LUVTruck.com

i am new to the site and posted a topic in the community category sorry. i was wanting information on how to's for traction. i know about the ladder bar 4 link etc.im wating to know set ups for stock suspension.the only thing different on my luv is a s10 rear end with a mini spool and 12" wide weld wheels with road hugger street tires. what im getting at is how low do i need to be in the rear how tall in the front, whats a good street tire pressure.im wanting a good weight transer.also some cheap things to do to improve traction. i bought some cheap traction bars didnt seem to help any so i took them off. i had an idea about taking leaf springs out so the truck would squat and then fabricating an adjustable bar welded to the pumpkin and then mounted to the frame kinda like the camaro's have but adjustable. if i was to make something like this what would be a good pinion angle for a good launch. i have a mild 355 in my luv and can not hook up till top of second or till 3rd gear depending on the pavement. any ideas, opinions or tip's please.

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When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot!!!

There are a few things you can do to improve your traction issues. One thing that would make me very nervous is the S-10 rear end I dont think it will live very long if its hooking up hard. The leaf springs can be modified in several ways. One you can take a couple of leafs out and two you tear them down and cut a couple of inches off of the back side clean up the cuts and round the corners off and put them back together. Just make sure you arent getting a ton of axle wrap. My fullsize truck has a set of adjustable arms that are attached to the axle tubes and mout to the crossmenber to keep the rear end from twisting. As far as tire pressure goes you will have to figure it out by trial and error. One way is to go find a place where you arent going to have any traffic and do a burn out and check the rubber patches if you have more rubber in the middle and lighter on the out side of the marks you have to much air pressure. If its the opposite where you have darker rubber on the outside edges and light in the middle the tire is cupping due to low pressure. I would start at about 30 psi and see what happens and adjust in about 2-3 psi until you get a nice even patch of rubber. Do you have your battery mounted in the back of the truck? Its not going to make you instantly hook with it mounted in the back but every little bit adds up helping the weight transfer. Also good set of adjustable drag shocks will help. The best way to go is with a good stout rear end and a set of sticky stires and a four link but I know that not everyone can go this route.

hows about cal-trac's?

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thanks for your imput,so are the stock luv rear ends stronger than a 7.5 10 bolt out of a s10.if so i have 2 of them.i was told to put the s10 rear end in,was supposed to be an upgrade.the mian reason i changed rear ends is i was driving almost 100 mile round trip a day to and from work and 4.56 gears wouldnt allow me to drive on the freeway.now gas is too expensive so i now drive a econo box jap junk to work for the gas milage.now that i dont use the luv for a every day ride i can do more to it.i have since replaced the engine to a step up in power and mini spool in the rear.i have not relocated my battery to the rear knowing that would help some,im trying to keep the stock as possible profile look.whats the best street tire with a soft compound that hooks up well.mickey thompson ???also about the leaf springs cutting a few inches off the rear side of the leafs.will that have uneven pressue on the springs or is that the reason for doing it.i have built all my own rods since my teen tears but never really tryed to build something that will launch out of the hole.im finding out there's more to it than meets the eye.oh when you say drag racing shock are you talking about a bolt in shock or coil-overs or what.

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When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot!!!

with cal tracs do you mount them to the stock leaf spring,do you modify the springs.or???? thanks for the info im going now to chck into them.

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When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot!!!

I dont know anything about cal tracs. I know the cutting of the leaf springs is an old school superstock trick. Generaly in most cases soft springs make traction. As for the stock rearend I dont know if its stronger or not but still wouldnt use one, I would imagine they are pretty close to the 7.5 10 bolt but with a 5 bolt lug pattern. I cant remember who it was now but I heard about someone using a stock rear end with slicks and it didnt have a problem. I wouldnt push my luck with the stock rear. As far as shocks go I was refering to shocks coil overs are nice and if you were to use a four link your truck would hook good if set up properly but if you were going to go that far I would stongly recomend a better rear end. My LUV had a ford 8.8 rear out of a 96 explorer. They are pretty stong rear ends and they are cheap. If you go that route get one from a 96 or newer they have disc brakes and also the disc set up acts as axle retention in case you brake an axle the wheel wont come off if its broken inside the housing. If you run with a set of sticky tires on that 7.5 you will probably brake an axle probably a good chance of that now with the mini spool. For the front end a good set of 90/10 shocks will help you get more weight transfer.

I decided to look into cal tracs. I think my 78 C10 has a set of them on it I didnt realize what they were until I looked on the Calverts website. I dont know what exactly is on my truck but I will have to ask my wifes dad he built the truck and I bought it from him. The parts on my truck look very similar if not the same as the cal tracs.

im researching all of this,my goal is to hook up with out spending allot of money.i would be happy if it spun out of the hole and caught traction after 10 to 20 ft out.my problem is i am getting hammered from the git go.the people that are out running me from a standing start i beat all of them from a rolling punch.from what i gather so far looks like im going to buy some decent shocks all the way around.standard stock shocks on the truck now,then im going to soften yp the rear springs get some good soft rubber for the rear and look into sum adjustable bars for axle wrap and see what that does for me.im running 3.42 gears im thinking if and when i do get the truck to hook i will be needing lower gearing.thanks for all the input,was very helpful.i didnt mention it but i have a cheater nos system i bought off ebay,havent even considered using it,havent seen where i would have been able too at this point.ive posted pictures of my low budget luv just waiting for them to be added to the site.its a real head turner walmart spray can black.lol.if i cant make my truck hook i will be asking more questions im shur.

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When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot!!!

Make, buy, beg, borrow, or steal some of these.

viewtopic.php?t=879

ive heard good things about them....ive never personally used them tho

I think there is a universal set or you can get a made to order set

I would just make them myself....they dont look too difficult to fab up

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one thing that Ive heard about the slapper bars is that you need to get the correct length...
if they hit the leaf then it has give and pushes on the spring.
They need to go to the end of the mounting point on the spring.

Just hear say tho.... Im no pro

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hey erron i looked at the cal tracs,they do seen like they would be pretty easy to make.the only thing that i would see a problem with is the triangular pivots.i have another question if i was to run some cal tracs or something simular wouldnt i need to take out a leaf or 2 on my springs .i noticed that the cal tracs have a split mono spring that can be used with them.i thinki would just modify my springs.what do you think.summit has some new generation traction bars that look simular to the cal tracs but the a little higher in price.

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When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot!!!

Ive seen a 67 Chevy II with the origional leafs (stack of 3) and a 69 Camaro with a stack of 5 leafs.
There are pics floating around on the internet.
I dont think its required that you use a split mono leaf.

When they first came out (or the first time I saw them I supose) it was on a Nova with stock leafs.
But then they had more holes for more adjustments. Its been a while since I have looked at them, so I would guess that maybe the split mono leafs are better for some reason, since there are so many more pic's of them.

I dont see why you would have to run anything but the stock leafs, because they bolt on under them and other than the spring pressures or whatever there is no mounting reason that they wouldnt work in either case.
I would e-mail or call them and see what their response is.

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thanks for all the help,ive been researching it.im going to get the cal tracs and some good shocks front and rear.also going to run a low profile tire so i can lower my truck several inches in the rear.may later change my gearing to 3.73 or 4.11 i appreciate all the info has been helpful.

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When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot!!!

Keep in mind the lower profile tire is going to change the results of the final drive gear. Also if you are planning on changing rear end gears unless you are set up to do it your self. Youwould wise to change the whole housing out to something like a ford 9 inch. Spending money on a time bomb is kind of like putting new wipers on a busted out windwhield. I think you would be money ahead and probably cheaper to find a strong rear end at a wrecking yard with the gears you want and a factory DSL and then buy a set of slicks and good shocks and be done with it. That is my opinion and I have learned most of what I know spending double the money doing things twice because I thought I could make junk work miracles. Not to mention dont nickel and dime you safteyt equipment. if you are going to stick with the 10 bolt you should at least upgrade the axles. A broken axle could kill you or someone else that is in the wrong place at the wrong time and next importantly destroy your truck.Thats just my opinion.

Keep in mind the lower profile tire is going to change the results of the final drive gear. Also if you are planning on changing rear end gears unless you are set up to do it your self. Youwould wise to change the whole housing out to something like a ford 9 inch.



yes i am completely aware or the lower profile tires changing the ratio, need to be lower.i have rebuilt many 3rd members and changed many axle,bearings,seals etc.i was into 4x4's for several years and tore up allot of shit.i do agree with you about the danger of a cheepo rear end/axles.my whole thing with what i am trying to do with this luv is to keep it in street trim for street races.if i was trying or going to build a track truck i would go about every thing a whole different direction.this is just a weekend toy and im keeping my stock fuel tank original battery location etc.even though i did change the fuel lines and fuel line size from the tank to carb.i am also trying to budget this thing cause of the economy really stinks in my opinion. plus i already have somewhere between 4,500 to 5,000 in the truck already dont want 10k or 20k in to it.and with the money i have already spent i did all the work a to z my self from transmission and motor mounts.the only thing i didnt do is the exhaust,had a friend do it for $60.00 im just trying to make my truck hook at this point . the street races i go to im as fast as anyone there now from a roll on.i just have several killing me from a standing start.back to the rear end im thinking of a disc brake 10 bolt as soon as i can find one.and i did already order shocks front and rear and a set of cal tracs witch will be changed over to the disc brake rear end when i find one.thanks for the info also your concern for the safty issues,but im going to roll what i have and make it better and safer as i go along with the endless process of dumping money into something that will never be worth anything as i have a million times.

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When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot!!!

have you checked the pinion angle , if not that could help out alot , i dont run any traction devices i just have about 6 degrees down angle in the pinion and mine hooks really good

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junkyard racing - we win with your old parts

pinion angle down that makes perfectly good sense .the way i have it pictured in my mind be angling down the pinion has the tires trying to dig instead of spin correct pushing the rear end to the ground.im gonna read up on it a little.i have a few questions for you.how did you change your pinion angle shims/wedge plates,adjustable bars,did you relocate your diff /re weld spring perches?????? i have done some of that with 4x4 trucks for the reasons for ground clearance etc.i want to say thats some valuable information to me very much appreicieated thanks.oh also are you posi or open diff???

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When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot!!!

Very true, I know if we have a problem with our late model car comming out the turns and its not biting hard or too hard we can adjust the pinion angle.


But what about on street cars/ trucks? Doesnt it add more stress on the u-joint or something? I would think there would be a downfall somewhere.

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The pinion tends to rise when torque is applied. This is especially true with leaf spring cars. A negative (downward) pinion angle at rest ( 4 degrees is common ) usually means the pinion is fairly level during acceleration.

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