I was challanged to a truck pull by a co-worker, a "hook em up together" type deal. I have a 76 F250 4x4, 390, 4:10 gears, 4 speed 33" tires with all season type tread. He has a 80 something F150 short bed, V8 stock except for a lift kit and 35" mud tires. This will happen in a grass field, I didnt want pavement. He wants to put 1200lbs of weight in his truck. I have no idea what to do. Any and all advice will be appreciated.

Thanks

Rich

 

Looks to me like you have the advantage. He trying to get better traction with that weight, but I don't think he would need 1200lbs. YOu might want to put something in your truck too. What kind of engine, tranny, and gears does he have? Is your engine stock? If you have a granny gear in your truck and are able to maintain traction then I think you have a for sure win.

 

well.... he it sure wont be 'his' truck winning if he does, 1200lbs is a lot of weight. Tell him you want to do the same. He is trying to get more traction, and that is not the truck's natural ability, like yours would be with no weight. Put the same wight in yours. Is his 4x4?

 

OK, more information on the trucks. I have a 390 with the eldelbrock pkg. Intake and all. Borg warner Brute force Clutch and PP. My driveline is in great shape. His truck has a stock V8, fuel injected (302 or 351), 4x4, automatic with 35" tires. I'd hate to loose just because of traction. I'm not gonna go and buy bigger tires, I have new 33" but they are all season type, not rough tread. Anybody got a posi unit for a dana 60 rear or dana 45 front they want to sell? I really think I can take him on brute force, but you never know. It seems my truck gets stuck on wet pavement, but can pull my neighbors 23 foot boat like nothin. I have a couple questions. Do we use a nylon strap or a chain? Do we back up, rear bumper to bumper and let em go? What gear do I use, 1 or 2? 4 wheel hi or low? I have a 4 speed, he has an automatic. If we both use 4 wheel low, wont it be like 2 slow moving vehichles pulling each other. In the truck pulls on TV, they have alot of wheel spin, is that the trick, leave it in second, 2 wheel high, floor it, and dump the clutch? Do I need weight in the back of my truck? He is gonna fill his shortbed with dirt. This will happen in front of our friends, co-workers and family, I just dont want my late fathers pride and joy (my truck) lose or even look bad because I dont know what to do.

Thanks

Rich

 

here is what you should do. pull it on the low side in second gear to start with. secondly, add weight. the more weight you have the better your traction will be. also, put what weight you can in the front of the truck. and i would also try to make sure that the point where your nylon strap(do not use a chain!!!) hooks to yer truck is higher then the point where it hooks to his truck. the reason is that if you are higher then him, you will be lifting up on his truck and pulling down on yer truck. in return you would be taking away his traction and gaining traction in yer favor. and here is where putting the weight in the front helps. as you pull down on the rear of yer truck it will raise the front of it also. when you put the weight up there it will help keep it down and causing you to get better traction. somethin else you may want to consider is to pull yer truck up onto a trailer and throw a chain around yer bumper and use a come along to pull the back of yer truck down a few inches and make some clamps to clamp onto yer springs. you will want at least one clamp in front of and behind the axle on each side. when you do this and you let the pressure off of the come along yer truck should sit a lil bit lower then before. this will help keep the truck from squating. and be sure to make sure that yer hitch point is higher then his after you do this. good luck.

 

based on the truck specs, you have him beat. However, I don't know much about pulling, though it sounds like redranger1 does.

 

Borrow some mud tires...

 

he want's to use weight,,,,, you use wheel chains....

 

none of that stuff will help, If your going to pull each other in a field you both will just dig holes and not pull either way. I hav tried this a couple times with a truck that had way more power and gears we both just dug holes. good luck let us know how it turnes out

 

Been there, done that and dug holes. If you really want to have a pull off, do it on a hard surface (ie. asphalt or concrete) This is the only way you will see who will win. A little weight goes a long way, depending on where you put it. For a pull like this, weight on the front would probably help more than weight in the bed, to give more traction to the front tires. Also, all terrain tires would be to your advantage pulling on a hard surface.

 

personally if i were you id do it on pavement, somewhere you wont be arrested for wreckless driving.

use 4low, 1st gear. dont dump the clutch, very bad for the truck. if anyones going to put weight in the truck, it might as well be both of you, OR no weight at all. now if you use 4low, 1st gear, youll have the torque to just pull without having to rev the crap out of your engine, once your tires start smokin you arent getting any traction, which might be because you are on the throttle too much.

use nylon- if you have a tow chain break someones going to get hurt. put a blanket over the nylon strap to- if that breaks the blanket will help keepit from flying through the air so fast. i have heard of someone going to the ER by a nylon towstrap so keep your head in the truck!
have fun, be safe, good luck-

 

one last thought- dont do it on your own pavement- i did a break stand one time with my old truck at work, filled the parking lot with smoke. very impressive burnout, but then i was in the possibility of being fired, since my tires DUG INTO THE PAVEMENT

yeah, not only did i wear off half of my crappy tires, but i tore up a 1/2 inch of the pavement

 

From an engineering view, there is really only one variable at play here. It's called the Normal force. In this case, it is the weight of the vehicle. This is assuming that the coefficient of friction is comparable for the different types of tires and surfaces. It's not, but for rubber on asphalt, there is probably little variation.

To be fair, try to keep the weight comparable for both vehicles.

In all honesty, your local parts retailers will be the only real winners :-)

 

If both pullers could exactly match weight somehow, if you're close to any acales. Our local landfill has scales. They'll let me use them any time. If you have access to one, that would help you equalize the contest of 'which driveline rules'.

Go '67!!!!

 

Rich, he is going to jerk you all over that field. What everybody has missed is he has a lift AND 35" tires. He is going to be higher than you and when the power hits the ground, your back tires are going to have the weight lifted off of them. You lose.