Ladder Bar mounting opinions

I have a set of ladder bars I'm getting ready to set up on my 30 coupe. Running a "A" spring in the back.

I've seen them set up straight and angled in. These are not the long ones like Pete and Jake sell. I know theres are set up to angle in towards the trans mount. Mine are about 33 inches long.

I keep going back and forth on how I want to mount them.

Would like opinions on which way some of you guys have set them up.

 

33 inch ladder bars are too short to go to the frame rails on a street driven car....

 

Plan right now is to make a crossmember and run them inside the rails.

 

I used the Chassis Engineering drag ladder bars on my coupe. I ran them at a very slight angle with the frame rail.

 

Mine are the longer 42" "gasser" bars from S&W Race Cars. I would suggest you mount yours with bushed rod ends for flex, like these. It allows for movement on the street. I would also keep them straight at that length, as that's how they were designed to be used. I think they would tend to bind on an angle.


Mutt

 

Mine have Heim rod ends on them on the front and a clevis on the back.

 

that probabilly won't make much difference ,.but how you mount them will...you want them as long as possible , and angled in towards the transmision area...like how Pete & Jakes , S0-Cal and Brizio....they do that for a reason


while you will see plenty of pictures of non-finished cars with ladder bars going straight forward ,and it may seam like it works ok when they jump up and down on it in their garage ,that is not how to do it on a street driven car

i don't want to offend anyone , but both of the pictures that have been posted shows them going straight forward..and were refered to as "gasser bars" and "drag bars" and were purchased from racing chassis parts maufacturers...they are fine for the strip


this is what you should do:

 

What the height of the end that mounts to the frame compared to the hieght of the pinion. I believe that this has something to do with wheel hop and traction. I think mine require 6" above the pinion.

 

No offense taken. Mine are installed on a drag car that will see occasional street use - and that's what they are designed for. S & W will tell you to hook them up straight. They will also tell you to use Poly ends on both ends if you are going to use them for street only, so that you will get max flex ability. I wanted the long ladder bar look from a sixties gasser, that's why I went with these instead of the P & J set. You could modify the axle brackets to angle them if you wanted - I didn't want to. My suspension isn't designed for a soft ride. I even have a Detroit Locker..

Mutt

 

we did ours like this. Seems to work good. Front ends have urethane bushings. Bars are angled in slightly. they follow the frame lines. I did make a longer panhard bar. Just a couple more inches made a big difference.

 

the pete and jakes and the socals appear to be the same. how long are their ladder bars ???

 

yes , So-Cal uses Pete & Jakes ladder bars....they are 43-1/2" long

 

I've always heard that it was best to angle them in but see so many cars that are not. Was'nt sure if the length of the bars dettermined how far in they should be angled.


One more thing. All the instructions for setting them up that I have read(race application) say to keep the bottom bar parrallell to the ground.

Should they be set up that way for street or is it not really a factor? I see alot angled up.

Seems like they would have to be mounted fairly low in the front to acheive this on some of the cars in the pictures.

 

If a guy was to build a set of P&J style bars, should he try to have his front pivot match the front u-joint? So the front bushings and u-joint all lined up??

 

Seems like thats where they hit in the picture 36-3window posted.