Leaf Spring Help

[dbranger94]

This is my first post, so be kind.

Here is my truck: Link
(Hope it's ok to link to another site)

I am trying to setup the truck to handle a little better in the corners. I thought it would be fun to do some auto-x with it.

I replaced all the front end bushings with polyurethane. I also completely disassembled the rear of the truck and replaced all the bushings with urethane as well. I've started reassembling the rear, but I'm stuck.

Q1: How can I control wheel hop without reusing my "dated" trac bars?

Q2: Are there any tricks to helping leafs handle?

I was considering using a panhard bar or a watts link, but any ideas are appreciated.

[Bryce]

There are some companies out there that make a leaf spring that has a stiffer/thicker front half of the spring. This helps with wheel hop.

Search for Mary's second gen camaro. She is the fastest at most autoX events and runs leafs.

By the way cool truck.

[NOGO]

You can definitely get a leaf spring car to handle great, although there is typically a compromise in ride quality. There is no need to run a axle locator like Panhard or Watts either. Like Falcon65 mentioned, you can get a spring that is thicker on the front side or a shifted forward spring pack to prevent spring wrap and axle hop. This will not guarantee you traction at the drags so there will be a compromise there as well. Do you know the current weight on your rear axle? Its pretty easy to select a good spring rate, but the spring install height, RC, etc. will need to be taken into consideration as well. You dont need a super stiff spring if you can run a rear sway bar to increase some roll stiffness.

You may need to have custom springs made. I highly recommend Deaver Springs because they are top notch, although they are a tad pricey. http://deaverspring.com/

[dbranger94]

By the way cool truck.

Thanks!

You dont need a super stiff spring if you can run a rear sway bar to increase some roll stiffness.

It has a rear sway bar already, but it's only 5/8". I did upgrade it to urethane bushings though.

Like Falcon65 mentioned, you can get a spring that is thicker on the front side or a shifted forward spring pack to prevent spring wrap and axle hop.

I would say the axle centerline is located about 60/40 toward the front of the spring pack.

I had thought about engineering a pinion snubber setup. It would be pretty easy to add a x-member with a pad to the frame. The 8.8 already has holes in it I could use for snubber mounting. Didn't know if it was something anyone was typically using in this application.

[astroracer]

I don't think you will need to do to much more to have a good handling truck. The drop and urethane bushings will had ten fold to the handling characteristics. If this a street driver I guarantee it will handle better then most "on road" conditions will allow.
If you are having wheel hop issues and want to get away from the slapper bars a set of Caltrac traction bars will work wonders and they look cool to boot. Google them.
Mark

[04ctd]

http://calvertracing.com/cart/index....products_id=16

i second cal tracs, they are light years ahead of slapper bars, because they hold the pinion angle

and, you can set them a smidgen loose (so the top of the linkage is not touching the top of the pad) for DD duty,
and bind them down at the strip / Auto X

there was a guy in a VW rabbit truck that whooped EVERYBODY in Savannah for years.


just drive it "as is" for a season of SCCA.

the nut behind the wheel needs more tuning than the truck, usually

FWIW,
my nova had 2 urethane pads,
I left one out,
and ran extra leaf springs, pointed forward,
to control spring wrap.


http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...ova/?start=all

[dbranger94]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I haven't tried driving the truck without a traction control device in place. I may not even need one.? I think I'll just finish it up and see how it does, then go from there.

[dbranger94]

Ok, so here's what I've done the last couple of weeks.









I still have a lot to finish up. I went ahead and put the Lakewoods back on, but I left extra clearance in the snubbers for a better ride. There are still a couple more crossmembers to weld in, but I'm going to wait until the bed is back on and the roll pan is installed so I can check for clearances.