gasser guys, how long can ladder bar be????

Please Post it on here
Thanks

 

Good launch, Rough ride. Not street fun. Came out strate and strong. This 65 Comet is going to have same bars but thinking 2 inch shackles to get some movement and limit traval to rigid status. Hoping for the best of two worlds???

 

here is a pic of my bars, made them adjustable...

 

Thanks for the pics and info Guys
48" bars look good to me Ron....

 

mine are 36''. some say 1/3 of the wheelbase +/-? i don't have any traction problems .and i use my back bumper for a wheelie bar! see ardmore hrr 2009. too fat too fly.

 

Can you post a pic or send a pic to my e-mail ([email protected] )?
I would really appriciate it. I'm really interested with the floating front eye hanger.
Thanks,
Doug

 

Just for trivia's sake, KS Pittman's ladder bars on his first 33 Willys (the tall one that crashed in TX in early 66), had 78" long ladder bars according to Hot Rod magazine. They attached just behind the rear shackle of the front leaf springs.

 

how cool is that!? i'd give a thumb to drive that truck once!

 

I had them all the way up to my front fenders on my 54 Chevy 409 powered gasser. (see my profile photo album) Acted like big pry bars

 

The bars need to pivot at the front where the front U-joint of the drive shaft is located for the suspension to work. The best person I know to ask is Elpolacko. He knows suspensions better than most people. Also when he installs a torque arm (ladder bar) setup he uses a short vertical link to attach it to the frame to allow for changes in drive shaft length when the suspension moves. There's more to this than just setting a length and building it. That's why some work and others don't.

 

I set mine up to match the pivot point of the universal on the front of the driveshaft also. The longer they are, the more leverage the weight of the car has to plant the rear tires.

 

Until you get far enough forward that the bars are trying to pick up the front of the car and not the whole car. That's what instant centers are all about. But there's a little more too it than that.
Larry T

 

I read somewhere that you should shoot for center of balance. That worked out real close to my front yolk on mine, so I just matched the front of my bars to the front universal joint anyway.

 

i'm setting up some ladder bars and sliders aka bearings on the front of the leaf springs...leaving the stock attachment on the rear of the car. The cal tracs i borrowed to test out on my straight axle 55 bbc gasser don't hook for shit. i don't have wheel hop though if that means anything. good for burnout competitions...lol. i've got some that are 52" right now. i like the idea of eric's 55 with 70" ladder bars though, connecting right in line with the trans mount...that's awesome.

 

The ladder bars on the 39 Stude we are rebuilding ran from the rear to the bracket that the front radius rods were mounted to. They were mounted almost straight down from the bottom of the firewall.

 

Center of balance sounds appropriate or you could check out the '64 Thunderbolts from Ford; lots of hook up.

 

The standard bar nowadays is 32". This works well for your modern lowered drag car. In the day it was about weight transfer because tires were very primitive. Ie. thumbprint slicks. If your building a nostalgia car today w/ higher ride height the general rule of thumb is half the wheel base in length and pivot the same as rear end centerline height from ground. This will give you the look and give the car a chance to hookup!!!! The new thumbprint tires are okay, but they are not wrinkle wall slicks by any means. Remember the longer the bar the stronger it has to be made. The bar is only as good as it's mounting point.

 

I recently moved my front ladder bar mount from the middle hole to the top hole (3 hole). I thought for sure it would hook better and maybe pull the wheels better, but my 60 ft times remained the same. I was disappointed in that, why didn't it work ?




before

 

you need to put it in the bottom hole.. the center line for the bars moves forward when you do this.. you shorten the centerline when you move it up..

 

My ladder bars are welded to the rear alxe housing and run all the way up to under the front seat. They work really well.

 

Choke, your Chevy is looking sweet. The chromed rear and ladder bars really set it off. I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.

Mark

 

I thought shortening the centerline to get it closer to the center of weight of the car was better for traction and would hit the tire better ?

 

Well when they first start fooling around with ladder bar lengths they found that the farther the point was forward the better it hooked..this is why in the 60s ladder bars were so long. If you drew a straight line from your lower bar to the front of the car, it needs to pass forward of the center line of the weight . By lowering the bar the line moves more forward and but raising the bar you shorten the line. putting it behind the weight.

 

here have a look at this guys set up.. speeks for itself!! lol.

 

Well thanks fitzee

 

Let me know how you make out. cool little car by the way.

 

Cause you took pinion angle out of it. You want the pinion 3 to 4 degrees down.

 

thats what i noticed, put it in the lower hole and set you pinion loaded dn at about 3 degrees and make sure nothing in that whole area is bound up springs shocks, bars panhard or diag link bars etc. also i always use an anti roll set up work very very good.. good luck, been following your car...

 

I adjusted all 3 heims to keep the pinion angle the same as it was when I changed it. I now have a decision to make on changing it before the next race.
I just did a jet and shooter change on the carbs and possibly won't get a good reading on that move if I change the ladder bars too.

 

takes all of 20 mins to do a jet chance and squirter.. Me I change that back and do the ladder bars first..run the car and then do a jet change at the track..