NC- Yes the upper shock mount bolts are tight. Groberts- I've always enjoyed reading your thorough, intelligently laid out posts and feedback, that was very helpful thanks. quickshift- They seem pretty bare-bones If I weld in subframe connectors can these be made to work: http://www.cjponyparts.com/scott-dr...3-gtfGIlx57S5ghNCFRh1vXIJUDLr3WHpdxoClg3w_wcB They are certainly more affordable than caltracs, I realize they aren't advanced of course.
Phil, I totally agree with your comment about Groberts posts. My traction bars have a life of about another year and then we're going to tub it and install a four-link rear suspension. Bruce
Phil, Yes, but both want to occupy the same space. You need to do some fabrication. Look for pictures in my showcase post. Get the Traction Master bars that are actually designed for the Maverick. Micah
Phil. I just re-read your post (and signature) and realized this is more than just a simple cruiser. I assume you're using a 9". Have you tried a pinion snubber? The Lakewood bars with the J bolts are a good set-up as well as Cal Tracs. When you experience wheel hop, is it severe? What kind of tire? Are your shocks wore out?
Yes Quickshift,when they are set up properly,they do work.You however cannot do it properly without using shackles,I know people don`t like them but they work.You only move the spring down to the first hole away from the body,not the lower hole jacking the body way up making the car unstable.This flattens out the leaf spring just a little bit,then most of the time for best effect you install 2 degree shims between the spring perches & rear housing so when you hit the gas your pinyon geometry doesn`t get out of whack.I know this works because I had a 65 Mustang back in the 70s set up this way with air shocks & it was very effective.
With all due respect Dan, I have to disagree with the shackle suggestion. I never had to alter my shackles to get my bars to work properly. I played with snubber position and height along with shocks until I got it right I also used an adjustable pinion snubber so as not to affect geometry. Your system obviously works for you, it's just a different approach to the same result.
I've got an 8" rear with a built center section (Yukon billet carrier, 3.55 gears) . Tires are 225/60/15 Kumho's, shocks are new KYB's. I drive this car almost every day there isn't salt on the street, I've never had it at the track, but like I said I like to drop the clutch at times. I've never experienced wheel hop, so my concern is when I remove the bars that I will get it. If I don't that would be great! On a related note, it does have some very STRANGE handling characteristics in the rear end. It seems to have excessive body lean around corners in the rear, and if you go sideways it's pretty swirly, almost unpredictable. From what I'm reading, the slapper bars can cause this. I originally thought it was just a result of weak rear springs. Micah- Beautiful car, amazing job on it! So from what I read in your showcase, you don't need subframe connectors to mount the maverick specific traction bars? However you did re-enforce the existing mounting location?
couple quick thoughts. These cars handled absolutely horribly when everything was brand spanking new.. never gets any better when you put stickier than original tires on them either. Old tired springs only make things that much worse. Those "too small IMO" rear skins may not be all that bad for hop because they have shorter/stiffer sidewalls that get hit too hard to even have a chance at traction. Not all that good for actual racing.. but gives the illusion that the engine is more powerful than the ET will show and helps keep you entertained. IOW, once the tire initially breaks loose after the dump.. there's not enough traction to make it hop. Might still get a little as the car moves forward and starts to hook though. I myself have driven enough old uni-body cars that I just can't imagine NOT running traction aids combined with a rear anti-sway bar. Give a little too much power on bumpy uneven rutted roads covered with sand and moisture?.. and they're not known to be the safest suspensions.
Phil, Thanks. No, you do not need subframe connectors to have Traction Master bars but if you want both, the subframe connectors will want to mount in the same location as the Traction Master bars. The traction Master bars have to pivot at the spring front pivot. To get around this, I made the box section. I used Competition Engineering subframe connectors. Others have indicated that there is a problem welding the Traction Masters to the car without reinforcement. This is another reason why I mounted mine with the fabricated box section. I used 1/4 steel and then spread the load out to a greater area. Go to the Traction Master website if you are going to buy them. They have the correct ones. If it were me, I would junk those slappers and get new springs. From your posts, they appear to be weak. Once you have done this, then decide if you want to return to the slappers, go with Traction Masters or do nothing. Springs are just a couple hundred bucks. I went with four leaf because I wanted a stiffer ride. Others like three. If you want to go further, then add the Addco sway bar. You can see the reinforcement I did to install them. That is a must. Micah
Yeah Quickshift you are right,what works for one person does`nt always work for someone else.Back in the 70s no one heard of sub frame connectors,it was cage or nothing & the street cars did not make as much power as they do now.As far as a snubber goes we always threw them in the trash,not many people used them back then,my car now will be using cal-traks when I eventually get to the trk but after a while I will switch to ladders & coil overs.
Micah- That sounds like a good plan, new springs are soon to come (going to give ESPO a call) maybe I'll luck out, and not need and traction device. If I do, the traction masters seem like a nice choice, and I don't mind doing some reinforcement work. groberts-I don't get good traction, as you guessed. I have my original front bar (running a 1" addco mustang bar up front now) and plan to make the stock front bar work for the rear in the future. I value a well rounded car, so handling, as well as acceleration is important to me. Thank you all so much for your valuable insight and help!
Hey all I thought I'd follow up! Took one of the bars off (ignore the terrible paint job, the previous owner had an affinity for half-assing things) As you can see, the snubber is METAL on top instead of rubber, this corresponds with what I was hearing (I wondered how rubber on metal could make the sound I was hearing, as it sounded metal on metal) Pretty relieved to find this.
I was thinking that... I bet the P/O just took off the snubber as an easy way to get it adjusted to the height he wanted, since he didn't care about these things like I do.
I don`t like that style of traction bar.The Lakewoods that your U-Bolts go over the rear axle & your shocks bolt to it,is a better design especially when they come with J bolts.
