ThunderHawk Performance – Another in the Borneo Series

Shannon Bushman | November 23, 2009 | 0 Comments

When we first decided to make the Borneo trip we called Harry at ThunderHawk. ThunderHawk has a complete line of UTV strengthening products and unique accessories. After walking Harry through our concerns and discussing how we would be using the RZR, he recommended the following for our RZR build.

Chassis Stiffening
One item of concern for the Borneo trip is the endurance of the RZR. I know is a tough unit but we are facing a LOT of winching through deep mud. that means some major tugging on the frame front and rear.
With the Marshall Motor Art Safari cage we have added a lot of strength to the upper side and the Warn front bumper has added quite a bit of support in the very front. However there are a few areas that have always
needed a little something. The front clip where the front suspension mounts and holds the steering box has two lower tubes that penetrate the box frame. People who jump a lot have found this location to be a weak point with a tendency to bend just in front of the square tube frame. Similarly on the rear of the RZR there are four pieces of tubing where the suspension mounts. These six tubes are prone to bending after repeated stress. ThunderHawk performance has designed perfect fitting tube inserts to strengthen these frame areas. The inserts add a great deal of strength to these frame areas preventing the bending, they are at least 2-3 times thicker than the frame they are supporting. Installation is quite simple. The front inserts can be inserted by either dropping the skid plate and inserting from below or by removing the center console and inserting from above. The four in the rear are accessed directly from behind the RZR. The tow lower rear inserts require removing the brake line retaining clips temporarily. The inserts are drilled to line up with the bolt for the retaining clip. All of the inserts have a unique slotted end with an expansion bolt that is simply tightened a bit to hold the insert in place. No welding or drilling required, could not be simpler. If you like to use the RZR for jumping, rock crawling, winching or any activity that flexes the frame regularly these strengthening inserts are for you.

Upper Rear Shock Mount support
Another location we needed a bit of support is on the rear upper shock mounts. These mounts have a tendency to bend or shift sideways. If you jump you should check these often. ThunderHawk has developed a a twin-plate rear shock brace that will prevent this problem. Basically it sandwiches the mounts with much stronger plating adding a lot of strength. Install is dead simple. A few easily accessed bolts need replacing but the whole process can be accomplished in about thirty minutes.

Anti-Submarine Strap Mounting Bracket
We also wanted to add a 5 point harness to the RZR-S. The RZR is not setup for mounting the anti-submarine or crotch strap. ThunderHawk has designed a simple yet effective mounting point. Two pieces of steel perfectly bent to sandwich the square tubing near the front of the seat mount. The sandwiching is important. While it may be tempting to simply drill a hole in this square tube its a bad idea. The hole will significantly waken this cross tube and in a crash it is possible to break the restraint loose. ThunderHawks mount retains the strength and integrity of the mounting point. Installation is very simple and takes just a few minutes. The kit includes two mounting brackets and bolts.

Fuel Tank Armor
The fuel tank on the RZR basically sits directly on the skid plate. While I doubt the 1/2″ thick plates we have will puncture they will flex. The plastic the tanks is made of is very stiff and will not take much flexing. More importantly we are concerned that if pressure is put on one of the rounded corners where it is very stiff it will break. The greatest exposure is the rear half of the tank. ThunderHawk has developed a great aluminum reinforcing plate that prevents any pressure on the rear of the fuel tank. Thunderhawk’s Fuel Tank Armor also extends up behind the fuel tank and mounts to the vertical frame tubing, providing protection all the way up to the bottom of the cargo floor. With this skid plate installed, the RZR’s rear tire can no longer throw rocks and debris onto the plastic fuel tank. In addition, the top part of this skid plate functions as a heat shield to protect the plastic cabin wall behind the seat from melting or deforming due to excessive exhaust and engine heat. The Thunderhawk Performance Fuel Tank Armor installs easily in about 25 minutes. This is a complete kit including Thunderhawk’s Fuel Tank Armor skid plate, mounting brackets, all necessary hardware and illustrated instructions.