Ruff Stuff & Lincoln Electric
Dan Fredrickson
We have been attending King of the Hammers (KOH) for 5 years. It has always been an amazing time. To me, it’s like the Burning Man of off-road. It isn't just an event; it’s an experience.
We bring a complete shop with us so we can do anything while there. That means three Dodge Duallies each with a heavy trailer, and checklist after checklist just so we don't forget something simple. It also means we take 10 guys from the shop with us to have enough bodies to go around.
For the last three years, Ruffstuff Specialties has operated the Ruffstuff Open Pit at KOH. While there, we fix anything and everything that can bent, cut, fabbed, or welded. We aren't mechanics but we do plenty of that as well. We don't charge, we don't turn anyone away and we don't do temporary fixes, we fix it to stay fixed.
First off I should explain the how’s and why's of KOH for those that haven't been there before. The race is held in Johnson Valley (JV), California. JV is in the southern Mohave Desert where, in the winter it can be 30 degrees Celsius one day and snow the next. I have seen both over the years. Another thing that you always hope to avoid is the wind. Sometimes the wind blows 110 kph and when that happens you get sandblasted and things blow away. I have seen 13 meter tents disappear overnight never to be seen again, lost to the desert.
This year the weather cooperated with no more than "breezy" days, just enough to clear the dust. The dust can be the worst part of JV, where it ca get thicker than the worst fog. You need a breeze to be able to breathe. We started with cool overcast days and ended with sunny and clear - great weather.
I don't go with any favorites to win. Just finishing is hard enough and this year it might have been too hard. In the Everyman's Challenge race, only 6 of 46 starters made it to the finish line and in the main race, only 27 of 127 completed the course in the allotted time.
My goal is to see everyone get to the starting line. With all the pre-running going on in the week leading up to the races, there is more than enough breakage going on to make that a challenge.
So far I have only mentioned the racers, but we don't just help the racers. The course is 300 kilometres long and if you want to see it, you need a rig capable of running the Hammers. Many spectators tow their rigs along so they can see the race, but if you are going to KOH you might as well do some wheeling while you're there. The wheeling in JV is unique. There are 50 km sections of sand and silt with one metre whoops and canyons with some of the oldest rock on earth (Schist). If tires have nightmares, it’s about Schist.
The Open Pit concept started 4 years ago in the vender tent at KOH. Chris from FOA and I were talking about something we could do to help when the idea came to us. Chris was too busy so I took the lead. Before we started doing this, everyone had to be self sufficient in every way. JV is in the middle of nowhere, and if you need it, you need to have brought it with you. The first year we put a together a mess of equipment to barely do the job and fixed 98 rigs in the 7 days.
The next year we had a bit of a track record and I approached Lincoln Electric about providing gear so we could do a better job. After I explained that most everyone built their own rigs - so 15,000 welders would be there - they said yes, and last year we repaired 198 vehicles in 12 days (during which we all had the flu).
This year was much shorter as the event was condensed to just four days - yet we fixed 208 different rigs. Lincoln gave us a Torchmate 4x2 table which we used to make over 130 different parts for racers and spectators alike. The Torchmate Plasma table was a huge addition; we made a ton of new parts so we didn't have to fix broken parts. Now we even have one in the shop for prototypes.
I have to say that this was no small thing and if Lincoln wasn't behind us we wouldn't be able to do what we do. Lincoln has embraced off-roading in a big way and will be making it possible for us to set up free welding booths at many different off-road events including the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah. We have another 10 events on the calendar before the next KOH race; so keep your eyes open – you may see us at a Canadian event near you!