New to the Mini Truck scene. Need some helpfull info..

Ok so i pretty know much everything else involved but one thing i dont get,(even though it seems common sense)do people put plates on the bottem of the trucks to keep from destroying the body/paint job when they drag the trucks? or has that never been herd of?  

All kinds of things are done, since the first hydraulic systems were set up. Simplest is a pair of steel rods welded to the underside of the frame rails, and exotic is magnesium (don't do this, k?) blocks for dragging sparks with.

With the work involved to "lay frame" it's a given that body panels are trimmed, etc, so everything can clear at the extremes, both up and down.

More important than the pretty parts, is the  oil pan. This HAS to be protected. Look up old pics of "Don Garlits" to see what sparks and spilling petrol like to do together.

Some vehicles are just naturals in how the factory made them. The '67 Pontiac Tempest, GTO, LeMans, all had a thick crossmember in front of the pan. My old goat bottomed out many times without problems, but today's cars are made of lighter stuff. Don't just assume the factory crossmembers will take any abuse. Look up pics on Google image search, you'll find images of what's been done for draggers.

Personally, I don't want to live with a "custom" suspension ever again...I tend to plow thru stuff too much!  

yeah people protect the underside of trucks - for more reasons than destroying paint and body (for trucks that lay body, destroying paint and body would be an issue, but many trucks don't have that problem.)

Exhaust, gas tank, crossmembers, frame... it's good to know what "hangs down" the lowest, and once that's accounted for, there's always a new spot that drags. And just because you hear noise doesn't mean it's the truck ON the ground, which is a separate problem ;-)  

ok thanks alot. that clears up alot of stuff for me. ya it does sound like common sense but some other people might not have known that.....  

well it is kind of a "hot topic" because some prefer to just drag the crap out of their frames and bodies and see it as cool to ruin their trucks like that  

it does seem everybody has a different take on this ,i myself recently had my truck painted which lays rocker and i try to baby and protect it but i also love to drag it so pretty much depends on how i feel that day  
brendan

even trucks that don't lay rocker but that are just bagged still get beat up. Seems like nomatter how hard you try to protect it, given enough time on the road, you're bound to drag, snag, rip, etc. haha