Hot Rods 57 chevy leaf springs

Hey guys. Im wondering what what would be best for rear leaf springs for my 57 gasser type build. Im planning on going with ladder bars and more towards a drag car, so traction and 60ft times are a priority. So being the ladder bars are the traction aid and axle locator, does the spring just play the roll of holding the car up? So would a stock replacement type leaf spring be fine? Or more leaves and stiffer be better? Thanks for any help

 

Chrysler race cars probably had the best leaf spring technology of any manufacturer...Their superstock springs worked pretty well along with pinion snubbbers....

 

For drag racing CalTrac supplies springs and bars. They work as described.

 

Yes. The chrysler ss springs act like a solid link with clamps and longer leaves towards the front. And, ya, cal tracks are awsome with the split monos and cal track bars. But im planning on ladder bars with floaters. So i would think that all the spring is doing is supporting the weight of the car. Am i correct? Or is there more to it than that?

 

End of conversation. The best there is.

 

You’ll be fine with stock replacement leaf springs. Are you adding floaters to your ladder bar set up?

 

I've always used stock replacement springs for a six passenger station wagon in my 55. These have five leaves vs. four leaves for a sedan. The nine passenger wagons had six leaves. By the way, all three years, (55, 56, 57), use different rear springs with different spring rates. Learned this from St. Louis Spring, where I got my springs.

LEAF SPRING SUSPENSION (saintlouisspring.com)

 

Just my experience but I built a 56 Chevy for a customer with an off-topic engine that put out about 600 horsepower and a 6-speed. I use caltracs bars and stock drop leaf springs in the rear and after tuning in the bars it would hook with 10 in pie crust slicks pretty dang good

 

The hot set-up in small tyre leaf spring classes is "Split Mono-Leaf" springs with Caltracs

It is also very user friendly on the street

 

Another vote for CalTracs.

 

Oh absolutely, cal tracks are the ticket. I have some friends that run em and they are awsome. But im building a gasser and going to use ladder bars with floaters.

 

Or you might consider just running the Chrysler springs alone. All the SS springs have a 20.5 inch front segment with different springs for different weight cars. A 4 speed car will need a snubber I have not ran a automatic that needed one. It is a cheap rear suspension money wise in todays world. You will find the right side will also sit higher due to different bias of the springs.