The 11.000 pound massive Bigfoot has to be one of the most extreme 4x4 truck out there! Being the very first monster truck ever built it certainly set the bar high for all of the other popular monster trucks that have followed in its wake. This bad ass 4x4 is built with the body of a Ford F150 2010 truck.
The Bigfoot is owned and operated by the man who is responsible for its creation, Bob Chandler, and the company that has become hugely successful thanks to the truck -- Bigfoot 4x4 Inc. -- is one of the largest monster truck companies in the country.
The monster truck Bigfoot requires about 6 months of hard work to build, with no fewer than two mechanics working on the truck daily. Bigfoot 4x4 Inc. releases about 3 new trucks a year, but they are painstakingly built by the many experts that handle the myriad details of building the truck. The cost of building just one Bigfoot truck is well over $250,000, though there's no way to determine exactly how much goes into the construction due to the thousands of details that go into the amazing monster.
The engine used in the Bigfoot 18 is a V8 engine, with a supercharged 556 CID, alcohol injection motor that makes the monster truck purr like a very noisy kitten. The engine has the power of 1550 horses, and a torque of roughly 1250 pounds per foot. It weighs 11,500 pounds, and stands at 126 inches tall, 144 wide, and 228 inches long.
While Chevy motors are the most commonly used engines for monster trucks, the Bigfoot uses a Ford motor. Mounting a C-headed, 460-base engine block, the motor comes with a blower built into it. This blower -- or supercharger -- is able to increase the engine's power by blowing compressed air into the engine. This causes the engine to burn at a higher temperature, and it uses up more fuel to give the truck a whole lot more power! After all, the hotter the temperature in the engine, the more "zoom!" you get!
The overdrive on the monster truck cannot be set at more than 10%, as the helix angle will be affected by the supercharger. If the helix angle is too high, the truck will be too powerful to be used indoors on a course with limited space. The motor uses alcohol as the fuel, and the fact that it burns at a higher temperature than gasoline means that you get more kick from the engine. The fuel cell can hold about 22 gallons of fuel, and the truck uses up roughly 5 gallons per jump.
The interesting thing about the motor is that it's designed to be a top-performer, but it can't get too hot. The engine actually runs at a lower temperature than many other monster truck motors, and this ensures that the truck can pack a punch without burning out the engine. A Bigfoot engine lasts for about a year of competitions, which is longer than the engines on many other monster trucks.
The Bigfoot comes with two functioning shock absorbers on each corner of the truck, giving it the power to sail through the air and land without destroying the car. The truck once used gas bump stops, but the latest Bigfoot uses solid bump stops. This is due to the fact that the long jump placed about 4 G's worth of pressure on the truck upon landing, so Bigfoot needed to be able to handle a whole lot more abuse.
The truck is designed to be perfectly balanced, and the motor has been moved closer to the roll cage. With the engine placed just behind the cage, it can get more power without risking popping a wheelie when landing after a long jump. With too much tail weight, the front the of truck is much more likely to fly up and land on the rear wheel -- which can be damaging for the suspension of the truck.
The drive shafts used in the Bigfoot 18 are custom made by the Bigfoot 4x4 company, and they are made especially for Bigfoot. The front drive shaft is 44 inches in length, while the rear shaft is just 42 inches in length. The steel tubes are three and a half inches thick, with a wall of 0.92". There is a two-speed transmission, and it is controlled by hand. This gives it more power, but it means that mistakes made while shifting can grenade the transmission.
Bigfoot sits on a concussion chassis, and it weighs 1,700 pounds alone. Round steel tubing is used for the frame, which helps to absorb a lot of the impact of the monster truck's landing. The special triangulation of the chassis' parts ensure that the load is spread out over the entire length of the chassis, preventing the body from being damaged on impact. The cage itself is resistant to damage, and any impacts to the cage will be dissipated through the frame.
The wheel base is longer, which prevents the front from lifting up too much as the truck powers through the long jump. This helped the truck to fly as level as possible, guaranteeing that all four wheels hit the ground as close together as possible. This reduces impact on the truck as it lands.
The chassis for the Bigfoot 18 is longer than the older chassis, as the goal of the creation of this truck is to defeat the 208 foot record held by the Bad Habit Monster Truck. The design was successful, as the Bigfoot 18 was able to jump 214.8 feet -- earning back the Guiness World Record for longest jump in a Monster Truck.
Bigfoot is definitely one of the most amazing extreme trucks of all time, and the experts that handle it are continually improving on the already highly effective design!
Check out the official Bigfoot4x4 site for more information 🙂
Extreme 4x4 are highly modified and custom built 4x4s. Some of them may look like other 4x4s but as you look closer you see interesting solutions. Others are obviously extreme 4x4s!
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