Reddog, I think you've touched on something here. I too have noticed that with a hard launch, the pan is lifted. What do you guys think, is this a good thing or not?

You would think that lifting the pan is good because your getting less drag for 5-10 ft which lets the truck build speed. Down side is that it makes the truck surge and I'm not sure that this is a good thing. Usually I just drive through it, but a couple of times I didn't think the truck was going to settle down so I lifted a little, let it settle down then planted the go fast pedal again, but I'm sure that hurt me.

Alan

Alan I kinda think you are feeling the same way I do.
I don't believe in the full throttle and dump school. I have seen and will still see guys who do that. I have also watched many that left parts laying there.
I really don't see it being that affective not to mention it is hard on the sled. There are some sled owners here who will DQ anyone who jerks the sled. I do feel you need an agressive start but not that hard jerk. I think that if the sled is light enough that you can pick the pan off the ground on the launch (so to speak) it must be pretty light anyhow.
If you have ever watch Trav 4x4 launches it is pretty amazing. I'd call that very aggressive. But it is not that sudden jerk we so often see that unsettles the truck etc.
MY 2 Cents Worth.

I have noticed exactly what you are talking about with my truck. I seem to have a great run, nice and smooth if I don't come out of the hole like a bat out of hell. On the other hand at the time I needed to do that every once in a while because of the set up I was running

I believe the key to the light pan type sled is to have a very smooth launch, pick the pan up and keep it up. If you are not smooth and allow the pan to lift and set down only to lift again then you will get the "Surge" and loose distance at the other end. Just my opinion.

After reading the posts on the other thread. I think I need to add this.
From my post above. My experience. We have VERY few sleds here that are light enough that you can pick the pan off the ground when you leave.

on any sled you can get the pan up on - do it!

What it does is let the loose stuff go under the pan instead o pilin up in front of it

so your not draggin a ton or two of dirt with the sled - theres where u lose 20' or so

second thing is - a pull is won n lost in that first 60' gettin your momentum going - so if yur babyin it, well then u aint makin speed either.

.03

So Ken are you saying you are a student of the Wide Open And Dump class ???

I am a student of git ur ass movin as fast as possible without breakin sumthing

It is a fine line between traction n chain waggin

If you go to my website www.horsinaroundpulling.com and go to the videos page, you can see the sled lift in the Idaville 2007 vid and I think you can hear the surging. This is with an automatic and the right foot planted at take off. And while your there, you can check out some of the other videos from the last 3 years that I've been involved in the sport.

Alan

our sleds leave, they dont start piling dirt right away, they are pretty light.

the problam with lifting it is this. If you lift the pan with a hard start, the harder you do the higher it goes, the higher it goes the further down the track it goes, the further down the track it goes the more weight is on it when it hits, whne it hits it changes your truck.

i believe you need to get going as quick as you can, but the best pullers i see, have a good smooth start, the sled is calm, and the run is long.

Can I say we all are pretty much inagreement.
We need to launch as hard as we can without jerking the sled or breaking parts, which means we come out of the hole as smoothly as possible and plant Alan's go fast pedal as soon as possible. Trying not to lift the pan high enough to get an unsettlement from the sled when the pan touches back down which can cause the truck to become unsettled and make us lift which would shorten the run.
I have seen sleds that the truck could carry the pan on and when they set back down it didn't in such a manner that was harsh enough to upset the truck.
But like I said early in my area we have very few sleds that are light enough on the start to lift the pan. But I have seen a lot of guys never give their trucks time to get started smooth enough to make decent run.

i use to rev er up and dump er but got sick of buying parts in the rear end of my truck. i think smooth is better get the sled moving then mash the gas seems to work better for me i get less hopping or surging. thats what i think but im no expert still learning after 4 years of pulling seems i learn somthing new every pull have a great day donny

If your hitch and truck are set up right you should be able to leave as hard as you like. There are two sleds we pull that usually lift and i leave with them around 4500 to 5000 rpm carrying the pan 20 to 30 feet while rolling the right foot to the w.o.t. or in shazams case right hand. That will probably help with the surging. Ive also seen my truck carry the pan at the end of a 300' track right when the box topped out the vid is on myspace.com/truckpuller442 top vid. I thought we talked about this not long ago with the hitchs, the higher the back of the truck running the hitch flat out pulled a truck running a hitch more verticle but we wont go there again.

What I want to say doesn't pertain much to sled lift. I have only seen that happen with a real small sled that the CTTPA uses once in a while. Frosty would know which sled I am talking about,maybe Fraken Knows of it also.. I don't know if it has ever gone down South. But anyway I remember I had a job with Qwest buring telephone cable and I used a D8 Caterpiller and had to haul it also. The truck, trailer, and D8 grossed a little over 100,000 pounds. To get it moving I would give it just enough gas pedal and let the clutch slip or something would break. And then mash the pedal to the floor. Same thing I do with my pulling truck. Maybe exagerate it a little more. I know when my son first startd pulling I told him to think of it as being on a real steep hill at a red light with a car 2 feet behind him and try to go without rolling backwards. And make it seem as though it is an automatic transmission.