Not planning on doing it anytime soon, but just curious

I got a DVD off Ebay that had some sled pulling in it.

I'm curious how people are launching and if most of the trucks are autos or sticks?

Sounds like they are revving the **** out of them, so I'm assuming they are sticks and dumping the clutch?

I don't think the diesel converters are like 3000 stall are they?

Or are most autos, just powerbraking?

If they are sticks are they slipping the clutch to load the motor and build boost? Dual Discs I'm assuming? And on sticks, do you just pick, say 2nd gear and go? No shifting I'm assuming?

I hear the D-Maxes rifle through 1 or 2 gears though.

Thanks

 

I am by no means an expert, but most serious purpose-built sled pulling trucks are stick, and are in 4 low, and they are power-braking to build boost on those monstrous turbos they are running


hope this helps

 

I'd say the majority of pullers, at least around here anyways, are stick shifts. Quite a bit cheaper compared to an auto. You can get a quality dual disc clutch for about $1500 at the most, and youve got a pretty tough tranny. About 95% of dmaxes that you see pull ARE automatics due to the fact that the allison is popular, there are a lot of upgrades for it, and chevy hasnt ever seemed to get the manual tranny to work just right.
Yes the stick shifts usually slip the clutch for a little while to get some boost going and to get the sled moving. If you dont have an aftermarket clutch, the stock one wont hold up long. On the sticks u just have to pick the best gear and go. Shifting "on the fly" is not an option with 40,000#'s behind you. Thats one of the advantages of the automatics, they can shift up or down going down the track. Most of the autos do power brake some at the start to try to get some boost built up, but most of the time the truck overpowers the breaks and you just gotta hammer down and hope the turbo spools up quick. Hope this helps a little bit. Go to www.thedieselgarage.com and watch some videos there. There are also some on www.dieselplace.com

 

Sled pulling is kind of an art many people Do it different ways and have tricks to get that extra inch. I know that a few tricks when launching helped me out last weekend when I only got 1st by 4" When I come out of the hole I like to warm up the turbo a little bit but holding the throttle at 3k for a few seconds, then I bring it up to 4500 rpms and ride the clutch just until I hit 35PSI then i try to get off the clutch as fast as I can. My truck usually holds 3200 RPMs down the track unless the track is really sticky and it drops to 2800 which has only been a few times. I like 2nd High but 3rd low on some tracks has to be used. I have tried 4th low but with my big tires it just can't break them loose. I also have a stock turbo and 3.55 gears. unless you have traction bars I would not hook it just takes a few seconds to break something.
DM01

 

There is no powerbraking with a manual while sledpulling.

 

Good info guys, thanks

I was wondering about the high low range too

 

for the guys that have never done this, there is no need to power brake any either the manual or the auto. when you pull up the slack in the chain, your truck will start making a good bit off boost before the sled even thinks about moving. the first time i sled pulled i though something was broke. i kept giving it more fuel and letting out on the cluch and still nothing happened. then i finally got that big heavy sob going.

 

On paper, an auto tranny seems to be a better sledpulling choice when built to the max. The ability to shift gears once you get the load moving (ground speed matters a lot in pulling) and the ability to get torque multiplication from a converter seem like they would be real assets to a puller, imo....

jmo

 

True the Automatics if built properly will beat an equally powered manual at a given pull.

 

the way i did it was 3rd on the low side ( 6 speed, 3.55's ) and i red lined it and just dumped the clutch. (it was my first time, i didtn know) ive got a 3600 lb dd sbc. i sat for about 2 or 3 seconds, seemed forever!, with out moving, then it finally started to go. i got a little over a half a pull. (slick tires, bad start)

next time ill slip it a little and let it out gradualy. my problem last time was no traction, i spun them out of the hole, i never had a chance