]

All those beefy arms and two dinky little ears sticking off for the steering link? I wonder if it was designed as the weak link there? Somethings gotta give when you hit too hard. Hopefully they can get it back together for tomorrow.

 

[YetiX]

He replied on Insta that they will be racing tomorrow.

 

[JONBOY345]

Not seen them racing today. Anyone know?

 

[WhiteBoomer04]

Don't know about today but I do know they were really happy with the handling of the truck on Wednesday. They were hitting 85mph in the fast sections and passing people! Imagine the opportunities for next year when they have had time to full prep and with lessons learned to date.

 

[jcoleman]

From what I've seen, Hobie Smith (the driver for today's 4400 class race, and KOH "OG13") was unable to race today, hence the no show.

 

[Ida4runner]

Bummer about the breakage, can't wait to hear the whole story.

 

[unevolved]

All those beefy arms and two dinky little ears sticking off for the steering link? I wonder if it was designed as the weak link there? Somethings gotta give when you hit too hard. Hopefully they can get it back together for tomorrow.

Yeah, it's the weak link, but probably not intentionally. I usually make tie rod extensions for systems like that out of aluminum. It's more than strong enough for the loads the system will see in normal usage, but in a big off, it's easy to replace if something breaks. Think of it like a mechanical fuse.

 

[Bumbo]

Yeah, it's the weak link, but probably not intentionally. I usually make tie rod extensions for systems like that out of aluminum. It's more than strong enough for the loads the system will see in normal usage, but in a big off, it's easy to replace if something breaks. Think of it like a mechanical fuse.

Makes sense...

If the mounting point was able to survive the impact, there is a strong chance a replacement tie rod would have got them back into the race.

I wonder what (and where) the damage would have looked like if the assembly was mechanically strong enough not to break.

 

[Charles4x4]

Hey everyone. We are home safe and sound! Thanks for following us over the past few weeks here and on social media! Matt (my co-driver) and I made it home last night at 2:30am after a 32-hr push (27-hrs drive-time) through the last two days/nights. To say I feel a little tired right now would be an understatement.

Once I get everything unloaded and caught up on work stuff, I'll post a proper update from the week before the race through last night.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience. We wouldn't have changed a thing and we learned a ton. Best of all, we are now extremely well prepared with true experience, an amazing and innovative car that is 95% ready to go, a sound game plan of upgrades and logistics for 2020, and an amazing wife and family who still support our dream of finishing KOH!

More to come over the next couple of days.

 

[unevolved]

Makes sense...

If the mounting point was able to survive the impact, there is a strong chance a replacement tie rod would have got them back into the race.

I wonder what (and where) the damage would have looked like if the assembly was mechanically strong enough not to break.

That's always the question, isn't it? If the tie rod didn't break, and the steering arm didn't break, then maybe it would have been the rack. Generally, the further you get into the vehicle the more expensive and harder to replace things get.

Hey everyone. We are home safe and sound! Thanks for following us over the past few weeks here and on social media! Matt (my co-driver) and I made it home last night at 2:30am after a 32-hr push (27-hrs drive-time) through the last two days/nights. To say I feel a little tired right now would be an understatement.

Once I get everything unloaded and caught up on work stuff, I'll post a proper update from the week before the race through last night.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience. We wouldn't have changed a thing and we learned a ton. Best of all, we are now extremely well prepared with true experience, an amazing and innovative car that is 95% ready to go, a sound game plan of upgrades and logistics for 2020, and an amazing wife and family who still support our dream of finishing KOH!

More to come over the next couple of days.

Excellent work you guys! Thanks for posting about everything, I know it's a giant pain in the ass.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Alright, now that she's home time to stop clowning around and put some 37's on her.

Pretty please?

:lmao:

 

[Doozi]

Thanks for sharing your adventures with us! I looked forward to all of the updates on the progress of the 4Runner, the timing of everything, and I was even nervous about inspection, but figured that you had awesome partners throughout the build so you’d pass with flying colors... I was still relieved when I read that you had passed! Glad that you guys enjoyed it and we look forward to following the next Steel City Racing adventure!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Charles4x4]

Final Build Recap from ~2-weeks ago:
I believe my last post left off on Thursday before the race leaving the Exhaust shop. On Friday, while I went to pick up my Co-Driver from LAX and the RV from Cruse America, the team was hard at work on Front Suspension, Rear Suspension, and the toolbox:

Marlin Crawler New RCLT (Rock Crawler Long Travel) and Otwell Fabrication:

RockSolidToys and Otwell Fabrication:

Toolbox:

The team worked till around midnight on Friday so we could start testing on Saturday in Cougar Butes:
Steel City Racing... - Steel City Racing

@Robert Driving during our shakedown... - Steel City Racing

Steel City Racing... - Steel City Racing

Steel City Racing... - Steel City Racing

Steel City Racing... - Steel City Racing

Steel City Racing... - Steel City Racing

First Shakedown Testing showed a few flaws, but everything performed extremely well - better than expected:

After a thorough check, we noticed that we needed to replace a couple Wheel Studs, so we replaced all 12 on the front just in case. We also had a C-Clip on the Front Passenger side lower A-Arm to Spindle that needed modification, so Otwell knocked that out for us:

We then loaded up the truck for a Suspension Tuning session with Dylan at Icon. Our Rear shocks got tweaked, but our fronts were setup for Dual Shocks (which we cannot run in 4600) so they got a major overhaul:

We also had to drop our Rear Shock Mounts at the axle by 1" on each side to gain a bit more travel before our rear Air Bumps maxed out:

After this, we headed to the Lakebed for good:

Race Week Recap coming next.