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Best gear for truck pulls?

hambo

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Hey SS, I'm going to be entering my 1967 deuce in the truck pulls at my local county fair in a few weeks. I don't have much experience with pulling so I was wondering what gear I should be in while pulling to give me the best chance of making it all the way down the track?
 

Wildchild467

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I would respectfully disagree with second gear low range. When I was in my first truck pull, I had all the traction in the world. What my problem was is that I ran out of engine power. The second time I used low range first gear and did a lot better. When the sled dug in, it really pulled the truck back and it did all it could to pull. But again, it just brought the engine down and never once spun a tire. My tires are stock 9.00-20 NDT also. I might have lowered the air pressure to 20 pounds or so. Again, I never had traction issues, only a horsepower/torque issue. That is why I use low/first.
 

Wildchild467

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There is a youtube video of me pulling... let me find it and I will post the link. I am not sure how to put the video directly on the page, so the best I can do is copy and paste the link.
 

Wildchild467

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCijTz38zrU

This is the first pull I ever did with my truck and I used second gear low range. As you can see I just ran out of power and should have used first low. The engine power came down so fast, I knew it was game over, so I just pushed in the clutch to save from beating on things/lugging the engine. Excellent traction though.
 
862
6
18
Location
Reading Pa
This is something I've been pondering as well. I'll be pulling in 2 weeks with my bobber. I'm on 14.00r20 and my fuel is turned up pretty good. I was debating on 2nd low range but now I think I'm just going to go with 1st low.

How are they hooking you guys to the sled? I wanted to hook to the pintle but the guy running it said no so I guess I'll be putting my home built Hitch to the test with a 9.5 ton clevis.
 

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Carlo

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palazzago italia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCijTz38zrU

This is the first pull I ever did with my truck and I used second gear low range. As you can see I just ran out of power and should have used first low. The engine power came down so fast, I knew it was game over, so I just pushed in the clutch to save from beating on things/lugging the engine. Excellent traction though.
Is this a D turbo motor? I can't here much turbo noise if it was a C turbo. You are right. Traction was not a problem. Thanks for sharing the clip. I wish we had these things (tractor pull) here in Italia.
 

Carlo

New member
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palazzago italia
This is something I've been pondering as well. I'll be pulling in 2 weeks with my bobber. I'm on 14.00r20 and my fuel is turned up pretty good. I was debating on 2nd low range but now I think I'm just going to go with 1st low.

How are they hooking you guys to the sled? I wanted to hook to the pintle but the guy running it said no so I guess I'll be putting my home built Hitch to the test with a 9.5 ton clevis.
Ive never done this sport but I love to watch it. I would think the higher you hooked up the more weight would be pulling down on the drives. I bet they have height limits for the hitch.
 

m16ty

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Dickson,TN
I used to be into tractor pulling and have hooked to the sled many,many times. There are just too many variables to tell you for sure what gear you need.

One of the main variables is track conditions. Watch the pullers before you, if they are getting a good bite then you may want to go in low 1st. If the track conditions are bad and the track is getting loose you may want to try low 2nd or high 1st. Reading the track is almost as important as what vehicle you are using. If you watch the other experienced pullers you can see them paying close attention to the track conditions, which can change in just a few minutes time.

Another big variable is the sled. Some sleds will suck hp more than others depending on the construction of the sled and and the length of the hook chain. The shorter the chain, more of the sled weight will be transferred to the deuce, giving you more traction and sucking hp.

If you're lucky, there will be other deuces that pull before you and you can watch them to see what they do. Most of all, just go out there and have fun.
 
862
6
18
Location
Reading Pa
The higher you hook it actually picks the front of the sled off the ground that's why there is usually a height rule of 26" max.

With the little hp the deuce has does track conditions actually make a difference? I was hoping to start second and hit third low range to gain momentum. But I'm afraid it will make the truck bog and the egt will climb fast. I want to keep it opened up to around 2400 rpm. No deuces pulling with me either I'm doing a exhibition run.
 
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