Technical Homemade ladder bar hack

I have a shoebox Ford and like all the other cool kids, I want to lower it a bit.
It also had bad u-joints in the rear. So I jack it up. Set the stands underneath and slide under with a creeper and HOLEY SHOEBOXES BATMAN WHAT IS THAT?!?!?


So school me fellow HAMBers, is this what I'm thinking? Is it some homemade ladder bar?
I've never installed or had a car with ladder bars. The welds look solid although a bit amature. Is this sound design or just some redneck pissing in the wind? Looks to me like they would be prone to catch on things if I lowered it.
Again, I didn't install them. I plan on lowering 2 maybe 3 inches. What does the HAMB land think?

 

Looks like the redneck got a little damp! Possibly something off a Chevy truck? Cut in half and extended with some 1"x3" rec tubing. Rear hangars shaped with a cutting torch (awesome)! And, a shock angle that is to die for (literally). Other than that, looks like a fine fabrication job!
Me thinks it's time to design some new trailing arms.

 

That would be a homemade control arm made from some donor parts.
These are “ladder bars” in the true sense:
True vintage style….

Modern racing version….

Of course, this is 2024, you can call anything, anything and it’s perfectly acceptable.
If it rides ok there’s no reason to change them. I’d treat it all to a good pressure washing though.

 

67 SS camaros got a single traction bar on the right side to help with wheel hop. Looks like someone applied that tech to your showbox. Traction bar, not ladder bar.

 

Okay, that's what I was thinking, traction bars not ladder bars.

 

Definitely not ladder bars. More like traction bars. It has pivots on both ends. Home made with what was at hand using a reasoned out design. I can't tell from the pictures, but I believe the front mount pivots where we can't see it. The second picture shows a tab that seems to limit its rotation. The front pivot of the bar or mount is probably close to the front leaf spring hanger which allows the spring to function normally. The rear mount on the axle puts the pivot point of the bar forward of and below the axle. When you accelerate hard the torque reaction of the differential drives the bar forward and slightly up. The design of the front mount limits the travel and prevents spring wind up.

 

Hey if they work leave them .

I had slapper bars made from 2x3 square tubing and giant galvanized turn buckles for adjusting them off a fishing boat and hockey puck bumpers on a low 12 second Chevelle in the late 80's.
Guys laughed because they were not Lake wood and I had painted then yellow.

 

Yep, look like someone took a lower rear arm off of a gm coil over suspension (gto, chevelle, etc) cut the arm in half, put a piece of square tube between them and voila' traction bar ! Old school backyard hot rodding......

..

 

A poor man's version of Caltrac traction bars.

 

Homemade, but look strong enough. Can't imagine they'd ever drag unless your drop is going to be pretty severe?

 

Screw the drop and build a drag car out of it!....

 

As long as it doesn't bind when the spring moves through it's arch I would leave it.

 

Find a more upright installation angle for the shocks, so they do something.

 

I must be blind, what is it using for springs? and are there arms on both sides of the rear or just on the passenger side?

 

That was exactly my thought when I saw that.
Not a bad design in my mind. It should prevent spring wrap without binding the suspesion up.
Execution is a bit too shadetree. I'd be inclined to refine it if it works. Kinda depends on if you need it based on your intended usage.

 

I labeled the spring

 

If you look at the last two pictures, the shocks are reversed. Pictures are all taken from the same side. Bottom pic is the driver side, all other pics are passenger side.

 

Yes, that is in the future plans. Need to figure out a shorter shock to use.