Mid-Tenn Chapter Roundtable

[BigPapa]

I don't know nothing about pullin' but I figured I'd tell ya'll about this. I 've seen some signs around Springfield about an NTPA Truck and Tractor Pull at the Robertson County Fairgrounds June 25th. Like I said, I don't know nothing about it, but I can check it out if you want. Who's NTPA?



Scott

 

[HeavyHauler]

The NTPA is the National Tractor Pullers Association. Those are the big dawgs - unlimited modifieds, super-semis, the baddest and most expensive diesel tractors, huge purses.



They are scheduled to be in Wisconsin on that date - are you sure you read it right?



The closest they get to us will be at Chapel Hill, TN towards the end of July. That's an awesome pull - Super National event.

 

[AndyMan]

I thought the signs said NTPA too... They are supposed to have a street truck class one night, and the NTPA pull the next. I will verify the signage next time I hit Robertson Cty... shouldn't be too long.

 

[BigPapa]

Andy,



I know it said NTPA. It's being sponsored by KDF but it's not on their website either. I called them and they knew about it but had no info. Suggested calling Robertson County Chamber of Commerce. I tried the Fairgrounds and that's where I found out about KDF.



Scott

 

[Got Smoke?]

June 25th.

I realized not many Mid-Tenn members are going, but that's the same weekend as Diesel Nationals @ IRP (Indy)

 

[Piston Slapper]

Garreck (smokindieseldork) is going.

 

[Got Smoke?]

Garreck (smokindieseldork) is going.

I think the roll call stands @:



Me, G/F, & Dilbert

Meacham & Little Man

Terry, Ginger, & Joe?

Hans & G/F

Nick & Mike

and Jay

Possibly Shane & Chase Dillard?



Probably a little more than 1/2 Mid-Tenn now that I typed it out. :-laf

 

[HeavyHauler]

Ok, I've got it figured out. The pull in Springfield is actually the Mid-South Pullers Association, which is sort of a "chapter" of the NTPA. I've gone to a few of their pulls in Lexington, AL and Ardmore, TN and wasn't very impressed. They usually have several super stock tractors but not the real fancy ones. I think they're basically all on their own meaning that the actual NTPA doesn't give them much other than thier name to put on banners.



You can check them and their schedule out at http://www.midsouthpullers.com

 

[Got Smoke?]

So guess what I found out tonight fella's. Me phsyco-ex g/f made a post over on my KY site saying she went to a pull in Lafayette and they pulled stock trucks. Now for those of you who don't know Lafayette is only about 20 minutes from my house bending the speed limit a little bit. #@$%!#@$%!#@$%!#@$%!

I went to a Truck and Tractor Pull last Saturday Night and they has a Stock Class... ... 1 Ford, 8 Dodges, and 1 Hummer H2..... 2005 Dodge won that class... ... ...

Its a D@MN SHAME that we couldn't have gone up there and shown them some real power! #@$%!#@$%!#@$%!#@$%!

 

[WadePatton]

Otay, looked at the HB. It's a bit different on the 12 and 24. 24 has a thin but larger diameter. 12 valve has more traditional looking thing.



Need a 2" section of steel tubing/pipe with 8. 5 ID for 12v. It's closer to 9. 25 on the 24. Not that I need one for the 24, but some folks will.



More as this safety feature develops.

 

[AndyMan]

I'm having a real ****-knocker of a time with Death Wobble. I can pretty much induce it at will now. I've been run off the road by it twice in the past week. It is absoloutely CRAZY.



So far, I've put caster full forward, had it aligned, tires rotated and balanced, slack taken from the steering gear, ball joints checked, tie rods checked, track bar checked, and have put on a Fabtech Dual Steering Stabilizer.



Only thing left is the drop blocks from KORE, and shocks. I've got four Bilstein 5100's on the way. Truck is back at Alex Hendry Alignment as we speak. Alex is going to put on brackets to drop the Control Arms 3"s.



Thank your stars if you've never been through this. It's a wild ride that I could have done without. Not to mention that I'm out $750 that I didn't have at the moment.

 

[HeavyHauler]

Geez I didn't even know that was a problem anymore on the 3rd gen trucks. Hope you get it figured out.



EDIT:



Hey have you seen or responded to this thread? It's about the DW on the 3rd gens. Shows how much I know!



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131066

 

[AndyMan]

Yeah, scroll down. I've been writing in that thread like crazy lately. Mark even stuck his nose in that thread!



Hoot is an old buddy from a DMax forum years ago. I trust whatever he says, but I can't see how dropping the sway bar down an inch (with a $110 spacer) could solve the problem. Does raising the front two inches REALLY preload the axle to the point of increasing DW?

 

[Cumminsman]

mike had a go around for about 10k-15k miles with it. ended up replacing all of the front ball joints and track bar. riding and driving like a dream now. not sure what else he checked but he does have the 2" leveling kit on his also.

 

[Cumminsman]

i sent mike an email. he mite be able to help you with this andy

 

[Roadhog]

Ball joints, a scared chrysler technician and service manager, and the chrysler rep fixed mine. The service manager wasnt going to let me have the truck back till they fixed it. He said it was dangerous to drive. I told him it was a normal dodge.

 

[WadePatton]

I thought I had it outsmarted, but DW jumped up on me just last week. I didn't slow enough for a known DW bump in the road (bridge/pavement joint on 70s).



Haven't gotten around to full frontend checkout. need one.

 

[AndyMan]

Thanks Nick and Mike!

and thanks for the well wishes Hans!



Alex aligned the front end again after retarding the caster to 4 deg negative (EEK!). It had been at 7. 5 deg positive. He's checked out literally everything under the front end. I immediately suspected ball joints three weeks ago, but they check out fine. Assuming that mine has been solved, it would be attributed to "slack in the steering gear" and "caster out of whack".



Another item of funny note is that the track bar had about 90ft/lbs of torque on it and was creaking and popping... but no DW at that time. I yanked it up to just over 150ft/lbs of torque, and the noises went away, but DW started. Weird eh? Loose track bar should've definately allowed DW to surface.



She did pretty good on the roll home today. Tomorrow morning the the freeze joint at the Charlotte pike overpass on I-440 just off I-40 will be the test. I can pretty much instigate it on that joint every time.



My buddy Feger (Green/grey QCLB 35"MT's) has nerves of steel. He wanted to experience it. I can be pretty stupid, so we went for a ride. DW made him squirm pretty good. Needless to say, from now on if I tell him somethings bad, he's going to take my word for it. hahaha.



I've still got kind of a vibration problem. I need new tires, and shocks. I've got Bilsteins on the way (Thursday). Hopefully that'll button up the rest of this issue.



blah blah blah... time to hit the sack... .

 

[Got Smoke?]

Anybody want one of those break-away switches to make a kill switch for pulling?



Nick can get them for $8-10 all day long, and said he would bring how ever many people wanted one to Indy to me next weekend.



Any takers?



EDIT! Just got off the phone with BJ's trailer says directly off 109 South between Gallatin and Mt. Juilet/Lebanon. They sell them everyday for $11.

 

[BigPapa]

Hey Andy,



Sorry to hear about your DW. What about old Alex? If it can be fixed Alex can do it. He's an OLD friend of mine. Anybody need any front end work, he's the man.



Scott