Poll: Do traction bars help out Mopar leaf springs or not

Traction bars help ?

  • Yes

    Votes: 10 18.5%

  • Hell yes

    Votes: 5 9.3%

  • No

    Votes: 13 24.1%

  • Hell no

    Votes: 4 7.4%

  • Don't give a ****

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Under certain cumstances

    Votes: 12 22.2%

  • Worked for me

    Votes: 10 18.5%

  • Didn't work for me

    Votes: 2 3.7%

  • Maybe

    Votes: 3 5.6%

  • Don't know enough to comment

    Votes: 5 9.3%
  • Total voters
    54
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Traction bars were made for Novas and Camaros with mono leafs. I remember seeing them with lights mounted on them on some cars. Traction bars , Air shocks , shock extensions and tires sticking out the quarters. Those would be the sure prey for a good payout when street racing. The only thing required on a performance Mopar when bought new that remained at factory ride height was a good set of M&H wrinkle walls.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
Traction bars were made for Novas and Camaros with mono leafs. I remember seeing them with lights mounted on them on some cars. Traction bars , Air shocks , shock extensions and tires sticking out the quarters. Those would be the sure prey for a good payout when street racing. The only thing required on a performance Mopar when bought new that remained at factory ride height was a good set of M&H wrinkle walls.
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I wish you hadn't told me about lighting the bars
 
Street or strip doesen´t say but on the strip in 1976 still and another couple years, this was enought to keep control of a brutal high revving Hemi. Time was in the 9.7 at 140 mph.
Personally I dont think it is a question for the street. We don´t race on the streets anymore, do we?..
Carpinet Bros SS springs.jpg
 
Be careful when ordering the new Cragar SS mags most of them come with conical seat lug nuts and you don't want those
 
if you fish tailing or pulling to one side on just a pinion snubber then traction bars can help you alot, more adjustibility side to side...and it spreads the rotational force's out to 3 point insteda just one point! how many floor boards you seen beat to hell by the snubber??? think about it,...DWB ...but modern caltracks and such probably better than lakewood slappers!!
 
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The tires sucked so bad back in the 1970’s that we tried anything we could back then. Yes this was before I put super stock springs on it and if you look closely you can see a set.

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Every Mopar I bought with traction bars, the traction bars ended up in the scrap bin. Even Chevy monoleafs were better re-arched than traction bars.
 
Traction bars work well on my D150 as they eliminated the wheel hop .( 15.0 E.T.s / low 2.00 60 fts ) My 68 Dart race car had S/S springs for years but I switched to Cal Tracs and my 60 ft consistency improved .

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  • One thing that cannot be argued is traction bars use axle twist to apply pressure to the back tires. Does anyone not believe applying pressure to the back tires' aids in traction????
  • 2nd thing is rear axle wants to spin like a propeller, lifting the passenger rear tire. And it would if it weren't bolted in. It's why, if not controlled, the black mark will be heavier on the drivers side. It's also why an open differential will almost always spin the passenger rear tire. Traction bars, unlike a pinion snubber, will keep the rear axle stable, help applying equal pressure.
  • Sure, once you change the springs, etc, then other things come into play.
  • Science matters more than opinions.
 
I have two 65 V-8 4 gear Barracudas with open rear ends same gear ratio same springs same shocks. The Avatar car has traction bars the other one does not. Everything 318willrun said I can verify from experience with these 2 cars is spot on!
 
Back in hi-school, 1970, I bought a slightly used 1970 Swinger 340/4-speed/3.55s .
We had, nearby, a brand new roadway over a dam, with a beautiful launchpad, lol, long enough that this Dart would lay two beautiful stripes on, for two full gears, using those E70-14 PolyGlass donuts. I knew right then, that this 340 didn't need more power. But it very badly needed it's traction problem sorted out.
So the first thing on was G60-15s, second was 4.10s, third was slapper bars.
For the next two years, while all the boys were hopping up their cars; from zero to 85mph across that dam, my car was the one to beat. Totally stock, except for as mentioned. Then I graduated, and never saw those DAs again..
I rarely raced over 85 mph, cuz when that Dart got into 4th gear (with the 3.55s) it sorta just stopped pulling, and me being 17/18 and still in hi-school, I didn't have a clue what to do. And if I had known, there was no money for hop-up parts. In the Qtr, on those factory tires, she only went 98@ 14.4;
but to 85mph, she regularly beat faster cars.
Everybody always asked why I had those Chevy bars on my Dodge. Do they work?
I said nah, I'm just too lazy to take them off.

I had a Chevy buddy with a 69 Chevelle SS with a 427 auto. He was after me all the time to race the Qtr.
I said nope, 85 is all I'll go, and when you see my brake lights, you'll know we're there. His car had horrendous wheelhop, and I knew he'd be feathering the throttle all thru first, so it was a no-brainer. But I'll tell ya, at 85 he was closing in fast!
Slapper bars for the win.
We all had fast cars. Mine was actually slower than a lot of them, except it jumped off the line like a champion.
Slapper bars for the winning take-off.
One buddy, in grade 12 now, in 72; had a 72 Demon/auto, that he said Qtrd at 115. That engine screamed. It was not stock, lol.
Zero to 85, I never lost to him. While he was busy spinning, I was long gone. But again, by 85, he was on my bumper.
Slapper bars for the win.
So IDK
Do slapper bars work?...................... Nah, I was just too lazy to take them off.

In 1999, I finished building a 68 Barracuda for the express purpose of melting tires. No slapper bars, no snubber, stiff enough suspension to handle modest jumps, lol. It went 93 in the Eighth, spinning, they say, all the way. She's a fine drifter.
 
"Traction bars" is kind of a generic term. I have Smith Racecraft Assassin bars on my Barracuda, and they work really well. Do you consider those, or the Cal-trac style bars "traction bars"? OR are you just referring to the old, slapper-style bars?
 
YES they work!

I had BAD wheel hop on my scamp when launching back when it was just a 12 second car, and that was with an extra leaf added to each spring. Added a snubber still no bueno. Switched to caltracs and monoleafs, bye bye wheel hop and scattered rear end guts, hello faster 60' ft times and traction!
 
I have Southside Machine Lift Bars on mine. I have had them on since 1995. They work great. At the track with slicks the car raises up and goes straight as an arrow. Traction is no problem. They quit making them. You use shims on each side to adjust them.
 
Even the cheapest, crappiest traction bars ever made can be a huge traction aid set up correctly and used under the right circumstances. With light, unbiased springs for instance. They can be made to work well. Anyone saying otherwise has obviously never done it.
 
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