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Curt
Leaverton & his Wife |
Des Moine, IA (12/14/2005) - This past
November, C&D Racing traveled to Des Moine
Iowa to attend a Parts Unlimited showcase followed
by a National Arena cross event. While we were
in Des Moine, Iowa we decided to see if it would
be possible to set up a tour with Hot Cams, Pivot
Works, and Hot Rods since they are located in
Urbandale, Iowa a suburb of Des Moine. We called
and Spoke with, owner and founder, Curt Leaverton,
and he was more than happy to set up an appointment
and tell us more about his company and the products
they have to offer.
Curt Leaverton was a motorcycle enthusiast and a
graduate engineer searching for a replacement connecting
rod for his vintage motorcycle. He realized that other
motorcyclists faced the same challenge for even their
modern day dirt bikes. This prompted Curt to engineer
and manufacturer his own heavy-duty connecting rod
known today as the Hot Rods, which was founded in
1993 and has since become the world’s largest
powersports aftermarket supplier of cranks and rods
with 45 different cranks and 100 different models
of rods. With the success of his Hot Rods Company,
Curt then went on to fill other gaps in the motorcycle
and ATV industry by creating Hot Cams and Pivot Works.
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Machine
used for Profiling Cams |
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Cams
are tested for tolerance |
Upon our arrival we were greeted by Curt Leaverton,
and he would personally be giving us a tour. Curt
started the tour at the Hot Cams facility and walked
us through the customer service area and explained
they are in the process of moving into a much larger
facility that will allow them to continue to grow
and provide for their customers needs. The next area
was the cam design room; this is where they measure
the profile of a cam. They use a machine that is interfaced
with a computer and as the cam rotates the device
measures the lift and duration of the cam profile.
The Dyno room was our next stop, this room was equipped
with a Superflow Eddy Current dynamometer. Once the
cam designer has decided on the specs for a new cam,
a prototype is produced and installed in the engine,
so it can be tested on their Dyno. Depending on the
dyno results, the prototype will either go into production
or other prototype will be produced and tested until
the desired results are achieved. Once the final design
has been tested and approved, the cam design will
be sent to Taiwan for mass production with the finished
cams sent back to Hot Cams. Once the cams are received,
they are taken to the quality control area for tolerance
testing. A machine is utilized to measures many predetermined
points on the cam to insure an accurate fit in the
engine. The last step in this process is to individually
box each cam so they are ready for shipping to the
distributors and dealers.
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HotCams
as they arrive from Taiwan before being inspected
and packaged |
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HotCams
Degreeing wheel is a valuable tool for installing
a new cam(s) |
After we finished the Hot Cam tour, we continued
through the same building to the Pivot Works division.
Pivot Works began in 1999 as Curt saw the need for
a more economical option to maintain ATV and motorcycle
bearings and seals. The bearings and seals that Pivot
Works use are outsourced in Taiwan and are of the
same quality if not higher quality than the OEM bearings
and seals. Once the bearings and seals arrive they
are sorted into bins by part number and are then packaged
accordingly.
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| Pivot
Works kit components are separated in bins before
packaged |
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Assembled
Pivot Works Kits assembled and ready for shipment |
The next stop on our tour would take place down the
street in a separate building that houses the Hot
Rods division including connecting rod kits, crankshaft
assemblies, and stroker pistons. We arrived just in
time to see UPS picking up a large shipment of product
for their dealers and distributors. The first product
that Curt showed us was the connecting rod. Curt explained
that the Hot Rod connecting rod is stronger than an
OEM rod because they changed the positioning and size
of the oiling grooves along with adding some material
thickness to the rod itself. The next product we were
shown was the Hot Rods complete crank assemblies.
These are a very economical replacement for an OEM
crank assembly, and include the stronger connecting
rod assembly. The complete crank assembly is a convient
way to rebuild the bottom end of an ATV or motorcycle
and also elevates the downtime waiting for an OEM
crank assembly to be rebuilt. Hot Rods also produces
a line of stroker cranks that use a custom CP piston
application. The advantage of the Hot Rods stroker
crank is that it is a drop in assembly with no modifications
required. The CP piston is specifically designed to
be used with stroker crank as the wristpin has been
relocated as well as the ring grooves.
The last stop on our tour was the future home of
Hot Cams, Pivot Works, Hot Rods. This 45,000 sq ft.
facility is still under construction with a projected
completion of late December early January. This new
facility will allow all 30 employees to work under
one roof. Some other features this facility will offer
are a dyno that is permantly installed in the floor,
more warehouse space and even a recreational room.
C&D Racing would like to thank Curt and all the
staff for allowing us to take a tour of their facility,
and for answering any and all questions we had during
the tour. We enjoyed seeing how the products we use
and sell everyday are developed, packaged, stored,
and distributed to distributors, dealers, and customers
worldwide. As these three companies continue to grow,
I am sure we can count on many new and innovative
products in the near future.
