Prerunning i basically when your get ready for some sort of desert race or any race for that matter, you sometimes have the chance to go out and prerun the race course. This is usually only true for the longer races while the shorter races you figure out the track your first lap of the race.
A prerunner is a purpose built truck made to tackle the rough course smoothly while in the comfort of a radio, A/C, and other ammenities you may not have in a full race truck. You can prerun a course in a stock truck but be prepared to be fairly beat up from the ride as most courses are very rough and enduring. Having a built "prerunner" made with long travel suspension, a cage, tools, GPS to mark the course, and the ammenities mentioned above makes things easier on the driver, passengers, and to really focus on what the course hold for obsticles.
The term Prerunner was taken from this appication to use in reference as to what these trucks were built for. To have fun, be safe and still have the creature comforts of a stock truck. We build these trucks for the fun of being able to keep them street legel while also being able to hit a rough dirt road at 50+ mph and still be able to drive the vehicle home in one piece. While it is not always advised to go out way away from home and beat on your truck due to if you break something, you could be stuck out in the wilderness.
A prerunner is also not limited to just a truck. It can be a VW bug, built and braced sand rail, an SUV or pretty much anything you can make that is realible, safe, and is comfortable.
Now building one takes lots and lots of reseach. The more inofrmation you know, the better off you will be when building your vehicle. Asking questions never hurts anyone and for me, there are no dumb questions as i was once new to the sport.
On most vehicles, guys will start with a set of deaver or comprable leaf packs for the rear and a semi to full long travel front end. I personally suggest that if you plan on doing to good sized jumps or any moderate to hard off-roading that you build a cage FIRST. Safety is the number one priority in this sport as you can really hurt yourself along with others. If your doing mild stuff then a rear bed cage is all thats need for the rear to help you add longer shocks. This will be required to get all the travel out of the new leaf pack you have just bought. There are different types of packs out there so make sure to do your reseach first before buying one. When getting your rear shocks i suggest buying some that are rebuildable/revalveable. This way you can tune your shock to your needs.
For the front end, its not all about travel numbers (or wheel travel as it can be called other places, that is the distance from the wheel hub w/ the susension at full droop to the wheel hub w/ the suspension at full bump), its all in how you valve your shocks. I have seen trucks with 13" of travel beat trucks with 20" of travel all because their valving was spot on (look at the total chaos first race truck in google). Look for kits that are made by reputable people, you dont want a kit that is just thrown together. Threat Motorsports, Dixon Bros., Giant Motorsports, Camburg are just a few i know to be very reputable shops. Once you find a kit its just a matter of putting it on but here is where your reseach came into play because if you did not find out if the kit came with a new shock tower for your coilovers (should you go that way) or certain hardware, your truck may be sitting for a week or so. dont be afraid to ask the supplier questions, you are the purchaser and its goin on your truck.
Many people will also build a new front bumper to hold more lights and to also stand up to bushes, rocks or the occasional nerf (hit) to the guy in front telling him to please move over so you can pass. A rear bump can also be made to help with those nerf you may encounter.
Lockers or L/S are very reommended if doin lots of off roading as having both tires spinning really helps with traction off-road.
Im sure there may be some other little things i am forgetting but that is the jist of what a prerunner is and where to start. Please remember that your safety should be your first priority!
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