My first time out a few weekends ago I won the stock class. I decided to hit the road this weekend and head up to Mullet country to test my luck again. I didn't do so good. The trucks that were there were by no means more powerful, they didn't need to be. The track was black dirt. It was packed so hard, it was more like blacktop. Tires squealing and the whole 9 yards. Needless to say, I did a 304 ft 4wd burnout with tires squealing the entire track. :badidea: I got up to 19mph sled speed and was stopped in my tracks by the eliminator....all the while the motor was reving away...didn't bog down at all.

Truck weighed in at 8200#(class was 8500#). 700# sandbags in the front of the box...300# salt bags under my rear seat. Caltracs on. T-bars down, Cognito supports in and working. Co pilot in race mode. Pulled third gear low with the TCM and copilot doing the shifting. I got out about 50ft before I put it to the wood. Tires are **** Cepek 33x12.5x17 w/ 50psi in the rear and 30psi in the fronts. I do not have a locker in the front. hitch height was 25" and 26" was the limit.

I knew it was not a HP track because the old 70's farm trucks running on 7 cylinders were spanking the brand new Silverado's and F-150's in the stock 6200# class.

I learned that truck setup and power can only get you so far. Reading the track and adapting to the conditions is 75% of the battle (and I failed at it!). What should I have tried knowing the track was that hard and in that condition?:help2:

Yes, but at least you didn't get beat by an LBZ.-:t

How bad did you get beat and by what?

An A/T tire may have done a little better on the hard pack,the Cepeks are a little on the aggressive side.

Did you lower the t-bars in the front?

Did you strap the center link?

Did you clamp the rear srpings down?

Are your bump stops set for minimum rear travel,most stock classes say 2"?

All of the above can add up to quite a few feet of distance.

Keep at,I learn something new at every event.

as much as I love pulling I probably wouldn't have even gone. I'm not big on tires squealing down the track with a large sum of weight hooked up to me.

How bad did you get beat and by what?

An A/T tire may have done a little better on the hard pack,the Cepeks are a little on the aggressive side.

Did you lower the t-bars in the front?

Did you strap the center link?

Did you clamp the rear srpings down?

Are your bump stops set for minimum rear travel,most stock classes say 2"?

All of the above can add up to quite a few feet of distance.

Keep at,I learn something new at every event.

My first time out a few weekends ago I won the stock class. I decided to hit the road this weekend and head up to Mullet country to test my luck again. I didn't do so good. The trucks that were there were by no means more powerful, they didn't need to be. The track was black dirt. It was packed so hard, it was more like blacktop. Tires squealing and the whole 9 yards. Needless to say, I did a 304 ft 4wd burnout with tires squealing the entire track. :badidea: I got up to 19mph sled speed and was stopped in my tracks by the eliminator....all the while the motor was reving away...didn't bog down at all.

Truck weighed in at 8200#(class was 8500#). 700# sandbags in the front of the box...300# salt bags under my rear seat. Caltracs on. T-bars down, Cognito supports in and working. Co pilot in race mode. Pulled third gear low with the TCM and copilot doing the shifting. I got out about 50ft before I put it to the wood. Tires are **** Cepek 33x12.5x17 w/ 50psi in the rear and 30psi in the fronts. I do not have a locker in the front. hitch height was 25" and 26" was the limit.

I knew it was not a HP track because the old 70's farm trucks running on 7 cylinders were spanking the brand new Silverado's and F-150's in the stock 6200# class.

I learned that truck setup and power can only get you so far. Reading the track and adapting to the conditions is 75% of the battle (and I failed at it!). What should I have tried knowing the track was that hard and in that condition?:help2:

Cognito's eliminate the need for strapping the centerlink. Cal tracs and 05 suspension eliminate the need for clamping (but I do have clamps if you guys think it will help) No bump stops on, but the clatracs limit travel by design. NoDmax has a dually and he has 6 BFG AT's...didn't help him any.

One of the best tools you can use to improve on pulling perfromance is a good video camara. That's helped alot of us make improvements.

Maybe it just wasn't your day. Everyone has good hooks and bad hooks no matter how optimum the setup.

What's different about the '05 suspension that eliminates the need to clamp?

A locker makes a huge difference on tracks with marginal traction.

You were 300# light and 1" low on hitch height. What happened was (my guess), the front end came up and since you were not running blocks, you dropped a lot of hitch height. Being an x-cab shorty didn't help you either.

This is why video helps so much.

On glossy hard pack, we have a guy here running a Dodge dually with soft, siped, winter tires and he does great. He also runs a very big gear, which the Dmaxes under 800HP don't have (4th low). Point is, if you get to digging, you're in trouble. I did the same thing here about 2 months ago, spun like hell cutting channels in the track. The guys who did well ran on top like pavement.

Were the other trucks running front hanging weight? If so, that'd be at the top of the list.

And I disagree on the Caltracs limiting your travel. They'll limit axle rotation but have no real means of limiting how far your arse end drops. That's all in the leaf, which you still need to clamp. Tomac and some of us others run way bigger bars and clamps are still used.

Another thing - unless you've got it full of lead shot, there's no way on earth that your truck weighs 7200. My CC/SB is right around 7000#.

The CalTracs do not limit your travel. Only your axle wrap. Totally different.

Make yourself a set of adjustable blocks for the rear, and clamp your springs. Also the closer you can get the hook point to your rear axle the better.

Oh yea, and get yourself a real motor.;)

No hanging weights were allowed. I was about 800# underweight as well. Front locker would have been nice. The track wasn't loose, it was hard pack. We were spinning the whole way. We didn't did trenches, just did a burnout for 300'

Yeah, I realized after making the comment about trenching that I was thinking more of me than you!

If it was THAT hard, then a soft siped winter tire may have been the ticket.

E-lockers are great. If you remember to turn them on, that is. :duh:

The thing that get me is...These jokers did not have their trucks set up to pull, probably had less power, and still beat us. I've never seen so many trucks with the front tires trying to kiss each other.

The local mullet-only barber/alignment shop was probably very busy the next day.):h

bob, where do you want me to start?:D i hope to be going to al's tuesday, maybe with kyle. if your not there, mabye i will call you and pick on you:blahblah: on the way home(nights and weekend start at 7, i need some time;) )

I'm tellin' ya, my experience so far is that power is way less of an issue than traction.

The guys who beat us, who never seem to want for traction, are the Dodge guys running maunals and big gears (5th low on a 6-speed). They spin coming out of the hole, but it bogs the motor enough that it's not excessive....then they gain ground speed and pretty soon they're flying.

The Allison is great for real power tracks....but on slippery stuff, you have to ease it out carefully. The gear ratios are simply so low that you'll never want for power in 1st or 2nd. Getting the motor wound out near the top of 2nd seems to be better.

Last time, I pulled in the rain, brought the sled out in a lower tune and then hit the big one right after it shifted to 3rd. The pull sucked because it was raining, but the point is, I don't think mashing it out the hole is always necessary. The low gears can do the work.

I also have a theory that BigBlockBill pulls so well in his LLY because of the first gear de-fuel. Watching his tapes, he doesn't roll smoke until it shifts to 2nd.

There is a lot of technique to this. Power tracks let you get away with wooding it, but it's ones with marginal traction that will separate the experienced from the noob.

Now, traction control......that would be sick!

I eased into the throttle the best I could. Bobo pulled 2 trucks in front of me, and he was spinning so much the back of his truck was moving back and forth until the box moved up on the sled.

thats at least a good sign his locker is still working!

My truck was wicked sideways for most of the run. I'm sure it looked cool on the vid, but it didn't win me squat. I'm a noob, but willing to learn!

The Caltracs won't limit travel, but they WILL work against squat.

There's a pull in Rice Lake WI (promises to have a real track) Friday night...

I also have a theory that BigBlockBill pulls so well in his LLY because of the first gear de-fuel. Watching his tapes, he doesn't roll smoke until it shifts to 2nd.


What first gear de-fuel? Mine smokes immediately, and stays on the whole run.

What first gear de-fuel? Mine smokes immediately, and stays on the whole run.

Probably a difference between tunes. The PPE is what we've been watching on the tape.

Nothing works against squat better than a solid block.