The Broken Rearend Issue (9 Viewers)

[Bobby Bennett]

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[mick]

great and informative article. thank you.

 

[65 Goatboy]

Doesn't make the long delays any easier but sure answered a lot of questions. Maybe the new 12.75 will reduce breakage but probably not for everyone this year.

 

[Litefoot]

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Passion is often the hidden fuel in drag racing. It keeps teams rebuilding after midnight, suppliers chasing better answers, and racers willing to trust the

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I don’t know if it possible to soften lock up, I noticed a friend with a super comp dragster having a consistency problem and it looked to me that the throttle stop came back on to fast and was shocking the tires and spinning the tires slightly,, I asked him if he could slow down the quickness and add less time on the stop, he tried that and car became very consistent, I have no idea if anything like that can be done with top fuel clutch, just a thought after reading mister strange talk about the harshness of instant lock up on gears

 

[sutton]

I don’t know if it possible to soften lock up, I noticed a friend with a super comp dragster having a consistency problem and it looked to me that the throttle stop came back on to fast and was shocking the tires and spinning the tires slightly,, I asked him if he could slow down the quickness and add less time on the stop, he tried that and car became very consistent, I have know idea if anything like that can be done with top fuel clutch, just a thought after reading mister strange talk about the harshness of instant lock up on gears

Mark
Years ago I had the same issue with the 1-2 shift on my Lenco shaking and knocking the tires loose. I drilled and taped the air exhaust on the air pod and put a 80 thousands jet in it and problem gone. air hit slower.
Larry Sutton---

 

[stitcherbob]

Maybe go back to chain drive.......

 

[65 Goatboy]

Don't think their is a chain that can handle 12,000 horsepower available anywhere!

 

[Butch]

Just thinking of all the time and $$ Big spent on experimenting with different ideas that DIDN'T work out, wow. It wasn't like he had money to burn. And thankfully the ONE that changed TF forever.
He has my respect.

 

[TSK]

Has a FC broken a rearend lately? I don’t recall it happening recently.

 

[65 Goatboy]

Has a FC broken a rearend lately? I don’t recall it happening recently.

Interesting. I can't remember the last time that happened. Their must be a difference in the two setups. Wonder if someone could tell us exactly what it is.

 

[mick]

austin last year at gainesville. on the top end, same as both of schumachers.

 

[none]

A TF car loads the rear harder than a FC, there are many problems that show up first in TF for that reason.

The highest load is from about 1.8 to 2.5 seconds in prime conditions., When the engine comes out of retard, you have downforce to keep the tires planted and the clutch is coming in quick. That's when the driveshaft starts catching up to the engine. Once they go 1 to 1 the load lessens so if you get past that, you're in good shape.

Anybody remember when breaking wheel studs was happening fairly regularly? Same place, beteween 1.7 and 2.5 almost evey time.

As Mike pointed out, Prock is the only one that I'm aware of. He also has the hardest running FC.

Alan

 

[z28]

A TF car loads the rear harder than a FC, there are many problems that show up first in TF for that reason.

The highest load is from about 1.8 to 2.5 seconds in prime conditions., When the engine comes out of retard, you have downforce to keep the tires planted and the clutch is coming in quick. That's when the driveshaft starts catching up to the engine. Once they go 1 to 1 the load lessens so if you get past that, you're in good shape.

Anybody remember when breaking wheel studs was happening fairly regularly? Same place, beteween 1.7 and 2.5 almost evey time.

As Mike pointed out, Prock is the only one that I'm aware of. He also has the hardest running FC.

Alan

according to Chris Cunningham they changed the clutch setup on the Cornwell Car to be like Beckman's car. He said the Prock setup was too hard to tune.

 

[stitcherbob]

Don't think their is a chain that can handle 12,000 horsepower available anywhere!

Ya never know.....

 

[Cliff]

Hmmmmm So maybe bring back the Garlits sidewinder with this type of chain??? Garlits did say that the sidewinder planted the tires better than with the conventional set up. I think (?) Garlits had a chain drive originally, then switched to a gear drive, which had parasitic HP loss, and that is why he gave up on the idea.

 

[none]

I don't wanna be within 10 miles of the place when that chain breaks at 340+ MPH.

Alan

 

[Cliff]

So Alan, ya think a sidewinder with chain drive can go 340? Just need to come up with a "chain blanket". heh

 

[Gone Dead Train]

So Alan, ya think a sidewinder with chain drive can go 340? Just need to come up with a "chain blanket". heh

Cliff, did I hear your name mentioned a couple of 3 times on the nice documentary about the "Ridge Route Terrors"

 

[Cliff]

Cliff, did I hear your name mentioned a couple of 3 times on the nice documentary about the "Ridge Route Terrors"


View attachment 17355

I dunno. I am kinda world famous.... hahahaha I don't think I ever saw the documentary. Those guys were the one Calif team that Garlits feared. I saw James beat The Old Man more than once. James could drive a slippery track better than most, maybe even Garlits. I saw James & Big at OCIR in a final, dew on the track, & James got the win.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

I dunno. I am kinda world famous.... hahahaha I don't think I ever saw the documentary. Those guys were the one Calif team that Garlits feared. I saw James beat The Old Man more than once. James could drive a slippery track better than most, maybe even Garlits. I saw James & Big at OCIR in a final, dew on the track, & James got the win.

The only flaws in the documentary's are, they need to pronounce the last names right.
I saw them at Seattle 3 or 4 times in the 70s