Q & A Time - Traction Bars
- Thread starter LBZ
- Start date
Ok. It's just for two pulls this year anyhow. I'm making a 50% attendance record this year-we only have 4 pulls scheduled. Maybe one more at the AAB in Leduc but I can't make that one anyhow.
Pretty sad. A full year of pulling and I can't even make as many pulls as you guys do in a month!!
Pretty sad. A full year of pulling and I can't even make as many pulls as you guys do in a month!!
If there are no rules about having to have travel, that is exactly what I'd do. You won't bounce because of the suspension if you do it like that.
Any other cheats out there to help out?
His is almost identical, except his front bracket its two pieces of flat steel running from both sides of the frame down to the front bushing that keeps the bar straight under the frame rail, where mine is square tubing with the bar on the outside of the frame. My bar is in line with the frame where his runs at a slight angle, it doesn't seem to work any better or worse either way you do it that I have seen. His runs pretty good , and if it holds up to his it should hold up to about anyones that I've seen.
I've seen his truck bounce every bit of 8in off the ground before he got his foot off the pedal and never seen the bars even flex when it came back down.
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I've seen his truck bounce every bit of 8in off the ground before he got his foot off the pedal and never seen the bars even flex when it came back down.
Ok this-I NEVER want to see happen to my truck!!
I think the square tubing is the way to go. Easily found for free around my area too. Thanks Kevin. PM sent Grayarea!!
Ok this-I NEVER want to see happen to my truck!!
I think the square tubing is the way to go. Easily found for free around my area too. Thanks Kevin. PM sent Grayarea!!
You should have seen my face.
And you heard that unison "oooohhhh" from the crowd and then the huge cheer when they unhooked the sled and it drove off the track even after spanking the home town boys on their own track after they were talking smack for three weeks before that pull.
Ah the good ol days ya know...:rofl:
I ran my truck "solid" once when it was legal. It hopped like a mofo. I put 2" of travel back into it and it went away.
I often wondered about running a torque arm instead of traction bars. A torque arm is like on an Fbody, it goes from the center-section of the axle to the tail piece of the transmission. With pullers, you could incorporate u-joint shields with it and kill 2 birds with one stone. Perhaps 3 birds if you triangulate it with the transfer case brace.
I often wondered about running a torque arm instead of traction bars. A torque arm is like on an Fbody, it goes from the center-section of the axle to the tail piece of the transmission. With pullers, you could incorporate u-joint shields with it and kill 2 birds with one stone. Perhaps 3 birds if you triangulate it with the transfer case brace.
My buddy did something like this to his lifted truck and got a lot of shudder because the axle couldn't rotate when he accelerated. was your setup different?
X2 on that one. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be the only Dmax out there. And it being my first time...... well you know-I gotta represent!!
Well then I would suggest a good strong hitch or a well reinforced stock one, a good reinforced stock center link (PM grayarea for that one) or an after market like PPE or Superdiesel, and some sleeves for the tie rods, all in addition to the bars we have been discussing. I would suggest solid suspension for the rear, but how it works is all relative to track conditions, the kind of tires, tire pressures, ect...
Take off easy from the start so you don't slip the tires and start hopping with little weight on the truck and once you get moving put the pedal down and let her eat.
That's the way I do it, and it seems to work pretty well. But I'm not an expert.
When the truck is pulling, the axle tries to rotate the opposite direction as the tires.
A bar from the top of the differential center section to the transmission, parallel to the driveshaft, resists this rotation without affecting wheel travel, springrate, or binding. You can hang the driveshaft hoops from it, and even make the trans end brace the Tcase.
This is used on the 4th gen F-Bodies like the Camaro.
Normally this design is accompanied by a panhard rod (side to side limiter) and 2 LCA's (lower control arms) to complete the equation. But nothing is stopping you from putting just a torque arm on.
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X2 on that one. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be the only Dmax out there. And it being my first time...... well you know-I gotta represent!!
For first time, I wouldn't sweat the Traction bars yet until you have a problem. Just clamp your leaf pack for now.
Blue is VERY tractable hooked to a sled with zero hop with a 100% stock suspension, but I limit the rear travel to 2" by moving the factory rubber stops to 2" from the axles.
All the other locals that are pulling have turbos and nitro. One came out in the last Diesel Power and showed some intesting #'s. RGR/Nemsis built truck with 500rwhp put 1-2 trucks on a 700hp truck. Come on now. Thanks to Joe, Dan and Wade for all the little tricks. Usable HP vs Peak HP. Peak HP sells cars usable HP wins races!
What would stop the bottom of the rear end from going forward on this setup? With nothing holding the bottom of the axle and the tires pushing the top will stay put and the bottom will be pushing and throw the drive shaft angle off and let it bind wont it?
I get it now Pat-thanks. This may be something I need to work on. I think I would go underneath though and use the crossmember insead of the transmission. I think you would want one end to be solid to the frame, no??
Dammit Pat, now you have the gears in my brain working overtime!
I think I will need the bars due to the fact I have a 6" lift and run 35's with stock springs.
Dammit Pat, now you have the gears in my brain working overtime!
I think I will need the bars due to the fact I have a 6" lift and run 35's with stock springs.
The way Caltracs work is as the axle rotates it pushes the rod forward. It then tries to pivot the top portion of the plate down. In the upper most hole (red arrow) in these plates a bolt is normally installed to press against the spring. The bolt stops the plate from pivoting, thus stopping the axle from twisting.
IMO, the geometry on the Caltracs is poor. It makes for a VERY uncomfortable ride to leave the the cross bolt in. With any compression of the spring, a bump or weight in the bed, the bolt tries to stop the spring from compressing. So, I leave these bolts out until race night.
FWIW, the yellow arrows show where the plates rub on the spring and cause the squeak.
