Ultra4 4628 Race car - Sherpa Motorsports
- Thread starter SherpaEquipmentCo
- Start date
SherpaEquipmentCo
official vendor
We have built a 4th gen on 35's and they fit quite well without a body lift, especially with the suspension we have planned for it. Also, anything over a 1" body lift is not allowed within our class if I remember correctly.
Appreciate it man, thank you!
This is 1020 WHR steel which is within our specs for our class. Our thought on the subject matter is our body is retaining 100% of its oem structure on top of this cage. The two combined will be plenty strong for its application especially when built properly with good bracing, proper gusseting and the works. We have talked with many experts on the subject and they all have all agreed that our idea is plenty sufficient. Yes DOM is much stronger but at 4 times the cost it was worth the trade-off for us.
The sliders and front bumper I run on my personal vehicle have taken an absolute beating over the past 6 years and show no signs of fatigue or crazy damage other than mild dents from hard hits on pointy rocks and it is made of the exact same material. I feel very comfortable with the material. Is DOM superior yes absolutely, I would much rather be running it but this will do.
SherpaEquipmentCo
official vendor
Roll Cage - October 28, 2019
This thread has been quiet for some time now but we have been hard at work on the car.
One of the main things we have been doing is a lot of community outreach focusing on our marketing partnerships. The most recent company to jump aboard is Black Rhino Wheels. We are super excited to have them as a part of our team. We can't wait to get our beadlocks in and share some photos with you. We know they will be a great wheel for our car and hold up during the many races to come. Everything we have heard from friends is that we will be extremely happy.
So let's get into what we have been up to recently.
We pulled the bumper off to get some photos of it off the vehicle, as well as the final welds down in the hard to reach spots. This is what it looks like off the car, we may add some more bracing on the corners and add in some tow points for shackles. We are pretty happy with how it has turned out.
This thread has been quiet for some time now but we have been hard at work on the car.
One of the main things we have been doing is a lot of community outreach focusing on our marketing partnerships. The most recent company to jump aboard is Black Rhino Wheels. We are super excited to have them as a part of our team. We can't wait to get our beadlocks in and share some photos with you. We know they will be a great wheel for our car and hold up during the many races to come. Everything we have heard from friends is that we will be extremely happy.
So let's get into what we have been up to recently.
We pulled the bumper off to get some photos of it off the vehicle, as well as the final welds down in the hard to reach spots. This is what it looks like off the car, we may add some more bracing on the corners and add in some tow points for shackles. We are pretty happy with how it has turned out.
Now onto the roll cage! We have started tackling the cage laying one tube at a time, notch by notch. This is our first attempt at a cage and we think it is going very well. We are at a point now where we only have a few tubes left to make, then its time to tear it apart, fully weld the top and reassemble. Then we will it will be time to add all the gusseting and extra bracing where we think we need it. I'll let the pictures do the talking now.
So that's where we are at. As you can see we also picked up a fuel cell. We were originally planning on running a 32gal cell, but ran into a 22gal for a great price and jumped on it. It will get us started, but we will be accommodating for a 32gal in case we want to upgrade down the road.
The next step is finishing up the last few tubes, then pull and fully weld the upper section of the cage followed by reassembly and full welding everything else. Then, as I said before, do all-out gusseting and final bracing.
We still need to figure out our rear firewall as well. We plan to accommodate for the rear seats so we can go pick up the kids from soccer practice and take our friends out on the trails when we are not racing.
Looking forward to sharing more updates as we continue to make great progress on the car!
Thats all, for now, folks, Episode 2 of the series will be live later this week!!
The next step is finishing up the last few tubes, then pull and fully weld the upper section of the cage followed by reassembly and full welding everything else. Then, as I said before, do all-out gusseting and final bracing.
We still need to figure out our rear firewall as well. We plan to accommodate for the rear seats so we can go pick up the kids from soccer practice and take our friends out on the trails when we are not racing.
Looking forward to sharing more updates as we continue to make great progress on the car!
Thats all, for now, folks, Episode 2 of the series will be live later this week!!
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SherpaEquipmentCo
official vendor
Wheels and Tires - October 29, 2019
We finally picked up some wheels. Our team is partnered with Black Rhino Wheels and we ordered up some Primm Beadlocks in a 17x8.5 with 3.57" backspacing. These wheels are super rad and from what we have heard and been told will be great for our application. They are really not terribly heavy for what they are either. They weigh in at 32lbs a wheel.
So shout out to Black Rhino for helping us out and joining the team! We still need to order a few more for our spares but we are waiting on that for now.
They may not really fit at all yet but we had to mount them up... We are trying to avoid getting to cut crazy until we get our suspension setup done and know exactly what needs to go as the rules are pretty strict as far as clearancing tires go for our class.
This thing looks ridiculous.
More to come!!
volkinator
New member
So, when is that rear bumper going to be available... because that is amazing.
That_Titanium_4RNR
New member
You should check out [MENTION=116770]Stellar[/MENTION]Built on insta. They have a similar design that they have made for a few 4th gens...join me in pestering them until they bring it to market to ship because I think they only currently build in house and they're across the country from me but I want one bad
SherpaEquipmentCo
official vendor
We are by no means a fabrication shop and we have no plans to reploduce this bumper sadly. We appreciate the kind words regarding it, it was a great first project. I personally have never built any piece of armor from scratch so it was a fun project. We took inspiration from Stellarbuilt, some homebrew bumpers, and Invision Fabrications bumper and made our take on it.
Stellarbuilt makes an awesome bumper for the 4th gens, they are only in house and one-off based on what the buyer wants from my knowledge. Definitely inspired our design a little. They do awesome work. Excited to see their SAS 4th gen they are working on!
That_Titanium_4RNR
New member
Yeah, from the messages I've got from them, I get the vibe that they are considering putting that one into production but I could be wrong. If enough people ask they will deliver.
BendRunner
New member
I have been bugging them as well!
That_Titanium_4RNR
New member
That's what I like to hear!! I knew I wasn't the only one
volkinator
New member
Just sent them a note as well. Might ask a few people around me if they'd be interested in some one-offs...
ETA: They said they're working on it, "Stay Tuned"
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SherpaEquipmentCo
official vendor
Some more minor work on the roll cage, got the main B-Pillar dialed in with some advice from a friend. Looks much better and will be way stronger.
The Marlin Crawler kit is said to arrive at the end of the month. Tracking down shocks, hydro bumps, and RCV Axles in the meantime.
As well as working out the details on the rear 4link.
Also, if anyone has a lead on a manual shift FJ Cruiser transfer case for an auto trans let us know.
The Marlin Crawler kit is said to arrive at the end of the month. Tracking down shocks, hydro bumps, and RCV Axles in the meantime.
As well as working out the details on the rear 4link.
Also, if anyone has a lead on a manual shift FJ Cruiser transfer case for an auto trans let us know.
SherpaEquipmentCo
official vendor
Continuing the Rollcage November, 10th 2019
The team ripped the entire roll cage out and got the whole thing full welded and back into the truck in a day. This was a huge chunk of work that we got knocked out in a day so it feels great to have that behind us.
We did not take many pictures but I'll share the few that we did get.
All the welds are decent, nothing to brag about by any means.
Then we made a hard push to get every tube back in and weld it up by the end of the night.
I'll be able to grab more photos of this soon!
We also want to announce another awesome partner that has joined the build. Shrockworks is going to be helping us protect the underbelly of this build with their awesome skid plates!
The team ripped the entire roll cage out and got the whole thing full welded and back into the truck in a day. This was a huge chunk of work that we got knocked out in a day so it feels great to have that behind us.
We did not take many pictures but I'll share the few that we did get.
All the welds are decent, nothing to brag about by any means.
Then we made a hard push to get every tube back in and weld it up by the end of the night.
I'll be able to grab more photos of this soon!
We also want to announce another awesome partner that has joined the build. Shrockworks is going to be helping us protect the underbelly of this build with their awesome skid plates!
SherpaEquipmentCo
official vendor
Thanksgiving Update - November, 26th 2019
A few new things for you folks. The Sherpa Motorsports Team has been hard at work on the car when free time allows.
Some of the new things we have going on are we got all of our sandwich plates finished, we want to add a post down to the frame to make the whole thing bulletproof. We need to get some shorter bolts for them before they get tightened down we overestimated a bit.
Our Addicted Offroad Hybrid Bumper Showed up as well. This thing is a beast as to be expected. We have a few Addicted bumpers on personal vehicles and we knew they would be a great option for us. Lighter weight than most options, great approach angle and bulletproof. We had to modify it a bit to fit the massive VR10 but we got it in there! We want to thank Scotty and the Addicted Offroad Team for jumping aboard our team and supporting the build upon us reaching out.
We also received all of our Fuel Hose, Fuel Pump, and some other odds and ends from Hot Rod Fuel Hose. They were super awesome to work with, helped us source what we needed and even jumped aboard the Sherpa Motorsports Team. Their lines and fittings also look amazing!
We are picking up a fuel filter soon, we also want to get a new fill plate for our fuel cell that will allow a fender fill kit easier and has all the fittings we need. Marlin Crawler stuff coming soon. We should have some more updates and a new episode in the near future!
SherpaEquipmentCo
official vendor
December 22, 2019
Some updates for you all.
Some updates for you all.
First things first, we finally finished off the rear bumper with some recovery points. These were one of the small things on the todo list but nice to have checked off the list.
Next, we test fit all of our CAD designed gussets for the cage. Here is a teaser of one of them. These are all being cut over the next couple of weeks and we are putting in about 16 gussets around the cage.
Now for some exciting things.. Christmas came early for the team and all of our Shocks for 4628 showed up at the shop. We teamed up with Locked Offroad to get this truck riding as nice as possible. Riley and his team are awesome to work with and super helpful, they also make affordable shocks that are on par with every other high-end shock on the market. We are pumped to be able to run their shocks on our build and be apart of the Locked Offroad Family. These things are beastly...
We are running 8" 2.5 coilovers upfront with some 2" hydro bumps that is their threaded version to allow for on the fly adjustability. In the rear, we are running smooth body 14" 2.5 and 2" hydros back there as well. Both of these shocks have a MASSIVE finned reservoir with adjusters giving us a ton of shock fluid and easy adjustment to fin tune them. These are going to be a killer setup and allows us to maximize the performance out of our chassis.
Next, we got our Addicted Offroad Hybrid Bumper back from Front Range Powder Coat up here in Fort Collins. So, we installed our Warn Zeon Platinum Winch, Fairlead, and Sidewinder hook. Super stoked on this combo and god is it a beefy setup. Recovery will not be much of an issue with this.
We have some more stuff coming soon, the next episode of the series is in the works as well!
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SherpaEquipmentCo
official vendor
April, 4th 2020
Corona Virus Update
Corona Virus Update
Sadly, the team is locked out of the shop and unable to work on the racetrack due to this whole coronavirus thing. This also put a big wrench in the 2020 race season. We are pushing for some Boneville races this year to get some time in the car and some solid test miles. We have been in touch with Marlin who is making some big strides on RCLT HD. We've been waiting on this for a while now but talking with Mike... the wait will be well worth it.
In recent weeks we've been collecting a lot of parts and working on a game plan to make some big progress on the truck in the coming months. The suspension is one of the big items on that list as well as knocking out our interior. Lastly, bracing as much of the chassis as we can to avoid future problems down the road. Another big item on our list is wiring. We have a bunch of switches from OTRATTW ready to go in along with our kill switch and some accessories from Blue Sea.
Here are the sweet switches we picked up.
We picked up a relocation kit for our Warn winch to move the solenoid so we could retain the grill and not have to cut it up. That was super easy to install.
I also knocked out some super simple sliders for it. We may add some sort of kick out after the desert season is over for more protection but for now, these will be light weight and good protection.
They took a lot longer than they should have but I really wanted to spend some time making them look nice so when we bash them up into our rocker panel they at least look good!!
Progress has been slow, but running a business, being a fulltime student among other things makes it a long process. Rather take our time and do it right than rush it.
Heres a glamour shot of it in its current state.
Thanks to Chad Morrison for the photo.
