Wheel hop and traction bars

[KULTULZ]

How much air gap do you have at the rubber bumpers?

 Do you know if the front half of your springs are wrapping up? If not have someone watch your holeshot, there should be no spring wrap with slappers and enough shock control.

FYI I would weld reinforcements to the spring perches, when you finally get traction you will bend them.

They were where the snubber(s) was adjustable right (slapper bars), loose for driving and tighten the gap for SAT NIGHT?

As long as the snubber made contact right under the leaf front eyelet? Of course, strap the leaves. And speaking of ride quality (street vs track), a polyurethane spring front eyelet and a stronger shackle kit.

How rough are CALTRACS on the street?

PINION SNUBBER - FORD

[59meteor]

How much air gap do you have at the rubber bumpers?

 Do you know if the front half of your springs are wrapping up? If not have someone watch your holeshot, there should be no spring wrap with slappers and enough shock control.

FYI I would weld reinforcements to the spring perches, when you finally get traction you will bend them.

Good luck,

Ron.

I normally have about 1/22 air gap on the snubbers on the Lakewood slapper bars. Due to the design of the front leaf spring hanger, which partially covers the front spring eye, my snubbers are about 1 1/2"s behind the spring eye, and the snubbers have actually started bending the main leaf upwards where the snubbers hit the spring. Randy and Terry, what Cal Tracs did you order? When I looked at the Calvert webpage, they had no listings for late 50s Fords. Also, it seems that all the Cal Tracs are meant for use with 2 1/2" wide leaf springs, although I suppose narrowing the spring eye aluminum bushings and using a shorter cross bolt is simple enough.
Since I have already spent over $500. on the new leaf springs, and I like the way the car sits and rides, I don`t really want to experiment with adding more leaves to my current springs and making the rear sit up, or ride like a tank. After all, it is mostly a driver, that only sees occasional track use.

[KULTULZ]

Due to the design of the front leaf spring hanger, which partially covers the front spring eye, my snubbers are about 1 1/2"s behind the spring eye, and the snubbers have actually started bending the main leaf upwards where the snubbers hit the spring.

[rmk57]

I normally have about 1/22 air gap on the snubbers on the Lakewood slapper bars. Due to the design of the front leaf spring hanger, which partially covers the front spring eye, my snubbers are about 1 1/2"s behind the spring eye, and the snubbers have actually started bending the main leaf upwards where the snubbers hit the spring. Randy and Terry, what Cal Tracs did you order? When I looked at the Calvert webpage, they had no listings for late 50s Fords. Also, it seems that all the Cal Tracs are meant for use with 2 1/2" wide leaf springs, although I suppose narrowing the spring eye aluminum bushings and using a shorter cross bolt is simple enough.
Since I have already spent over $500. on the new leaf springs, and I like the way the car sits and rides, I don`t really want to experiment with adding more leaves to my current springs and making the rear sit up, or ride like a tank. After all, it is mostly a driver, that only sees occasional track use.

 Rory I should have mentioned I built my own Caltracs. Bought the DOM tube, L/R inserts for the tube, heim joints and some mild steel for the triangular sections. I also made the aluminum inserts for the leaf springs as I have a lathe.
I doubt there as nice as the original Caltracs, but they work well, 1.52-1.53 60ft.

As far as an application, not sure, maybe a 66-71 Fairlane, Torino? Terry should have the answer.

[FiveSevenLiter]

I phoned down and spoke with them, my receipt says Special Order, no part number.
Terry
 

[SkylinerRon]

Rory,
To be effective the bumpers must contact just below the spring eye. You need to put an aluminum bushing in the front spring eye. If the bumper contacts the frame bracket directly below the eye bolt it will work fine. You may need to beef up the bracket. The fact that your springs are bending tells me it is unloading the rear tires and hopping.

I use the lakewood style bars on my AMX E/Stocker and it comes out at 6000 no problem. Traction Masters on my 61 Starliner work well but, they don't transfer weight just stop the hop. Super HD rear shocks on both cars.

Good luck,

Ron.

[Ford Blue blood]

I agree with Ron.  When racing my Boss 302 (road) I installed a set of aluminum bushings in the front spring eye.  Made a world of difference when accelerating out of turns!  Removed all the "twitch" I felt when hammering it out of the turn.  Expect the results might be the same for straight line as well.

[59meteor]

Not sure how much the aluminum front spring eye bushing would help on these 57-59 Ford cars, as the bushing and eyelet on the front of leaf spring are much smaller diameter than a 69/70 Mustang, maybe 1/2 the size. I wonder if my snubbers on the Lakewood are contributing to the wheelhop issues. The rubber snubbers were kinda rough, so I replaced them with new urethane snubbers, which are much firmer. Maybe the snubbers are not absorbing the hit, but rather bouncing off the main spring leaf, causing the leaf to bend.

[SkylinerRon]

I use the rubber bumpers, they seem to work fine. The poly is probably too harsh. The bumpers should be aligned with the front spring bolt, they don't need to actually hit the spring itself, just be the same length  as the front half of the spring. The pivot points are important as you are making a crude but, effective four link setup.

Solid front bushings are important so you get a solid pivot point. Rubber bumpers and air gap allow the tires to plant.

After mounting the bars you need to find out if the front half of the spring is wrapping up. If it is a simple clamp or two on them will probably cure it.

Good luck,

Ron.

[SkylinerRon]

Re; Aluminium bushings
The stock bushings are small but, it's the main pivot point and all the small deflections can stack up to allow too much total movement.
There some areas that need to be soft and others hard.

Ron.