Chad Ragland is proud to say that CageWrx sells to the consumer exactly what they race themselves. They offer a complete line of chassis, accessory and aftermarket components to transform your ordinary Polaris RZR into a “clone” of what they themselves use in competition. We spoke with Chad about the mods they installed on their shop racer, a 2015 Polaris RZR XP 1000. We wanted to see for ourselves that they are selling exactly what they build to the general public. Here is what Chad had to say.
Classy Chassis
Let’s start with the basic chassis on this particular vehicle.
It’s a 2015 Polaris RZR XP 1000 with a CageWrx roll cage installed.
Tell us a little about the actual roll cage you use.
Sure. All the main tubes are 1-3/4-inch O.D. The material used is 1.75-inch by .095-wall thickness. So, when compared to the stock chassis or the stock roll cage, it’s better steel and more of it. It’s naturally stronger. It’s also welded in such a way as to be cross-braced and designed as strong as possible. We certainly triangulate that as much as we can into the design of the roll cage itself.
Is there anything that helps make it unique to CageWrx?
Truthfully, the important part is that the roll cage that’s on this machine is the exact same roll cage that we sell off-the-shelf to our customers. We pride ourselves on that. That goes for all our CageWrx parts. Every single item that says CageWrx on our spec sheet is a part number that you can buy from our shop. So, the idea was that when we built it, that we’re going to use off-the-shelf parts that we build on a production basis.
Suspension Solutions
What sort of suspension setup are you using?
The suspension uses A-arm in the front and a trailing arm setup in the rear, which is produced in our facility. The arms are +2 inches in width for each side, which means it’s two inches wider per side compared to the stock suspension setup.
What is the main benefit of doing that?
More flexibility. Better handling. All the suspension components (A-arms and trailing arms) are hand-welded and made from chromoly. Again, they are parts that you can readily purchase from us and put on your car.
What brand of shocks do you use for your suspension set-up?
We use Walker Evans shocks on the race car. They are the Velocity series and tuned individually for the driver and vehicle.
So, you’re doing all the suspension setup and components?
Yes. The trailing arms, front arms, strut spindles, rear radius rods, sway bar links and everything on the rear of the machine. We also use our entire front sway bar system that we produce.
Mods And Rockers
How about the odds and ends that are used on the vehicle?
We use a custom fuel system built by Fuel Safe. Which gives us twenty gallons of usable fuel. It’s a fuel cell, as opposed to just a fuel tank, so it meets all the safety regulations by the different race organizations. We also have two fuel filters on the system, but it’s basically just a fuel delivery system, like most race cars would use.
How about the CVT transmission? Do you use any special mods for that?
Nope. We tune it for our weight and our driving application, but it’s a stock Polaris clutch and transmission.
How about any internal transmission mods?
We harden the gears and then replace some of the bearings in the transmission. So, we are doing some work on it. For the most part, the transmissions are basically stock.
How about any other mods for cooling?
We left the radiator in the stock location. That’s all stock. We also have a Trinity Racing Stage 5 exhaust system. That’s really the only engine mod that we’ve done to the vehicle, other than we have a racing ECU from Polaris.
How about wheels and tires?
We use 15-inch Walker Evans Racing wheels, which have a zero offset, and they have a bead lock design. They mount BFGoodrich 30” KR2 UTV tires.
30-inch front and rear tires? Do you prefer those over the 32s or anything larger?
We do right now. A larger tire is usually better, but there are a lot of downsides on a vehicle like this UTV. It changes clutching dramatically, increases loads on the transmission, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The BFG tires are only offered in 30-inch versions, currently. We feel it’s the best tire out there.
Why do you feel BFG is the best?
It’s a really good performing tire. So, obviously we know there are other options but BFG tires have been real good for our cars. They always stand behind the product, and the tire itself is a really good design. I believe we’ve only had one flat during our entire past season.
What type of GPS system do you use?
We run a Lowrance GPS with a 10-inch screen. We also use a RacePak dash, and RacePak full data logging instruments. So, there’s some nice stuff on our dash. We don’t have any of the stock gauges; it’s a full race dash. It includes engine oil pressure, oil temp, fuel pressure and a bunch of other things that we require information and readouts from. It’s all right at our fingertips.
Okay, anything else you would like to mention?
Our front sway bar system is a real key to our suspension setup, as is our CageWrx roll cage. We also use the same front bumper on all of our machines that we sell to the public. A lot of people, most everyone else out there, offers a custom bumper package. We use and sell the same bumpers that we race with. That’s our thing… (grins).•
By Dennis Cox | 01-02-2017
