From: GOTAM35 (gotam35@sc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Aug 12 2002 - 10:34:27 PDT
I can't miss out on this one.
Yes you can destroy some serious parts doing stuff like this. I have been
working on my family's trucks for years and I have seen drive shafts, axles
and pinion gears break, strip and twist. Some of these have been very large
parts too. That means heavy (nothing you can pick up easily).
The best thing you can do is reduce the traction at the wheels. Sand works
well but soft sand can produce some serious hopping. That's what breaks
most things. If you are pulling in clay, just add a little water. The clay
around here is very slick when wet and what people really like to see is all
those wheels turning and those engines screaming. You could put a rubber
band between the two trucks if you had a little wet clay.
I don't think your duece has enough power to break a GOOD cable or chain.
High tensile chain is hard to break. Mild steel isn't worth the money you
could get out of srapping it. We have used 5/8 cable to pull our JD crawler
out of a stick on many occations. It's hard to break a good cable. A rusty
one is an accident waiting to happen. You would most likely break the
drive train before you break large cable or chain.
Like one of the other guys said, the back of the truck is a weak spot too.
You will alway break at the weakest point. That's the whole theory behind
shear pins.
If you want to win the T-O-W, hook the cable high on your truck and low on
your competitors. You'll get more traction and he'll get less. The
teenagers around here would take their trucks and see who pull the other a
few years back. The guy with higher truck was always winning. The poor
kids hadn't taken physics in college yet.
Good luck,
Joe Trapp
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