Hey Brainiacs! Welcome to the monster truck training academy! Driving these huge powerful trucks is no easy task. It takes a lot of practice, so this is where monster truck drivers can come to perfect their stunts before the big monster truck stunt shows. Monster trucks are so cool! They’re custom-designed to be really powerful and super tough so they can do all of these awesome stunts! Today we’re going to have our very own monster truck made just for us! Let’s head over to the truck factory and watch our truck get assembled as we learn about the different parts! Welcome back to Brain Candy TV. Cool, this truck factory is making all sorts of trucks and their powerful engines. Look, all of the parts for our monster truck are already laid out ready for assembly. Let’s put it together as we learn about each part. First we have the chassis. It’s a strong cage made of steel tubes that protects the driver and connects all of the parts together. These are the axles. The axles go between two wheels and connect the wheels to the chassis. When monster trucks perform their amazing stunts and high jumps, they need special parts to give the trucks a soft landing. These parts are called shock absorbers or shocks. Sometimes they have big springs in them to absorb the force of big jumps. But these heavy duty monster truck shocks are filled with oil and have compressed gas at the end to give the truck an extra soft landing. Whoa, look at those huge tires! Let’s mount the big monster truck tires on the wheels and attach them to the axles. These wheels and tires are 66 inches tall – just a bit shorter than an average adult man, And they weigh 645 pounds – that’s heavier than three big grown-ups! These are the driveshafts. They take the spinning power of the engine and send it out to the axles and wheels. Monster truck engines are in the middle of the truck, so they need two drive shafts to send the power to the front wheels and the back wheels. And here we have the engine! It’s a supercharged 9.4-liter V8 engine with 1500 horsepower! That’s almost as powerful as ten regular cars! Let’s take a closer look at the engine to see how it works. An internal combustion engine basically works by creating lots of little explosions. Fuel is sent from the fuel cell, through the fuel lines and into the cylinders. This is called a V8 engine because it has eight cylinders in the shape of a V. Inside these cylinders are pistons that move up and down. When the piston moves down, a mixture of air and fuel are sprayed into the cylinder. Then the piston moves up and squeezes, or compresses, the fuel and air. Next, a spark plug creates a spark that ignites the compressed fuel and air. This creates a small explosion which pushes the piston back down. Finally, the piston comes back up which pushes the leftover exhaust fumes out to the exhaust headers and the process starts all over again. Intake, compression, combustion, exhaust. Intake, compression, combustion, exhaust. As the pistons move up and down, they turn the crankshaft which uses a bunch of gears in the transmission to turn the driveshaft and the wheels. All these little explosions make the engine very hot, so we’ll add a radiator to keep it cool. It’s like an air conditioner for the engine! There is only one seat in the middle of the truck, and it is custom-made for each driver to keep the driver safe and secure. All we have left to add now is our colourful fiberglass body. The body is there to protect the driver from flying dirt and debris but it also gives each truck their own special look. The body also uses clear panels so the truck driver can see what is happening near the wheels. Awesome! Our custom monster truck is ready for action, and now you know what makes most cars and trucks go! OK, let’s hop inside the cabin and get ready for our monster truck stunt training! Stay tuned. We'll be back after these messages... Here we are back at the monster truck training academy with our brand new truck: “Brain Cruncher”! But before we can start practicing our stunts, we have to learn how to steer the truck! Monster trucks have independent rear steering. That means the driver can steer with just the front wheels, just the back wheels, or the front and back wheels together. The front wheels are turned with the steering
wheel like a regular truck, but the back wheels are controlled separately by this thumb switch. Alright, let’s strap in and start practicing our monster truck stunts! The most basic monster truck stunt is the jump. Let’s try a small one to start. Nice jump! Let’s watch that again in slow motion! Notice how the big soft tires squish when the truck lands and the shocks compress to absorb the impact of the landing. This is very important so the truck doesn’t break its axle when it lands, and it also protects the driver from being knocked around in the cabin. Let’s try an even bigger jump this time. The driver has to make sure to hit the jump at just the right speed to make it to the other side. Oh no! I guess we weren’t going fast enough. That’s OK. Big jumps like this take a lot of practice. Most drivers don’t get it perfect the first time. And what do we do when we don’t get something right the first time? We pick ourselves up and we try again! OK, let’s go a bit faster this time! Awesome! Monster trucks are so tough and powerful, they can jump up to forty feet in the air! Another trick that monster trucks can do is a wheelie. The driver has to control speed very carefully to keep the truck on the two back wheels. Look out! Oops! We held that wheelie a bit too long, I think. No problem! Let’s try that wheelie again, but a little shorter this time. Nice, that did the trick! An even more difficult stunt is the nose wheelie. This is where the driver can keep the truck balanced on the FRONT wheels. Wow, great stunt! Monster trucks can do cool stunts even with all the wheels on the ground. With their special four-wheel steering, they can do awesome donuts and spin super fast! Woohoo, that was cool! One of my favourite monster truck stunts is called the backflip. Uh, oh. Don’t go too fast or the truck will just crash into the barrier. Let's try that again. If we get the speed and power just right, the truck will land safely on all four wheels. Alright! Let’s watch that again! Next up is car crushing! Monster trucks can weigh up to 12,000 pounds, that’s three or four times as heavy as a regular car. Monster trucks are so heavy that they can crush a regular car by driving over it. Let’s see how flat we can get these cars if we land the truck on them after a jump! Whoa, good thing those cars are already broken. I wouldn’t want a monster truck to land on MY car! Alright, that was so much fun! We learned a lot of cool stuff about monster trucks and internal combustion engines! Thanks for learning with us, Brainiacs! Thanks to all of our amazing Patreon patrons for your support of our show. Special thanks to our Super Brainiacs: Leland, Gavin, Mason, Scott, Breck C.S., Kyle and Cory, Shaquanta, Ethan, and Ocean. As well as our new Fire Truck level Brainiacs: Yasin and Hakim, Isaac and Elliott, Evan and Erik, Flint, Colt, Kaden, Jonathan and Zac, Finnan, and Everett. You’re awesome! Hey parents! If you’d like to see YOUR child’s name in the credits and other fun perks, please check out our Patreon page at patreon.com/braincandytv. In 2020, our royalties and ad rates were cut by 75%, so your support is more important than ever. Thanks so much for your support. It really means a lot!
