I could probably start a war here which I DO NOT intend this statement to do, but I totally agree with one of the previous statements in that the truck in the picture is going up, not forward...I have been in and around drag racing including Top Alcohol and Nitro classes for the past 25 or 30 years and can tell you that by pulling the wheels you are LOOSING ET..
Ever notice when the Pros launch at the track? What do their cars normally do? The rear ends actually lift forcing the wheels down to the ground improving traction and not wasting the energy...pulling the wheels is a waste of energy, hurts ET, and I can not imagine why someone would "actually want" thier vehicle to pull the wheels in competition....just my personal opinion so don't take it as a flame.

 

While it is true that any energy spent lifting your car/truck UP instead of FORWARD is not ideal it is sometimes NEEDED for optimum 60's and ET's depending on the car/trucks setup. Here is a very good page with lots of info that also has a great example of how increasing front end travel can actually help with 60's(bottom of page).

http://www.baselinesuspensions.com/i...A_Drag_Car.htm

 

I think in this case you could learn more by watching the Stock/Super Stock classes rather than the Pro's. Seems to me that there is a lot of "wheel pullin" goin on in the Stock classes. I would rather learn all the suspension tricks from somebody trying to win Stock class with a 4000 lb station wagon with a 350 hp motor than I would from a ProStock racer....make sense ??

Dale

 

Very true!

It's all about leaving hard to get better ET's. If the suspension is working right you can leave hard and hard without the problem of blowing the tires away. With the drag shocks working it's time to figure out how to leave harder. Maybe a little more stall speed on the converter, or some bottle out of the hole.

 

That is some funny sh*t!

 

Chains to hold the rear end on...interesting

 

My truck short time's in the low 1.40's 1'42 to be exact with that set up.So I would say it is moving forward.

 

Didn't you do a mini tub/4 link on your truck booger? I remember pictures a while back of you doing something to the rear suspension.

 

does strange have a shock that will work in the front? I was under the impression they only have something for the rear.

 

That is a VERY informative page. I bookmarked it.

TYVM
FF

 

His truck runs 12.3x's................ You don't think 1.6x 60's are good for a truck running 12.3x's???

Rocks

 

anyone?

 

I do not know of a strange engineering shock that will fit on the gen 2 lightning.


Here's another thought..

While talking with the owner of a detroit speed shop, he created suspension limiting straps for the F-Body's.
What it does is NOT allow the front suspension to extend all the way.
Why the hell would you want that?

Well the F-bodies he builds stand on the rear bumper at launch, and he has come up with a simple solution to solve this.

The angle at which all the car's weight (meaning the front tires are off the ground) is greatly reduced by not allowing the front suspension to extend all the way. This results in:
1. Much better traction off the line
2. Much better 60' times
3. Much better control and predictability of the launch.

Instead of the car launching and standing up at 20-25 degrees to get all the car's weight on the rear tires, it now launches and gets up to about what 5-10 degrees before all that weight is on the rear tires.

Basically it cuts down on the amount of front tire lift, bacause instead of having pressurized shocks helping lifting the front of the car, the straps limit the travel, so you have the rear suspension and tire traction lifting the front of the car, which is exactly what you want. Hence the car moves forward and not up!

Someone could design this for out lightnings for track only use. Basically it is a strap that bolts to the frame and the A-Arm. It is easily and quickly removable. It could also be easily adjustable, as the strap could have different mounting holes.


I think an ideal setup would be to put extra weight on the front of the truck to compress the suspension, put the strap on a tight as possible.
When you go to launch, the front suspension won't budge, and the rear tire traction and the lift bars/traction bars, will have all the weight of the truck on the rear tires, because the front suspension will not be helping in lifting the front of the truck.


There's my 2 cents for the day... I'd love to hear your thoughts, positive and negative.

 

Well; you want the suspension to move up front. Riggid won't work as it would be to abrupt. The gradual move is good for traction. Also, have a little movement then it "tops out" isn't great either as the top out is a jerk in the suspension and could cause you to lose traction.

Ideal situation is have things working in your supension setup with a good amount of adjustability in the shocks. If the track is hooking good then you want to add air preassure as much as possible without losing traction. This will quicken up your 60fts and overall ET/MPH since you arn't trying to get a big flat tire down the track. Next if traction is good it's time to stiffen up the shocks to decrease the amount of weight transfer motion. Less weight transfer motion is going to mean more forward motion and better ET's. If the track prep isn't so great you are going to want to soften things up and let it weight transfer more to gain more traction.

It's all about adjusting things to work best for you and the track setup. For me I was able to pull off a 1.51 60ft and back it up with a 1.52 just pulling the left front(18" wheel btw). QA1 regular adjustable shocks out back setup fairly stiff and QA1 drag shocks up front setup soft. Eibach springs up front and lowering shackles out back.