chassis set up ??? mud truck weight distribution ??

in order to get the best traction in mud racing has anyone ever set up the 4 wheel weight?? percentage front and rear??? Looking for ideas

I scaled the my truck, and I'm still playing with the weights to get a better launch. Your percentage front/rear and left/right will change depending on how your truck is set up. Motor set back or stock location? Wheel base stock or extended (which is more engine set back). How is your suspension setup? A lot more goes into play other than just the weight. I was low and set up for flat tracks, however now I will be going away from that setup to one that allows me to do some of the milder hill and hole tracks that are popping up all around me. I'm not a fan, but if i want to race, I need to keep up with what the local tacks are going to.

say i'm right around 2600 in the front and 1300 in the rear... just wondering I've got this thing all torn apart right now and trying take off some weight... just wondering if when you move weight you get faster? do you notice a difference? and where are you adding it? or lightening it

Look to take weight off the front and add it to the rear so you can transfer weight faster and plant the rears. If you notice the really fast guys, the front don't pull. They barely steer...

You play with weight transfer at all?

I agree with Karl take what you can off the front don't worry as much about removing weight from the rear. Move battery, fuel cell, trans cooler and anything else you can to the rear of the bed. you want the truck to lift in the front and plant the rear tires. My old truck weighed 4200 lbs with 15 gallons of fuel and me sitting in the seat 54 percent on the front and 46 on the rear, the front was lifted 2 inches with blocks under front coil springs and lowered 4-5 inches in the rear to get those percentages

I believe in a top of the ground dirt drag situation, a big front weight bias is preferred. (Look at 4x4 truck pull guys... They don't want to plant the rear tires and have the front in the air)

In bogg holes, there is no doubt that a light weight front end is the way to go so that it skims over the mud instead of digging through.

Now, in shallow mud drags, I think a set-up with more weight on the front may be the best which actually allows you to benefit from the use of 4-wheel drive....again this is a fine line though.

Just my thoughts,
Jon

I have to respectfully disagree with 460bronco. I raced shallow(8-18 inches deep) mud drags and tried for several year to not do weight transfer and use the front to help and never could get to the top of the class. Switched to the weight transfer method just using front tires to steer and cut a thin path for the rears and catapulted to the top of our class after that. In dirt drags or shallow track racing weight transfer is your friend. In bogs I cant say much only ever been to one as a spectator.

Personal experience is very valuable and theoretical things don't always work out!  haha

But seriously, why do we have 4-wheel drives if we are trying to figure out how to limit the amount of traction the front end has via decreasing weight on the tires?

P.s.----I have mine set-up to transfer weight....


----Why do truck pullers hang weight off the front?

truck pulling and mud racing are 2 totally different animals. Pullers hang weights to keep everything even so they get a little help and not overload the rear. Mud drag guys transfer the weight to get as much on the rear as possible to keep the nose up and on top of the mud (not talking stock trucks, but big hp guys). Pullers have a solid rear suspension for the weight of the sled. Mud drags use a softer supple rear suspension again to transfer weight and get the truck moving off the rear.

My opinions aren't theoretical, they are tried and tested, seen in real life experiences....

OK cool what is the weight bias that you have found to work kjett?

I'm still playing with weights. Right now, I'm about 55/45 with a 250lb fat guy in the seat and 5 gallons of fuel, 2 batteries, and some lead bread on the frame behind the rear axle.

Over the winter, my ranger will go away and I'll be coming back out with a much lighter f-150 that is more set up to handle mild hill and hole tracks as well as flat tracks. Long story short, back to the drawing board on setting up weight bias....

So, for mud racing, you like the front to be a little heavier than the back? How do you think it would run if you started off say 45 front/55 rear?

I think it would be better, but realistically with a big block that is near impossible for most super stock or renegade classes. There is a reason why the rail cars have the motor mid way in the frame or are rear engined.

front 2600 rear 1300? how do you figure out the percentage %?,,, Never mind... I'm 67% front and 33% rear....
Lots of work to do!

Are those the weights for the truck in your sinature?

kjett you added lead weights at the rear?

my weight is on the last post on the first page.

Yes, because I cut the truck up to minimal bedsides and nothing else. Hard to take weight off a big block with the radiator on the nose for stupid class rules and there is nothing else to remove in the front. Only way to get percentages back is to add weight back into the truck behind the rear axle. Much like drag cars and roundy round cars, you take a bunch of weight out, but have to put some back in key areas.

With the numbers you posted your truck weighs in at a total of 3900 pounds. That is very light for a full size longbed truck with a big block and 1-ton axles. You must be completely gutted because my truck was a 78 1/2 ton shortbed and it was gutted a lot but did have a cage and came in at 4000 without driver

, THis is the truck i'm working on that i'm posting about. I built it and a fam. member runs it, I you type in little problem mud racing, on youtube there are a few vid's of it...


1995 ford ranger body and frame! 77 ford front 44 and 79 ford 9 in rear. c6 , 208f

Ok that is making more sense now!

Skin that thing down to nothing and it gets under 3k lbs!

its a super stock truck... Can't gut it out.... Once i get things moved arount we are going to put it back on the scales and go from there. How much weight did you add to the rear?

about 200lbs in lead bread. I melted lead in cheap bread loaf pans, so they look like bread now

I added about 300 to the rear of mine.