This Saturday in Spencerville Ohio I'll be pulling my inliner in the Hillbilly truck pulls in the 5500 LB class.

It's truck vs truck in the dirt, hooked via "the bar of shame" with no nitrous, no blowers and any tire including ag tires.

There's usually carnage galore, I just hope I'm not one of the unlucky individuals

If you're close, come on out. It's always a good time and the truck turnout is fantastic.

 

I hope you're not going to use your daily driver there! What set up are you running? Auto or manual tranny/ 2wd or 4wd/ 1/2, 3/4, or 1 ton/ Reg, Ex, or Crew cab/ Long or short box/ What kind of tires are you running/ any other goodies...gears, locker, posi, lift, etc? Let us know what equipment you have, maybe we can give you a few pointers on how to set your truck up. Good luck and make us proud, most importantly be carefully truck pulling can be dangerous.

 

It's a play truck, I do drive it alot but I have a backup.

It's a 1989 4x4 regular cab regular bed decently built 307 CID 500 cfm EDL with a M5OD. 4.10s front and rear, open, open but the rear will turn both wheels usually, the front will not. No lift. I'm using home made ladder bars in the rear and made a 7" drop pulling hitch that I plan on running upside down.

I'm running 32x11.50 BFG MTs, I'm going to air down to 20 psi in the rear and leave the front tires alone

The truck weighs 4900 currently so I can add 550 lbs in the bed. I'm leaving 50 lbs off in case it's muddy.

I plan on being as safe as possible and that includes zero alcohol.

I strapped up to an old barn today and pulled out the beams that I could manage to yank. The truck performed beautifully and nary a problem occured.

 

Sounds like a good set up for the most part, especially the 4.10 gears. I am running them in my 84 F150 4wd and it pulls like a Cat D9 dozer. Are you running a carbed 300? I thought that year came with fuel injection, I suppose it could have been changed over. The only weak points I can see you probably have and I could be wrong, would be the open diffs and the light duty 5 speed tranny. The BFGs will help you a lot, in truck pulls traction is everything; I would run 15 psi in the rear and 20 up front. I think I would run the full 550 lbs behind the rear axle. I like the idea of running a 7 inch drop hitch upside down. If you were pulling against some one who sits lower than you, you could have a major traction advantage. I think I would run low range/ 2nd gear, this should allow you to lay into the throttle a little more without spinning the tires. I think you'll do fine, good luck and make us proud. Watch out for for other idiots.

 

I switched from EFI to carbed to allow easier tuning and partially due to my cam choice, the Comp Cams 268H. I wanted to hear the lope.

I had the entire driveline completely apart in the last year including the tranny, axles for the regearing and the xfer case. Aside from some minor clutch fork wear, the driveline looked very good. All wheel bearing are new, all differential bearings are new and all fluids have been checked last week.

Hitch height is 26"s maximum so I may have an advantage there, maybe not.

I'm going to run firewood as ballast, hey I cut it so it's free, so I don't think I'll manage to get it all behind the rear axle.

Aside from the drunks, the only thing that concerns me is someone pulling me while I'm in reverse getting lined up.

I have a pre-pull lined up tonight with a 3/4 Chebby, I'll have the truck in fighting trim so I should get an idea if I have any weak spots.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

It's about time someone else hooks their truck to other trucks! I swear me and you are the only people in this forum that hook to other trucks! only thing is i hook 2wd because i only have 2wd.

I'm getting a 4 speed granny tranny, X-case, and 3:73s front and rear, and drive shafts, for 300 bucks. i cant wait to hook people with a granny first, let alone 4X4. the first on a C-6 isnt geared low enough.

 

I don't blame people for not wanting to hook.

It's very hard on the truck and while I may love to work on mine, most people see it as a chore.

I know that sooner or later it will take it's toll, most probably in the front axle but that will give me the reason I need to upgrade to a HP Dana 60.

Now if I can just find one under $1K.

Rockwells can be had for $700 for the steering units also.

Choices, choices......heh.

 

Yea hooking is hard on the truck, but o well. Once its 4X4 I'll hook the tractor sleds instead of other trucks.

 

So you two are huh??? read Hey you wanna be 4X4 owners i posted this there:

Trust me we do pretty bad. There all those guys that are so cocky it isn't funny but their not manley to play football like the rest of us so they play baseball. Those kind of guys.

One guy in a 95' Reg cab. Stepside 4X4 (you know the kind of truck that is useless in doing anything trucklike) told me his truck would drag my "little" Ford around like it wasns't there.

I said alright aslong as it's on dirt or grass. So things can slip before they break.

So i pulled up in the field across from the school got out and locked the hubs. So he asked what's that for? I told him real trucks you have to mechanically enguage things. That electronic shift on the fly crap i useless.

So he starts braggin about the stuff he has done to his truck. Like Fake dual exhaust really a single split into a duel and a chip.

I started naming off my parts. 2.7:1 Tcase 6.6:1 Granny LS in both axles. Aslong as one wheel has traction it's going. 300I6 well they got a laugh out of my I6 till i asked them what went in semi trucks and they didn't know.

So i said hook up. I hooked into my Pintle hitch that goes in the reciever. He didn't have a reciever so he hooked it to the hole in the bumper where the trailer ball is supposed to go.

We got the go. I put it in 4lo 2nd and held the brakes. Clutch was in no throttle. He slowly pulled me back when i was using my brakes.

Then i heard, "is that all that little 6 has got?" I said,"Nope" then all they heard was that famous "Cummins" I6 sound.

I took off in 2nd and drug him about 40 ft until one of his bumper brakets broke and i stopped so the other one didn't brake.

Then he got out and i heard him say "OMG who is gonna pay for this bumper, My dad is going to be pissed" I just laughed and said, "I guess you are Sparky" And i went home.

So much for my "Little" 300.

Only time i've ever hooked to another truck for any reason other than pulling one out of a ditch on occasion.



DT

 

I've pulled people out of the mud, pulled their cars home, pulled stumps, and occasionally trailers, and dared to go where some people wouldn't take their 4x4.

Mines a 2wd.

The only problems I ever had, is once I cracked a Universal Joint, and the second I was towing home a bannana boat car that weighed about 3 ton, and the guy slammed on his brakes and my truck did not stop, but the stock bumper hitch did.

As I always said, If you have two sets of tire chains and a good come-along who needs 4x4, when you got a 300 I6 matched with the T-18? Well I've always been a nut.

 

I went 2/3 with a Chevy 1-ton getting the better of me after I started hopping.

First pull wasn't close with a 3/4 ton getting yanked by me and his hitch broke in the process.

2nd was a half ton that gave me a decent run but my tires ended up having better bite and I was able to yank him out of the ruts after about 15 seconds.

I tried second gear and first gear during my tests tonight and second was better with respect to hopping. While in first it seemed to want to hop even with the ladder bars.

I do have to keep the RPMs up in second or it will bog and I have to feather the clutch.

I went to check the track tonight also and it's very moist and sticky.

Perfect for breaking things.

I'm running later in the event so I should be able to see which side has an advantage, if any.

There's going to be an invitational event this August at the Auglaize County fair based on the results of this event.

I'm hoping for an invite at best. I'll update either late tomorrow or early Sunday.

Edit to add: Next upgrade will be a locker in the rear if things hold together and I don't need to put funds elsewhere.

 

Well that sounds like you did good. cant really blame yourself for getting pulled by a 1 ton. He's got a load of weight against you. Only pull I've lost was a cummins dually (1 ton). I was drunk and since i pulled a jeep wrangler all over the place and a landrover rangerover suv thing, I thought i could pull all, and my buddy convinced me i could win the pull. yea i didnt win, wasnt close. now i wont hook unless im sober.

O well i got my buddy back when i yanked his blazer! he had 3:73's and mud tires and i still pulled him, and i have 3:08 high way wussie gears. even though i had a few people in my bed, he still had more weight. now he has 3.08's and he still thinks he can pull me for some odd reason. Chevy truck guys for you.

But hey DT and Ghog, did your guys' trucks run really hot after you hooked? Because after I was done pulling the blazer (about 3 minuites of full throttle), my coolent temp was way up there. my tires didn't brake loose since we were on dirt, and the rpms stayed at around 1600 the whole time at full throttle.

I drove down the road and back and it was cool again, but i was worried i was gonna overheat.

 

No, my coolant never gets above 180. even with 4tons in tow. but i just put a new rad in last winter, it's a HD 2core i think, it is the bigger of the 2 that can be used with the 300. I should probally swap the Tstat out for a 195, but for now it runs good.

DT

 

The last pull with the 1-ton it got up to 220. I'm getting ready to do a fluids check right now.

It rained last night so it should be a muddy mess, I'm considering spraying my MTs with Pam cooking spray to see if that will help clear the mud from the tire voids.

Hey, it is the hillbilly truck pulls.

 

I lost if the fourth round to the eventual winner of the 5500lb class, a chevy 3/4 ton with skid loader tires, a 350 and 4.56s

On the light I was able to pull him just a fuzz but his tires got great traction and he pulled me about 2 feet for the win.

I'm very happy with the way my truck performed. Lockers and either ag tires or skid loader tires may have made the difference but overall I couldn't have asked for any more out of my "pissed off bumblebee."

I did get an invite to the August event.