Sweet nice lookin truck. Great color. I like the how the exhaust is routed in front off the drive tires. I bet she sings pretty good going down the track. An despite the troubles a guy has. You try to get her fixed as quick as you can so you can go to the next pull. Its definitly a disease an no cure but to get to another pull an go at it. . Thanks a bunch for the pics. Very nice truck. BTW if you guys have any pics off your pull trucks or actual pulling post them up . That would be great. Thanks guys.

 

Thanks.... it is a lot of fun... and work. And yes, if I may brag a little it does sound awesome . Sometimes I fire it up in the garage just to hear it at cold idle and smell the turbo blue.....ooooo baby.

Here's a couple other pics I just found that were taken in fall '08.

Hammer down... wasn't good run at all, truck was hopping bad and I should have pushed in the pedal on the left, but my foot stayed planted on the one on the right, but I knew I was close to the lead, and, well...





Twisted the pinion off.... notice the pool of fluid under the rear end.


got a ride back to the trailer

 

Sweet truck marcs! I'm building a 79 crew cab on a reg cab frame with cut down bed. I'm stretching the wheel base to about 138" by moving the axle back. Got a rebuilt 466, Offenhauser intake, 750 edelbrock, HEI distributor,and working on a deal getting some built D0VE heads. Also have a NP542 5 speed transmission out of a F600, and I've got the parts to build a divorced 203/205 doubler transfer case. Got a HP D60 front and a D60 rear. I prolly won't even bother putting the 60 rear under the frame. I've got my eye on a 14 bolt rear, just gotta make sure it does'nt have the gov-lock in it. Just got stock springs, but after reading this thread I think I'll get me some superdoodys.

 

sounds like a cool project... I'd like to find a crewcab someday for my next 'project.' someday.....maybe..... you're on the right track just forgetting about the 60. If you make any power at all, and are getting any kind of traction they don't last long.

 

so would you recommend a 14 bolt rear? If so, what type of differential is good for them? I ask because I've got a divorced 205 that I could trade for a 14b and the divorced 203 instead of paying $ for it. I told the guy I'd have to pull the 14b's cover before I'd know if I wanted it. He said it's out of a big van or something and that its a couple inches more narrow than most others, so I dunno about replacement axles, but if 75F350 has'nt snapped one yet I'm not worried.

 

A 14 bolt is fine... they are similar in strength, if not slightly stronger than a Dana 70. i run a Dana 70 with aftermarket shafts and a Detroit locker. The main advantage to a 70 for me was that if you can find one out of a F350 cab & chassis, it will bolt right in since the cab and chassis' had the narrower frame like the Highboys. Since your frame is a 79, you'll have the wider frame, so you'll probably be fabricating anyway unless maybe a 70 out of a SRW truck would fit?? A 70 will take quite a bit of abuse, and will hold up in a pulling truck such as mine that is relatively mild. If you're running over 450-500 hp 35" tires, and really hooking it up you'll start to destroy those too. I'd guess I'm just under 450hp and only run 33" tires. The 70 has held up to a lot of hooks to the sled for me, but I know it's my weak link if I ever add more under the hood. When I broke the pinion it was because I had a lot of wheel hop and didn't get out of it like I know I should. If you start to hop really hard, the rule of thumb is you'll get away with two, but on the third hop expect to hear a BANG. Towards the end of that run pictured I kinda figured I was going to break it but I knew I was close to the lead, and I guess I'm dumb enough to want to win that bad so i didn't quit. I remember thinking Oh well it'll just be a U-joint. WRONG!!!! I had recently switched the rears to Spicer non-greasables with the black caps.... turns out they're pretty stout. That's the thing about sled pulling, if you have a weak link in the driveline, you'll find it.

As far as a diff goes in the 14 bolt.. I know some guys around here have luck with the Power Lok units... I've been happy with my Detroit, but they're more $ than a Power Lok. Don't know much about stock shafts in the 14 bolt. Whatever you decide to run, paint a stripe down the length of the shaft before you start pulling. This way you can pull them periodically and see if they're twisting at all. If they twist to a half turn, time to replace, as they will break soon after. DO NOT turn them around and twist them the other way!!!! The aftermarket shafts i run have about 1/8th twist after two seasons of use.

Another piece of advice I'd offer you is to keep the 205 instead of the 203. The 203's are chain driven, and although I don't know tihs as a fact, I don't think they're as strong as the all cast iron, gear driven 205. The 205's are almost legendary, and in stock form will handle A LOT. Again, I'd say the threshold with them is the 450-500 hp mark before you start needing mods.... again that depends on track conditions, tire size and type, etc.

 

the only reason I want a divorced 203 is to build a divorced doubler transfer case, I'm just using the 203 rangebox in front of a 205.

 

Why do you want a doubler in a pullin truck? You wont get any ground speed.

 

It's not just strictly a pulling truck. It's gonna be a work, mudding, trailing, pulling, and when I can get it clean enough maybe a couple local car shows/cruis ins. I'm gonna run either 3.54 or 3.73 gears and I'll have a set of 33-35" tires/wheels and a set of 40-44" wider tires. My goal is to have a drivetrain that has a wide but useful gearing range while being very reliable. I wanna be able to crawl a stump out and still run 90mph on the highway. The np542 has a super low 1st gear (7.67:1 I think) and a 1:1 5th gear, while the doubler will be close to 4:1 in low low. The setup I'm going for will give a crawl ratio of roughly 114:1, compared to the roughly 53:1 of a 4 speed, 205, with 4.10 gears. If I'm doin that right.... Anyway, I'm going for an overdrive-like effect with the slightly higher gears and the 5 speed direct drive.

 

This work?

YouTube - Truck Pull-fairfield 2008 <---my truck
YouTube - Truck Pulling Fairfield, IL 2008 <---whole class and pull-off

 

As far as your questions, I built the truck myself except for the motor. Don't have any idea how much I've got in it, just know that its too much. Running an AAM 1150 rear end with factory gm limited slip and aftermarket axles. I pull in the same classes as the 4x4 trucks, 6500lb, 7000lb, 7500lb, and I'll occasionaly jump into the 8000lb diesel class to **** those guys off

 

Cool vids... That 2wd Ford of yours is a beast !

 

Glad you renewed this thread. Pulling season is here. Will be attending some here in the next few weeks. Those 2wds pull great. I really enjoy watching them go against the 4wds if thats allowed. 73-79 Fords are very popular truck on the pulling scene. Nice videos. Thanks for posting those.

 

blakem_85, i bet that set back axle makes a world of difference when pulling. The super camper special would be a great truck to pull with in the street classes.

 

Yeah it does pretty good. There is also another super camper special that pulls with us pretty regularly, but his is converted to 4x4. BTW, we pull in the "street modified" class.