Well this was the first attempt at truck pulling for both myself and the new truck. I just wanted to try it out for fun and see what it felt like. Thought some of you might enjoy this.

This was in a "stock diesel" class which is strange because my truck was the only one without stacks and wasn't blowing black smoke. Ended up taking 4th out of about 10

http://youtu.be/-A1_w-cEwVA

Starting in 2nd in manual mode (in 4x4low) and shifted to 3rd.

 

Great job and great video. Looks like you took it very easy on the start.

 

I did and I also lifted at the very end. It would have been a very long walk home if something would give. One thing I forgot to add was that the truck weighed in at 8800 lbs with me in it and almost a full tank of fuel. Hard to believe.

 

Very nice pull, looked like it handled the sled pretty easily. How far did you make it?

 

288'. I had the airbags pumped up to 50psi which probably helped.

 

Do you think you could make a full pull next time? What did it feel like? I have never pulled a sled before, I'm kind of tempted to see what my old IDI can do.

 

Great video and an impressive pull!

 

I also see that you have the same tires as I do. Look like they did a great job as well. Excellent pull.

I probably would have hammered it once the turbo spooled up on mine.

 

I like to think I could make a full pull next time since I have a better idea of what I'm doing now. The chain was caught under the front of the sled and jerked which spooked me a bit. It felt very smooth and didn't hop at all which I attest to the airbags and long wheel base. Also doesn't hurt that it weighs almost 9000 lbs. I plan on trying again next weekend and will report back. The tires worked great, there was a lot of bite on the wet clay.

 

Your airbags didn't help you any here, if anything they hurt your performance. You had no tongue weight on the truck whatsoever, so your rear tires weren't supporting any weight they wouldn't be normally, which is what your springs are designed to do. By filling your bags you strengthened the springrate such that your rear end was stiff as a board; it was if you didn't have any springs at all.

Meaning your entire rear end was "unsprung" weight, which can really hurt your truck's ability to keep the axle on the ground. This does nothing to strengthen the torsional rigidity of your axle or springs, so it did nothing to help with wheel hop.

 

A 40k lb sled is actually quite a bit of tongue weight especially once the weight starts sliding forward. The chain on the sled is at ground level and the hitch height is 26". If what you're saying is true, why does every super stock truck have solid supspension and no springs at all?

 

Back in '79, yep that's 1979, I entered my 1978 F-250 4x4 in a local truck pull. That was fun. When I got about two thirds of the way down the track, the increasing weight from the sled caused my truck to start slipping the tires and once that happened the whole truck started hopping up and down so severely, I thought I was going to rip something apart. I bet a set of airbags woulda calmed that bunny down a bit and I coulda kept truckin down the track.

 

What kind of tires are super stock pullers using? Huge low-pressure tires. Low pressure because they do NOT want to be stiff as a board, and huge because they need surface area for grabbing dirt.

If your thinking was correct they would require the highest pressure possible....right?

 

No that's not my thinking, we weren't talking about tires and I don't want to get into a physics debate by any means. Many use the identical tires that i have with the exception of a 15" or 16" diameter rim. Other mud terrain tires are used but the size is always 35" tall and 12.50" wide with a variance in the wheel diameter. Rear tires are set to around 40 psi and fronts are around 15. If you let out to much the tires will start to fold over. I just know what works and that is a stiff/solid suspension. Take it or leave it.

 

I gotta say anybody that knows anything about sled pulling would agree that airbags help. Sled pulling is about weight transfer and the sled transfers a lot of weight to the rear of the truck. The higher you keep the rear ride height, the less weight you transfer off your front axle. If a rigid suspension wasn't an advantage then why do many sled pulling promoters not allow you to block the suspension or use airbags on stock trucks?