Hey everyone, I have a customer with a vintage set of Caltracs he wants installed on a leaf sprung uni-body car. He claims that these are vintage Caltracs, and they appear a bit different than anything I can find pictures of. Instead of the bracket for the front of the leaf using either a two bolt setup creating a sturdily mounted ladder bar setup, or the style they sell now that mounts from the front spring eyelet hanging down, and then pivots putting downward pressure on the leaf, these just have a one sided shackle hanging down. It uses the stock bolt on the front of the leaf, but, that's it. It just hangs there like a shackle, and thusly, it doesn't triangulate anything. Without a secure two bolt mounting or the pivot design to put downward pressure on the spring it does nothing. He claims that they are designed to be mounted in place, have weight put on them, and then have the front mounting bracket welded in place..... The problem I see here is that they would be welded to the uni-body at a 90* angle creating a pretty strong shear point. My major concern would be damaging the uni-body after much use. This car will undoubtedly see some abuse. I don't want to see, or hear of the floor of this car ripping out. I have no doubt that the bracket it strong enough, but, the sheet metal floor has me concerned. So, have any of you used these old Caltracs with their "weld on" hangers? I'd really prefer not to use them, and if I have to, I want as much information as I can get. I'd prefer getting the newer style bracket, but, he wants to keep these as are. Just looking for as much info as possible to make an informed decision. Thanks
I understand they aren't, but, the knowledge, and experience here is higher than most of the forums I'm on... I was trying to skirt, and not stir the pot. Just trying to do the best I can with what I have, and since these are supposed to be very early Caltracs, I figured most of these guys were around right when they first started using them...
I'm pretty sure John was there right around that same time.......... Making a phone call is traditional. Especially to the guy that can answer your question directly.
Those bars sound from the description as" Traction Masters" , they used a cast steel plate for the u-bolts and usually had a weld on plate for the front anchor. I remember installing a set in '66 when I worked for Exhaust Specialties in Seattle.
After a quick image search, it appears you two are correct. http://www.detroithorsepower.com/fo...81&action=dlattach;topic=3910.0;id=3829;image The front end looks like this, only with an upper hole that the front leaf bolt goes through. The bars aren't adjustable, and they are a gold color like these. Looks like they are indeed "Traction Masters". You guys have any good or bad experiences with these being welded on? It has me concerned considering this is a uni-body car.
i have not seen any installed on a uni body car. your concerns about ripping the floor are correct tho. a friend had a set of lift bars on a 63 nova, the front pivot was attached to a bracket bolted to the floor and eventually the bracket ripped a hunk out of the floor.
I agree, These sound like the old "Traction Masters" which looked simualar to Cal Tracs aside from the down pressure pivot point on the front of the leaf. If this is a Mopar product then you can gain a bunch by just clamping all the front segments of the springs and removing all the clamps on the back half of the springs. I know this is old technoligy but for a Mopar this has been tried and true for 50 years..
I run them on my g***er they work real nice. To address your concern with the unibody,back in 64 I put a set on my 426 plymouth savoy . As soon as I hooked it up good it ripped the sub frame.I plated it up nice, redid the mounts and it worked fine . Thinking about this now if I did it today I am sure I would fish plate first .FYI the "traction master" co. is still in bis. in LA .They were used on Shelby Mustangs so the Resto guys are into them.
Thanks for all the great information guys. This explains exactly why I asked here.... plenty of experience. I figured my concerns were well founded. I'd hate to rip the floor out of this guys Rambler, so, I'll be certain to advise him that the brackets need to be well trussed, and the floor well reinforced. I think that we are all well in agreement that these are Traction Masters, and that they have some value. I'll also be sure to let him know that. Thanks again!
If those bars have "Loop" style ends and use rubber/neoprene bushings, then they would be "Traction Masters". They seemed to work pretty well even though they had no length adjustment.They advertised "stopping leaf spring wrap up" on acceleration and braking. We ran a varation of the TM but mounted solid at the top of the housing and running forward in the center of the leaf to clamps that tied the leafs together ala ". Morpower.."A big mistake some made with 3 point ladder bars were getting the connection point in front in the wrong place,causing a bind on the suspension and ripping out the mount,'specially on unibodys.
Ok, this would be pretty hard to have mounted in the wrong spot, as it all appears to bolt together, and then get welded up. I may do some trussing in the front, and then a stresser plate just to spread out the force. I'll have to look it over tomorrow and go from there. Thanks a ton for all the information.
Early Shelby's had traction masters mounted above the front spring eye and into wheel well and later hung underneath like my '61 Comet homage build. I reenforced spring hangars and gusseted to frame cinnectors:
Sounds like old style Traction Masters where the front pivot was in single shear. I'd recommend making it a double shear pivot before the bolt fatigues. Experienced a few failures 45 years ago
Traction Master is still in business and here's the web site. (and they are traditional!): http://tractionmaster.com/
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