rear engine rigs in the SE

patooyee · May 16, 2016

Interested in hearing from anyone in the SE that actually owns and rides a rear engine buggy. I'm aware of lots of opinions. They don't like ledges because of the weight in the rear, you have to load the front tires down with water to get them to climb, water in the tires causes faster wear and is death on parts, rear visibility is terrible, etc. I'm just interested in hearing from any ACTUAL OWNERS of rear engine rigs who wheel in the SE as to their opinions / observations. Is any of this true? Do you ride with front engine guys who stomp you on certain types of obstacles or vice/versa?

Zjman · May 16, 2016

Sting is a member on here with a rear caddy engine buggy and was at hardline ride this year and been to harlan and a nasty spot in wv and no issues you speak of i think, he loves it, maybe he will chime in or send him a pm

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Eddyj · May 16, 2016

Yankey still drives his CSC buggy.

patooyee · May 16, 2016

I'd really like to hear from SAP as well. I've PM'ed him with no replies as of yet. He has the little red Campbell moon buggy.

tallnate · May 16, 2016

Woodlee said it best in regards to his old rear engine Hustler buggy.. he said "you gotta drive that thing like a 4 wheeler, just keep it moving, hit the obstacles with a little speed and it'll hop right up and over".

kushKrawlin · May 16, 2016

http://youtu.be/UB4T3fzu-vE
:woot:

onepieceatatime · May 16, 2016

Re: Re: rear engine rigs in the SE

kushKrawlin said:
http://youtu.be/UB4T3fzu-vE

I wish everyone would've been there when he made that earlier in the day. He drove it like an earlier comment described driving a rear engine buggy. He hit and didn't let off till he made it. It was a wild ride I was riding passenger and my beer was going all over the place whole I was hooting and hollering wondering what was gonna rip off first. That thing is stout!

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TURNEROFFROAD · May 16, 2016

smbroady82 · May 16, 2016

patooyee said:
I'd really like to hear from SAP as well. I've PM'ed him with no replies as of yet. He has the little red Campbell moon buggy.

Brian's buggy flat works, whether it is racing or slow technical crawling.. Very impressive!

I'll leave it at that as I have never had a rear engine rig.

patooyee · May 16, 2016

He replied back, thanks.

Sting · May 16, 2016

I like mine a lot. It's not a hill killer but it climbs decent and crawls great. It's my first tube buggy so I'm daily new to all this.

Neal3000 · May 16, 2016

Talk to RustyC on here too, he built that budget rear-engine rig

paradisepwoffrd · May 16, 2016

Re:

I drove my friends honda buggy a few times. Didn't have much issue climbing the few trails I ran. I think it helps that it was only 2000ish pounds, and had enough power to skin up the tires at will.

After driving it, I would give up rear visibility for the added forward visibility anytime.

RustyC · May 16, 2016

I only have seat time in my V8 linked ton axle Jeep on 42's and my rear engine 4.3 buggy so. The difference between the two is not as extreme as the interwebs make it seem. Yes the front engine weight does make the front tires bite in and hook on climbs but the rear engine climbs fine once you get the feel of it. Sometimes is does seem to do better rolling into a ledge vs a slow crawl. Everyone has felt a front engine rig transfer most of the weight to the back yet still continue to climb just fine, that is kind of how a rear engine rig feels.
Front visibility on tons better with a narrow front chassis section. Before skins I could see both front ujoints and tires.
Rear visibility on mine is better than most since my radiator is in the very back not in the back window area. I built mine to teach my kids to drive and turned out loving it myself.
The thing feels like it is on rails to the faster you go. All the heat gets pulled out the back which is nice in the summer.

Currently in the middle of an LS swap. Looking forward to the next few weeks.

lowbudgetjunk · May 16, 2016

Santa Claus has a rear engine Honda buggy for like a million years. Climbs like a freaking billy goat.

onepieceatatime · May 16, 2016

https://vimeo.com/166898158Cadillac Buggy bouncing it's way up Brokefoot.

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mckeddie · May 16, 2016

The little bit I've used mine, I absolutely love it. Can't wait to get it on some actual rocks and hills. I've only had it out testing so far. Mines a 16v dodge motor w a turbo and transaxle to toyota axles on 37 treps. No rear visibility but front is amazing.

patooyee · May 16, 2016

Feel free to post pics and vids of your rigs, it would help me know what everyone is talking about.

Blase · May 17, 2016

I was lucky enough to pilot this rig a couple of times. No water in the front tires. No bouncing just trail riding / crawling. It worked excellent! You had to drive it different than a front engine buggy but once you learned that you can't just force feed the back tires whatever they run into it wheeled better than my front engine buggy. I found the placement of the rear tires was far more critical than the front!

It took some extra thinking to make the rear tires land where you wanted them to without rear steer but once you got the hang of it there was no stopping this little buggy!

302
C4
atlas
9" f&R with spools
The rest you can pretty much see.

Lots more pictures here.
http://s479.photobucket.com/user/Blase_60/library/987K?sort=3&page=1