Wheel-hop

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swingin

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So it’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted here, if I ever have…..
But here’s the question.
Does anybody here have any experience with Caltracs or any other type of anti axle wind-up equipment?
 
@GTX JOHN he runs these on his race and street cars. I am switching to the split mono springs and caltracs.

Only drawback is they are a little noisy, but otherwise you may have to switch to a 3 or 4 link to get the same traction..
 
It all depends on what you're running for rear springs...
Stock/HD or XHD/SuperStock springs, start with removing the spring clamps on the rear half of the springs and adding more clamps to the front section. People have had varying degrees of success using an adjustable pinion snubber with these, especially if it's a dual purpose street/strip car.
Slapper bars are a point of contention on Mopars, but can work well if adjusted properly.
Assassin bars have become quite popular, and work with both multi and mono leaf springs.
"Assassin" Traction Bars - Smith Racecraft
Caltracs are best used with their mono/split mono springs.
Then there's three and four link rears... And leaf-links...
What do you have and where do you want to end up? HP/gears/trans./intended use/projected E.T. goals?
 
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Heywodja said:
@GTX JOHN he runs these on his race and street cars. I am switching to the split mono springs and caltracs.

Only drawback is they are a little noisy, but otherwise you may have to switch to a 3 or 4 link to get the same traction..
Click to expand...
The Calvert System is very Durable.

I have had to do a violent maneuver to avoid an accident at speed in
my 340 Arrow and pulled apart a heim joint and went for quite a ride.
Yes, although even with protective washers on it for safety.
 
Heywodja said:
@GTX JOHN he runs these on his race and street cars. I am switching to the split mono springs and caltracs.

Only drawback is they are a little noisy, but otherwise you may have to switch to a 3 or 4 link to get the same traction..
Click to expand...
I tried the Caltracs with split mono-leafs on my '70 E-Body, but took them off within a year due to the harsh ride the car had on the open road. They were not very compliant over any type of road surface irregularity. On a smooth surface, they are hard to beat.
 
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Caltrac noise can be eliminated with a short rubber tarp strap. Wrap the spring and bar at the rear so it is not noticable behind the wheel. Rattle is gone.
 
I've posted in another thread but the only time I get a noise from the avatar's split mono CalTracs is on a part throttle 2-3 shift. Certainly not a reason not to run them!!
 
jbc426 said:
I tried the Caltracs with split mono-leafs on my '70 E-Body, but took them off within a year due to the harsh ride the car had on the open road. They were not very compliant over any type of road surface irregularity. On a smooth surface, they are hard to beat.
Click to expand...
If you still have those let me know.
 
The cheapest control would be traction bars. About 60 bucks new, and about 10 bucks at swap meets. But be prepared for lectures on how they don't work on mopars
 
Good leaf springs & leaf spring clamps on the forward part of the springs. Clamps are cheap & easy to make yourself, if, of course, you're on a budget.
Can't go wrong with Cal-Tracs though if you can afford them.
 
Heywodja said:
If you still have those let me know.
Click to expand...
I think I sold them at a swap meet, but I will double check for them in the next few days and report back.

I searched for nearly 4 decades for the best traction enhancing rear-suspension solution. I finally landed upon the best ride quality and traction control set-up for my five speed '70 'Cuda and automatic '68 Barracuda rear suspension.

Because Mopars have a semi-eliptical rear spring, I found that properly adjusted (shortened snubber that's just touching the front spring eye/requires cutting and re-welding the rear attaching bracket + spacing the front mounting bracket) slapper bars with either a heavy duty ESPO +1 spring or two passenger-side 3200lbs Super Stock spring gave me the best balance between a compliant ride quality and traction enhancement. Both cars weigh +3700lbs.

On the stick car, I had to use re-valved AFCO's with their "Big Dog" double-adjustable valving to control the hit. (car's rear tire would load the rear tire and then jump off the ground breaking traction without significant rear extension dampening).

The automatic car is much more forgiving on launch, and I run single adjustable QA 1's. Great shocks for both handling, ride quality and launching.

I also paint the slapper bars satin black, so they are hard to see and enhance it's sleeper status. Most real car guys know what's up when the back of the car lifts up as it plants the tires on a hard launch.

slapper bar 4.jpeg


slapper bar 3.jpeg
 
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crackedback said:
Good shocks are a pretty important aspect of any of the Bar type traction control methods.
Click to expand...

The harder a car launches, the more control the suspension needs. On my Dart Sport race car, I had wheel-hop under certain conditions even with SS springs and a variety of shocks including Mopar Performance 4-speed race shocks and Competition Engineering adjustables. Never had a problem again after installing stiffer, adjustable shocks which, in this case, were single adjustable Rancho truck shocks. The springs "wrap" and "unwrap" causes wheel hop. Shocks, if stiff enough, dampen/control this action. Additionally, I always liked to keep one clamp on the rear of the spring and allow the adjustable shock to control the spring action, including separation. You can have too much separation too quickly. I also ran a snubber with 1/2" -3/4" clearance more out of habit. It certainly didn't hurt.

The Ranchos I have on the rear of my Dart Sport & Aspen Wagon race only with SS springs are RS999116 single adjustable. Calvert also had their brand relabeled for them but I don't know if there was any difference.

The newest Ranchos are RS999116 but I don't know what they upgraded. The last time they added a "9", they went from RS9116 3-way to RS99116 9-way. They have different lengths in the part number grouping in the list below. Research & measure for your application.

Rancho #'s & specs

L1 are the Mopar bushing ends - 5/8" hole & 1 5/16" wide.
 
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