OT: (Somewhat) Question about monster tires and busted axles

May 30, 2004 3 Replies
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So while watching the Indy 500 this afternoon, a commercial came on that showed a monster truck bouncing around... I don't know what it was doing 'cause I wasn't paying that much attention. The trucks I'm talking about are the "Big Foot" types -- you know, the ones with the tires that are maybe 4 or 5 feet or thereabouts in diameter with a little pickup perched on top. Jacques Lazier snapped an axle just pulling his Indy car away from the pit this afternoon, so I started wondering about the monster trucks. I wonder how those guys avoid breaking axles just trying to get rolling, particularly when they're trying to crawl over a pile of junk cars or climbing a ramp to do a jump. It seems like those 4 huge wheels must collectively weigh around a half a ton or more of unsprung dead weight and would be so resistive to moving that something's gotta give...



Anybody know?



Scotty '99 TJ Sahara 4.0L I-6 '99 XJ Sport 4.0L I-6 '03 BMW Z4


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Heavy duty torque converter? :-)

Scotty did pass the time by typing:

Puny little axle, bad-ass engine. :)

The parts those monster 4x4s use are purpose built. That little pickup you see isn't anything more than a collection of fiberglass and steel body panels bolted to a tubular frame.

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Back in the early 1980s I was told that they used payloader axles, but it looks like I was misinformed. Here's one history of monster truck axle use:

TRUCKWORLD ONLINE! .

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