Leaf Springs vs Trailing arms

[PrettyRicky]

for those of you who were following my last 2 build threads you may've noticed they came to a hault. the 67 stepside was sold due to someone damaging the cab and he 71 was sold because someone stole the bed!! well i'm back and in the market for another truck!!! but this arises the debate. which suspension set up is better for traction........leaf springs or trailing arms? i have a hott 406 set up w/ th350 and 3500 stall for now w/ nitrous of course but i need to know which rear suspension will better benefit me?

[chevy_mike]

Bummer to hear about your other projects but congrats on the new one.

Here's my take on the two systems. If you want it to handle, trailing arms hands down. Look at all NASCAR cars, they are all still using trailing arm. They can be setup to handle very well with a little work. They don't hook up that great for drag racing.

Straight line stuff, leaf springs with CalTrac bars. This combo, with tuning the setup, will make you hook and book but it's not going to carve corners very well.

Figure out what you want to do and have at it. That said, either one can work fairly well in either type of driving but if you look at what works in the pro cars, that basically narrows it down.

Good luck and post pics.

[SCOTI]

The reality is, both can work.

Both can be tweaked to plant the tires @ the track or carve the corners. It's all about the parts used & tuning done. Leafs w/some CalTracs are a 'standard' track set-up for low-buck fast cars. Truck arms are basically 51" long ladder bars & are capable of sub 1.60 60' launches which is moving pretty decent; especially w/a 63-72.

Both being somewhat equal, IMO, truck-arms offer a superior ride quality vs leafs. I had 2 short fleets (@ the same time). Both were lowered w/about 6/8 drops & the main difference was the rear suspensions. My 68 had T/A's & bags, the 74 was leafs & bags (AOL set-up for extra load capacity).

Given the similarity of the two, the truck arm set-up rode much nicer.

[cableguy0]

I feel that the truck arms are the better choice for both handling and straight line performance. Leaf springs tend to wrap and cause wheel hop. Truck arms wont let the axle wrap and pinion angle stays relatively the same. There are plenty of guys running faster than 10.0 with nothing more than a set of coil over shocks in the rear and 90/10 drag shocks in the front. Ride is definately better with the coils too.

[PrettyRicky]

Im rather biased to Truck arms simply because it seems to me it can setup the suspension similar to how i setup my camaro but all of the guys @ the track i've seen are running leaf springs(none being 67-72) and laying down some pretty decent numbers. A buddy of mine has a 67 model that has leaf springs, kind of the reason im in such a huge debate, that he's trying to sell me. How much will i benefit if i lose the leaf springs and did coil overs, or custom fabbed a set of truck arms for it? The truck is going to be a street driven straight line truck, it will see plenty of dragstip action and just as much if not more street action so i HAVE to be sure this SOB hooks up!