WARNING: this is long - but i need to vent - and I need help

I need some advice, pointers, help -whatever. I know everyone wants to keep secrets when it comes to sled pulling but i doubt very seriously any of us are going to cross paths who post on here. Most of us are strung out all over the country -but I guess there are lurkers -but who cares. Before I say anything I know there are many variables - so now thats out of the way...

I was very dissapointed tonight when I hooked to the sled for the first time this year. I made some fairly major upgrades over what I had last year. I am roughly figuring that with my mods and the edge set on 150 hp I should have 385-400 hp at rear(am I wrong) I weighed in at 7530 I weigh 235. I am running Cooper discover ATS aired down to 25 front. My hitch height was 26 inches off of a reese type. I havent installed suspension stops yet and I dont have any hanging weight yet. I think that will help. The thing is, I came in 6th place in the street class(299.5 ') This is exaxtly where I ran pretty much all last year with 80 less horse and a stock TQ converter. The winner pulled 375', then it was 350', 332', 325', 305' then me. Man I was dissapointed. In the hot class which I really dont care if I place I only went 266. I am already around 3000 in. What else can I do that wont break the bank? The thing is I am afraid the Edge is more a high end box. We ran some drags and I blew the doors off everyone except a D-max (he got me by a nose) that I propbably will get when I get the BD race defueler. Last year when I ran the Diablo power puck it seemed I had a better low end. This year it seems the Edge for pulling doesnt have the low end - Am I crazy and just imagining that? edited this in - another thing that was weird was building boost at the line. I had a hard time holding the truck back trying to get to 18 to 20 lbs on a launch. Last year I could stab the brake and build some real nice poundage but now it felt like I was going to break the brake pedal and I was leaving with only 12lbs or so.

I am not worried about more horse power but would consider a few small things to help boost it some more. I have always heard that a truck setup engineering wise such as suspension ect. will beat a big horse truck now someone prove it to me becasue I am going to be a fabing machine over the next two weeks to try to engineer a better pull. Any help will be appreciated.

 

Are you running stock turbo hy35? I did't see any turbo upgrade in the sig.

 

You need traction bars.
And ALOT MORE HORSEPOWER!!

 

block your rear end and hang weights off the front. that will help alot. its not about who has the most power, its about who has their truck set up right

 

I agree on the truck setup thing. But power is power.

The ultimate pulling truck has both.....

http://media.putfile.com/KentCrowderScheid

 

The reason you're not building as much boost before the breaks want to let go is the new converter is probably tighter, so you're actually putting that power to the ground.

 

To answer a couple questions- stock turbo - I didnt think I needed another turbo after how I competed last year. But could be wrong.

Traction bars: how did you build yours because we have looked at building but felt the 3rd gen rear suspension created some problems and decided to build just some suspension blocks.

And the need for alot more horses???? the other trucks werent any hotter than me I dont think. But most had some sort of suspension mods.
as far as blowing everyone away thats not what I want-i just want to be competitive and hang around the top three wherever I go running in the street class. As far as the hot class it would be nice to run up there in top three with a true street truck but it really isnt a concern.

I was shooting for 450 to 500 horse to rear for this summer (I think Im close but do you all think Im wrong) so way more horse isnt what I want. just gettin sled to move another 30-50 feet. hope i can ge it with engineering.

 

A friend of mine said the same thing last night. I swear it felt like I was going to tear up the brake pedal. The truck felt way different when launching than it did last year - kind a like 'out of control' I guess its going to take some trial and error to get it right this year. There was a rumor going around that the sled man would come out for a couple hours to test and tune for 200 bucks. Think I will look into it to see if its true.

 

I understand how you feel, i was in your situation last year. I was getting beat by stock powerjokes and i could not for the life of me figure out why. When i talked to some people who were watching the said that all 4 of my tires were spining like crazy, and they were just not hooking up with the ground. The tires that i ran at the time were crap and i have since changed to some better ones. I watched a stock powerjoke go and he was going slow and steady with no tire spin. He was actually putting the power that he made to the ground, where i was just flining dirt and mud all of the dam place. Like you said, we ran them on the street and i dusted every single one of them, yet they were pulling the sled further then me. I think alot is traction and keeping the traction. Hopefully i will do better this year

 

I think you need a more aggressive tire, mud terrain or other equivalent, and maybe traction bars. I think you have plenty of power, just not enough traction

just my opinion

 

I have heard some interesting takes on tires. One guy swears by mickey thompson all terrain another swears by cooper (mine) and another doesnt give a hoot just as long as he has 1/4 inch tread and they are rough. He said last night he has three pair that were given to him by other people over the winter -all different brands. He does pretty good. As far as my traction last night everyone said it hooked up. I had a video of the two pulls and the drags - put it in last night around 1:00 and bam -it didnt film

 

Some of the auto guys here in Indiana use BFG Muds. Some also use BFG AT KO's.

 

I've got Micky thompson Baja claws on mine and they work pretty good.

 

You are going to need another turbo. You wont even get close to 500 RWHP if you dont change the turbo out. I wouldn't imagine you'd hit 400 RWHP with a 35/9. Check you local rules. I know we cant block our suspension. We can have latter bars but they have to be parellel with the drive shaft and cant keep the suspension for articulating. You definitely need a new turbo.

 

Yes it can be pretty easy to get 400rwhp on that truck (CR) and you can get to 500 on the stock turbo but it will not be very efficient for you. temps will rise very quick. But you will have to watch rules on turbo size.