Which chutes does everyone like for a pro boost car? Is there a light harness?

Hi, I will be looking to buy new chutes for my pro boost car soon. What brand does everyone like? I have heard some are a pain to pack. Is there a lighter chute that everyone recommends?

Also is there a lighter harness that everyone uses?

Thanks,
Trevor Sherwood
727-364-4368
Soldierboy0098@yahoo.com

 

Stay away from stroud. Bulky heavy and overall not good quality. Dj Saftey I been told is the best.

 

Hey....... Easy on the Stroud bashing. I use them, and I use the ones he recommends, larger than I would have bought on my own. But why should I listen to Bob, all he did was design parachutes for the army airborne and Air Force to use on heavy drops. If weight is a concern then just buy his tiny super comp chutes, but you will probably be adding weight to make the Pro Boost min anyway. So why not use the heavier chutes that he recommends. Plus quality is back to where it should be since he bought the company back a few years ago.

 

I'm not bagging on them . Maybe I did something wrong. However I bought my first set of chutes and they went 50-60 passes before I got a hole in them. Then bought a new set and had a hole by the end of the weekend. Bought an emergency backup off Troy coughflin and lasted about 10 passes before they frayed around straps . The diaper straps fell apart after 3 years but maybe I did something wrong. I sent the chutes all in for repair and was told $300 to repair hole in each chute. So i threw them away. 75% of new cost for a repair. This was just my expirence. Maybe he might get better service. But my whole car was outfitted by stroud in the beginning It's all fazed out now.

 

Chutes

We are going to be very close to the weight min for pro boost and may be even slightly lower. I prefer to keep the car lighter and add weights if needed. The car had Stroud's on there but they are torn pretty bad, In Stroud's defense I have no idea how many passes are on them, could be a lot. I usually use DJ but I was told by a very experienced pro mod driver that they were a pain to pack. Just wanting some opinions from experienced people. The chutes are air cylinder launched w/ the deployment bags.

Thanks for the opinions so far,

Trevor Sherwood

 

Just crashed the car last month, Stroud's that didn't deploy right. They were spring launchers and I'm on my third pair and needless to say, not the happiest as had some issues before too. Going to air launched White Safety, about half the weight. http://www.whitesafetyequipment.net/parachutes.html

 

Was this a spring issue or a chute issue?

 

From the video, it looks like the springs came out but not sure if with enough force to make the chutes blossom. They can be a inconsistent if you don't wind and un-wind in the same direction. They seem to fold over/bend if tightened clockwise vice counter-clockwise and get caught in the cans. Not sure if this is what happened here but one chute only partially opened after a long delay and the other never did and this was on a short track with some track irregularities. This type of behavior has happened several times with different chutes and cans so it's not that they were same ones worn out. In this case, I watched them being packed and they were done correctly but the only thing I didn't see was the direction of the release of the spring. I think it may have been loosened clockwise which may have bound the springs in the cans. I'm hoping the air launchers don't bring me any grief as I have stayed away from them for years as I was concerned with them not working. I thought that the springs were bulletproof but that assumption has proven not to be true.

 

I've had this happen a few times. If you shake the tire and don't make a full pull when I get back to the pits I'll find all whole damn thing unwound and yes if not wound back up it will cause for the chute to not come out. Just another thing to look for between round. Air launchers scare me because if the air line comes off your screwed. Or if your crew guy doesn't activate it before you launch.

 

Trev, nothing difficult about packing DJ Chutes! My 12year olds can "almost" do it!

 

Jay70, what is unwound after shake? the spring pull down strap? I have Stroud Spring launchers on my dragster. The aluminum can fabrication and the strap winder bar was pathetic from stroud. Lots of issues. I did a lot of rework on mine. I made Nylon bushings for the winder bar where it goes through the sides of the big tube so they have a decent fit and are not just bouncing around in the holes in the tube..... This might help keep them from unwinding with shake if that is what you are talking about. That is part of the reason I made the bushings.
I agree with you Jay about the Air... that is why i went with Springs. I was looking for what i thought would be the most reliable. (NOT saying anyone has done something wrong that has had issue with the chutes)
Certainly have to make sure the Center canopy line on the stroud does not get flipped around. I used to have this problem when a crew member or track worker would wrap the chute around the wing. canopy would get inverted and twisted. due to the center canopy line. We roll them and put in a box on the back of the car now.. Also need to make sure the D bag goes in the pack what seems like upside down but this keeps the lines from hooking on the spring.

 

That's a great idea about the bushing. Yes it's cheap and sloppy at best his stroud made that. I always wanted to make something on it to hold psi against the strap so it wouldn't unwind. Almost like with piptpal did for keeping your papertowel from unraveling while in travel.

 

If you have a lathe just buy some good nylatron bar and you can make a step bushing to press into the large tube wall. make sure you polish the pin so it is smooth in the bushing. Just make them a nice slip fit on the winder bolt. .. seems to work for me....

 

Thanks. I'll look into that this weekend.

 

We use air launchers and put a one way check valve in the air line just in case of an air pressure failure - it's a small inline valve that keeps air pressure on the chute side....has 1/4" line push lock connectors on both ends for easy install....

I found we needed these check valves when we had an air operated throttle controller - when the chutes came out and air pressure dropped the throttle went closed momentarily....

Find em on eBay cheap...

 

Thank you for that advice. I have them and I will use them for sure. I have the concerns as most on the air launchers and anything to make sure they pop out is a bonus with me .

 

Check valve

That is a simple and great idea which I will be using on my car now. I will feel a lot better about the air launchers now.

Thanks Nitro Madness,
Trev

 

I had the identical issues with Stroud. Tear very easily, expensive to repair, and poor communications with MJ.

I've moved to DJ. Big Ben is the man @ DJ. No more stroud anything on my car.

 

Sounds like we are sticking with DJ, Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences.
Trev