somone with waaay more knowledge than me please explain why i have been told that traction bars(slappers) are a waste of time on my 81. the rear is still mounted UNDER the leafs as it cam althought the truck is lowered about 5" in the back. I did come up with a way to make traction bars that will mount under the diff and drive up on the front leaf eye.

I just added 4* of negative pinion wedge because i came up with exactly 0* offset while at rest.
I had 4* positive on the pinion and 4* negative on the tranny. My pinion is now 0*. I understand that even the 4*I installed may not be enough. i can't afford any more trial and error. I lost(split) a $1000 trans from this truck on pass #13. thanx , crossy

buy Cal tracs!

buy Cal tracs!

yup, i'm an engineering major, and the caltracs by my knowledge are the best way to go in order to have traction bars that will not bind the suspension

The truck planted fine at the track last night . it's only a 13 sec. truck.

so i havea few more questions for those who chimed in.

What is the safe LOW air pressure that can be run in a BFG drag radial?? i have 275-60-15 on 8" wide wheels.

You can run them pretty low (12psi).. But you should be reading th tire and setting PSI based on that.

Make your own!
http://www.geocities.com/abetterchemist/bars/custombars.html
My write up.
http://www.geocities.com/abetterchemist/bars/custombars.html

The M/T drag radials hook hard with 18 to 20 psi.

Agree with everyone here....traction bars ARE a waste of time...

Your tires.....I had the MT radial 315x60 and ran them at about 15. That was in cold weather tho.

Traction bars aren't a waste of time, but they aren't as efficient or adjustable as the caltracs. Traction bards will work, but for the money caltracs win. They have a longer arm which helps weight transfer and if you preload them the springs wont move at all.
Look Super73 said, read the tires. You may need to do some experiementing on a back road (I mean track), to see at which PSI you get the biggest tire patch.

Make your own!
http://www.geocities.com/abetterchemist/bars/custombars.html
My write up.
http://www.geocities.com/abetterchemist/bars/custombars.html


Interesting writeup. How does it ride. It seems that you have basically locked the leaves from "compressing" or flexing downward. I guess if it's a track only truck then it wouldn't be so bad.

i think ive got my bfg's (325/50/15 on 10") at 10 PSI, they wrinkle up n hook good :)

G, I thought you moved to Chevytalk only. didn't know you were still here. I remember your thread a few years back on t-bars and thats when people were saying they were not functional because of our spring placcement. I also remember people there was a clearance issue and my truck is LOW. I would still like to see a pic of the caltracs installed. how far in inches are they below the shock mounts or axle tube. thanx , crossy.

Hey Dave, havent run into you in a while. I run 17 psi in my 275s. When are you going to the track again. Im going friday night.

wazzup big man:-) , now there are actually 4 whole people on this forum that are a rocks throw from me. Dude you know the deal with me. 18 projects going on. None worth mentioning. I'm a part timer at the track and now i don't want to break anything. I'm scared for the first time to hurt something. I'm prolly going to have a FOR SALE sign in it at the 'BIG SHOW' in Pennsville and i don't want any more shrapnel holes in the floor. I have to work this Thurs/ Friday and going to the shore on saturday for the BBQ competition. THOUGHT about this Wednesday night though. This past Friday was madhouse there. crossy

I would still like to see a pic of the caltracs installed. how far in inches are they below the shock mounts or axle tube. thanx , crossy.

I will take some measuremets and dig up my pictures. My truck is lowered 6" in the rear. Flip kit, overload leaf removed and a 1-1.5" drop shackle. No clearance issues with the caltracs.

wild, where in Jersey are you located? thanx, for that info. If your truck is low with no clearance issues. they should be good.

I'm in Millstone Township (western Monmouth County) by Great Adventure. If you want to get a better look we could meet up sometime.
Here are some older pictures. I'll get the measurements soon.

http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww5/Wild83C10/100_0043.jpg

http://i700.photobucket.com/albums/ww5/Wild83C10/100_0045.jpg

Dimensions were taken with a 25.5" tall tire. The front bracket sits 5" off the ground and the bracket at the axle sits 4.25" from the ground. That is with the overload leaf removed and only 4 springs, if you have extra leaves in there then it might sit lower.
My suspension is slightly different then what you see in the photo above.

looks like a good concept: run a soft leaf spring and use the cal-trac to control warp. should've tried that myself.

t-bars do work, but only to a certain extent. mine worked fine until i put alot of power to them. the axle twisted anyway and pretty much destroyed the driveshaft and the transmission.