68gts340
Well-Known Member
can some one explain the advantage of the cal tracks over a regular old set of slapper bars with the J bolts?. is the advantage only for street driving?
cal tracks vs slapper bars
- Thread starter 68gts340
- Start date
-
intimidator
Mopar or No Car
slapper bars are for Chebys. The caltrac will make it hook!! I had a 68 Roadrunner I tried using slapper bars on. could not get them to work at all. The way mopar suspension works all it wanted to do was pull the back wheels off the ground. I went to ladder bars and cured it. I have friends that use cal tracs on their valiant and it hooks almost as hard as my ladder bars. They started with slappers on the valiant and couldn't get it hooked either. I guess the advantage is they work.
68gts340
Well-Known Member
I am sure that some of us older guys have had good luck with slapper bars, i ran a pr on my 64 fury 426 wedge. but that was back in 1968 or so , granted it took a little work to get them to hook. i guess the question i am asking is this, are the cal tracks better on the street or at the track? and what is the advantage over the old style traction bars?. and why do they only work on certian spring combos, and not the others..... this doesnt make sense....
68gts340 said:
IMHO, slapper bars never really worked very well on MOPARs. I have a '69 Charger R/T and ran a set of Lakewood traction bars for a while many years ago, but I ended up getting rid of them and went to Super Stock springs and a pinion snubber with much better results. The traction bars caused wheel hop and didn't really help increase traction at all. I'm getting ready to install a set of Caltracs on my '69 Dart using my stock V8 leaf springs that will be driven on the street and at the track. The Caltrac bars help to stiffen the front spring segment instead of bending it as traction bars would do, thus increasing traction. Check out Calvert's Web site (http://www.calvertracing.com/info/info.htm) for more info on the concept. The write-up is very good and makes sense. Besides, Caltracs are run on a lot of fast MOPARs and they really work well.
Duster1973
Well-Known Member
Atomic are you going to run super stock springs with the caltracs? and more importantly can you run those on the SS springs?
Duster1973 said:
No, I am going to run the Caltracs (plus 9 way Rancho rear shocks) with just stock V8 leaf springs on the '69 Dart. If that setup doesn't work as well as expected, I'll change the stock leafs out for mono leafs. The Super stock springs are still on the Charger R/T, which I have mothballed for now. I wouldn't run Caltracs with Super stock springs, since they have such a large arc and don't work as well with Caltracs.
A
Ace
Guest
Caltracs have several importantant advantages:
1) They do not affect normal street driving - you don't even know they are there.
2) They can nearly eliminate spring wrap, alleviating the need for a pinion snubber and allow running as little as 2-3 deg neg. pinion angle.
3) They are easier to adjust for the desired effect. Little guesswork, just dial in the desired tension, if any.
4) They convert pinion-climbing torque to downforce on the front of the springs, creating a very solid "hook," no hop.
1) They do not affect normal street driving - you don't even know they are there.
2) They can nearly eliminate spring wrap, alleviating the need for a pinion snubber and allow running as little as 2-3 deg neg. pinion angle.
3) They are easier to adjust for the desired effect. Little guesswork, just dial in the desired tension, if any.
4) They convert pinion-climbing torque to downforce on the front of the springs, creating a very solid "hook," no hop.
-
