Hello, So the traction/slapper bars the previous owner installed are positioned about 2.5" away from the front spring eyelet (center of rubber piece to center of eyelet). I cannot move it forward much more or it will hit the shock mount. I was wondering how this is effecting their ability, or what it might be doing to the ride? Are they simply incorrectly sized for the car? Thanks -Phil
The ideal spot is to have the snubber directly under the eye of the spring. You say yours are a couple of inches short. You will see no difference on a mild performance car. I would close up the gap of the snubber to the spring to about an inch depending on what type they are.
The thing is, I physically can't get it any closer to the spring eye. I also have street tires that don't get much traction, so are these even necessary? I will be getting new springs soon, and I have to ask myself if I need to put them back on or not, I certainly don't want wheel hop when accelerating. I also get a "BANG" inthe rear when going over any decent size bumps, it feels like it is bottoming out, but i can't see any evidence that the bump stops have been touched by the axle. Could the traction bars do this?
If you have Lakewood Traction bars like mine the banging you describe could be the cross bar for the retainer at the front of the traction bar as that is directly below the frame rail. Bruce
Hmm no, I don't have that tab, mine were yellow before the PO painted them, but i dont know if they are lakewoods, also the snubber is just a cylinder, no taper at the top. Yours seems to be almost as far back as mine.
Lakewood sold some similar to the kind you have as well. Mine bolt in place of the lower spring mount like yours but extend just past the axle with provisions for the J-bolts that were popular 'back in the day'. Can't imagine what the banging is for you though. Could you be hitting the nose of the differential on the underbody? Bruce
There was a set of these on the car when I got it. The banging is probably the bars being thrown up into the spring as the rear end recoils from the bump. For me personally the best place for these are on someone else's car.
Those tabs are for a U bolt to go over the spring which you could use to pull the snubber closer to your spring.You really almost want the snubber touching the spring & if it was that would prob end your bang.
There is a possibility the diff is hitting. If it is the gap, i read that making it smaller will result in a harsher ride, so is that my only option, is either live with a BANG or with a harsh ride? If I don't need them, I'll take them off, I personally think they are ugly, and would be bad if i ran over something due to the decrease ground clearance.
is there even a snubber on them? are your springs drooping the reason for replacement? take the bars off and see if the bang stops...
If not drag racing all the time spinning tires all the time I'd take them off worn out springs bars not positioned right is probably causing the bang '' if it bangs sooner or later something will break''
It feels like there are pen springs installed on the rear, they feel so weak, and squishy. I can't carry more than one passenger or any heavy luggage without it banging (feels like it's at the end of its travel and bottoming out?). There are snubbers on there. It's a daily driver, so I do occasionally spin the tires from a stop (not hard to do), but I don't drag race it. When I install the new springs I'll leave them off and see what happens...if I get wheel hop I'll weld tubular extensions on to them and re-install
Ideally the slappers will reach the front eye but rarely does that happen with all the "universal designs" being sold. Either way the front section of the spring is turned into a solid section to resist spring wrap and more effectively plant the tire. The only major downside to running shorter bars is evident in Shorty's first pic above. It will allow the main leaf to bend over time as all the pressure is being transferred just short of the primary leafs front eye. As for the design itself.. it's cheap and relatively effective at doing its job. I've had many sets through they years.. most recently the old south side machine bars on my old 383 powered s-10 blazer that made a world of difference for improving traction potential. Unfortunately, there is a fairly substantial compromise in ride quality when the snubber is pre-loaded against the front eye/or spring leaf so most guys leave them about a 1/2 inch or so "off contact" to still allow the front sections spring rate to work as intended. Then as the car squats and prepares to launch, the snubber will load against the spring and push the tire down while resisting wrap. If you think about slappers from a geometry and physics standpoint.. once the spring becomes more compressed/heavily loaded against the slapper, you're essentially eliminating half your available range of spring motion when the front section becomes nearly solid. Greatly resists wrap but ride quality suffers and they are downright dangerous in bumpy corners and can lend themselves to "hopping the axle", the potential for which is never good no matter how you drive the thing. You could/should?(learning this kind of stuff is really fun) experiment with and without them during launches and short bumpy test drives to find the best balance of ride vs traction for your particular driving style and ride taste. Unless you buy the more expensive mono-leafs or chrysler style offset leafs.. many guys simply toss more spring rate at the rear than is really required for these lighter cars just for the sake of resisting wrap(entirely wrong way to go unless you like cars that ride like buckboard wagons and can easily take jumps over railroad tracks). Or some use what they already have installed combined with some sort of traction device. Just remember to read past the advertising and cool powdercoating to study each designs shortcomings. That way you'll end up buying the best fitting device for your particular taste. For a more streetable car, I myself would much rather prefer to use an axle locating device to control wrap vs any other device which physically adjusts my spring rates for improved forward traction. Aside from pricing and availability.. much fewer trade-offs in the long run. Hope that helps.
Those are a POS style bar. Take them OFF. Your noise will stop. As far as the usefulness of slapper bars, Grumpy Jenkins was running low 10s with them back in the day. Yes they will work if setup properly. I used them for low 12s until I back halfed the car with tubs and a 3 link set up.
