In the world of automobiles, the Prerunner truck is special having upgraded style and features. They are specially designed for racing with high speed in dessert areas. For a regular truck, it’s not possible to provide a high speed in areas like deserts and mountains as their suspension travel and damping don’t play a significant role.
What Makes a Truck a Prerunner?
You can make any vehicle a Prerunner to race in teams like motorbikes, trucks, and buggies. However, Speed is not the only thing that matters an actual Prerunner is the one who can survive the harsh environment of the desert. Furthermore, to bear the tough dessert a Prerunner truck must-have off-road tires, quality shock-absorber, and stout suspension.
Speed as well as ability to bear the tough environment both matters equally we will discuss it in detail further.
Prerunner Truck- Main Features:
- Fabricated tubular chassis (customized) and a body on frame truck.
- A low center of gravity and a wide track is good for stability and cornering.
- Oversized off-roads wheels.
- Advanced damping elements and the ability to provide long-term travel suspension will protect it from bumps while driving at high speed.
- Recessed rear and front bumpers for an improved approach and departure angles.
- Fiberglass bodywork to provide clear and wide suspension to tires and their components.
- Roll cage, bucket seats, and multi-point harness to provide Prerunner advanced security features.
Why Prerunners are Famous for Offroad Racing:
They are the upgraded version of trucks and buggies that can run in speed used for a pre-run in simple word test run. In racing competitions, it’s very useful as it checks the course/track of the race before the actual race starts to avoid damages to the main racing vehicle.
Moreover, it’s a simple truck with some special features and simple construction. Like off-road racing, vehicles vary in shapes and sizes same goes for pre-runners.
Pre-runner Trucks-Origin:
Prerunner is a word that comes for desert racing like the famous Baja 1000 more specifically. It is not like regular road racing where there is no particular course but checks points which racers have to cross and they can choose any track of their choice. However, in desert course racing the path is fixed on which trucks race.
To learn which course is best to reach the checkpoint, pro runners take from two to seven days and check the road condition. Furthermore, Prerunners trucks are useful to find the best track to reach the checkpoint once it’s discovered racers compete at the selected course discovered with the help of the Prerunner truck.
Race trucks and trophy trucks such as Baja 1000 or Mint 400 are advances in technology that have aerospace level upgrades having cost up to millions. Moreover, taking a risk with such expensive trucks to use them as pre-runners is a risky thing to do that’s why race teams use the less expensive truck as pre-runners.
Prerunning a truck requires a team of three to four people a driver, a manager, a mechanic, and a navigator. A Prerunner truck must have the ability to tackle the difficulties of a dessert track but it doesn’t have to be a trophy truck. Lastly, Prerunner truck has a long travel suspension, huge oversized wheel (along with spares), and recovery gear.
First Prerunner Truck:
The first-ever-made Prerunner truck was built by former racer and mechanics specially build for desert races. It was stock Volkswagen Type 1 Beetles modified for off-road racing. Many racers got attracted by this idea and the process continues.
In today’s world now they are extremely popular and often appear in off-road magazines. Now there are a lot of shops that are experts in making prerunners for track location and all. Lastly, it depends upon you, you can order all the essential required to build a prerunner and construct it accordingly.
What are the options?
If you want a prerunner truck to test run the track you have several options such as:
Purchase a used truck:
Advantage: You will get a ready to use truck at a low cost
Disadvantage: It may be not exactly to your need and require alternations and some repairs which will cost you money
Order a customized truck at a professional shop:
Advantages: It will cater to all your needs and you can order to design it according to your wishes and requirements.
Disadvantages: It’s very costly and requires a huge amount of money
Build a DIY truck:
Advantages: Affordable, you can easily tailor it according to your needs, save you a huge sum of money and labor cost.
Disadvantages: Require time, knowledge, and skills
The Truck:
The majority of the projects are based on modern full-size trucks, such as the Chevy Silverado 1500 or Ford F150, but smaller trucks as the Chevy Colorado / Ford Ranger and bigger ¾ heavy-duty trucks as Chevy Silverado 2500 and Ford F250 are also suitable.
Types of Vehicles used as a base for Prerunner truck:
1.Small Size Vehicle:
Normally cars are small size vehicles that you can use for prerunners.
Example: VW Beetle
2.Mid-Size Vehicle:
Mid-size forerunners can be pickup trucks, SUVs, and a Car.
If it’s a pickup truck it can be Chevy, Colorado, dodge, Dakota, Ford Rangers, GMC Canyon, Jeep, Nissan, Toyota, Tacoma.
SUV: Chevy Blazer S10, Ford Bronco, Chevy, Tahow/GMC, Yukon, Jeep Cherokee.
Car: Subaru, Impreza, Forester.
3. Full Size:
Full-size prerunners can be any of the three a pickup truck, SUV, or a Car.
If it’s a pickup truck it can be Chevy Silverado 1500, Dodge Ram 1500, GMC Sierra 1500, Ford F150 / Raptor, Nissan Titan, Toyota Tundra
SUV: Chevy Tahoe, Chevy Suburban, Ford Expedition, Ford Excursion, GMC Yukon / Yukon XL, Toyota Sequoia
Car: Lexus LS400, Ford LTD, Ford Crown Victoria
4.Large Size:
If you need a prerunner in the large size you will find only the trucks as they are the mighty ones
Trucks: Chevy, Silverado 2500, Dodge Ram 2500, GMC Sierra 2500, Ford F250
Prerunner Truck Engine:
You cannot deny the importance of the engine. A good prerunner truck must have a good engine. The engine should have enough power to provide torque to maneuver and maintain the high speed.
V6 is generally a good engine it has enough energy for small trucks. However, V6 power will not be sufficient for bigger trucks, with larger trucks try using a V8 engine.
2WD Trucks vs 4WD Trucks:
Many people in the racing industry say that only 2WD trucks can be used for prerunning, although it’s not entirely true. You can use 4WD trucks too for prerunning. Not only that, the reason to prefer 2WD trucks over 4WD is its features like the absence of the front axle and its transfer case. Furthermore, these qualities make the 2WD light in weight and easy to maintain.
On the other hand, 4WD trucks are also useful as they offer a better off-road capability and there are fewer chances that they will get stuck in the middle of the desert. Lastly, 4WD (four-wheel-drive) trucks can run smoothly on a straight track without getting diverted sideways.
Important Modifications required for a Prerunner Truck:
Wheels:
For an off-road pre-runner, oversized wheels are a must. The overall diameter of the wheel plays an important role.35” to 45” tires allow a desert truck to pass through minor holes and pots. However, a small wheel doesn’t allow that.
A huge range of variety is available in the market but you can choose from the race-on rubber to enhance your desert racing experience.
Suspension:
While modifying a truck into a Prerunner you need to increase its suspension. Use bolt-on long-travel suspension conversion kits. Mostly these kits work best with Chevy Silverado and Ford F150.
Furthermore, these suspension kits have all the necessary tools you need to replace the factory upper and lower control arms and steering components.
Bodywork:
Once the suspension is complete and wheels are upgraded now make the final calculations of width, height, and wheel travel. Furthermore, It’s preferable to use wide fiberglass fenders as it provides enough space for the wheel in arches.
Low-profile tubular bumpers with integrated skid plates are used to increase the approach & departure angles and protect exposed suspension components.
Shocks & Springs:
Now as you have increased the truck suspension, size, and wheel to modify it into a prerunner you also need to change its shocks and springs accordingly. Advanced coil-overs, single, or dual shock setups with remote reservoirs will ensure proper damping within the entire wheel travel range.
Shocks having remote reservoirs are mostly used in applications like these as they operate well under normal as well as extreme compression. If you select your kit as bolt-on long travel you do not need to change the shock sizes. Moreover, it varies from kit to kit so check it before buying.
Mostly in Prerunner projects professionals use king shocks and coil-overs.
Safety:
Desert racing is not a simple task-it requires a lot of skills and experience. It’s a highly predictable high-speed race sometimes even life-threatening. Lastly, It is very important that every team carefully manufacture a Prerunner to avoid any accident.
Recovery:
Running without a spare tire in the desert is highly risky and chances exist that your tire will become flat. That’s why prerunners always go on a run with 1 or 2 spare tires stored on the holder for easy and fast replacement.
Accessories:
Along with all these modifications, there are some accessories which you must carry such as CB radio, Navigation system, Auxiliary lighting, and other gear.
Resources
- Custom-built Prerunners and Race Trucks – Branthel Industries
- Suspension kits, Body Armor, Wheels, Safety – CARiD.com
- Fiberglass bodywork – Fiberwerx
- Off-road and desert racing tires – BF Goodrich
Ideal Toyota Tacoma Prerunner Truck:
Toyota Tacoma prerunner is a double wheel truck introduced in 1998 and converted into a prerunner in 2014. After modifications, it has a four-wheel-drive model (4WD) and a longer suspension. Moreover, it also has additional structural bracing underneath it.
Toyota designed this Prerunner only for the four-wheel-drive model. One of its features includes a locking rear differential, which when engaged forces both rear wheels to turn in unison. Lastly, a Tacoma prerunner was an ideal prerunner as it was modified with all the essentials modifications a good prerunner must-have.
Current Prerunner Trucks:
It’s sad to know that Toyota Tacoma prerunners are not available now still a lot of good prerunner trucks exist in the market such as Ford f-150 Raptor.
The ford f-150 raptor has huge tires and suspension making it a good Prerunner for desert.
Prerunner can be any kind of vehicle a truck, car, buggy. What’s important here is that driver must be skilled and know how to handle the Prerunner in a challenging environment.
Also Read: 10 Best Tonneau Cover for Honda Ridgeline【2021 Review】
Conclusion:
If you are into desert racing and want to know how to build a good prerunner truck you have come to the right place.
This article explains all about prerunenr that is important. Most people assume that Prerunner has to be a truck but it’s not correct. Prerunner can be a car, buggy, or truck. You just modify a simple vehicle into a tough runner which can easily race in the desert.
Types and sizes of Prerunner vary from need to need. Most people prefer trucks as preunners. This article will teach you how you can convert a simple truck into a prerunner truck and use it for a test race in the desert.
Yes, most prerunners are 2WD, this is in part because most race trucks have to be 2WD, but there are some benefits to owning a 4WD prerunner. Furthermore, the first thing about 2WD prerunner is its cost, yes it is cheaper to manufacture a 2WD prerunner because you don’t have to deal with extended front axles which aren’t cheap.
What is the best truck to turn into a prerunner?
Arguably the most popular truck for building into a prerunner is the 1983 to 2011 Ford Ranger. However, these trucks make up the bulk of sportsman race trucks, but they were also inexpensive to both buy and modify. The next most popular model of truck is the Toyota Tacoma
How much does a prerunner truck cost?
A fully built “luxury” prerunner can run almost half a million dollars while just adding some aftermarket parts to a truck you may already own will cost maybe a few thousand dollars.
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