How fast can a stock leaf rearend be?

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The Shocker

The Shocker

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My question is how fast are you going with a stock leaf setup? My Dart is running 7.50's in the 1/8 on 8.5 slicks.Am i getting near the limit ? I have no Caltracs ,slapper bars ,SS springs ,etc ,just stock worn springs with the front portions clamped together.It never has wheel hopped yet and my best 60' was 1.65 ,plus im getting great weight transfer.How much can it take ?I know i have lots of questions for you guys ,but im trying to learn ,because im kinda new to Mopars...

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I wouldn't touch it.... if it's hooking then that's just what you want. I think it can handle it myself. How many times have you ran it?
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
The guy with the "Fastest Street Car" thread is in the 9s (1/4 mile) with stock suspension.
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The Shocker said:
Your kidding right ? You dont have any traction helpers at all ,just stock springs and its planting the tires enough to run those #'s ? What are your 60' times ?
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NO! not kidding.

That would be my buddy Tim in his all steel '69 Dart with a Indy headed 500 roller motor. The car is currently here and for sale. He also ran low 10's with a S/B stroker in the same year car, not the exact car for sale now.

His rear end suspention in the S/B Dart was in fact stock 6cyl. springs and a 8-3/4. I do beileve the current big block car is also a 6cyl spring set up. Completely OE for the year. No pinion snubber ethier IIRC. I'll have to (re) ask him.

He ran very wide tires. 60 ft. times with the S/B were 2.0's - 1.9's, the BB is IIRC 1.6 or 1.5's pullin the wheels.

Click below to read, see and watch the car run.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=67025
 
mullinax95 said:
I wouldn't touch it.... if it's hooking then that's just what you want. I think it can handle it myself. How many times have you ran it?
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It has 91 trouble free passes on it ,but im fixing to add more cam ,stall ,etc, and i just wasnt sure how much more it could take.It sounds like it can take lots more ,based on what these guys are saying about runnin low 6's (yikes thats fast) .It seems that Chyrsler engineers did their homework way back when on the supension for these cars.I have ran GM and Ford dragcars in the past ,and always had wheelhop issues with the stock leafs ...
 
The Shocker said:
Your kidding right ? You dont have any traction helpers at all ,just stock springs and its planting the tires enough to run those #'s ? What are your 60' times ?
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8 3/4 4.88 29.5 x 10.5W x 15 Slicks. I didn't run a adjustable pinion snubber until i noticed the axle was wrapping so hard on the launch that the axle housing actually had dented the shocks. The car was 60 ft in the 1.38-1.40 range. This was a 474 in a 72 Scamp.
 
11.50s w/440 duster(actually a 383 now(just put it in this morning) we hurt the 440 that's normally in it, it's at the machine shop getting fixxed) w/26-11.50s and an 8 1/4 w/no snubber not 60fting as well as you are bone stock /6 suspension. We do need to do something though because you r driving the car the whole time lol.
Jr.
 
My '70 duster with the 416 stroker,ran consistent low 6.90's 1/8 11.0's 1/4,with 60's in the low 1.40's,using just heayduty leafs pinion snubber and cheap drag shocks so basically stock setup..wheel/wheels up every launch..:-D,there are some cars out there well into the 9's on leaf springs..
 
I know its not stock leafs but our 67 gt ran its first 10 sec pass on the 4th of july this yr a 10.94 (pump gas 440)on ss springs and everything else is /6 stuff with napa shocks lol. We had summit adjustable shocks in back but they were junk..A they were too short and B the first cpl inches of either end of travel there was no dampening at all like a free fall didn't work so well. tried the stock replacement napa shock and they were long enough and the car seemed to like it. the car has a pretty beefy shortblock and we have a kit on it we havent tried yet and it has the second from the smallest hughes sft lol in it works pretty good8). I like their stuff so far. We weren't running a snubber til we wrecked our 3.91s that were in the car we put a snubber in when we put the 4.30s in it works alot better lol. We were wondering how it was gonna work because we had it lowered(kind of made extensions on the leafspring pads its all boxxed in and really strong,I'll post some pics of what we did later I have to get them to my photobucket account) when we had the leafs relocated and the wheelwells widened to the framerails so it wouldnt ride so high with the ss springs and it works good, I'll dig up a timeslip and post that too. The Shocker, your dart's a cool car.
Jr.
 
How fast you can go on leafs isn't really the question you should be asking. The answer only depends on how much engine you have and how much tire spin you are willing to put up with.

What you should be asking is how consistent are leaf springs at any given performance level and the answer is, it depends on the tire and the track. My Duster at 10.50's on our home track with all the CalTrac goodies and 11.5x29.5 slicks was inconsistent in the late rounds after the dew point was reached or if it was boiling hot in the afternoon. It ran high 1.30 to low 1.40, 60 foot times. Plus there is also some ET loss with a leaf spring suspension over a ladder bar or four link, even if they hook equally well.

For your application though you can still do a lot, larger tires are the cheapest and easiest route to more traction. Remember, taller tires hook better than just wider tires because as the tire plants it spreads out lengthwise too. You have a cool looking car, I really like it. Good luck with it.
 
Longgone said:
I`ve seen a ton of Stock Eliminator cars running in the 10`s with stock leaf spring suspension.
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:love7: Hey Gone ole buddy, the key word here may be stock "appearing".

When I looked into building a Stock Eliminator car, I was shocked to find out that the only part of the Mopar leaf spring on the car was the one with the part number on it. the other leafs were custon made. I mean some SERIOUS coin had been spent on these things. Anyway, were now return you to the program already in progess.:cheers:
 
Dago Red said:
:love7: Hey Gone ole buddy, the key word here may be stock "appearing".

When I looked into building a Stock Eliminator car, I was shocked to find out that the only part of the Mopar leaf spring on the car was the one with the part number on it. the other leafs were custon made. I mean some SERIOUS coin had been spent on these things. Anyway, were now return you to the program already in progess.:cheers:
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:-D Shhhh....................I know what you mean, a lot of those guys probably have more in their rear suspension than I have in my entire car.
 
there are a few things to consider also when you talk about factory rear suspension...
these where mass production parts.
so mounting points are gonna be in a range.....
some guys get lucky with the architecture of there cars..."pot luck"
if your planning on using stock rear end set up..it wont cost you anything to measure it and index the mounting points...making them square to the front tracking..
this will greatly improve you chances of getting the car to hook ...
i run 6.67 et with 1.39 60ft on ss springs an 8.75 housing (mark williams billet internals) a gusseted pinion snubber (adjustible) and $9.00 monroe shocks..
with a 10wx28 mt slick.
we had to shim the rear to get it straight..and set up the rear shackles for free movement (swing)....
you can launch and run my car with no hands on the steering wheel.
cheapst
 
I've been best of a 6.64 1/8 and 10.46 with a 1.46 60' with nothing more than Mopar SS springs, no snubber no drag shocks and All steel no lightening of the car. Also that was running a 10.5 slick on a 7" inch rim.
 
mines a real basic pump gas 493 , SS A-body springs , 00' ram truck shocks , 10.5 tire

1.44 60'
6.68 1/8
10.58 1/4

I think its got more in it - waiting for cooler Sept. weather
 
Dago Red said:
:love7: Hey Gone ole buddy, the key word here may be stock "appearing".

When I looked into building a Stock Eliminator car, I was shocked to find out that the only part of the Mopar leaf spring on the car was the one with the part number on it. the other leafs were custon made. I mean some SERIOUS coin had been spent on these things. Anyway, were now return you to the program already in progess.:cheers:
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Not even the main leaves are Mopar any more. When I partnered on a car in the mid-nineties, we used a set of springs from Tri-City Competition. Now, I think they all use Cal Tracs.
 
why do you think the factory S/S cars were hard to beat my neighbor has an original S/S A dart that ran 9:60s with the factory suspension the car(THAT DART) tommy howes once said the only way to beat a mopar S/SA car is with megabucks!! his car was called the HEMI hunter.. im sure there are some members here that knows them.
 
My little '65 Dart has 275/60 real street tires and the HD springs from Mancini. It is a mild 360 LA, 904, 4.10 gear. After going to test and tune last night, it seems that the springs are actually too stiff. The thing spins all the way through 1st and into 2nd. I am actually thinking about going back to stock with the front half clamped and aluminum front eyes. About 40 years ago, I ran a similar setup on a 1957 Dodge (big car) and it planted the tires so well that the rear of the car actually raised on launch. Any feedback on this idea?
 
w2360Duster said:
I've been best of a 6.64 1/8 and 10.46 with a 1.46 60' with nothing more than Mopar SS springs, no snubber no drag shocks and All steel no lightening of the car. Also that was running a 10.5 slick on a 7" inch rim.
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I've seen some of you guys mentioning tire sizes like 10" or 10.5" wide slicks on pictures of Dusters. Do you know the largest width of rear tire that fits under a 71 Duster with no susp mods?
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack this thread !!! I will put this on a separate post.
 
wedgie said:
My little '65 Dart has 275/60 real street tires and the HD springs from Mancini. It is a mild 360 LA, 904, 4.10 gear. After going to test and tune last night, it seems that the springs are actually too stiff. The thing spins all the way through 1st and into 2nd. I am actually thinking about going back to stock with the front half clamped and aluminum front eyes. About 40 years ago, I ran a similar setup on a 1957 Dodge (big car) and it planted the tires so well that the rear of the car actually raised on launch. Any feedback on this idea?
Click to expand...
If I were you I would look the springs over, and maybe remove one leaf. Also, maybe re-drill a leaf or two to "stack" them forward to put the stiffness on the front segment. As the tire creates some friction, the front segment will try to rotate, which will lift the car, and push the tires down to the pavement. also have someone video the launch. You want both wheels spinning, and the car to rise. my 2 cents Rich
 
kanders said:
I've seen some of you guys mentioning tire sizes like 10" or 10.5" wide slicks on pictures of Dusters. Do you know the largest width of rear tire that fits under a 71 Duster with no susp mods?
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack this thread !!! I will put this on a separate post.
Click to expand...
Well at the time i had the 7" inch rims it was all i had. I stepped up to a Centerline 8.5" rim with 4 7/8 backspacing (look at avatar) and it fits like a glove. Leaf springs in stock location etc.
 
kanders said:
I've seen some of you guys mentioning tire sizes like 10" or 10.5" wide slicks on pictures of Dusters. Do you know the largest width of rear tire that fits under a 71 Duster with no susp mods?
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack this thread !!! I will put this on a separate post.
Click to expand...


theres a huge post on this subject
 
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