Howdy All,

Been reading the posts on here for the last few months and really didn't have a whole lot to say. Just learning what I could. But, now it's time to get the pulling truck up and running. A little background, I live and work here in Southern Indiana. I have a 1980 Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4 truck that I am working on building into more that just a local fair puller, pulled the small block and picked up a 454 big block this weekend that I am looking to put a couple thousand dollars into and see what I can do. I am sure I will probably be posting a few more questions over the next few months but I just wanted to say Hello to everyone.

I will start with one question today though, I have kinda settled on what kind of tire I want to run, just having a hard time finding the right kind of wheels. I am hoping that my big block will be in the neighborhood of 500 HP, and I will be leaving the 14-bolt rear and 10-bolt front axle in for now, I would like to find 15"x10" wheels that have the 8-lug bolt pattern that I need, but haven't come across any good used ones anywhere. 4wheelparts.com has some new steel ones that aren't real pretty but are cheap, but only rated at about 1900 lbs, would they work ? Anyone got some they don't need anymore ?
Any other thoughts,

Alan,

I plan on building my truck to ITPA 4-Super rules, just thought I would say something to you specifically, as I get closer I might be checking with you on a few rules and hope to make it to a few of the pulls this year with my truck.

Dale Schmitz

Dale where in southern In. do you live?

I live in Petersburg, Indiana. But work in and around Washington, Indiana

Good to see you on here Dale, I think you'll find a good group of guys to help you along the way.

For starters, if your planning to build to our 4 super rules, I assume you'll be running some sort of removable weight bar?? If so then I'd try to jump up to a Dana 60 for longevity. Also, don't set your sites so low on the HP numbers (been there done that) you'll end up frustrated at the bottom of the pack. Shoot, from what I've seen of the street class down in your area, 500hp won't get you in the winners circle with them, and it sure won't help you in our class. We are adding a 4 altered class that you might want to consider. I'll have more information to post after the 24th of this month on that class, but last I knew it will be a 530 or 540ci class.

Call me in the evenings if you have questions, my number is on the ITPA website. I'll help you however I can.

Alan

Hey Dale .. Always room for one more Truck Puller here on Reddog's Site. To bad you have a chevy though. I don't know to much on how to make a chevy go with big power, I'm more a Ford man. But once you get your Class you figure you want to play in here's what you have to do.

This may sound funny with the economy the way it is, But putting a good motor together once is cheaper then rebuilding each off season to make it a little better. Get the rules for the class your going to run then build the Max engine allowed for that class with the best of everything. I live by the motto of you can't take it (Money) with you so it does no good sitting in the bank.


DO your home work and try to only have to do it once for 5 years. This is the life expectancy I try to get out of a motor.



Dan

if you are looking for 15x10 rims your not going to find much other than steel wheels, so far the best pricing I found was thru summit racing, they sell cragar and US wheel in white spoke and chrome. They also have one set that is unpainted with a 2" back space too. Good luck getting everything together. If you do happen to find a nice 15x10 aluminum 8lug let me know I am also looking for a set

Dave

HEY WHAT KINDA MONEY ARE U LOOKING TO SPEND ON WHEELS OR ARE U ALL JUST LOOKING FOR USED ONES

Would just as soon find used ones but I would be open to the idea of new ones if they looked good and did the trick.

Welcome to the site Dale. I bought a pair of US Wheel 15 x 10 - 8 lug thru Jegs with 7" backspace unpainted. Cost around $130 or so for two. They said 7" backspace was all they could go on a 10" wide wheel.

Do any of you forsee a problem with running a 15x14 rim with a 33x12.5x15 tire. I would think it should help get the full surface of the tire on the track, but would it affect the sidewall in any way?? I'm sure it would be a little difficult to mount, but besides that any issues??

Going that wide on a wheel with a short sidewall tire will make a smaller contact patch. The tread width is only 10 inches so you will actually be planting the outer edges and cupping the center of the tread up. And since you would also be losing diameter of the tire you would lose even more contact area.

Travis

That makes sense.....so what is the widest rim that you would run with a 12.5 tire.....12"?? I have 10" rims now, and it seems that they suck the sidewall of the tire in quite a bit.

Why do guys run an 18"-20" rim with a 15.5 tire then??

Well the majority of the guys that run a 18 or 20 inch rim have had them cut to make the tread flat with those rims, and maybe just a slight little other bit of work to make them fit those rims a little better. And then there are some guys planning to step up to 34 cepeks so they only want to buy rims once. Due to the cost being around $300 ea. If you got 10 inch wheels already (I PERSONALLY) do not believe you will see any benefit to buying another set of wheels, unless you got a fat wad o cash burning a hole in your pocket.

Travis

Thanks for the advice, I wish I could just spend every dollar I have saved on a monster motor, but this woman sitting here watching TV with me, FIANCE' , thinks she wants to have a wedding this year yet, and then kids, so I am just left with spending what I can get away with at this point. Nonetheless, she is trying to understand what I want to do.

Later,
Dale Schmiz

Hope to come up to Cloverdale and see some of you in action, don't think I will have 4X44FN ready by then,

Wedding. No problem. Here's whatcha do, run down to the local walmart and get a few flowers on the cheap. then hit the local good will for a dress and suit. Get a few buds and the local preacher and get married, all nice and legal like. Hit the Holiday Inn Express in Louisville for a little bump and grind. All is good, legally married AND you just saved a bundle to put towards the pulling truck! Just tell her how it's going down! Don't give her your sack now! (she'll get it soon enough LOL)

Seriously, family is most important, Pulling is next. lol

Alan

Getting ready to order some rims. Did some measuring, and it appears that a 2" backspace on the front and an 8" backspace on the rear should make for a pretty good offset. Does anyone know if this sounds about right from what you did??

If you are building to ITPA, look at your tread width to calculate offset, not the overall width of the tire. If called into question, we will measure inside of tread to outside of tread for the front to find the centerline, and outside of tread to outside of tread for the rear. The 2 numbers should be equal or the rear greater.

Alan

Is that for a rule where the rear tires cannot tread less than half of the front tires?? That is one thing that I was trying to figure out.

Here is the rule.
8. Maximum 35x12.5 inches DOT stamped, no cutting or grooving, no bars, no dual wheels, no chains, one half offset allowed. Wrangler XT terra tires allowed

My earlier post is how we will check it. call me if you have any questions. 574-721-3973

Alan

On a chevy to get to be within those rules 4" backspacing on the front and 7" on the back puts it right where you need to be.

Anyone have measurements from a Ford setup??

As I said above, going by the advertised width could put you out of spec. example, the Trxus STS 33x12.5x16LT and 35x12.5x16LT both have a tread width of 10.5 inches so the split is 5.25 inches and not 6.25 inches by looking at the advertised width. So as I figure it, if u have a 4 inch backspace on the front, then with the STS's your rear offset max would be 6 5/8". It may sound like I'm splitting hairs here, but believe me, if you come out and start putting the smack down on the class, someone WILL start looking for a reason to protest you. (Yes, it has happened)

A 4 inch back space front is fine as long as it clears your brake calipers. Same with the back, just make sure it will clear the drums.

Alan

We run a 35x14.50 15 Trxus sts. on a 12x15 w/ 2" backspace on front and a 8" backspace on rear.The tread width measures 12".

Before anyone on here go to blows on the amount of tracking offset front to rear. I've tried to prove or disprove whether it make any difference whether the front and rear wheels track inline or are offset, I can't see a whole lot of difference. There are trucks out there that front and rear wheel tracks line up perfectly, and they will kick your butt but good,from track to track. You can spend your money and time more wisely on other areas of the truck. You see alot of Mod tracks with real narrow rear wheel tracks, but it more about weight than anything else, ie:narrowed rear housing and shorter axle shafts are lighter.