leaf sping/caltracs
Anytime you take leafs away from a spring stack, they become very weak and tend to bend and sag faster. Multi leafs are designed to work in conjunction with each other, and should probably not be taken apart.
Generally speaking, sound advice.
Taking clamps off isnt a good idea either. All mopars suffer from excessive down pressure towards the rear tires, you can see this by the amount of separation in the rear as it launches. Taking these clamps off, especially the rear ones, will worsen the problem because it will allow the leafs to separate like feathers thus giving you even more body rise.
Generaly speaking, I wonder out loud if you have read any MoPar publication and ever worked on rear end suspensions in a drag race or even street arena. What you have writen above is exactly how a MoPar rear end was designed to operate.
Taking the rear clamps off is an excellent idea used for many many years.
All MoPars suffer from excessive downward pressure? ARE YOU NUTS!?
And by the seperation of the rear. You mean when the car rises and theres alot of space due to the cars rear end being picked up? That IS a properly working system.
Taking these clamps off, especially the rear ones, will worsen the problem because it will allow the leafs to separate like feathers thus giving you even more body rise.
Not worsen, help, do what the old racers did before super stock springs were available and work swimingly with S/S springs.
Your looking for the "Feather " look from the rear leafs.
Putting the bars on what you have already will be beneficial. The most important aspect is going to be the type of rear shock you use. Finding a good adjustable shock is key.
BARS! Braod statment/term since some see bars as traction bars, old style bolt to the leaf spring Chevy product that bends axle tubes and doesn't allow for the stock set up to work correctly. Damage frame rails and floor boards.
Know what your talking about before opening up the trap and removing all doubt about yourself.
MoPar has a nice book for you to read entitled, "Chassis" go get you one.