tractor pulls

[Texaschevy]

`hey has anyone ever gone to the tractor pulls with thier six-five, i went last summer and pretty much got laughed at course i pulled against like stacked-chipped cummins and powerstrokes (stock class yeah right) has any body else had any luck any sugestions i plan once mines back and running on goning and showing them boys how its really done. i think my best pull was 211 ft in a 300 ft course

[power6.5]

i plan once mines back and running on goning and showing them boys how its really done.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that ain't happinin' unless many highly unlikely things come together.

A.) Your set-up is perfect
B.) Their set-up is terrible
C.) The driveline holds up

You're going to need at least 4-500 horses to be competitive, with a winning set-up. The most a truck 6.5 has successfully achieved is 300 HP. Aside from that, the durability is just not there. These are not HD diesels, but rather LD diesels designed for light pick-ups. But your result was impressive.

Save yourself the time and money, and get a 12 valve to "show them boys how it's really done."

[torque454]

I have faith in the 6.5 but youd spend an ungodly amount of money on it. I'd like to take a duramax to the pull. To hell with those cumaparts and powerchokes. But just for the fun of it, put a 80 hp chip, intercooler, and 4" exhaust on the 6.5 and have some fun. I bet youd surprise a few of them. 211ft is incredible to me, most of those guys are likly only going 275-285ft from my experiences with truck & tractor pulls. Alot of them or spinning the tires all the way down the track too which is just wasted power. Are you running a manual trans or auto? 4.10 gears? 4x4?

[JD_countryboy]

around here, Duramax's RULE!!!!!!!!!! Kickin a$$ and takin names. Course it depends on driver, equiptment and track conditions. But generally duramax's kill. We have 6,500 pound and 7,500 pound classes. Diesel and gas are seperate. Don't recall any 6.5's. I dont have enough to compete, so i dont waste the $10 to enter. save it twords upgrades! Most don't know how to control all their power and just power hop and spin out. Have seen a few driveshfts come out and sunbathe! LOL. My opinion, it will be hard to compete with the newer diesels. Don't know much about durability with major mods to a 6.5, but stock newer diesels still whip them right outta the box. I would love to show up the new diesels with a 6.5 that could hang with them, or beat them. but don't know, i think cost efectiveness, time to upgrade to somethin newer, or a bigger old cat!

[torque454]

If i had the money to blow id screw with the 6.5 just to be different but i completely agree with you otherwise. Im beginning to go crazy over the duramax's, they impress me more and more all the time.

[Sundance]

A Duramax is next on my list of trucks. Gonna be a couple years before I can swing it though........

[Texaschevy]

well i dont really care if i win it i just want a full pull, i think with the right combination i can get a decent amount of power, im running a z-71 with 373's as long as i have fun blow some smoke and surprise some people im happy.
im thinking of a chip, bigger injectors and some turbo work but im gonna have all put in with the new engine and have it broke in togather before i go tearin on it

[JD_countryboy]

You building an engine to pull with?

[deerefanatic]

Yah, part of this is the fault of the people organizing the pulls... our fair has two pulls per year, one on fair week, one mid summer... the Mid summer pull is way better to watch because the stock class is segregated to say...... 98ish and older and 99ish and newer... Lots of old 7.3's and early cummins... (No 6.5's though......) Makes it more fair.....

I hate to tell you guys though, which engine "kills" at a particular pull is entirely dependent on the guy runnin the sled.... If that guy gears it for short steep pulls, the cummins will win every time....with powerstrokes chasin it down the line..... If the sled operator gears for long pulls, the duramax's win hands down....

Not that any motor is "better", just different........

FWIW, I'd go for the Cummins any day.......

[A. Bomb]

Wanna beat them with a 6.5? Here is what you do.
Steps to follow:

1. Swap in a Duramax/Allison. Don't tell ANYONE.
2. Modify "Turbo Power" cover to fit over Duramax
3. Don't add any any badges to claim your swap.
4. Pull at night. Right before you pull, make sure your engine bay light is "broken" so no one gets a good look.
5. On the way there, spray your engine bay down with WD-40 and drive it down some dirt roads to get it nice and filthy under the hood.
6. Take it to a pull "two towns over."

And you just beat a Cummins with a "6.5" See how easy it was?

[torque454]

I realize that the last post was just for the humor of it, but the duramax is actually a 6.6, and the sound would give it away. :D:D The 6.2/6.5's have a unique sound, but i really like it.

[deerefanatic]

Yep, nobody will believe you for a second that you're driving a six-five..... Only IDI engines make that unmistakable "blamming" noise... :D

[A. Bomb]

The blamming noise is the crankshaft being forcibly ejected from the bottom of the engine block.

[deerefanatic]

LOL!!

No, I mean the blamblamblam idle that the 6.5 is notorious for...... VS the roar of the DI engines like the Dmax, PowerStroke, and Cummins.

[1999GMC]

A guy on another forum has a picture of his truck pulling for his avatar and I asked him how it did and he said he was only 20 feet behind 2 of his buddys with hopped up Dodges. He didn't say how many feet he pulled, but it was only 20 less than a modified Cummins.

[deerefanatic]

It's alot to do with the driver...... A poor truck with a great driver will beat a great truck with a poor driver anytime.........

[ChevyCowboy]

so i might be crazy but the county fair here has a stock class and i really wanna enter it just to show some of my buddies that my truck aint the piece of xxxx they say it is.
I have EGT and Boost gauges i am in the process of building a turbo master will turn boost up to a max of 15 PSI i have opend up the air box pulled out that stupid snorkal and plan to turn up the fuel pump the truck is a 93 with the NV4500 and 4:10's with a posi. it seems to me that if i build an intercooler i should have a chance of making a reasonable pull

it just seems to me that the drive train in my truck is about perfect with the the low gearing of the NV4500 and then the added low gearing of the 4:10's

also what should i start checking out on the drive train i just put in all new U joints and a new front D Shaft. Ive seen trucks rip the T case out and leave it layin in the dirt:eek: dont really want that

so i came to the place with the most combined knowledge i couldthink of what should i do next?
JOSH

[sshewins]

18:1 long block, ported & polished heads, gasket match intake, polish intake, intercooler, h**th's HP4 chip/computer, 4" exhaust, stud the entire engine, toss the GM-X turbo; get a HX35, HO injectors, Scat Crank, girdle the bottom, and just a touch of propane - not too much, we wouldn't want to spank ourselves, just the powerjokes :)

[JD_countryboy]

scratch the chip/computer. yours is mechanical. just give the allen head screw in the pump a 1/4 turn. everything else sounds pretty darn good. Oh yea, forgot to mention Winng lotto ticket to pay for the awsome upgrade. :D

[ChevyCowboy]

ya all that would be awsome and one day ill get all that done but for now am i running a risk of really breaking something if do pull?

[Redneck mechanic]

LOL, I like that, nice way to beat them

[JD_countryboy]

my thoughts, if ya know what ya got, and run it with a little common sence, i would think You'd be ok. MY OPINION, no facts. A little common sence with any machine goes a long way. A good driver with a small machine can outpull an idiot with big machine anyday. I know multiple people who have proved this theory.
No one is to say weather your truck will break or not when you pull. Guess it comes down to how well you know your truck, and how dependable you believe it to be. As i started going through my truck replacing things that were bad, and body work, and paint, and redoing the bed, I find not everyone who works on a truck should be allowed to touch a wrech, screwdriver, torch, welder, duct tape, ect. Some are complete Morons but hopefully once i'm done, I'll have a truck almost good as new. I will not be happy till its as dependable as my 85 gasser. It has never let me down, Not saying its never broke, but its never failed to get me to my intended location under its own power. And it has always gotten the job done.

[ChevyCowboy]

the thing is when pulling like that the parts that are most liklie to break is the drive train u joints tcase tranny clutch etc. iv seen u joints shear off and tcases riped out. i have resently replaced all the u joints with heavy duty ones and i have had the tranny and t case out and know that every thing is securly bolted in place im ganna pull unless something terible happens between now and then. so in the next few months i plan to build an intercooler finish my turbo master and go over every thing in th drive train to make sure that it is in good repair and i guess if somthing dose happen to go wrong in the motor i guess ill have to rebuild it a little sooner imean the motor does have over 229000 miles on it so its ganna be due for a rebuild before to much longer. ah what the hell wheres the fun in life if you dont live a little on the recless side right:D

[WillB918]

Hunting is my thing, not tractor pull or motorsports, but, would Dale have raced NASCAR in a Chevette? He could have, and he probably would have finished a lot of races and beat everone else that broke down. The commentators would have said "Ole' Dale did good for bein' in a Chevette"... You're handicapping yourself or setting yourself up to spend twice as much as a competitor and it boils down to you not counting on winning, but the other guy loosing...

Kinda like elephant hunting with a .22 You can soup it up, give it an armor piercing core and you wind up with a 5.56 NATO round...but it is still a .22

The 6.5 is a squirrel gun you can occassionally take a deer with. Accept its limitations and keep it within those limitations and you'll always have meat on the table.

If you want Moose or Elephant meat, buy a .300 Win. Magnum and go raise caine...

I like the idea of breaking under hood lights and having a black ops Duramax 300 Win. Mag. shrouded under a layer of WD-mud...