I'm having issues with wheel hop and was looking into installing some sort of traction system to keep the axle from wrapping and to make the tires plant harder and faster. This won't be seeing the strip...just a street truck with some decent power. I've been told CalTracks work well...are these the same as slapper bars? What about a traction links with a rubber isolator where it mounts to the frame? Ladder bars? Any advice would be great. I also don't want them to look too new...want to stay as close to "correct" as possible. EDIT: It's the '56 Chevy pickup in my avatar.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/108316-goodbye-axle-wrap-mod.html http://www.how-to-build-hotrods.com/traction-bars.html
I'm assuming it's a leaf spring rear on your truck? Traction Masters are one of the older style traction bars, still available new or you could make something that looks similar fairly easily. http://tractionmaster.com/ If you want them to be hidden, you can make something similar that mounts above the axle. They will stop your wheel hop but they won't make your car hook-up as well as Caltracs would. Ansen Ground Grabbers are more early seventies style, but still cool. Here is a thread with some pics ... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=400560 Nothing wrong with slapper bars either if it is the look you are after.
Msd 7 digital box can do it....as can a davis box or just make it hook and you wont need either...cal tracs or smith racecraft bars and some pinion angle work and a good pair of shocks...rancho 9000's work good ...and make sure you are getting a lot of travel up front too
Don't know about straigt lining it , but,in the middle 80's roundy rounding traction control was your right foot!!!! You certainly ain't admitting to illegally street racing are you? Fenderless
clamping the front portion of the leafs and unclamping the rear portion of the leafs is how we do it for leafspring cars , its a old 60's superstock Dodge trick , basically clamping the forward leafs will make it a solid member (think of it as a solid link ) , and allows the rears to fan and prevents spring wind up in the front which causes the wheel hop , also shocks a little longer than stock help too about a inch or 2 ( as the spring winds up the shock will bottom out from the extension and cause the axle to lift suddenly as its trying to rotate and push the body up ) you want a good gas shock , if you have rear mounted shocks , that will make it harder to keep it from hopping , this is why Gm staggers the shocks on the O/T f bodies after 68 , it limits the axe rotation and makes it hit softer . don't worry about declamping the rear and ride quality , I drove on the street for years with my f bodys this way ,
Just add 1 or 2 front half leafs to the leaf springs. A half leaf controls wrap-up without stiffening the ride too much. If you vehicle has lowering blocks, you might need "traction override bars" similar to early Shelby Mustang GT 350's
CalTracks are not the same as slapper bars. CalTracks really improve a car performance. Serious drag racers use them because they really improve your 60" times. I have friends who swear by them and have showed me there charts of just how much each adjustment they made moved them in the right direction to quicker et's. There no cheap but that because they really make a big difference. Jimbo
to multi-leaf cars we added a second main leaf cut to fit as long as possible under the bushing in the front and as long as the second in the rear, then cut the rear section second spring to the length of the next spring and the next so the rear part had the same rate as before and the frt section being stiffer also adding clamps as needed. when cutting springs us a cut off wheel a round off the ends so they don't dig into the others. do you have lowering blocks?
Adding a 1/2 leaf to the front really works and is nearly invisible. Did that to a 69 Firebird years ago and it almost promoted a bit of lift to the rear on hard launches. Wouldn't even hop on the drag strip with all the glue down, but in all fairness it was just a low 15sec/high 14sec car with 60s on the rear.
you could fab up your own caltrac knock offs and let them rust like this guy did on a ad chevy truck, he said it only cost about $100 http://www.hotrodsandhemis.com/Traction.html
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