Yoter

On Saturday I plan on competing in a mud bog drag & tugOwar comp. I have never competed on any level before so this is new to me. Ive been mudding before but it would seem to me that is different trying to drive in mud compared to trying to haul a$$ through a pit. So what are some of the tips & tricks to winning mud bog competitions? I have an automatic transmission and would like to know what are the best gears suggested to be running in. I would assume 4low & drive with 2nd & 1st as back up. Does that sound like a good plan? Then airing down, should I drop to around 10 psi? What about weight, does it assist you or kill you? And what is ideal when choosing a line to follow in the pit or just hit it balls to the wall down the center? Fill me in guys & gals. Ben

Napoleon047

if you dont already have a snorkel and a switched electric fan, get one

i dont know what kind of tires you have, but obviously swampers rule in the mud.

the trick to mud is tire speed, you want your tires spinning as fast as you can get them. go find a local mud pit and experiment with using hi and low. watch your speedo, it wont tell you how fast you are actually going, but it will tell you about your tire speed. use drive gear so your tranny can automatically shift up if you have enough speed and power to use the higher gear.

if you find yourself losing speed, turn your steering wheel back and forth 1/4 turn left and right of center as fast as you can i.e. 9-3-9-3-9-3 etc.

i assume your tires are 12.5" wide?? if so, too bad you can only really go down to 12-15 psi before your tires spin on the rims and you will need them re-balanced.

Napoleon047

i forgot: shed all of the weight you can for the drag part of it, and personally, i wouldnt compete in the tug-o-war, but if you do, i would have a tow truck lined up and ready, i guarantee you are going up agianst some jacked up hillbilly chevys with bigblocks

crawler#976

I'm not sure if you have a front locker- if not, it'll be interesting to say the least. Make sure your front tow hooks are in good shape, and hook up your strap BEFORE you hit the pit. It's bad enough getting stuck, let alone digging around in the slop to find your hook. I used to run it around the passenger side of the truck and leave the end in the bed- you might have to tie it to the rack or something.

Get every possible ounce of extra weight outta your rig- the lighter the better. With your 13.5's, you should get reasonable floatation, but I think you're still gonna be short on HP for the heavy stuff.

Hug the sides of pit- watch the other rigs to see which side works best. Avoid the middle if possible-

If you want to make your cleanup easier, fill a spray bottle w/ cooking oil and spray every thing you can on the underside of your rig. Even with that, it'll pack mud in places you never knew existed. It used to take me a week or better to clean up my ol' 1970 SB GMC 350HP 4X4 after serious mud fun.

Have a good time!

LATER

rimpainter.com

Please tell me you were kidding about the tug-o-war competition!

Yoter

I do not have a snorkel or electric fan so i will have to settle with that fact. As for the weight issue thanks, I would never have thought of losing weight to gain an advantage. The pit side walls sounds like a smart line. the tires i am running like crawler said are 13.5's (Toyo's NEW MT's) So what about airing down. 10 psi? The good part about this challenge is you are in classes and not going up against big block chevy's with 13"s of lift on 44s. Worst case I would run into would be the Jeeps with their six bangers or full size pick ups with 6 cyls.. I am locked in the rear so is that going to screw me in the mud? Im thinking of fabbing up an airfilter guard to block direct access to it for the run. After doing my 3" body lift I ditched my factory fender skirts. So now there is a gap and wide open door for mud to come in. Good idea on PRE attaching the tow strap. So for the run i will ditch my sparetire off the rear carrier,highlift,and leave the speaker box at home. thats bout as light as shes gonna get. So recap: run in 4low & drive and pick a left or right line, start digging in work the wheel back and forth to grab? So I should not downshift if I start digging in? What about running with the ECT on & OD off? thanks for the help guys, I just wanna kick some a$$!

Yoter

It's true its true. I am not sure if the classes still count on this part or if you have to go up against the big boys. I would imagine they stick you with your class of rigs the entire time. So I would imagine weight would be my best friend in the tug comp right? Continue with 10psi & 4low in 1st. My buddy Charles (BigRedRunner) are competing against each other. This cpmp was his idea to enter and at first I was like hell no. But its growing on me.

hillbilly

I would think 4Hi would generate more tire speed.

Yoter

So 4low is a lower gear and I figured you would want more power but do I actually just want more tire speed over power? So instead running 4high & drive?

ldivinag

a 75 to 100 Hp shot of nitrous...

crawler#976

I'd start at 10 and see what happens- for my MT/R's I see the best traction at below 10 PSI- I usually start at 8 PSI.

In snow, I've dropped down to 4 PSI or so- the floatation is greatly increased, but I've burped and spun the tires on the rims at that pressure. In snow, that's no big deal- but mud in the bead will not do so well.

You really need to be locked both front and rear for the best traction in deep mud - but having the rear locked up will help.

Get plenty of pic's!!

later

Flygtenstein

Best tip, lower your rig and get something more than 3 liters and 6 cylinders.

I would hazard a guess 95% of the rigs will be lower than you and the low man wins.

Yoter

Thanks Crawler for the help & everyone else thank you. See what I can do this Saturday. Right now my 4runner is helping me win the "moving into my new house competition. My back is not winning, ouchy.

BruceTS

BigBadBlue, the only advice that I can give you is; Have a tow truck ready to get your rig home...

After reading your sig, you have a K&N intake system, NOT good for mudding....

Napoleon047

seriously though, get a snorkel. rig up an under the hood pvc one. the mud pit will have standing water sitting on top of the mud. if you do nothing else to prep, get the intake as far back and as high as possible!!!!!

MNBOY

Ben,
My advice to you would be to not do this if you are not already committed. I'm not trying to kill your fun, but if you want to be a serious contender you will mess up your truck. I spent a bunch of time running these, and winning, years back and we would never go home without something major to repair before the next run. You will most likely break running gear, and with your present state of body lift and no filler panels you will fill the engine compartment so full of crap the truck will never be the same again. We almost always trailered my truck because it was rarely able to be driven home. Go and be a spectator and watch others torture their trucks, but if your truck is your only transportation you could be without it for a week or more. If you still decide to do this PM me or post here and I can give you what advice I have. Sorry if this is a downer but it's my advice.

Yoter

HaHa then I would be a pu$$y if I didnt do it. Ive already talked about doing it so now I think I need to do it. I plan on taking my 4runner up there (45 minute to one hour drive away) and checking out the competition (other rigs signing up,pit conditions,cash prize amounts,and such). If the cash prizes are not a substantial amount or there are some seriously fabbed up & modded out rigs there I may PU$$ out and watch. But if the prizes are good sized amounts and im greedy, pit looks easy,rigs look beatable, and such I may just go for it. It costs $40 to enter, if the prizes suck and just are not worth it I see no reason to gamble up on competing. I say gamble up because this is being held at a casino.

bamachem

Definitely lock up in 4HI with the transmission in Drive so you get plenty of speed. You really should consider trying to fill the fender skirts with something or your engine compartment will be full of mud.

Good luck...

Napoleon047

in mud, yes. you want your tires spinning as fast as possible so that the treads will clean out.

kyle_22r

q78 swampers or buckshots pretty much rule the mud bog. tall and skinny is generally the way to go

though i've heard the 35x10 boggers that are coming out are going to stomp all the competition