So I tried out sled pulling

[KMcCullah]

 Back in the mid 80's dad pulled this truck a lot. It had a 428CJ with a 125HP plate nitrous system. He always did well with it. Back then the only trucks with diesel engines were sick running things. They didn't even have turbos back then. Wow how things have changed. This particular truck pull last Saturday they had a class for gas trucks and 3 different classes for diesel trucks. The kids with their highly modified diesels were fun to watch. I lost count of all the blown up drive lines, transfer cases and axles. I'm set up for mud racing but didn't have to do much to go sled pulling. Dad reminded me of a trick he did back in the 80's. We lifted up the back of the truck which let the springs droop down. We cut a piece of 2" receiver hitch tubing and set it across both spring packs right next to the U-bolt plates. When we set the truck back down the frame set on top of the square tube. Basically making the rear end solid.  I put on my best Saturday night tune up and put the biggest rev limit pill in that I had. 6900 rpm. I did my best to stay about 200 rpms below 6900 but hit it a few times. You can hear it loud and clear in the video. I ended up with a 2nd place out of 7 gas trucks. All Fords with 460's. Not bad for a 390 I think. By the next truck pulls my 458 should be done. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XmCwYZLkJo&sns=em

[turbohunter]

Pretty damn cool.

[mlcraven]

Thanks for posting...love the sound of that Sat night tune (it needs more air time on talk radio  )

[jayb]

Awesome, Kevin!

[KMcCullah]

Thanks guys! I realize it's not much fun to watch. Certainly not as exciting as drag racing. More like watching paint dry. But it sounds like I'm breaking some sort of land speed record if you just listen and close your eyes. 

I've had several guys suggest that I pull the rev pill out of the MSD 6AL and just let it sing. Will the 6AL even work without a rev pill plugged in? I've never tried this. I've always had a pill plugged in. I wouldn't hesitate to try a higher rpm limit though. Maybe 7600? But never without some kind of pill plugged in. Back when I was running a dual point Mallory I had one occasion where my transfer case popped into neutral at the starting line when I dumped the clutch. I was running CJ rods at the time and spun the #7 rod bearing. The tach recorded 8600! 

[fastback 427]

That thing does sound nasty! That is fun to watch, its just like drag racing, on the dirt. I would venture to say that pulling is one of the hardest things you can do to a drivetrain. Lots of shock with hooking and spinning all under a heavy load at Max rpm. The msd will run with no chip if you think it'll handle it!

[Ratbird]

That looks like a blast. A friend sent me this one a while back - this one hits a whopping 13.7 mph!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvM8nii8y2w

[KMcCullah]

The msd will run with no chip if you think it'll handle it!

That's good to know. I won't try though. The reason I questioned this is I've heard from some racers that their MSD boxes had been disabled because of a bad rev pill. Maybe they were talking about a shorted rev pill? So I assumed that removing it would disable the ignition too. 

[turbohunter]

Kevin what is your trans and gearing set up?
The engine sounds great.

[KMcCullah]

Kevin what is your trans and gearing set up?
The engine sounds great.

My gearing and 390 are absolutely wrong for sled pulling. In the link above I was running 1st gear and in low range. Obviously I was past the top of the 390's torque curve and probably on the backside of the HP curve. My tranny is a NP435 and T-case is a Spicer 24. Low range isn't quite 2:1. 1.85:1 I think. Axles are out of a 2002 Superduty with 4.56:1 gears. Tires are 35" tall. With me in it weighs 5100lbs. It all works great for mud drags but really sucks for sled pulling. The truck that won weighed 6950lbs so heavy is better to a point I think. 8000lbs was the maximum weight allowed.
 The link below was my very first run. In 2nd gear low range. I figured it was going to be about right since it's way too low for mud drags. Boy was I wrong! Obviously I was way down at the bottom of the 390's torque curve. I clutched it a bit at about 100 feet to get my rpms up or get the tires spinning. Had to try something because I knew I was waaay below my power band. That was a huge mistake too! Luckily this 390 is way down on torque or something would have broke. Didn't even hit 5000rpms by the end of the pull. But beat my 2nd pull by 20 feet. Go figure.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_k43ClTYU4&sns=em

[bluef100fe]

I do the sled pulling deal from time to time... It's expensively and addicting to be competitive around here though... That's a good running 390 to pull that gear... Nice videos also... If I get a chance I will post a video of the truck I sled pull with...