SPEED Tech

There might have been a practical reason why they ended up not doing the drain plug. Perhaps the oil cartridge wouldn't seal against the filter cover with a raised boss/drain plug in that area. It's obvious they went to the effort to draw it in CAD and intended on incorporating it, so there must be a reason they went back to the original oil filter cover.

 
Another reason might have been increased cost for the drain plug. I'm sure there is a min. spec for how many threads a drain plug must have. That would make the raised drain boss a lot thicker, it would mean machining the boss at a different height than the 3 cover screws...  it's kinda surprising how much added cost is in the little things.

 
NIKAL said:
Being that the picture of the oil filter cap is on a production car/engine. I highly doubt we will see a drain plug. If they get enough complaints or bad feed back they might change it on the following year release. So you then might be able to buy one from the parts dept. But like I said I might get someone to machine one if not to costly. I believe it is O-ring sealed. 
 

I hate oil messes as even after you think you cleaned it all up. After the first run you find all the dirt & dust stuck to everything. 
Click to expand...
with the cap protruding from the engine it looks easy enough to put a rag under it.  having the drain plug location as shown doesn't seem to help much being in the middle of the cover?  that's only half the oil anyways.  i believe i f oil was changed with a engine that hasn't been run recently, it would have minimal oil in there anyways.  .5 quart? no way  maybe a 8 oz tops,  even if just ran

 
This was posted in the other thread. Thanks @NIKAL this is full of great information. 
 

They hype you don’t understand is we are having a proper designed SXS based on 30+ years of real Off Road, Indy car, NASCAR, Dakar & SST Motorsports experience built into this car. Speed is being built by a racer for the masses. This car is not built on a accounting profit margin formula base. This car is built to Robbys desire to build the best car at a reasonable & competitive price point and still make a profit. 
 

Here is a list of things that make the Speed UTV different from the rest and in many cases are patent protected so they can’t be copied. Some safety designs Robby has said he would offer to some other manufactures for a royalty, because he feels the safety is worth sharing. 
 

The main chassis is properly designed and triangulated. . Same with the upper roll cage. No dead tubes. No tubes uncapped. The whole chassis & cage is built out of DOM tubing. The majority is .095 wall thickness with some lower tubes .120 wall. There is no reason to need an aftermarket cage. Chassis shock mounts are Chromoly plate with the rear Chromoly shock mount a boxed backbone intergraded into the lower & mid chassis rails. It’s been the butt of many jokes, but the fact is everything on this car, right down to the brake master cylinder is in double shear. No other manufactures offers any of this. 

The suspension is built from Chromoly plate & tube. The suspension arms are fully reversible left to right. Front upper & lower are the same right & left. This is the same for the rear trailing arms. This was learned from Dakar and is patented in the UTV industry. There are no ball joints on this car. Only hiems & the inner trailing arm is a bushing.  No other manufactures offers any of this. 

While I understand your concern for the suspension mounted off the front dif. This is very strong and has been proven and tested not only on the Speed UTV, but on Robbys Trophy Truck and they have never had a suspension tab failure. I was told by someone with Speed that the engineered dynamic testing, live stress & load testing showed the tabs were stronger then the frame mounted tabs used on the XX, which were stronger then the tabs used on the RZR. Also each tab has a metal sleeve pressed in it, so at no time is the bolt rotating on the aluminum. But let’s say you were to damage a tab? The front dif is a 3 peace unit that you can buy & replace either side. This is much cheaper then a frame replacement or fabrication of a new chassis section. In many cases, and one I personally know of. When a traditional suspension tab is ripped of the chassis can be damaged enough that a new chassis could be needed. A friend of a friend crashed his Can Am and when the front suspension was torn off the chassis was damage and the insurance considered totally it. But the car was so new that they ended up replacing the whole chassis. Also this front dif concept was Robbys idea, but designed by Albins, and Weddle consulted on it as they know all the design flaws on the other UTV manufactures difs and gearboxes. No other UTV manufactures have used this level of engineering on their drivetrain. 
 

The whole steering system is totally different from any other UTV’s and is more what you are used to with your buggy. You mentioned your a buggy guy for life. The Speed steering is a front steer system, with proper steering geometry. No ball joints are used on the inner or outer tie rods. This is the only UTV to use hydraulic power steering. This is the only UTV with a collapsible steering shaft for safety. If the chassis was to fail in a crash the steering shaft will not be pushed into your chest. No other UTV manufacture offers any of this. 

Speed UTV is the only manufacture to sell every UTV no matter the trim with full containment seats. You are also offered 3 sizes to choose from. No one offers seat choices. They are the only brand to make proper 5 point harnesses standard on all cars. I believe, but could be wrong. Speed is the only brand to have a dual locking latches on the seat sliders, doubling the strength in a impact or high G load. No other UTV brand offers these features. 

Speed is the first to offer a 3 speed shiftable CVT transmission. This too was designed by Albins and consulted by Weddle. The clutch was design by TAPP and is arguably the nicest and best clutch to come standard on any UTV. The other Brands customers are buying TAPP clutches as a aftermarket upgrade. Speeds axles are Chromoly and the CV’s are a patented design for plunge. They are Dakar tested & proven. If I remember correctly they also have built in grease fittings for maintenance.  Also the drive shaft does not use any U joints. This has been a big issue for Polaris over the years. Speed uses a single driveshaft with barrel spines on either end. This is something that NASCAR uses in its axle shafts to let solid axles adjust camber. This concept was designed on the Speed one piece driveshaft. No other manufacture has this. 

The engine was designed by Arrington race engines. They designed the Dodge NASCAR engine, and at one time were a Toyota engine supplier for the Nationwide series. Another designer who did the head design work was a former Indy car engine design & builder. This engine is very unique with its power & stroke. There are dozens of small details like seal locks, AN fittings, dual injectors per cylinder, water bleed valves etc..that no one else has. The turbo design comes from Indy & F1, and Speed is the only manufacture to put the very hot turbo on the back side of the engine which removes the heat as far away from the drivers compartment and it’s passengers. This design is patented. All other brands have the turbo tucked directly behind the driver back seat firewall. This is why they have so many heat shields and you hear a little heat issues in the drivers compartment. This engine & ECU has two factory tunes built in from the factory. No other manufactures offer this. The ECU was designed by Emtron. They are a high performance racing ECU, not some generic ECU system.  They also chose to used a full dry sump oiling system that holds, I believe to be 5 or 6 quarts of oil. Largest in the UTV industry. The oiling system also has 2 oil filters for protection. One is a cartridge so when removed you can see if there are any contaminats in the filter. 

Speed is the only manufacture to offer a 3 1/4 diameter shocks, that are the same sized on all 4 corners. The shocks are a patented design that Robby has been racing on for 20+ years. Shocks are very debatable and people are brand loyal. So I’m not going to try to prove them to anyone. They are internal bypass with 13-14 stages of compression & rebound bypass zones in the shocks. Fox UTV shocks typically have 3 bypass zones. Speed shocks also have a top out bump zone built into the shock. Each shock has full compression & rebound adjustment on them. Also the resivors are 360 degree spin able. 
 

Suspension design. The Speed suspension is unlike any of the other brands. The front suspension has very little track width change, and keeps the tread pattern flat at all times. This design has the least amount of bumpsteer due to steering rack location (like a buggy) and spindle design, and how the wheel center is centered over the king pin. Example would be the new Pro R has over 12 inches of track width change in the front suspension and positive camber change at full droop. 
 

The rear suspension is a traditional trailing arm style you are used to seeing on your buggy. Unlike the other brands 3-4 links, the trailing arm cycles straight and does not change track width like the 3-4 link suspensions do. I think ST said the Pro R had 13 inches of track width change. Speeds trailing arm does not change toe through the cycle. This has been a huge problem for the link suspensions and why Polaris designed the new Toe Link to counter and try to fix this issue. It’s been said the new Polaris tie link has fixed most of the issue, but that the toe link itself has some design issues. The aftermarket is fixing it. 
 

Bolts, something so over looked. But Speed designed their own bolt & nut that puts the bolt shank all the way through the tabs. Also there are only a few size wrenches needed as they were able to design the bolt, with a common bolt head and nut size, no matter the shank size. This reduces the tools needed to work on the car. 
 

Brakes. Speed chose to build their own braking system. But I recently found out they hired and worked with Wilwood to design the whole braking system, master cylinder, & calipers. It was said one of the pre production cars at the show had the prototype Wilwood on it. But that the production cars has the Speed copies on them. Also all 4 wheels hub & bearing are the same. All 4 wheels calipers and rotors are the same. 
 

The digital dash display. While fancy, it does have some very cool features that others manufactures don’t offer. It has multiple screen layouts to choose from. You can screen mirror from your phone putting GPS maps right on your dash screen. The dash has many features that can be pug & play added on. Like tire pressure and alerts. Front & rear cameras. Belt temps. 

The fuel tank is the largest in the industry standers at just over 14 gal. Speed will also offer a second Aux tank that is estimated at 10-12 gallons. It’s not an option yet, but they have said they will build it once the car is released and production is running smoothly. 
 

Speed is the only Performance UTV to offer a truck like storage bed. Some don’t like the looks, but it gives you room for a spare tire & storage boxes all standard. The bed also comes standard with 3 spare tire mounting locations. Or the XX which Robby designed offers a proper spare tire mounting location standard on all models. 

Speed is the only manufacture to offer 3-4 custom graphics patterns with almost unlimited color choices that the customer can choose on their Limited and RG edition cars. No other manufactures let you chose your color and graphic patterns. 

I’m sure there is more I can tell you but it’s way late. I can continue tomorrow if you want more details as to what’s in the Speed UTV and why it’s different from the others. 
Click to expand...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
That filter cover is on the bottom of the engine, right? If so, I'd think you can just slowly remove it and tilt it a bit to get it to drain.  It's funny, that cover looks exactly like the one on my Can Am, except mine is on top of the motor and makes a huge mess every time.  It may have been discussed before, but how is Speed dealing with axle plunge in the rear? Do they use a plunging CV/axle setup like a sand rail?

 
John@Outfront said:
with the cap protruding from the engine it looks easy enough to put a rag under it.  having the drain plug location as shown doesn't seem to help much being in the middle of the cover?  that's only half the oil anyways.  i believe i f oil was changed with a engine that hasn't been run recently, it would have minimal oil in there anyways.  .5 quart? no way  maybe a 8 oz tops,  even if just ran
Click to expand...
Cut a laundry detergent bottle off part way up and hold it there.  A quick shot of Brakleen after install, no muss, no fuss.

 
NIKAL said:
Something new I learned at the Sand show was about the brakes. I’ve known Speed had shopped around for someone to partner with for brakes. Like everything else on the car, Speed chose to build it themselves. But what I found out is that Speed worked Wilwood to develop the braking system on the Speed UTV. I have no idea if parts are interchangeable between brands?

I just found that interesting as Speed has partnered with some very reputable and experienced performance racing companies to develop parts for this car. 
Click to expand...
I believe RG or Todd (I don't recall which) mentioned that the bigger brakes were for the 35" tires. To help stop the rolling mass.

 
kazuaki said:
That filter cover is on the bottom of the engine, right? If so, I'd think you can just slowly remove it and tilt it a bit to get it to drain.  It's funny, that cover looks exactly like the one on my Can Am, except mine is on top of the motor and makes a huge mess every time.  It may have been discussed before, but how is Speed dealing with axle plunge in the rear? Do they use a plunging CV/axle setup like a sand rail?
Click to expand...
The Speed CV is a plunging type that plunges farther and has much more angle than what we use on sand rails. I don't recall the exact angles, but it's much higher. When it's installed, it must be adjusted to center the axle between the 2 CVs for proper operation. Once the axle is centered, there is axle movement in both directions and the CVs can properly articulate. 

 
NIKAL said:
Being that the picture of the oil filter cap is on a production car/engine. I highly doubt we will see a drain plug. If they get enough complaints or bad feed back they might change it on the following year release. So you then might be able to buy one from the parts dept. But like I said I might get someone to machine one if not to costly. I believe it is O-ring sealed. 
 

I hate oil messes as even after you think you cleaned it all up. After the first run you find all the dirt & dust stuck to everything. 
Click to expand...
If you get an early one without the plug, just weld threaded bung into the bottom of the stock cap.  Should be cheaper than machining a new part.

 
NIKAL said:
You asked to be schooled? How about educated? Schooling is attempting to put someone down. I’d rather try to answer your questions, if you want an honest answer like you asked for. 
 

BUCKLE UP! HERE WE GO! 
 

They hype you don’t understand is we are having a proper designed SXS based on 30+ years of real Off Road, Indy car, NASCAR, Dakar & SST Motorsports experience built into this car. Speed is being built by a racer for the masses. This car is not built on a accounting profit margin formula base. This car is built to Robbys desire to build the best car at a reasonable & competitive price point and still make a profit. 
 

Here is a list of things that make the Speed UTV different from the rest and in many cases are patent protected so they can’t be copied. Some safety designs Robby has said he would offer to some other manufactures for a royalty, because he feels the safety is worth sharing. 
 

The main chassis is properly designed and triangulated. . Same with the upper roll cage. No dead tubes. No tubes uncapped. The whole chassis & cage is built out of DOM tubing. The majority is .095 wall thickness with some lower tubes .120 wall. There is no reason to need an aftermarket cage. Chassis shock mounts are Chromoly plate with the rear Chromoly shock mount a boxed backbone intergraded into the lower & mid chassis rails. It’s been the butt of many jokes, but the fact is everything on this car, right down to the brake master cylinder is in double shear. No other manufactures offers any of this. 

The suspension is built from Chromoly plate & tube. The suspension arms are fully reversible left to right. Front upper & lower are the same right & left. This is the same for the rear trailing arms. This was learned from Dakar and is patented in the UTV industry. There are no ball joints on this car. Only hiems & the inner trailing arm is a bushing.  No other manufactures offers any of this. 

While I understand your concern for the suspension mounted off the front dif. This is very strong and has been proven and tested not only on the Speed UTV, but on Robbys Trophy Truck and they have never had a suspension tab failure. I was told by someone with Speed that the engineered dynamic testing, live stress & load testing showed the tabs were stronger then the frame mounted tabs used on the XX, which were stronger then the tabs used on the RZR. Also each tab has a metal sleeve pressed in it, so at no time is the bolt rotating on the aluminum. But let’s say you were to damage a tab? The front dif is a 3 peace unit that you can buy & replace either side. This is much cheaper then a frame replacement or fabrication of a new chassis section. In many cases, and one I personally know of. When a traditional suspension tab is ripped of the chassis can be damaged enough that a new chassis could be needed. A friend of a friend crashed his new Can Am and when the front suspension was torn off the chassis was damage and the insurance considered totaling it. But the car was so new that they ended up replacing the whole chassis. Also this front dif concept was Robbys idea, but designed by Albins, and Weddle consulted on it as they know all the design flaws on the other UTV manufactures difs and gearboxes. No other UTV manufactures have used this level of engineering on their drivetrain. 
 

The whole steering system is totally different from any other UTV’s and is more what you are used to with your buggy. You mentioned your a buggy guy for life. The Speed steering is a front steer system, with proper steering geometry. No ball joints are used on the inner or outer tie rods. This is the only UTV to use hydraulic power steering. This is the only UTV with a collapsible steering shaft for safety. If the chassis was to fail in a crash the steering shaft will not be pushed into your chest. No other UTV manufacture offers any of this. 

Speed UTV is the only manufacture to sell every UTV no matter the trim with full containment seats. You are also offered 3 sizes to choose from. No one offers seat choices. They are the only brand to make proper 5 point harnesses standard on all cars. I believe, but could be wrong. Speed is the only brand to have a dual locking latches on the seat sliders, doubling the strength in a impact or high G load. No other UTV brand offers these features. 

Speed is the first to offer a 3 speed shiftable CVT transmission. This too was designed by Albins and consulted by Weddle. The clutch was design by TAPP and is arguably the nicest and best clutch to come standard on any UTV. The other Brands customers are buying TAPP clutches as a aftermarket upgrade. Speeds axles are Chromoly and the CV’s are a patented design for plunge. They are Dakar tested & proven. If I remember correctly they also have built in grease fittings for maintenance.  Also the drive shaft does not use any U joints. This has been a big issue for Polaris over the years. Speed uses a single driveshaft with barrel spines on either end. This is something that NASCAR uses in its axle shafts to let solid axles adjust camber. This concept was designed on the Speed one piece driveshaft. No other manufacture has this. 

The engine was designed by Arrington race engines. They designed the Dodge NASCAR engine, and at one time were a Toyota engine supplier for the Nationwide series. Another designer who did the head design work was a former Indy car engine design & builder. This engine is very unique with its power & stroke. There are dozens of small details like seal locks, AN fittings, dual injectors per cylinder, water bleed valves etc..that no one else has. The turbo design comes from Indy & F1, and Speed is the only manufacture to put the very hot turbo on the back side of the engine which removes the heat as far away from the drivers compartment and it’s passengers. This design is patented. All other brands have the turbo tucked directly behind the driver back seat firewall. This is why they have so many heat shields and you hear a about heat issues in the drivers compartment. This engine & ECU has two factory tunes built in from the factory. No other manufactures offer this. The ECU was designed by Emtron. They are a high performance racing ECU, not some generic ECU system.  They also chose to used a full dry sump oiling system that holds, I believe to be 5 or 6 quarts of oil. Largest in the UTV industry. The oiling system also has 2 oil filters for protection. One is a cartridge so when removed you can see if there are any contaminats in the filter. 

Speed is the only manufacture to offer 3 1/4 diameter shocks, that are the same size on all 4 corners. The shocks are a patented design that Robby has been racing on for 20+ years. Shocks are very debatable and people are brand loyal. So I’m not going to try to prove them to anyone. They are internal bypass with 13-14 stages of compression & rebound bypass zones in the shocks. Fox UTV shocks typically have 3 bypass zones. Speed shocks also have a top out bump zone built into the shock. Each shock has full compression & rebound adjustment on them. Also the resivors are 360 degree spin able. 
 

Suspension design. The Speed suspension is unlike any of the other brands. The front suspension has very little track width change, and keeps the tread pattern flat at all times. This design has the least amount of bumpsteer due to steering rack location (like a buggy) and spindle design, and how the wheel center is centered over the king pin. Example would be the new Pro R has over 12 inches of track width change in the front suspension and positive camber change at full droop. 
 

The rear suspension is a traditional trailing arm style you are used to seeing on your buggy. Unlike the other brands 3-4 links, the trailing arm cycles straight and does not change track width like the 3-4 link suspensions do. I think ST said the Pro R had 13 inches of track width change. Speeds trailing arm does not change toe through the cycle. This has been a huge problem for the link suspensions and why Polaris designed the new Toe Link to counter and try to fix this issue. It’s been said the new Polaris tie link has fixed most of the issue, but that the toe link itself has some design issues. The aftermarket is fixing it. 
 

Bolts, something so over looked. But Speed designed their own bolt & nut that puts the bolt shank all the way through the tabs. Also there are only a few size wrenches needed as they were able to design the bolt, with a common bolt head and nut size, no matter the shank size. This reduces the tools needed to work on the car. 
 

Brakes. Speed chose to build their own braking system. But I recently found out they hired and worked with Wilwood to design the whole braking system, master cylinder, & calipers. It was said one of the pre production cars at the show had the prototype Wilwood on it. But that the production cars has the Speed copies on them. Also all 4 wheels hub & bearing are the same. All 4 wheels calipers and rotors are the same. 
 

The digital dash display. While fancy, it does have some very cool features that others manufactures don’t offer. It has multiple screen layouts to choose from. You can screen mirror from your phone putting GPS maps right on your dash screen. The dash has many features that can be plug & play added on. Like tire pressure and alerts. Front & rear cameras. Belt temps. 

The fuel tank is the largest in the industry at just over 14 gal. Speed will also offer a second Aux tank as an accessory that is estimated at 10-12 gallons. It’s not an accessory option yet, but they have said they will build it once the car is released and production is running smoothly. 
 

Speed is the only Performance UTV to offer a truck like storage bed. Some don’t like the looks, but it gives you room for a spare tire & storage boxes all standard. The bed also comes standard with 3 spare tire mounting locations. Only the XX which Robby designed offers a proper spare tire mounting location standard, but the tire takes the whole bed. In both the Speed & XX the spare is mounted as low as possible, where other brands aftermarket tire mounts are up high, some at roof hight. 

Speed is the only manufacture to offer 3-4 custom graphics patterns with almost unlimited color choices that the customer can choose on their Limited and RG edition cars. No other manufactures lets you chose your color and graphic patterns. 

I’m sure there is more I can tell you but it’s way late. I can continue tomorrow if you want more details as to what’s in the Speed UTV and why it’s different from the others. 
Click to expand...
Here we go! now that is what I wanted someone to write back and tell me! I watch the speed videos here and there but I am not a die hard so I don't watch every single one and don't listen to every single word. I guess I would rather be educated than schooled lol 

I agree RG has all the experience in the world and does want to build a really good car but I disagree that this isn't for profit. No one works for free. And I would think and hope that someone who took on a project of this size is wanting a fat pay day at the end. And in my eyes there is nothing wrong with that. I have my own company and want the fattest check I can get every day.

I said the car was beefy and it is. He killed it on the frame design. I would put my family in a stock Speed. Never in a stock can am or rzr

Reversible suspension is badass. That right there is a game changer and something no one else is doing yet. Being able to only need one spare of each is really cool

See, right there. I did not know the Diff was 3 piece. That definitely makes me feel better about the design but i would still be slightly concerned. The chance of you breaking one piece and not breaking another seems slim in my eyes

Hydraulic steering is also a step up from the rest. I would much rather have that than electric. Maybe it was just because it was on the street and very sharp turns but i wasn't super impressed with the bump steer when he was in the fox area. but that is just my opinion

I did really like the seats and belts. A step up from everyone. I didn't get a close look but people did say they didn't seem like the best quality, ripples and such. But hopefully they can take care of that with QC

Transmission is the best part of the car for me

The engine is cool. Hopefully with consumer use and the speed key it will hold up but time will tell. I didn't know they used a sump tank. very cool feature

The Pro R has 3.0 in the rear i believe but having RG 3.14 all the way around is definitely cool. I know RG does build badass shocks. Our shopped guy worked with him for years on his trucks and always said his shocks were awesome. I'm sure he put alot of time into them but the ride command shocks on the rzr is pretty badass too so kind of a toss up there

I do like his suspension set on not being a link system but it would be one of those things were I would actually have to drive it to see how it compares to can am and rzr

Bolts was a cool idea but i can only imagine what a bolt kit will cost for it

The breaks are nicer than the rest

In my eyes I would say its a tie on the screens. Rzr's screen is pretty badass as well especially with the ride command system. But i will say I do like RG's screens size and look better than the Rzr and his dash setup and look is also better

Fuel tank size is cool as well if thats something you want. We barely use half a tank in the can ams on rides

All your points are valid and spot on! I wasn't trying to argue with anyone and I don't feel like you argued with me. I have hope that its a good car. It will be interesting to see once consumers get theirs and the real testing starts. Having 500-1000 out playing in the next year I'm sure things will come up but thats always what happens with first gen cars especially from a new manufacturer

 
forgive my last comment  i thought that was on the side.  maybe i should stick to subarus.......

 

I continue like the shock and suspension geometry talk. They mention speed and Robby a few times in this one. Pretty interesting to see how many aftermarket parts they have already made for this thing in such a short time and where they have found the shortcomings. Competition is good for many reasons.

 
I recall RG mentioned talking to vendors or suppliers in Japan and Taiwan also, but I don't know what they made or what role they played in development.

 
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