ladder bars and spool on street

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3402

3402

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Liverpool,NY
Long story short- Had a '71 duster that I raced as a bracket car (10.80's) 360, W-2, 727, 8.75 4400 T/A converter, CE ladder bars and coilovers, strange axles and spool. Race car it's whole life, only had 13,000 miles on it when I sold it 23 years ago.
Bought back car last fall. (now has 16,000 miles on it). What intrigued me when I repurchased the car was he had put car on the street. Only thing he changed was to go with 4.56 gears. and added the necessary things to be street legal. Car still runs 10.80 in street trim, and 10.64 in race trim. As I'm laying under car putting the transmission back in , wondering what's like to drive a ladder bar car w/ spool on street? Is it a real PIA?
What should I change, to make it little more streetable. assuming I have to keep the ladder bars, but I do still have the original sure grip unit, it was just rebuilt 2 weeks before I changed to a spool. (27 years ago).
What should I change? Thanks
 
i run a spool in my dart on the street. its not an issue, just have good axles and gentle on turns... also when you park pull in, then back up 6 ft or so, then pull in. it takes the tension off the axles....
 
I drove a truck with a spool for a while on the street. Big sweeping turns make it easier. At all cost's do not drive it in the rain.....Guessing you are not going to drive it all that much. If you are planning to I would pull the spool out of it.
 
805moparkid said:
i run a spool in my dart on the street. its not an issue, just have good axles and gentle on turns... also when you park pull in, then back up 6 ft or so, then pull in. it takes the tension off the axles....
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Good info.
My new car has a spool in it. The guy I bought it from put slapper bars on it and with them on it would PUSH the front end through a turn.... Weird, I took the slapper bars off and that mostly went away. The car hooks better too without them in!
 
Thanks guys, maybe it won't as big a problem as I thought it would be.
 
I just took the 4.56 spool out of my 68 Dart GTS. It just didn't feel right to me when driving on the street. Replaced it with a 4.30 Detroit locker. Much better now.
 
I'm glad you have the SureGrip on the shelf. Unless it's very limited street use, I have a sneaky suspicion it's gonna find it's way in there. I can take way more then most when it comes to driving a race car on the street, 1400 idle, always neutraling, harsh noisy rear suspension, drowning exhaust, etc. But I wont run a spool.....period.

I'm so glad you got your car back after all these years, very few of us will ever have that chance. I know some do things just to say they did them. I'm just not one of them :).

The above is just my opinion. Welcome to the site, can't wait to see more pics of my favorite "A" body. :thumbrig:
 
I have been running a spool with Quick Time Hoosier slicks on the street and track for years -- I can't even tell it's in there. No issues at all....
 
At all cost's do not drive it in the rain....[/QUOTE said:
Thanks, will really try to avoid that.
Spool and 13.5" cheater slicks and rain-- doesn't sound like a good combination.8)
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Oldschool said:
I have been running a spool with Quick Time Hoosier slicks on the street and track for years -- I can't even tell it's in there. No issues at all....
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No disrespect here.......but I have to ask......what is your definition of running a spool on the street?? To and from the local cruise in that is 6 miles away or ??? From the looks of your absolutely stunning ride I would guess it does not see all to much street usage.....
 
Don't the tires wear very quickly running them on the street with a spool? Your always dragging a tire in every corner....
 
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