Last night I took my 75 F-100 4X4 up to the sled pulls that were in town.I'm running a 360 V8 w/ edelebrock 600 4bbl.,flow tech headers I got the 4spd. w/ a Dana 20 t-case and I got a locker in the 9 inch out back
I pulled in the small block stock class cause I wuz 500 pounds under weight.First time I pulled the sled I took off in second but it choked the motor down so I fired it back I'm slammed it in first took off and only made it 114ft.My front end wuz jumping off the ground and was wheel hopping real bad.
Second time I pulled I floored the gas put it in second took off I made it 14ft. and smoked the clutch.
Big cloud of smoke come out from under the cab was stinking real bad.It took a hit.
I made it back home though I got loaded on my trailer and towed it home I'll guess I'll start tearing into it the end of this week.
My old mad was sitting in the stands watching he said the truck was shooting a flame out both headers the first time I pulled and both back tires was shooting rooster tails out the back.

Next time I go back in about a month or so I'm gonna fill my rear bumper up w/ water and and add a bumper onto the front to replace the stock one so I can hang some tractor weights up and hold the front end down.
I need wider tires too my r only 12.50 wide on 15X8 wheels.

Dan

 

I am guessing you only have the single speed xcase (no low range), with the 4speed with granny first. Am I correct? If you do have low range, 4lo/2nd gear should have been perfect for truck pulling. What were you running for tire pressure, you would get a lot more traction and less wheel hop if you were aired down. I don't think adding weight to the front is going to help very much. I would run 10-15 psi all the way around on your tires, and add around 500 lbs weight in the bed on top of the rear axle. You have plenty of motor, 360s were pretty good at making torque down low; plus the mods you have will definately help. I would replace the clutch and then play with finding the gear that will give you the quickest launch and still be able to turn some rpms without spitting rods out the bottom of the engine. Then play with weight, find out how much weight you can add and find the best place to set it for the best traction. I sounds like a lot of fun, I wish you the best of luck next time...I am sure you will do better.

 

Yea I'm gonna air my tires down next time I go.I wuz running them aired up to the max which was 50 psi.Plus a big thing wuz I was underweight for the class the truck needs to weigh at least 5,500 pounds and myne only weighed 4,880 w/ the weights I had.
The bumper I'm gonna fill w/ water can hold about 5 gallons and then if I get some more weights it should help.

Dan

 

Well sorry for the bad luck on your pulling. Dont get diiscouraged. The more weight the better youll pull. As strange as it may seem the heavier the truck the easier it is on evrything an will perform much better. Is this your first time pulling? I dont know about the bigger tires. The weight is the key an lower tire pressure If you get a chance talk to somebody who pulls trucks all the time that will really help. They can give you some excellent advice. Ive seen trucks that have pulled terrible in the lighter classes an really excelled in the heavier classes. Id like get in to 2wds. There pretty fun class. Dont have to worry about that front end just the back. Keep us posted on how you do next time. Good Luck. BTW how did everybody else do in the class? Other Fords also?

 

Moved to GA

 

Well as far as weight helping in one way it helps the tires keep traction and w/ my truck front end bouncing like it did when the tires come off the ground it will release pressure off the axleshafts but then when it comes back down it puts a heavy load back on them and that can break stuff easily.

Yea it was my first time pulling my friends said I did good for running a mostly stock truck.Everyone else in the class had more weights and better tires than I had,plus experience.
And yes their is alot of fords up their that pull and do they dominate thats a big 10-4.
One guy in a bronce broke his rear axleshaft off at the yoke and another guy blew a brand new motor up in his truck.

Dan

 

What kind of luck do you have with your 360? I have heard alot of guys around ehre say to stay away from them.

 

I bet you got the bug now to keep pulling. Gets in your blood an you cannot get it out. As far as the 360 is concerned I dont know. But the 390 an 460 are as tough as nails. I know a kid that runs a 460 in a 76 150 that runs hard an is always in the 3 or 4 pulling in his 2 weight classes. That truck has been through hell an back. I enjoy watching this kid. He pulls to win. The 460 is probably the best pulling motor out there. Tons of torque down low. Seem to never die an tough as nails. Fords seem to dominate in this pulling association Im familiar with. In the modified 4 x 4s there are a couple off 79s that cant be touched. The wickedest pulling trucks I have seen. There awesome. Dan give it time your going to get better as you get experience. I bet you cant wait until the next pull.

 

I helped as a pit crewman on an alcohol tractor one summer. There are two different camps on being a successful puller. One is maximum wheel speed. Some of the guys are running 80+ mph wheel speed as they pull down track. Some of the guys rely on brute torque and HP thru gears. Frankly, you don't have either but it doesn't mean that you can't have fun with it. I would play games with the tire pressure. Might try low pressure in front and high in the back to keep the RPMs up and give the front a little more grip. I wouldn't go adding too much weight especially to the frontend. You can break things quick by doing that.

 

id just make sure you got good u joints up front, one of them lets go, it can take stuff with it.

 

If this is a dedicated track-only truck, could you get away with fillnig the tires with water? IIRC, a 33" tire holds near 10 gallons. Maybe fill it mostly with water, then throw about 12psi of air in to give it some shape.

 

I love truck and tractor pulls, my friends and I go to about 10-15 of them per year.

About the wider tire, this may not be your best option. The wider you go the less psi you have on your tire which equals less traction. A skinnier tire will have more psi and possibly more traction. I would think 12.5 inches wide would be enough.

Front end weights are not a bad thing as long as you dont have too many. With a little weight on the front it helps to push down on the front tires to give them some traction while the back end is loaded with the sled.

Have you looked into making some blocks for the rear to put between the frame and the axel. This will make a nonexistant rear suspension. That is how the big modified 4wd trucks are setup.

Good luck pulling it is a bug you will never be able to get rid of, if I had the money I would be out there pulling too!!!

 

I'll tell u why I wanna put weights up front.For one everyone else has them so it must do something right.And two as the truck pulls the sled and the weight moves forward it pushes down on the back of the truck which in turn raises the front end up higher so the weights help hold the front end down better so u can keep traction and steer better.I've seen guys trucks bounce so bad they go off the track.
Really I have no choice cause my front end was shaking real bad and jumping around.

Yes their alot guys that run 460's in the big block modified.

I need an automatic their just better for sled pulling.Don't get me wrong the NP435 is a tough transmission but auto. are just better for this situation and I need a low range.

I still have my 78 F-150 4X4 its gonna have a 400 bored .30 over,cam,headers,alumin.intake,and a buncha other stuff its got the 4spd. too but it has the NP205 t-case.I'm still resto-mod. it right now but its coming together.
I think it will able to pull the sled better.

Dan

 

Does Dan have the truck pulling bug. Yup he does. The weight bracket is a good idea. One guy I know loads weight on one side off the bracket sya a truck pulls harder on one side then the other. This guy pulls extremly well. Definitly has things figured out. If I see him again Ill ask him more about it.

 

He puts weights to one side because his motor makes enough torque that it is trying to lift the one front tire off the ground. This just creates a loss of traction. The weights are on the side that is getting pulled up on to try and balance it out a little, and make that tire get some traction.

Front end weights are a good thing, just dont put too many that you break something. yes without the weights your front end will want to hop all over the track, which one is hard on the truck, two makes you pull less distance and three can send you over the dq line which is a heartbreaker.

Just wanted to clarify in my last post about the psi and tire size, I was talking about the psi the tire puts to the ground not the psi in the tire, that was easy to read wrong. Hope this cleared it up.