Well, last night I decided to pull against a friend that was talking smack about his z71. He has a '99 xtra cab z71 with the 5.3, limited slip, 275AT tires, Ranch Hand front and rear bumpers(heavy bastards), and a toolbox weighing god only knows how much. I mention the wieght now b/c that fits into the story.

I have a '99 xtra cab with the 5.4, K&N, 3.55LS, 255 road tires and everything else standard. We did it in a pasture behind the BBQ we were at. It was pretty dry but we didn't do it on a packed road, it was right in the middle of a pasture.

With a chain hooked to the trucks and a 6'7" 300# friend with me, I put it in 4Lo and the tranny in 2. When they yelled "GO!" I drug him about 20ft before we stopped. Then my friend got out of my truck. After that, all both trucks did was spin. I moved a little forward but not enough to be declared winner. Then we tried both trucks in 4Hi. They just stayed in the same spot w/o spinning the tires. I thought my Triton would easily beat out the Z in a battle of torque, but maybe he had lower gears than me. He didn't know what gears he had since he bought the truck used.

But since we seemed to be even once my friend got out of my truck, I had him go sit in the other guy's truck and see if that made a difference. It didn't. We just sat there and spun in 4Lo. But when he came and got back in my truck, I drug the Z like a bastard step-child again.

Could it be that my truck is already heavier, even w/o the Ranch Hand bumpers like he had and the extra weight of my co-pilot gave my truck the edge? I don't know. But I do know that I wished my truck had pulled his in 4Hi. But at least I was declared the winner in a tight pull b/c my truck never went backwards. Not to mention that the Z went home leaking oil from his transfer case.

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1999 F150 Lariat 4x4
SC SWB Styleside
5.4L 3.55ls
Oxford White

[This message has been edited by Sapo (edited 08-20-2000).]

 

You guys are nuts! LOL. Must have been a sight.

At any rate, down to business. In such a pull off, traction is just as, if not more important than power. You can have gobs of power, but if you don't have traction...

The extra weight of your passenger gave you just enough traction to give you the edge. You really can't tell if the trucks started out weighing the same without actually weighing them. If I had to guess, your friend's truck weighed more than yours.

The reason the trucks just sat there in 4Hi is because the torque converter was slipping on both trucks. It's pretty hard to spin the wheels (3 of them) all at the same time if there's decent traction. I sure hope you didn't keep pulling for any appreciable length of time. You could easily have fried your tranny. What gear did you have the truck in for this particular pull? Maybe it would have been different if you had it in D or 1. In 2, you have greatly reduced torque going to the wheels.

His transfer case was leaking oil? I guess that's one guy who won't be talking smack on Ford. Then again, he bought a Chevy so it may take more to teach him a lesson!

 

Here's another one of those "...my buddy's son's friend's uncle's sister's buddy's..." -- well you get the picture --

As the story goes:

It seems the Ford vs Chevy discussion got a bit heated and then the two did as you did -- but the Ford was a diesel with a diamond plate flat-bed 4x4 (I know the truck) and he apparently dragged the Chevy around the parking lot backwards until the cops (apparently just happened by) couldn't laugh anymore and put a halt to it.

The Chevy owner was apparently fit to be tied because the Ford was dragging it around and wouldn't stop. Good for all the cops were there.

 

LOL - serves the chevy right for challenging a Power Stroke Diesel!

The first story was good, too. If you would have had a heavy tool box & bumpers & his truck was all stock you probably would have had a decisive victory. Hard on the truck, though, but good story!

 

I figured something was slipping so we didn't pull long when we were in 4hi. But we did try two or three times. I tried D and 1, but never 2 when I was in 4hi. I just remembered someone telling me to use 2 in 4lo b/c its a good median b/t lo and hi. 1 just puts too much power to the ground to be of much use with road tires.

If something is gonna break, I hope it happens within the next 18k miles. Hopefully, the upgraded cooling with the trailering package helped to keep things from burning up.

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1999 F150 Lariat 4x4
SC SWB Styleside
5.4L 3.55ls
Oxford White

 

Hehe. I think I would have been tempted to sit on my brakes and let the other guy burn his truck up. I can be really nasty at times.

 

Great story!! It has been true through history that Fords are heavier than Chevys, which is why Chevys are usually a bit faster but Fords always win pull offs. Fords historically also have had more ground clearance and hence done better in most off road situations. Remember I am talking about stock trucks from the factory. I guess it shows which truck is made for work and which one is made for comfort!!

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1996 F150 4x4 302, 99,000 miles

 

I like Dennis' line of thinking.

 

I think I'm done pulling for a while. I've had two of my tires go flat since the pull and one of them couldn't be repaired. One had a nail that went in near horizontal and when they pulled it out the patch wouldn't hold air. So I took the spare and put it on the front and bought an AllTerrain Bridgestone to keep as a spare and to put on after my GoodYears wear out.

But on top of that my front end is making a popping sound when I turn to the stops either left or right. It sounds like its coming from the hub area but I don't know. Everything still works fine, but I don't remember the truck making that noise before.

I guess I either need to stop drinking so much or buy a 4x4 crew cab powerstroke...

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1999 F150 Lariat 4x4
SC SWB Styleside
5.4L 3.55ls
Oxford White

 

I have a story for ya that'll make Sapo look like a genius. This sure doesn't give me to much credit, but I'll tell it anyway.

Last year I went for a little jaunt with a buddy of my for a little off-roading expedition to some dirt hills in town. He has a mid 80's Jimmy and I had my 98 F-150. He ended up getting stuck on the hill so I hooked up to him and drag him out, and that's when we decided to have a little "pull-off". Needless to say, I dragged him around pretty badly. The only way he could stop me was if he pulled his e-brake, and then my truck would kind of look like a fish out of the sea, fish tailing around. He ended up burning up his 4.3L V-6 right there. It would still move but you could hear the pistons knocking in the bores. My damage wasn't noticed until close to a month later, when I went out on another offroad trip. I went to climb up this hill, and made it 3/4's of the way and got stuck. I got pulled up the rest of the way, and parked it on top for 5 minutes. When we decided to go, the tranny started slipping, and it slowly got harder and harder to get it to grab. I was driving to the dealer to get it looked at and it died, so I got it towed the rest of the way. Before I even got a chance to ask what the problem was, they had it out and tore down for a rebuild, all covered under warranty THANK GOD!! I don't think the damage occured when I was dragging him around, but probably when he would pull the e-brake and I would keep spinning and fish tailing to try to keep going. To top it off, we had just came from the bar, so we were loaded and it was in the middle of the night! All that just for bragging rights over a little 1/4ton Jimmy! I just hope I've matured since then.

~'98 F-150 XLT Reg. Cab Flareside 4x4, Black, 5.4L, 3.55LS, tow package, 285/75/r16 Mud Terrain BFG's,K&N, GTS headlight covers, Alpine changer w/FM mod, Clifford alarm system w/keyless entry & starter disable // Future considerations: Bed mat, tonneau cover, 4" suspension lift or 3" body lift.

~'71 F-100 Sport Custom Reg.Cab
-390FE w/Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, 780cfm Holley, ported & polished cylinder heads,
Hydraulic Crane Cam, 10.5:1 CR, Black Jack headers, true double roller timing chain, and high volume oil pump
-C6 transmision w/B&M 2600rpm stall
-9" Ford Rearend w/4.10 Richmond Gears & 31 spline axles
-215/65/r15 Yokohama's for the front & 28"x13.5"x15" Mickey Thompson ET Street slicks for the back
Best 1/4 mile time @ 3500ft altitude 14.69secs @ 92mph

2000 Suzuki RM125 Dirt Bike
-no need for any modifications! (yet)


[This message has been edited by fordification (edited 09-05-2000).]

 

DOH!!! You mean I'm not a genius? Damn, there goes my Mensa membership...

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1999 F150 Lariat 4x4
SC SWB Styleside
5.4L 3.55ls
Oxford White