I have an S10 racer that is still set up with the rear parallel leaf springs. I have a ballast tank in the bed over the rear axle and am working on getting some lead ballast in the front to keep the center of gravity forward. I have not had a chance to run the truck yet due to wet salt in 2019 and the borders being closed last year, to see how well the set up worked.
So the question for the experts is: Would there be any advantage to adding traction bars to this type of set up?
I see some cars running traction bars on the salt but have not been able to find any conversation regarding them on this site. In theory, I figured that they may help to add pressure to the rear tires to aide traction but I'm not sure if they would cause any negative issues?
If anyone here has run them and can offer some real world experiences, it would be appreciated.
Thanks
Well I'm as far as you can get from an expert.... but from what I know from my old days of drag racing traction bars are designed to prevent axle wrap and wheel hop... those happen when the torque at the rear wheels causes the axle to go the opposite direction of the tires. Tying the rear axle to a pivot point in front keeps the driveline straight and transfers the tendency to wrap to front lift in high traction environments....
My guess why you don't see them discussed here is we don't have much of a high traction environment.... excessive torque/power will just spin the tires...
You didn't mention how much power you are applying.... or how stiff your rear springs are... or how your axle is located... all of these things could change the answer, you still need the axle in alignment to the driveline at top speed when the maximum power is applied.
If you are looking toward a Mile event, then you might want or need something to keep the axle from twisting.
:cheers:
Stainless, thanks for the info.
As far as HP goes, I don't think the current set up will exceed much over 500hp (supercharged LS1) but I have another 6.0l that we're designing to be much better. As for spring stiffness/ axle set up, the rear leafs are new 3" lowering springs with the original S10 overload and the axle sitting on 2" lowering blocks. No air bags and standard hydraulic shocks.
I guess I could search out a larger ballast tank and worst come to worst, bring the traction bars with us and run the truck with them and without and let the great salt dyno decide, what's one more thing in the trailer :-D
Wheel hop is made worse by lowering blocks. Bumpy surfaces make for intermittent peaks of wrapping forces. If they don't cause binding, I'd think traction bars would be a good idea.
I have been using leaf springs on both my LSR cars since 1975. The first one had long traction control bars and never had a traction problem but was never high hp. The second used a 700 hp engine and did have some spring wrap. I never used lowering block on that car. I installed 1 traction bar on the right side. Saw no need for 2. I constructed the mount so the rod end, 5/8, was centered directly in front of the axle tube. I didnt want it down in the air. No spring problem detected after its installation. The leaf spring on that car had the front eye reversed to attain the height I wanted.
What about the Traction Master bars like the Shelby GT350's had?
They are designed to prevent axle wrap and help help keep the rear end "located".
Just a thought. :-D
In my bracket racing days I found that a large rear swaybar lessened the differential torque-over and helped the car tracked strait.
I don't know if this helps that much on the salt but it's what I do.
If I were you I would use traction bars too, especially with lowering blocks.
just my 2cents, Don
Quote from: salt27 on March 22, 2021, 01:04:15 PM
In my bracket racing days I found that a large rear swaybar lessened the differential torque-over and helped the car tracked strait.
I don't know if this helps that much on the salt but it's what I do.
If I were you I would use traction bars too, especially with lowering blocks.
just my 2cents, Don
I used pneumatic Air-Ride rubber bags in my rear coil springs to get the same effect off the line in my '65 GTO. By adjusting the air pressures it worked quite well to even out the L-R traction.
Give the sales team at calvert racing a call for a set of caltrac bars. They are the standard for leaf spring drag racing.
lower blocks will not hurt a properly set up leaf spring suspension with a caltrac traction bar. you will want to do away with the overload springs.
https://calvertracing.com/