New project

[hotrod 80]

The broken sprag springs parts :

And a new to me 28' loaded trailer . Pics to com

[hotrod 80]

New ( to me ) 28' Cargomate by forest river . Has flat screen and auto signal dish 15K a/c . Pretty well loaded . It is a 2011 and I gave $12K cash for it .

[hotrod 80]

Inside the new trailer

Also decided to get the swap done while I had time to test . My old one


and the new one .

[regan wilson]

Thats a really sharp trailer Hotrod. You're going to love it in the Houston heat.

[hotrod 80]

Man is it ever hot . I put the Honda to work last night at evadale trying to get a handle on the new trans combo , but think I got it lined out . Last passes were .501 in the left and .508 in the right With a pair of 10.25

[hotrod 80]

Actually had a decent outing . I lost in the final with a redlight , but made up a round or 2 on the points leader . It is me and him now . No one else can reach us . 2 Races left in the IHRA season and 4 left in the NHRA season . Wally race on the 6/7th of august . Taking both trucks and running both classes . Also lost a tire on the way home .

[Marv D]

Is that by chance a Goodyear Marathon? Lots of bad reviews about the Marathon trailer tires falling apart early. I wsn't going to risk destroying a inner fender (and it coming inside to the car) I took them off both of my trailers and went to Carlisle trailer tires. Have no idea if they are better but have a lifetime warrantee on the carcus not coming apart . Heck even with a bad wheel bearing I haven't ever worn a trailer tire tread out. So maybe free tires for life hu (lol)

[hotrod 80]

Originally Posted by Marv D

Is that by chance a Goodyear Marathon? Lots of bad reviews about the Marathon trailer tires falling apart early. I wsn't going to risk destroying a inner fender (and it coming inside to the car) I took them off both of my trailers and went to Carlisle trailer tires. Have no idea if they are better but have a lifetime warrantee on the carcus not coming apart . Heck even with a bad wheel bearing I haven't ever worn a trailer tire tread out. So maybe free tires for life hu (lol)

My local tire shop , Long's tire in Baytown , also a sponsor told me this is a towmaster tire. It said made in USA . it was manufactured 15 week of 2015 , so less than a year old . He said it looked like I hit something . I didn't lose a truck tire though . im going 16" now for sure . Been grinding on this track championship so hard I cant keep up .

[hotrod 80]

4 rounds out of first with 2 races left in the season . IHRA .

[hotrod 80]

Well Saturday is it . They will drop one race for the year and that should put me 2 rounds down . We double race this coming Saturday , one right after the other . We will know this weekend who the track chap is and who will be going to world championship .

[hotrod 80]

Rained out again . This weekend is NHRA finals and IHRA will be the on the 3rd.

[hotrod 80]

Looking for some advice here . I am needing new tires , but funds wont provide . I have been running a 29.5 x 10.5 W . I have a set of 28 x 10.5 W s with 8 passes . Guess im gonna make the tire swap Friday and test. I am also thinking about pulling the exhaust since im making a change and could use the extra .10 in et that I lost from the heat . Just cant justify new slicks , IHRA bracket finals, NHRA bracket finals and possibly IHRA world finals . That adds up to a lot of money .

[hotrod 80]

Well I didn't get any opinions , but I did mount the 28Ws Friday and pull the exhaust . The exhaust was 54# . The truck loved it . I dropped from 1.46-1.47 60' to 1.40-1.41 60 I also picked up 1 mph . First time trial I was .033 I took .020 out of the long through and was deadly all day . Ended up with the win tonight . Needed a win going into next weekend .

[Marv D]

Congrats Hotrod,,,
Looks like it was the right choice in tire

[hotrod 80]

[regan wilson]

Good job as usual Hot Rod.
Where does that put you in your NHRA points?
Oh the truck looks better with that tire too.

[hotrod 80]

Originally Posted by regan wilson

Good job as usual Hot Rod.
Where does that put you in your NHRA points?
Oh the truck looks better with that tire too.

I think I ended up 12th in points at Baytown for the year . I was like 23rd and struggling . I like the tire better also . Today was the final double race for IHRA in Evadale , but it rained out already . They moved it to next weekend the 17th . Im second in points there . Heck , everything rained out pine valley , HMP , Evadale we even consider going to Ennis or San Antonio , but they have special events going on . We though about going to little river and decided against it this morning .

[hotrod 80]

Well my run for the track championship is over . They rained the race out and ended the points . I tried to get a best 2 out of 3 , but no go . Bad part is we haven't gotten a drop of rain . Hell it was 99 degrees today .

Bracket finals for NHRA next weekend in Ennis , Texas followed by IHRA bracket finals in San Antonio the next weekend . Then the off season .

[hotrod 80]

Well NHRA div 4 bracket final didn't go as planned . First trip foe my "wore out 7.3 " , got up there no problem . They went into rush due to weather , Thursday test n tune went like this .

Just so you guys know the first and fourth lines are weather around my 2 time trials (2 & 3 ) . Pulled up with no time trial Saturday and put a 6,55 on it . the results sucked .

Anyway , im leaving for San Antonio either Thursday at noon or Friday morning before sun up . Shameless burn out pic .........cause some one is hopefully look at my posts .

[regan wilson]

That was a close race. You had a decent light and there aint nothing wrong with the et. The truck did what you told it to do. Good luck in San Antonio.

[hotrod 80]

I'll be set up teens next weekend for sure . My luck ill be so aggressive im red.

[hotrod 80]

IHRA bracket finals in Marion , Texas east of San Antonio :

Let me start off with a bit of history . About 4 or 5 weeks ago I was talking with a buddy of mine who owns a specialty shop and works on nothing but Ford powerstrokes . I was having lunch and talking to him about Duallys Ford , chevy and Dodge . He mentions a customer who just bought a new truck and had his old one for sell. I end up with a 99' F 350 crew cab 2wd dually 7.3 . I am a big fan of the 7.3 . Anyway I am making the haul to San Antonio and it just feels down on power . MPG suck . Fuel feed line to the passenger head cracked .

Appearently it is a pretty common failure as the Ford dealer in seguin had one in stock . 3 hours $63 later and I was back in business Saturday .
Got out to the track Thursday at 1:00 . Got parked and unloaded just in time for test and tune . Beams were tight . Like 6 bumps from pre stage to stage instead of the usual 8 . I was red in all test session took 200 out of the 2 step and was .045-.055 .
Friday morning I got 2 time trials and straight into a gamblers race where I lost first and second round due to my 40-50 lights . I was ready for a break after repairing the Dually between rounds .
Took a break saturday night and just rested up .
Saturday morning I knew I had to do something . Added 100 rpm back to the 2 step and put the old 33/13 in the tires and went for it straight out of the trailer no time trial . Bam .003 and 6.504 on a 6.49 dial with one solid womp about 400 foot . Man did I need a win . Ended up going to 14 cars and broke the planet in the trans (1.80 straight cut) , total bummer . Loaded everthing up and just hung out and enjoyed watching the finals with a few beers with the wife .
Sunday : watched a bit of racing then loaded up and headed home . Truck still had some air in the fuel line and it took a few mile to clean up . Got about half way home and the passenger rear tire on the trailer sheers all 6 studs . Tire takes off , hits an overpass and hits a young couple in an suv . No one was hurt thank God . Never found the tire . Anyway after the cops and report etc . I limp on the feader to a parking loot and scroung enough wheel studs and lug nuts from oriellys to patch it back together enough to get home . Kinda glad to have a break from the racing for a while .

[regan wilson]

That sounds more like one of my outings Hotrod. Sounds like you might want to go through all those wheel studs?

[hotrod 80]

Ordered 24 new ones already . Wife wants a 32 with bathroom . I want a break from racing .

[hotrod 80]

I just parked this thing til last weekend and took a break . Finally got it to the house and pressed the new studs in the passenger side hubs of the trailer , so that's fixed . Jacked the truck up and pulled the trans out . Thinking it is needle bearing for the planetary , we shall see . Took it to the guy that inspected it before I put it in . Hey , the way see it , I was winning until it broke . Also having headers built next week . Going forward and out the fenders in front of the tires . I'll get some pics of those after they are built . I also went to a swap meet north of me in Conroe , Texas and bought every luv part there , both of them a hood and a bumper . So swapping from a cowl to a forward facing scoop . Enough talking here are the pics .
Hood before :

In the paint shop:

Just some garage pics :