55.2-59 Traction bars

[mark '87 930]

Hey everyone, I’ve been away from the forum for a while, but been driving my 56 so much lately. With the new newer motor from a few years ago and a slightly more aggressive, driving style a.k.a. smashing the throttle pedal a little more I find the wheel hop is really bad. I have the stock rear suspension with the axle below the leaf spring. Are there any traction bar options that are bolt on? I’ve seen some weld on options, but I’d like to stay away from Welding if possible. I’m not looking to change around the suspension, but I thought maybe traction bars could help me.

What kind of setup do any of you have with the stock axle below the leaf spring set up?

[geezer#99]

Do a google search for ‘pinion snubber’.

Uncle Tony can explain them.

https://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/...to-ditch-them/

[geezer#99]

You can also make leaf springs clamps cheaply.


https://www.pirate4x4.com/threads/le...clamps.353105/

[mark '87 930]

The leaf springs are already clamped. I like the idea of a pinion snubber. The only thing to attach it too is the bottom of the truck bed 12” away. Would have to make something but i don’t know the bed brace is strong enoigh for that much force.

[geezer#99]

I’ve used a long piece of 2x2 square pipe bolted to the frame to hook a snubber up to.

BTW your truck looks just like the 56 I built 25 years ago.

[mr48chev]

Slapper bars won't work in their normal form. One might build or modify a set to ride inboard of the springs along side the spring could though.

On the other hand the Tuff Country setup for Dodge trucks might be worth investigating to either come up with your own bolt on system or see if they make a setup that will work with few mods.

[Stepside Jim]

Here's a topic I was focused on about 12 years ago. How to have a simple slapper (traction ) bar set up with stock suspension, keeping the leaf springs above the axle.

Can't use the usual square tube attached to the leaf spring, this would look a little bit tacky anyway....

We can however, attach to the upper part of the leaf spring, reach around the outer sides of the leaf spring, then have a rubber snubber at the mounting eyelet of the front of the leaf springs. Same as a regular traction bar, only taking a different approach.

Click onto my build thread below, go to post 371 on page 15, pictures are worth a thousand words.

I warn you, I think out of the box, I don't always make things easy for myself, but I like it that way.

End result, I rotate the tires every year, front to back, the rears take a beating, and never a case of wheel hop.

On page 16, last pics on post 391 also has some pics.

[Rickysnickers]

Check out Caltracs https://calvertracing.com/product-categories/caltracs/

[57tailgater]

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

Check out Caltracs https://calvertracing.com/product-categories/caltracs/

Here's their page for trucks w/spring over axle: https://calvertracing.com/product-ca...ltracs-trucks/

[mr48chev]

I'd say that what I posted or what 57 Tailgater posted are Ideas to borrow from.

I snagged this from a Tri 5 Chevy board and the writer said he found he pieces on a 99 Explorer. For something like that it wouldn't take much to fabricate a plate to replace the plate that sits on top of the spring that had tabs to run a bolt through the bushing on the rod and figure out how to set it up at the front.

No welding on the truck but there would be some fabricating. If you don't weld it is something you could do all the cutting, drilling and fitting on and then take to a buddy to have welded.

[dsraven]

wheel hop with leaf springs is usually caused by a leaf spring wrapping, or actually wrinkling along it's length into an S shape, so it doesn't keep the axle at the correct distance from the spring hanger. imagine the torque of the engine trying to turn the tires but meeting resistance. this results in the axle trying to rotate upwards at the pinion because the pinion is tryng to crawl up the ring gear inside the axle. this is why a pinion snubber works, it simply limits how much the axle housing can rotate before it bottoms against the snubber. now, because the springs are possibly the weaker link here, they are forced to flex and actually turn into an s shaped configuration if viewed from the side, ahead of the axle. if you can stiffen the spring so it doesn't wrinkle into that s shape anymore then your problem goes away. a lot of 4x4 guys have got this figured out by simply using a "torque arm" style of link under the leaf spring, on each side or a single arm down the middle of the tunnel, that goes up to the frame somewhere ahead of the forward spring hanger. a problem with this set up is that the hinge points are not usually the same as the spring has, so it creates some binding. I have put a little thought into this over the years when trying to "fix" friends wheel hop issues. what I came up with is simply to fab up a bar that attaches to the front leaf spring hanger bolt, on one end, and the axle to leafspring pad on the other end, below the axle usually. now, if you think about it, you will realise that this bar will need to pivot at the attachment points in order to allow the suspension to move freely without binding and wearing out the attachment points. so,what I came up with is, a front leaf spring bolt that has a stud welded onto the head of the bolt. this allows the leaf spring to be attached and tightened up like normal, with the weight of the vehicle applied to the spring. in other words, tighten the leaf spring attachment bolts with the weight of the vehicle on the springs so the rubber bushing is in a neutral position at ride height. now this will leave that stud hanging out on the end of that bolt. next imagine the spring to axle connection. here we need a connection similar to the forward leaf spring mounting bolt we just talked about. some sort of attachment stud that is parallel to the forward stud. you just need to fab that up but keep in mind that you want to keep this as close as possible to the "hinge point" of the spring to axle attachemnt. in other words, don't fab up something that looks really cool but is 3 inches away from the actual hinge point of the spring to axle connection. what you are trying to accomplish is to mimmick the length of the section of spring ahead of the axle with a non flexible link that pivots at the same location as the spring. so when the engine torque tries to wrap the axle,, by making an S shape out of the leaf springs, the link will stop this spring flexing action by not allowing the length of the spring in this area to be shortened. either you get wheel spin OR the tires hook up and you get the engine torque transferred directly to the body, which tends to try and lift the vehicle and transfers the weight of the vehicle body directly to the tires. this actually helps launch the vehicle because there is less chance of wheel spin with more weight on the tires. it's kind of the same theory as a 4 link suspension uses to force the rotational torque from the axle into a force that tries to lift the weight of the vehicle.
dunno if that helped but it sure sounded good to me, lol.
part of the equation is the length of the spring ahead of the axle, the spring rate on that section (how strong is the spring. sometimes guys remove a leaf or 2 to drop the vehicle stance and this means the spring has less stiffness which will make it more suseptible to flexing under the high torque scenario) and how sticky the tires are. a longer spring here tends to be able to flex easier. a softer spring also tends to flex easier. a sticky set of tires tend to hook up well which puts more stress on that section of spring so it tends to flex rather than allow the tires to spin. basically installing a non flexible link in that area to eliminate the spring flex will help solve the spring flexing issue that causes wheel hop. back in the day it was an easy bolt on slapper style "traction bar" that basically bolted onto the leaf spring axle pad U bolts, and when the engine torqued up the driveline the slapper bar was forced against the frame, in the area of the forward leaf spring mounting bolt, and this effectively became the solid "link" that stopped the leaf spring from becoming S shaped from the axle torque applied to it. here is a link that may help explain it better
http://www.how-to-build-hotrods.com/traction-bars.html
another way to get it done is to fab up a long link that attaches to the axle, near the pinion, and travels forward to the area near the rear of the transmission where the driveshaft pivot point is. camaro used this idea back in the 2000 era. visualise a long bar down the center of the vehicle tunnel from the rear axle to the rear of the transmission, like a ladder bar but using a single bar instead of one per side. check google for torque arms
https://www.streetmusclemag.com/news...ion-for-gm-mus

[mark '87 930]

Stepside jim,
That is an interested setup. I am not opposed to welding at all, i just don’t want to weld anything to the frame or axle. This looks like a good option, lots of fab work. You likely had access to a machine shop of sorts.

Did you patent them and start making them?

[Stepside Jim]

mark '87 930,I pursued the patent situation, the deeper into the idea, the more we realized how hard it would be to corner the design and hold the rights.


There is another benefit to the design that you may appreciate. Since you probably lowered the truck, perhaps by removing a leaf or two or, bought a new leaf design that lowers the truck by rotating the leaf eyelets the opposite way of original, either way, you could possibly benefit having the leaf spring get firmer as the suspension compresses. Having the leaf springs get firmer as they compress will help you from bottoming the suspension over bumps.

I am fortunate to have a CNC plasma set up at home. Yet, as you look at the design of the traction bars focus on the principle/theory, as dsraven mentioned, we need to keep the axle from rotating and wrapping up the leaf springs. If you can figure a way to mount a plate to the top and locate a rubber snubber at the front under the leaf eyelet your in the ball park.

Once the rubber snubber contacts the leaf, not only does it keep the leaf from wrapping up, it binds the free travel of the leaf, not that the leaf can't travel, it just has to travel in a different shape, benefit being, the closer the rubber snubber is to the leaf contact, you can adjust the firmness of the rear suspension.

There is another small rubber snubber above where the side plates cross past the leafs, it helps to keep the traction bar located firm to the leaf spring.

I know it's a lot to digest, good luck on your situation.

[leegreen]

Slapper bars do work to eliminate wheel hop. My DD the last couple years would be undrivable in rain or doing burnout without them. Mine in function are same as what stepside Jim posted but on a S10 with spring under. Snubber hits very front of spring at the bushing. Here are some observations:

When the snubber hits the spring the suspension stiffens up quite a bit and is faster in rebound, that can be an issue trying to accelerate across dips, frost heaves etc. It can also affect handling when you nail it on sweeping highway turn with any dips.

If you load your truck down onto the snubber you will have very harsh ride, make the slapper bumper height adjustable, removable or do something like helper bags or air shocks so you can bring ride height back up.

A longer bar will reduce the tendency to lift the back of the truck. Essentially what those 3rd gen camaros do, torque arm goes all the way up to tailshaft into a crossmember mounted bushing it can slide back and forth in.

I may have misunderstood dsraven's description, but I think he described a fixed length connection between axle and front spring pivot. That would be harsh riding and put a lot of force/wear on spring bushings, but it would stop spring wrap related wheel hop.

You could build a bolt on slapper bar for spring over with a plate between axle and spring to weld the bar to, bring the plate sides out past spring pack so you can add some gussets.

The best leaf spring solution is a longer torque arm, like the camaro style with bushing or lifted 4x4 style with a shackle.

or caltracks, but I have never driven one to comment on it

you might be able to solve your problem bolting on the long 'overload' leaf from a 2000 era 1/2 ton, they are essentially a double ended slapper bar