If you'll recall, in last month's issue of DIRTsports, our staff of maniacs wanted to find out firsthand about why the Yamaha Rhino was turning the off-road nation on its collective
ear. We had seen them everywhere with people having a great time riding around the pits and dunes; all just enjoying a true
revolution of affordable off-road fun.
While the Rhino in its stock form earned rave reviews from everyone here at DIRTsports, the fact is, like you, we love to tinker with our toys. If stock is good (in this case, really good), then modified has
to be better. And with the growing number of radical new Rhino aftermarket products coming out of the off-road industry, of
course we needed to explore this "Rhino Revolution" to the fullest. Besides, we needed something ultra-pimpin' with an engine
and wheels to haul around magazines and go on photo shoots. Thus, a double throw-down DIRTsports Rhino is about to be born.
Parts List
The plans called for us to put together a show-stopper of a Rhino, complete with engine, suspension and interior modifications,
all wrapped in a beautiful new paint scheme that will appear on several of our upcoming projects–including our beloved Class
11 Elf VW effort.
One of the benefits of the Dragon Fire kit is that it uses so many OEM components to ease installation time and provide more
access to parts via the Yamaha dealer network. Again, a key to this kit is also the use of stock pick-up points on the frame
that eliminates welding or other fabrication.
We'll start where all good off-road machines start: at the suspension. In stock form, the Yamaha Rhino has a respectable 7.3
inches of wheel travel in all four corners of its double "a-arm" suspension. We know, we know, that doesn't sound so impressive
when your head is filled with Trophy-Truck or professional rock crawler suspension numbers; remember, this is a small, light
utility vehicle.
Still, in the suspension world, more is better and we felt we needed to upgrade this area first. We didn't know were to go,
but the answer came in the form of our buddy Todd Romano at Dragon Fire Racing in Phoenix, Ariz.
Romano is a full-blown member of the Off-Road Nation, a guy who races a Tatum-built Class 1 chassis with an LS2 engine he
built. It rides on billet aluminum wheels he designed and his company, Dragon Fire Racing, manufactures. When along came our
Rhino, Romano immediately fell in deep, dark lust for the unique side-by-side vehicle. The company's first order of business
was to develop a long-travel kit that would appeal to we off-roaders thirsty for more speed over rougher terrain.
Of course, if you are lengthening the a-arms you'll need to lengthen the tie-rods. Dragon Fire provides a nicely made aluminum
spacer with a threaded stud that handles this quickly and easily.
Once the front end is disassembled, the stock ball joints, are pressed out using a vise. Jay prefers to install a new OEM
ring from Yamaha with proper spring tension to insure it stays in place.
A lifelong enthusiast of off-road motorsports, Marty Fiolka raced his first SCORE Baja 1000 in 1992. A graduate of the California University at Long Beach, he formed the Rennsport Marketing Group in 1995 and executed public relations programs for Nissan, Infiniti, Exxon, Mitsubishi, and SCORE International. Now an eight-time Baja 1000 competitor and desert racing veteran, Fiolka is the associate producer of Dana Brown's Baja documentary, Dust to Glory, the author of the recently released coffee-table Baja 1000 history book 1000 Miles to Glory and the editorial director for Advanstar Communications.
Articles by Marty Fiolka
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