With the popularity of mud racing heating up these last few years, we were inspired to build a mud competition-worthy race monster. We are suffering from a newfound love for the sport of deep mud racing and a fascination for clawing our way through the deepest bogs we could find. We didn't just want another mild mudder, but rather an extreme machine that could tackle almost anything that Mother Nature could throw in our path.
So what can you say when the challenge of building the most competitive mud racing quad is thrown your way? Oh heck yeah, let's get 'r done! But wait, where will we get the parts needed to make this boat swim and not sink? That's easy, Gorilla Axle. Gorilla Axle is a fast-growing and leading manufacturer of aftermarket lifts and axles that has taken the mud racing and utility ATV world by storm. After we met with Gorilla's Greg McMullen and Brandon Broussard, our project was underway. With the success that Gorilla race teams have had on the Can-Am Outlander, we decided that this would be our foundation for the build. Using a tired 2006 Outlander 650 as our base, we started tearing into the plastics to get an idea of just how much prep the quad needed before we would begin installing race equipment. Much to our surprise, the Outlander was in really good shape.
"Getting the machine up into the air would mean that we could go into the mud and where most couldn't follow."
Located in the hills of Northern Georgia at the Georgia ATV Project Laboratory our "One Bad Mudda" was born. We wanted to accomplish several goals for our mud build. First, we had to make sure that our Outlander didn't take on any unwanted water and mud, so we needed to lift it up out of the depths and into the air. Gorilla supplied us with its massive seven-inch lift kit, and so it began.
Gorilla Meets Outlander
Gorilla lifts aren't for the squeamish, and most definitely require some mechanical knowledge to install right the first time. Getting the machine up into the air would mean that we could go into the mud and where most couldn't follow. The ground clearance was amazing, and that's just the beginning. With the extreme angle lengthened axles, the mud monster would claw through the slop without any hesitation. We also had the steering system beefed up and lengthened, so we were off to a good start. This kit gave us the shock relocation mounts for both front and rear that allowed us to keep our stockers on and for good reason. The shocks on a mud machine needed to be stiff and strong because if the machine gives any height away due to shock compression, it's giving up ground clearance along with wasted power and the ability to get the monster tires to the hard surface below the murky waters. Let's face it-this isn't a pleasure cruiser, it's a deep-bogging race monster!
Digging deep into the wild backwoods can get you stuck in a hurry, so this XT30 winch by Warn was our safety net.
We capped off our lift with large 28-inch Gorilla Silverback tires and had them mounted on trick SS108 14x6 ITP wheels. We chose the Silverback tires because of their huge success at the Mud Nationals competitions. The lugs on these tires are massive, and with a sweeper lug on the sidewall of the tire, we were sure to get the grip we needed to get through the toughest bogs. The reason for using the 14x6 wheel instead of a wider one like a 14x8 was because it seemed the narrower wheel gets the tire taller in the center and adds to the bite of the tire while assisting with ground clearance. ITP has been producing the SS108 wheels for a while now, and although I think the solid black version would've looked great, we had been warned that the coloring would be gone after the first run. So we opted for the machined wheels.