The Cass County Sheriff's Police Department has been Pedderised. After 91,000 miles of in-service use the Cass County Sheriff's HEMI Dodge Charger was feeling tired. Deputy Gary Armstrong describes what the Charger felt like in a hard turn in route to a call, "While responding to a call I had to stop and check to see if I had a flat tire. In a turn my car didn't feel right. The tires were fine, but something was wrong with the car.' Deputy Armstrong did his research and found Pedders. Pedders picked up the Charger on Monday April 27th, 2009. The next Day Cass County's 91,000 mile Charger became the most competent Police vehicle in the USA. A series of required repairs were made to the Charger. That is nothing new as we repair suspensions all the time. What is new and NEWS is that the run of the mill HEMI Charger Police Car was heavily modified to enhance pursuit capabilities. The Sheriff's car was Pedderised including the very first set of Police Spec Xa Coilovers! This Cass County First Responder LX got the best of everything we have at Pedders. What a difference in the drive from Cass County to Reeves Pontiac Buick in Indianapolis and the return trip Pedderised. I had no desire to drive it in the condition we picked it up. After 91, 000 hard miles it was sloppy, really sloppy to drive. It felt like and old truck. The drive back was a very different story and different vehicle. It was razor sharp, controlled and fun to drive. If Mike didn't take most of the miles Police car or not I would have been on the wrong side of the bars before we delivered the car back to Deputy Armstrong. A Police Xa Package is a major installation. As this is an in service vehicle it had to be completed in one day. Eric and Mike did a stellar job. With the installation complete we aligned the vehicle for improved tire life balanced by improved handling. The high rate coils will carry the day to day load of electronic equipment and tactical gear. We put enough people in the trunk to total 900 pounds with most of it on the bumper. The rear ride height dropped only 40mm. We delivered the Charger to Deputy Armstrong at about 11:30 Tuesday night. His test drive made all the work Mike and Eric did worth while. He was more than impressed. He was more than excited. He was some where north of ecstatic. Deputy Armstrong now drive the meanest looking, baddest #$% unmarked HEMI powered Police Cruise on the planet. His custom installation of electronics combined with Pedders Xa Police Package give him more power to Protect and Serve than should be legal. The Cass County Sheriff's Department now has the ability to successfully conclude any pursuit they choose to engage in. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time - in Cass County Indiana. So what was wrong? The rear sub-frame bushes were severely corroded. The corrosion had caused almost a complete separation of the rubber to metal bond in all four of the sub-frame bushes. The flat tire feeling was caused by the degradation of the sub-frame bushes. There was so much movement in the rear sub-frame it did feel as though there were a flat tire when driven. The picture below shows the cradle moving close to 2 inches; thus the sensation of a flat tire. this video link shows the tearing rear cradle bushings and the tearing front tension rod bushings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij6PEQk4DzM Also, they were on their 3rd set of front tension rods. the bushings had what appeared as a slight crack. But upon very close inspection, the crack was all the way thru the bushing, and with normal deflection the thin crack opens to a very large gap Now the issues of teraring front tension rod, or radus rod bushings, and tearing rear cradle bushings are not exclusive to to Police Persuit vehicles. The are common to hard driven LXs and shows the weak link of the bushing designs. You can read more about the installation on our website. http://www.peddersusa.com/products/19 mike dms
We delivered the Charger in the dead of nigh and even worse in the rain. We did not have any good pictures of the vehicle until Deputy Armstrong sent these over today. Sheriff Isaacs Sheriff Isaacs and Deputy Armstrong What you don't want to see in your mirror in Indiana! Do not pass a black Charger on the road if she looks like this, If you do, you will see how many lights she has!! You will not be able to out run her! Mike dms
I have received some private emails and some open posts about the government spending money on performance suspension from officers, government poeple, and of coarse citizens. On the surface, it is a very legitimate question. So here are some things to think about: 1. Many officers have contacted me or posted that the reliabilty and tire life of the suspension on the LX is pretty poor. In the example here, they replaced 3 sets of tension rods, and were going thru tires really fast. Plus they knew something was wrong and took it to their Chrysler dealer and they said the dampers were bad and they replaced them. But the handling was still a problem. Tension rods are $250-$300 a piece, so they spent $1800 or so plus labor on tension rods plus labor. 2. If we can get 10K to 20K in tire life by getting the alignment corrected in a dynamic align situation, then we have saved the tax payer money, and added to officer safety. 3. The Charger I believe is a .83-.85g skid pad rated vehicle. We can get it to .99gs, which is in the area of a Z06 vette. The trainer for the Sherrifs department in the Phoenix area, told the sheriff that our system will "reduce accidents and save Lifes" 4. I have driven and worked on many persuit style vehicles. I may be unusual, but I do truly respect the guys for putting their butts on the line. If we can make their vehicle safer to drive, .83g to a .99g vehicle in the twisties, and have them get the bad guys easier and safer, then that makes me feel good. 5. Now the sherrif can get another 2 years on the chasis, and again, that is saving the tax payers thousands of dollars. I was involved with the police vehicles at Travis Air Force Base. They were going thru tires every 6000 miles. After did my magic, they now can get 25K on tires, as long as they rotate them every 4-5k like I set them up for. So Pedders can save the tax payer money!! So Pedders should be in Obama's recovery package! LOL mike dms
