Best way to get traction at the strip with trucks?

[cu440da]

Has anyone found any tips or tricks to getting a pickup truck to get good traction at the dragstrip? I am planning on hitting the strip soon and need to get the chassis set so I have a chance at a decent 60 ft. Right now I have to baby it off the line and that just will not work.

I have slicks that I will be using, but I doubt that will be enough to get the results I am hoping for. I know that back in the day the transverse shock kits were supposed to help with wheel hop, and I see Firm Feel is now reproducing them. Are there any other traction devices that fit our trucks?

Clamping the front spring segment, and removing the rear segment clamps is an old tried and true racer trick, but does it work for trucks? My leaf pack seems rather springy compared to the car springs.

Will adding weight at the rear bumper aid in traction enough to offset the increased overall weight? They say every 100 lbs = a tenth of a second.

 

[bear]

That's a tough one if your keeping the leaf springs . I'll be working on that same subject with my Warlock next season . Which has a lot more in it then the lil Red we had . With the lil Red I played with adding and removing the spring clamps like you mentioned . That didn't work to bad with 10" slicks , open headers , and one of my power tunes . That truck ran consistent 12 flat all day long . But to me every truck is different and racing a truck is a lot different then racing a car . You really have to know your truck . Plus with your truck being a stick is going to bring even more of a challenge . I hope you've raced stick cars before . Because that's a whole other subject . lol I definitely don't believe in adding weight to drag cars . Moving weight but not adding weight . Quick question while I think of it , What did you do to help with the frame flex ?

 

[cu440da]

I dug out my old pinion snubber to use on the truck. Not sure how I am going to get some reinforcement fit in there to give the snubber something to lever up onto, though. Cant go crossways because the gas tank is in the way so I need to span the two frame crossmembers longitudinally. The problem with that is it looks like it will chew up room for anything more than marginal wheel travel. Still trying to work that out...

Frame twist- dont want to box frame. Waaay too much work for my ill equipped garage. What have you done to help out with that?

It's good to hear you were able to get your truck into the 12's. What kind of 60' times were you able to get?

And, yes- this thing with a stick will be a handful to get figured out at the strip. I am going to a test and tune so I should be able to get a lot of runs in and see how it likes to launch. Hopefully there will be enough traction I can just rev it and dump the clutch. Hopefully...

Almost forgot. I guess Caltracs are available for trucks. Maybe next year for me, though. This Hemi swap broke me.

 

[mr rusty]

Traction bars help, but a long arm setup like '70s c***'s used with coils is what I'd try. Stacy David did a late '60's sweptline and kept the leaf springs, hung the axel with shackles so didn't need a panhard bar or watt's linkage to keep it centered. as for moving weight try putting your gas tank behind the axle and also your battery. As you said trucks have problems with weight distrubtion, it makes them more fun though. GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[bear]

I dug out my old pinion snubber to use on the truck. Not sure how I am going to get some reinforcement fit in there to give the snubber something to lever up onto, though. Cant go crossways because the gas tank is in the way so I need to span the two frame crossmembers longitudinally. The problem with that is it looks like it will chew up room for anything more than marginal wheel travel. Still trying to work that out...

I've considered that myself . I have an adjustable one here to try and fit but that dam gas tank keeps getting in the way of my ideas . It always has . With the lil Red and with the Warlock I have now . Eventually I'm thinking about getting rid of the side mount tank and mounting a tank in the rear . Then maybe a set of ladder bars . But the only problem with that idea is that I'm trying to keep the truck as original as possible . Plus , I don't feel like swapping out the exhaust that I just had made for it . That would be kind of like throwing money away .

 

[bear]

Frame twist- dont want to box frame. Waaay too much work for my ill equipped garage. What have you done to help out with that?

These trucks twist up big time . Especially when you add a lot of torque . I know it's easier for you to see with an automatic . But with my truck for example . If you open the hood and have someone brake stand it you can literally see the frame twist . That's one of the reasons why on a lot of these truck's you see the frame crack near were the box bolts in and a split in the drivers side fender right above the wheel . That's were the motion starts as the frame twist . I installed a gusset in the left front corner of my frame . Running from were my box bolts to over to the front frame rail under the radiator . It doesn't stop the twist a 100 % but it definitely helps a lot . Traction wise as well , If you think about it . Less twist more equal of a grab to the rear . At least it works for me .

 

[bear]

It's good to hear you were able to get your truck into the 12's. What kind of 60' times were you able to get?

I can't remember my 60 footer's . That was quite a while ago that we owned the lil Red . That was more of our driver at the time with a very mild build on a 440 . At that time our fast cars were our ( my ) 69 Charger and my wife's big block Dart . I got out of going fast for a while and then got the itch again while we were building the motor for the Warlock .

 

[bear]

And, yes- this thing with a stick will be a handful to get figured out at the strip. I am going to a test and tune so I should be able to get a lot of runs in and see how it likes to launch. Hopefully there will be enough traction I can just rev it and dump the clutch. Hopefully...

Almost forgot. I guess Caltracs are available for trucks. Maybe next year for me, though. This Hemi swap broke me.

Sorry I had to brake this up into a few replies . But it was the only way I could keep everything straight . It's tough getting old . lol ..... Stick's are a whole new ball game when it comes to racing . I've run stick cars in the past . You really have to have a feel for it . Like I think I said before . The best thing to do is get a real good feel for how the truck is going to react and feel . Other then two different rear ends , I've also played with tires and there compounds . Right now my truck spins and pulls like all heck at the same time . It scares the heck out of people and cause's them to giggle uncontrollably afterword . Kind of like an amusement park ride . lol ...... And I hear yah on your swap braking the bank . My build started off just being a basic warm up of the 440 . Well I went way off track and blew that idea ( and my wallet ) out of the water . lol But you have to admit , It's fun having a fast truck . Isn't it ?

 

[kiwigtx]

Aaaah....I'm probably not the best person to give advice on that subject....

 

[bear]

Aaaah....I'm probably not the best person to give advice on that subject....

LOL ! I love" it !

 

[kiwigtx]

...and from the rear....

 

[bear]

...and from the rear....

Another good one ! Let me ask you something ? How "does" your A100 hook up when your not trying to smoke them ? I go to a show once a year that is held at a small airport . It's a car show / swap meet , and a run what you brung drag races and there a few big block A100's that run there and they have absolutely "no" traction and they spin all the way up the track .

 

[kiwigtx]

Another good one ! Let me ask you something ? How "does" your A100 hook up when your not trying to smoke them ? I go to a show once a year that is held at a small airport . It's a car show / swap meet , and a run what you brung drag races and there a few big block A100's that run there and they have absolutely "no" traction and they spin all the way up the track .

To be honest it's not a fast truck, but once I've finished sufficiently melting the tires, it takes of with very little slippage....probably because I have about 200kg of steel advertising frame in the tray.

It's a Mobile Advertising Billboard

 

[bear]

Well if your going to advertise then that's a great way to do it . lol

 

[bear]

Hey "cu440da" , Just a thought . Since your running a computer , can you tune it to move your torque range up just a little to help keep you from spinning as much off the line ? Like I said , It was just a thought .

 

[cu440da]

I imagine there could be some timing taken out, but the Gen 3 hemi's are interference motors and I have no idea where that would put valve clearances with the VVT system so I will just leave well enough alone.

I added 3 leaf spring clamps per side the other night and took a little test drive. Seems like it helped, rides like a 1 ton now. I will probably take the third clamp off of the short overload spring and just put it back on for the strip.

The pinion snubber looks do-able with a little fab work. Should be able to make a reinforcement that bolts to the shock mounts and spans forward to the next crosspiece. That will be a project for this weekend between car shows, I hope

.

 

[kiwigtx]

Here's someone else who can't offer anything useful here.....

 

[cu440da]

Mounted the slicks, fabbed the driveshaft loop and the pinion snubber crossmember today. Took it out for a quick little test tonight- still considerable wheel spin. I might have revved it fairly high and dumped the clutch, but still... Gonna have to learn how to finesse it off the line. I was really hoping I would get better traction with the stuff I have done.

I have no plans to relocate the gas tank or battery to the rear, so this is about as good as its gonna get before hitting the strip the next 2 weekends.

I will post results afterwards, but the 13 flat I was hoping for might be a pipe dream.

 

[DodgeAddict]

I put my battery & a RamCharger gas tank in the rear of my truck

 

[cu440da]

Just got back from the day at the strip. Best time was a 13.49 @ 100 mph. Never managed to get my 60' times below 2 seconds. I hope to get a GoPro attached under the truck to see whats going on with the suspension. I suspect the spring is wrapping up and unloading. It hooks and goes, then the truck takes a hard jar and looses bite.