New Monster Truck "California Grizzly" is Built with Cat Power

It’s no secret that people who work with heavy equipment tend to be fans of big, powerful machines. Caterpillar sponsors a car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and the company is involved in other types of auto racing from midgets to Indy. Go to just about any local race, and you’ll find heavy-equipment operators and mechanics well represented in the stands and on the track.

Same thing with monster trucks - anywhere you find powerful engines driving bug iron, the heavy equipment industry will be well represented. Monster truck events have long been popular with residents of the Riverside area, and this summer those fans will have a change to cheer for one of their own. Ray Abrahamson’s new monster truck, California Grizzly, may already be appearing at fairs around the West by the time you read this, and Ray expects to be competing in the Monster Truck Jam Series by the end of the year.

Ray, the Head Mechanic at Southcoast Grading for the past 26 years, began designing and building California Grizzly more than four years ago after he “ …made the mistake of going to a monster truck show.”

Ray says he didn’t really watch the show. He was too busy examining how the trucks were put together. “Being a mechanic by nature, I went and looked at the trucks and picked them apart,” he says. “I started going through the could’ves and should’ves and the why-didn’t-theys. If looked like there were lots of ways to make the trucks better. I went home and started trying to figure out ways to make a better suspension, tougher axles and a more crash-worthy frame.

One thing led to another, and it wasn’t long before Ray was several thousand dollars into his own creation. Ray already had a long relationship with the people at Johnson Machinery - Southcoast Grading has a couple dozen Cat machines, including scrapers, loaders and dozers. Right from the start, he figured there were Cat components that would be naturals for a monster truck. He quickly discovered that his contacts at Johnson were willing and eager to help him decide which components would work best. They also worked to help him keep cost down.

“I had a list of about 25 axles from different Cat machines,” says Ray. “Talked to Dan Duron in Tech Services, I decided a pair of axles from Cat TH560 Telehandler would be the way to go. Dan was a real help on the transmission too. I wanted to know if it could take the rpms. Dan checked with the engineers at the factory, and they said it was strong enough, and they recommended I use synthetic oil.”

Ray has been a regular customer at Johnson’s Used Parts Department, and he says he would have been happy to buy used TH560 axles and save a few thousand dollars. He did buy the Grizzly’s 966B transmission and other important components from Used Parts. Unfortunarely, TH560 axles are a component that still hasn’t made its way into any dealer’s used parts inventory. Telehandlers are a relatively new Cat product. No TH560s have been parted out yet, so new was the only way to go.

What made the TH560 axles special? to answer that, Ray first notes what he saw that was wrong with the axles on the other monster trucks. “All the other drives use an axle designed fro a clark forklift,” he says. “The design is more than 40 years old. It has a narrow axle housing with long spindles. When your truck goes off a jump, you often get 10,000 lbs of truck coming down on one wheel. Those long spindles can’t take the stree, and they snap all the time.”

The telehandler axle is different, Ray says. “The TH has the spindle right in front of the kingpin, so you don’t have a lot of leverage against the end of the axle. The axle is a lot wider, which gives it a wider stance on the ground and more stability. I was able to move the shocks all the way out to the back side of the knuckles. the truck has a wider stance than the average truck.”

The stronger design was the main reson Ray went with the TH560 axles. Other advantages included superior steering assist and internal brakes. California Grizzly is loaded with hydraulic innovations and design tricks. Ray has set up controls in the cab that let kim stop the wheels on the left or right side at the same time the opposite wheels speed up. “If I’m goning 10 mph and lock up the tires on the left, the tires on the right go to 20 mph,” he says. “That won’t help on the racing side, but it will let me do things on the freestyle side that no other truck can do.

“of course it takes some time to figure out how to drive the truck to take advantage of that.”

Monster truck events have evolved considerably over time. “Twenty-five years ago, they’d crawl over a couple of cars and wow the crowd,” Ray states. “Now, the trucks have to fly 20 or 30 feet up in the air for 150 feet, and then survive when they come down.”

Monster truck events present a design dilemma Ray thinks his truck solves. There are two competitions, a race and a freestyle event. Trucks with low profiles have a cornering advantage in the race, but the freestyle competition demands a high-clearance vehicle with a tougher suspension and firm ride. California Grizzly’s hydraulics ca rise the truck from sitting right on the axle to 30 inches above it or anywhere in between. Ray expects that hydraulics trick to be a real crown pleaser. He should know soon. The first crowds to get a change to see California Grizzly will likely be at events around Riverside this summer, and Ray hopes his neighbors will get out and cheer for the local boy driving the Grizzly that’s made from Cat Parts.

See more California Grizzly information at www.mtotf.com