LUVTruck.com

I am trying To run traction bars on stock rear leaf springs. I have removed the overload or flat spring. Is this correct? Seems really soft. I can bounce this rear twice and hit the bump stops on top of axle housing tube. I have not mounted traction bars yet. Stock shocks are also junk/originals . Have any of you ever run a Rancho adjustable rear shock like rs9000 ? My axle is bolted in but the perches are not welded up as the motor and trans are not in y et and I can't set the pinion angle. Any help would be great.

Hotrod80 Good news and bad news Here is how i did mine 1st the ladder bars work good ,i have a set of Art Morrison on mine.Next you need a set of sliders to let the ladder bars work these you weld to the rear end housing again from Morrison,i modified mine but more about that later.Next taking the overload spring out works real well as you need the softer springs to plant the tire, finely i installed KYB 50/50 shocks from Morrison. This is a short story of mine,my LUV has a 455 Buick 4spd 4.11 gears 31/18.5 tires and it stick real good at a 4500 launch on the street. I'm sure there are plenty of others with good info read all you can ask questions and build yourself a fun rig to drive.

Thanks Tj but to me ladder bars mean narrowing the frame rails, tubbing the bed, big wide slicks, & on the border of pro street of the 80's . I will be running a 235 or 255 60 15 drag radial and don't want to cut the truck up. I guess I want a stock appearing luv with a v-8 under the hood. These springs seem way to soft without the overloads. Anyone with traction/slapper bars?

Im using a set of home built slapper /ladder bars.Its 2x3 box tubing welded to the rear end , they are 6 ft long and run to the trans crossmember. Were they are hinged.On the rear is a set of coil over shocks.Used the same set up on a 66 chevy 2 no tubbing with leaf springs.The car ran 9's on a 9 inch slick.

You can put ladder bars in and still run a stock size tire,slapper bars work well for most people as long you don't get carried away with the power.The advantage of ladder bars is that they well transfer the weight to the tire allot better but cost more and harder to put on,with ladder bars on a LUV you only need about 80lbs of spring tension or about what you have now.Your springs on a ladder system only hold the back off the ground as the ladders do all the work.They would hook up just behind the cab about 4"s so you can see the kind of leverage they would have. It is all about traction and your wallet thickness

Thanks for the input . I guess i'm trying to conserve $ just spent $1000 on head , 650 on machine work on the block , Fixing to spend more on explorer rear disc brakes for 9".

ounds like your doing ok,and sounds like a fun ride when your done

What do they want for the explorer brakes in you area.

looks like $60 for everything. I have to pull them myself, which I prefer. You get all the hardware and a good idea of what it takes to reassemble everything. I was going to install these with the factory master cylinder and see what happens. Right now my rim is to close to the rear leaf spring so I hope the rotor thickness will make up some space.

I am running traction bars on my truck. I also took out the overload spring. It seems to hook up good, but as of yet the gas pedal has not been clear to the floor. I went to buy new shocks and the parts house said the Ranchos would not work good on my truck. They said the Ranchos work best after the shock start to compress after 2 or 3 times. I know when I compressed the shock by hand they were very week, but became harder like they said. They said this is more for the 4x4 type trucks. So I went with Monroe Gas-Matic shocks. Rides good also.

Thanks Ben. you beez da man. This is the set up i'm lookig for. How did they work. You have the B&M street stick shifter also. The red button goes with the second fuel pump What type of rear brakes does yours have? I' ll try to post some new pictures coming up.

you can use the stock master cyl. with disc brakes on the rear ok, but you may have to bypass the proportioning valve to get it to work better and maybe a adjustable valve to the rear.I took my booster asy. out and just use a master adapted to the firewall.When i first built the truck i had built 283 with a 300dur/500 lift cam so power brakes weren't part of the program.I used a Pinto master/prop. setup and it worked real good i wish i had left it on but i went to a alum. master for disc/disc brakes an the one i have dose not have enough volume to work the back disc with out one pump of the pedal 7/8 bore now i am going to a 15/16 bore alum. disc/drum no proportioning valve and that should take care of the brakes.

i'm running home made slapper bars as well, 2x3 tubing welded to the stock plates on the bottom of the axle. apox 2 1/2 to 3ft long. the overload spring is removed. i am running a narrow 9" also but the same setup will work with the stock axle. i run 10.08 @ 134mph drag truck with a 496

_________________
9.75 @138 496
luv to race

Forget about ape man slapper bars, if your going to the trouble of making some up you might as well make up some CalTrac rods.

Took me ages to find the magazine article i knew i saw so i could get the name. Once I had the name Google found me some pics.

http://www.novaresource.org/caltracs.htm

Cheers. Bob.

_________________
Current project, 1979 KB Isuzu Ute.

Daily driver, '86 Rodeo Spacecab.
Chasing parts for Isuzu Impulse.

huh, i wonder how hard it would be to make some homemade caltrac deals. the way they work looks like it work really well.

_________________
"but its that gut feeling of you're drawn to what feels right for yourself and what you're passionate about..."

The caltracs work the best, but are expensive and they don't offer our application. Homemade would be great, but I don't have the kind of equipment needed to fab something like this up. If some one fabs some up i'd be interested in an extra set. Until then slappers it is.

10 seconds on stock springs and slappers gives me alot of hope. What tire do you run?

What gear do you have?????

You could make some up with fairly basic equipment once you had bought or scrounged the steel plate and tube. Major cost would be the four heim/rose joints, the 6 bolts would be stuff all.

Angle Grinder (or hack saw)
Drill, hand or press.
Arc welder.

Cut tabs and weld and brace them on the bottom of the spring saddles.
Cut out and drill the front mounting plates.
Cut your tube spacers and main bars.

All you would have to out sorce would be the threading of the adjustable ends if you couldnt find a happy combo.
Once upon a time i was getting geared up to build a double A-arm front end for a buggy. I managed to find a std sized heavy wall steel tube that had the right internal diameter to press a 10mm bolt into after a minimum clean out with a drill bit. Weld around the end of the tube and split it partly down one side and weld that back up. Screw the Heim joint straight onto the thread. Probably not beefly enough for a sub 10 luv but im sure with a little thought something could be worked out to suit a budget.


The bars i saw in the magazine artical werent as elaborate looking as the ones in the link i put up. They had a bit more of a "home made" look about them but werent crappy.


bob.

_________________
Current project, 1979 KB Isuzu Ute.

Daily driver, '86 Rodeo Spacecab.
Chasing parts for Isuzu Impulse.

THe chassis guys have all tube,weld in thead bungs,and joint to build any size bar you want.

_________________
1978 pro street step/side 455Buick, 4sp,4.11s, 31/18.5s

I have stock springs with the overload removed new replacment shocks and fabbed slapper bars. I took the clamp on style cut and welded them to the bottom of a stock plate I run 8 degrees of pinion angle and it leaves hard. I do have the frame narrowed 8 inches and have a 9 inch but only run a 10.5 tire. Have pulled a 1.65 sixty foot on street tires leaving HARD with no problems the street is a different story it takes a lot of pedaling to hook. I love the stock look and people think it will never hook until I go by them. Just installed 150 shot I will let you know if it will leave on the bottle I really think it will at the track. Hoping for mid 6 second pass in the 1/8 on street tires, leaf springs, and through the mufflers, oh and it is a 72 mile drive to the track.