Going to try some dirt drag racing with the Tahoe

[ak diesel driver]

You ever seen black marks on dirt. I have it surprised me.

 

[schiker]

Kinda my point I’ve seen rubber on hard dry dirt, dry clay, medium size rocks, and roots. Haven’t done any real rock crawling but seems it would rip up mud lugs and not the best match too open It’s been a while since I’ve been to a tractor. pull. Seems they don’t use aggressive mud tires. They are like wide grooved slicks. More similar to a r4 tractor tire than r1. Sand drags use paddle wheel looking tires and throw a rooster tail but they are light and the sand gives. I,d guess a truck would tear off too tall, deep,wide paddles. Or is it so the track isn’t shredded? Unless the tires are loading up and not cleaning out then all terrains are better than too aggressive mud tires.

 

[n8in8or]

Exactly. Use it to help build boost before launch and cool during staging then cut to lowest lock up to race? It would be nice if it reacted that fast but unlikely. Maybe Leroy's electric clutch.

I have seen a few trucks with the lowered back end and don't really like the look. I saw one with lifted front, lowered rear, and sets the tailgate open 1/4. Kinda a poser look. Looks like it makes visibility poor. To each his own but not for me. I don't like my truck to sag even when loaded.

My understanding is aggressive open lugs are good for clearing heavy sticky mud. Kinda depends on your dirt. I would think you judge it by how much the tire loads up and ease of clean out???

How about your tie rods? Did you feel a lot of pull steering or bad wobble? I thought ya'll both took off pretty straight with a little squirm at first And how about your new rear end. Don't you like that little positive traction squirm in the back end but hooking with front to pull diagonal too.

Good point on the fan clutch - since it’s still based on the flow of silicone, I doubt you could turn it off that instantaneously.

Nope, that look doesn’t do anything for me either, but to each their own I guess.

There were some gasser Jeeps there that had aggressive mud tires and even paddles and they were doing well. I think I might have a video.

I didn’t have any problems with the tie rods. I reinforced them in another thread.



I was too busy taking everything else in to really think about my rear end. I guess that is telling - it worked well enough that I didn’t have to think about it. The Gov Lock would not have done so well since it liked to unlock once wheel speed got hight enough. I think I did feel it go diagonal a couple times.

 

[n8in8or]

A friend of a friend sent me a video so now I have a good quality outside vid! Unfortunately it’s from my first round loss where I redlighted, but it’s better than nothing. Enjoy!!

 

[Jaryd]

that look is called “the Carolina squat” by the young guys around here in South Carolina. I don’t like it either.

There is a guy that works where I do that has a dodge 2500 with a 6” lift in the front and the back is stock. I asked him about it a while back. I don’t see how he knows where he is going especially at night. It seems like the headlights would be aiming at the stars.

Next time I’m on the same job as him I’ll post a picture of how it looks.

 

[Rockabillyrat]

Dirt drags are alot of fun. Thanks for sharing!

 

[n8in8or]

Dirt drags are alot of fun. Thanks for sharing!

You bet! These guys should be in your neck of the woods too - they said they run like 20 races a year in Ohio. Check it out!

 

[BIGR]

that look is called “the Carolina squat” by the young guys around here in South Carolina. I don’t like it either.

There is a guy that works where I do that has a dodge 2500 with a 6” lift in the front and the back is stock. I asked him about it a while back. I don’t see how he knows where he is going especially at night. It seems like the headlights would be aiming at the stars.

Next time I’m on the same job as him I’ll post a picture of how it looks.

I saw a newer Ford F250 this week on the road like that. I met it on the road and I thought he had been to the rock crusher and got a load of gravel. I looked back in my mirror I couldn't see a thing in the bed, thought to myself what's up with that is that the new style? I believe that is some of the boys that just like to have a Diesel truck that never works one, to me a truck like that is USELESS AS TITS ON A BOAR HOG...…...

Hey, you guys do whatever you want with your truck, jack it up make it bounce up and down whatever you prefer. My truck is for working and I don't need the back end dragging the ground when I hook a big load to it. I know some Chevy guys that have dropped the front end down and leveled their truck, that's ok not bad.

 

[Will L.]

All the pre runners do that angle for better control on jumps and whoops. Need more suspension travel and clearance for the engine and trans weight. The “style” is unfortunately catching on more every year. SMH.

It doesn’t look as bad on the real race trucks because the fake bed side usually have a big cut angled from tire up towards the bumper area.

 

[n8in8or]

So the run where I red-lighted because I pushed through my brakes has been bugging me. I have pretty much all new brakes with upgraded parts and I feel like I should have been able to hold the truck back without a problem - especially after seeing other guys there holding their trucks back with presumably more engine power than me. It was gnawing at me. I started thinking about the hydro-boost after thinking about how the pedal felt when it happened. So I read on how hydro-boost works. It could have some excess clearance in the bore since it’s probably the original unit with 170,000 plus miles on it and I could see that reducing my braking power. Well before I spend a ton of money I don’t have changing the unit out, I figured I’d try flushing and refilling the power steering fluid. I’m pretty sure I’ve never done that since I’ve owned the truck and who knows if it was ever done before I owned it. So I used my Mityvac vacuum pump and sucked the fluid out of the pump reservoir. Once I got all out that I could I went in the truck and depressed the pedal about 5 times until the pedal got hard - this should have gotten all of the fluid out of the hydro-boost’s accumulator. Then I refilled the reservoir and started the truck. Once started I depressed the brake pedal multiple times and turned the steering wheel back and forth multiple times to get new fluid in everything and old fluid out. I did this 5 times and I ended up running a little over half a gallon of fluid through the system. It never came out clear, but it at least started to look amber rather than black. I also noticed that the sound of the pump when it was up against a steering stop or if I pushed the brake pedal down hard changed - it sounded healthier. Well now here’s the test....can I hold the truck back when building boost? Check it out:

 

[WarWagon]

Line lock it. Stock power can overcome the brakes. Neither are stock on yours. Results with brakes are not guaranteed.

 

[n8in8or]

Line lock it. Stock power can overcome the brakes. Neither are stock on yours. Results with brakes are not guaranteed.

You talking line lock or a trans brake?

 

[WarWagon]

Trans.

 

[n8in8or]

That makes sense. Yeah, perhaps i’ll look into that when I start planning the trans build. It would make staging easier I imagine.