I'm looking into building a Track Kick for a rally race. 

Basic 2 mile Natl forest course with the usual hills, rocks, logs and trees.  I've driven it in my 4dr Kick many times ove the last 5 yrs but never at competive speeds. 

I'm looking to build a 2-dr Kick to compete in the stock class.  The biggest thing is I need to build it to surrvive the weekend.  With the front end being the weak link, This will mean a full chassis skid and a Baja style front bash bumper.


What would you do to make the steering and suspension survive, Looks like good air time is guranteeded. 

http://americanwheeler.com/Events.aspx

My bigest concern right now is Steering

Tierods, links, steering box and Idler arm. 

What is the common point of failure on a kick with a braced / heavy duty idler arm.

A beefy strut brace. The strut towers bend way to easy.

Thanks MrHawk

   HD Idler
   Idler brace
   Strut tower brace
   Spare steering links idler and steering box
   Spare CV shafts

   Shop for steel front housing or Fab steel front housing / Replace & rework front pinion mount.

Right now I'm considering building a 1998 2dr 4wd Auto.

just my opinion...but id go for the older style...the newer ones...like the 98 your thinkin about has rack and pinion steering....1st gen trackicks have a steering box and the linkage...this is probably a stronger setup....imo...just my 2 pennies...good luck, hopefully we can see some pics of your airborne 'zuke!

Good suspension components, springs and dampers to be sure. The stock stuff will fade fast. Good brakes too, a 4 door caliper and rotor upgrade with braided stainless lines possibly. You'll also want to beef up the bumpstops in front so the coils won't collapse after bottoming a few times. If an auto trans is to be the choice, a good one I think, you may want to swap to a slightly lower gearset to keep you in the powerband. I drive mine rally style in the New Jersey State forests on some pretty fast two track fire roads and it handles pretty well. Don't make it too tall, give it a supple suspension, and keep the rolling stock as light as possible with good alloy wheels and light tires. IMO, you don't need a steel front housing, just brace the output of the front diff to keep it from moving around. A few of us have done this with some sucess and have made the aluminum housing survive just fine. Keep the rig as light as possible, strip it of everything that is absolutly not necessary. My 2 cents. Sounds like FUN!

Thanks Bent Parts. 

Adding to the list, 4-dr brakes, Improved bump stops. 


I'm not worried about the springs as much as I am the struts and towers.  I think I'm gonna run steel wheels as the aluminium ones will not like the rocks.  I will probally have to bash some just to get thru the course.


A CLASS – STOCK: This class is for any STOCK production vehicle i.e. Jeep Wrangler, Nissan Xterra, Ford Escape… ***The JEEP RUBICON IS NOT A “STOCK� VEHICLE (it has too many competitive components, sorry ). Rear traction control is ok.

33" Tires
Stock type suspension - NO LONG ARM
Stock wheelbase


I own a 1998 2-dr 4wd auto Kick that fits what i'd like to do.  The good is it runs and drives great, The bad is I'd hate to crash it.  Probally cheaper to repair crash damage then build / store (2) trucks. 

I have / had big plans to turn it into a drive to the event out of state wheeler.  That may still work out ok.   

This truck is the last of the old body style, with a 3-spd auto, 1.6l 16v, 26 spline front and prior front crash damage.  I have since virtual lift cut the rear fenders and it is ugly.  Truck is pictured below with 1.75" Steel coil spacers and 33x9.50-15 BFG At's

 

I want to run 31" TSL's.   

   Why the 31" TSL's? They are very heavy and not high speed rally friendly. 

I have (6) already mounted up and ready and the course has a large amount of rocks and some of them are bowling ball sized and bigger.  Most of the rocks are very sharp shale type rocks and have been known to shread side walls on leser tires.   

If we get any rain the course turns into the sloppiest stickiest red clay you have ever seen.  Swapmeprs become a must.  Their are no 3rd gear sections, ok at race speed that may change but this is a tight technical loop that runs up an elevated ridgeline and back down the other side.  Regularly this is one of the More difficult 4wd trails in the park.

The promoter is also talking of creating some man made obsticles, Log jams? 

So while this will be a rally style event it looks to have some flair of Rock Racing to it.

Search: Uwharrie National Forest + OHV trails + Rocky Mountain Loop 

Just out of curiosity, what is considered a "long arm" suspension?

Jeep TJ / XJ Links on coils ~ with longer then stock lower arms.

I guess I misunderstood the " Rally " part of the race to be sure. Forget everything I said about building for speed, go for the strength. Still would lower the gearing though.

In addition, I would check your rule set and see if it allows the addition of a rear anti-sway bar.  I know it made a huge difference on the stability of my Tracker. 

I'm mixed on rear sway.  Their are many hills and off camber sections, most of these are very off camber, OHV trail sections.  I may try testing with and with out rear sway here locally.

My big concern is that their are some sections that will need to be crawled and the little bit of flex I have will be most useful.  The other is that their will be very few high speed corners, and relativly little flat ground.  Most of the course is either up or down with 2 or three especially good hill climbs.

I beleive a Subaru rally car would be on the belly pan a very large part of the time, and the high speed a true rally car would gain me would just put me in the trees.  The slower speed and big rocks / obsticles is what I hope will help make the kick a winner.


Currently the build up is for ONE race. 

This is a new event that has just been developed.  This promoter has developed a big $$ Big publicity Rally cross in my local wheeling area. The ideia is to make it an annual event, but for now I am just building for the May Event. 

Ofcourse their is a Monsters on the Beach Tuff truck style race in Virginia Beach the following weekend.  Depending on how sucessful I am, a second race Mothers Day weekend is always an option.   The monsters on teh beach event is where DeVinny from aftermarket4x4 does his high flying Samurai acrobatics.   

How do you guys feel about bump stops and limit straps.

I believe the Stock Kick uses struts / shocks as the main limiting device.

I know their are little rubber stubs in the front spring, but how much will they really absorb.

I plan on using the full stock suspension travel at it's extreem limits.

I should think that the stock bumpstops will be OK. I'd look at fitting some strut spacers to maximise the travel on the front. Its a long time since I had stock suspension. I'm pretty sure you could go an inch maybe more before the spring would become too loose. If you go longer shocks you will have to make sure that they don't become the bumpstops

Watch the crumple zones in the arch behind your front bumper..... Both sides of mine cracked (one side almost broke in half cripling my kick perminately) Of corse, that was after years of hard abuse.

With 33's I only broke 3 tie rods over many years.... But thos crazy Minnesota guys like to ralley hard  and keep spare tierods available... But I have not seen them break them on 31's... Usually on 33's or bigger.

That really looks like fun. I need to check into trying it one year.   

Zig