Desert Rides :: Velocity Fabrication Shop Tour

Velocity Fabrication Shop Tour
by Cory Bantilan

On Sunday, February 29th, I made an impromptu visit to Velocity Fabrication. The shop is located in Templeton, Ca, near the heart of the central coast's wine country, about 220 miles north of Los Angeles. Upon arriving, I met Velocity's owner Jason Ratzlaff who showed me around. There were a couple of old street rods that he was restoring as well as a Toyota Tacoma that he is currently making dirt worthy (Custom roll cage and rear suspension set-up). The shop is new to him, and his company is still young, having debuted at the 2003 Off-Road Expo. However, he's proving to be a great up and coming fabricator, and people are knocking on his door: he's already got worked lined up for a couple months. His general plan: create 3D drawings utilizing CAD programs such as Autocad, Inventor, and Solidworks, transfer them into a CNC cutting machine, then laying down some clean TIG welds.
Below are a few of Velocity's kits and custom work, as well as pictures of the shop.

Brandon’s Tacoma (custom cage, rear end, and steering)

Danny’s Tacoma (VF front end and custom rear end)

The custom 96-03 Tacoma front suspension cycles a clean 17 ½ inches of travel with 2wd. Set up with 4wd, it cycles a clean 15 inches with extended shafts and stock axles. Both suspension travel numbers are what they cycle with limit straps and solid bump stops. It has custom upper and lower a-arms that are 5 inches wider per side, custom spindles, and uses 8 inch coilovers and bypasses. The upper control arms are relocated to the frame, the suspension has built in caster set at 8 degrees. Full bump to droop it has less than 4 degrees negative camber change. It also uses a custom steering linkage. The scrub radius was set with a 34 inch tall tire, so if you run a 33 inch tire or a 35 inch tire, the scrub will be minimal.

Jason’s F150 (VF front end, custom 3-link rear)

The 97-03 Ford F150 suspension cycles a clean 20 inches of travel with limit straps and bump stops. The upper control arms, lower control arms, and spindle are custom. The a-arms use the stock pivot points on the frame and use 10 inch coilovers and bypasses. The a-arms are 4 inches wider per side and the suspension has a set caster of 8 degrees. The camber change is less than 2 degrees from full bump to droop, and bump steer is minimal due to a custom center link for the steering linkage. The scrub radius was set with a 36 inch tall tire, so if you run a 35 inch tire or a 37 inch tire, the scrub will be minimal.

Also available are front set-ups for 98-03 Ford Ranger’s and 88-98 2-wheel drive Chevy’s. No vehicles were available to shoot, but here are 2 CAD drawings of the Ranger lower arm.

For more information or questions, contact Velocity at (805) 238-3223