Rear end suspension set-up for 55 chevy with nine inch?

Hi,
Well this year I thought I should take a look at reducing the wheel hop that I am getting under hard launch in the 55 chevy. My current set-up is a nine inch rear end with the leaf springs in the stock location.

The frame is actually a 1956 and the only thing that I have done so far to the rear suspension is added new Energy Suspension bushings to a new set of 1956 shackles and hardware and that is it.

I am looking for a simple and inexpensive fix. This car definately over the last couple years has seen more street duty then strip and that is what I predict it will be for a long time to come.

So what do you suggest? What are some options that will eliminate and or lessen my wheel hop?
Thanks
Jay

 

Cal Trac bars. The '55 in my avatar had old ******* bars which rode well but also controlled wheel-hop. I was running the stock '55 rear end with a 4:56 and posi.

 

+1 on the CalTracs

 

The old skool way we did it was to weld two tabs about 3 inchs long to the u bolt pad under the spring with 1/2 in holes in each then add a 1.1/4 peace of pipe about 30 inches long with 1/2 in boles drilled in each end weld 2 more tabs under the frame foward on the frame for the front holes and bolt it in .cheeep but very effective...garenteed to stop wheel hop and it looks old skool too. I had them on my 55 chevy with a pontiac 389 with trips and 4 speed and olds rear.....bullet proof

 

clamp the front 1/2 of your springs...

 

A pair of old school ******* bars got my brothers 55 into the high 11's years ago. Just fine tune the distance between the snubber and the spring eye until you like how it works.

 

Whats you pinion angle like? You could probably get by with having the rear lower 1/2 to 1 degree. Traction-Masters would probably help also. As for mine, i'm clamping the front springs to act more like a control arm than springs. I added in extra springs so spring wrap up is more difficult to happen.

http://www.tractionmaster.com/index.html



edit :dang you guys type fast

 

Good old fashioned ******* bars. Just make sure they are long enough to hit the eye of the spring.

 

DO NOT go with ladder bars, I agree on the Cal-tracs.

 

******* bars are about as traditional as you can get for the 60's/70's.

And I guess you can make them work OK.

 

first ******* bars i saw were on a camaro ---are they older than that ? i have never cared for the looks of ******* bars---spring to frame traction bars will control wheel hop they will not plant your tires---your pinion must rotate (angle change) to do that---that is why cal-tracs work---easy and cheap to make your own if you think it thru...

 

What?

 

Interesting! Does anyone have the instructions for mounting the Caltrac style ones? I do like the look of them. The old ******* bar style is good too??? I think I need to do some more research on this one before jumping on one or the other.
Jay

 

I have a friend who has Caltrac bars on his 55 and seems to like them, that being said they sure aren't period correct, and ******* bars work just fine as shown in the picture above and they work equally as well on 55's I will be using them on my 55 with a 427 4 speed.******* bars that is.Since you are looking to stop wheel hop, ******* bars will be more than enough.

 

Get a good set of shocks. Stock spring and home made traction bars on my junk. It worked perfect the minute I put the right shocks on it. Period.

Go to you tube and study the videos.

 

budget ******* bars caltrac if you got the cash both will work but *******s look cheesy to me

 

Have some plans that we used to make 2 sets of caltrac clones with. Found through a google search a while back. PM me your email, and I'll forward the doc file I have on them.

 

Well I am still just looking at all my options at this point. I actually did call Catrac to ask some questions. People have said that these guys are super helpful and very knowledgable. They definately seemed to know there **** and were really helpful. Still going to do some research on the ******* bars to see what is up with them.

Shockwise right now on the rear end I am running air shocks but I was thinking of different options here too. Any ideas? Keep in mind that this car sees more street duty.
Jay
Jay

 

Do you have any still shots showing the rear end set up Banana?
Jay

 

Had a pair of Calverts split mono leafs and CalTrac bars on my 55 210, they worked great. Not a 100% old school look but probably the best setup going for ease of use and function.

 

I wouldn't recommend this set up for the street. If I were you I would make my own ******* bars from the lower shock mount (or look for an old set on CL or EBAY) and spend your money on the Caltrac single adjustable shocks. You need brackets on the frame and forget mounting the shocks on the body like stock. With air shocks, the body is likely cracked already around the shock mounts. The springs hold up the car, not the shocks.

I used 2000 S-10 rear shocks as a template and made brackets to fit the "T" style shock and welded the brackets to the inside of the frame (not shown in this pic). Called Caltrac and gave them the measurements and they sent me ones to fit. You don't need double adjustable and you can then have a "street" and "race" suspension set up just by turning a knob and it will work fine in both worlds.

Wheel-hop is uncontrolled spring and tire bounce. The shocks job is to control the springs and tires. Without the right shock, any other mechanical band-aid that anyone claims is a fix is more likely inducing bind to stop the wheel-hop. Induced bind will not plant the tires and launch the car the way you want it. Plus any "adjustments" will not be effective.

 

Hey man this is some good info! The tops of the rear shocks have long been in a crossmember that goes across the frame rails. So that problem can be checked off the list. Having shocks mounted to the floor of the trunk is a big No No for street and strip abuse for sure. Tell me more about these shocks are you recommending the single adjustment shocks or double adjustment ones Banana? I'm not really clear on which ones I should be looking at?
Jay

 

Were you using this car on the street with this set up?
Jay

 

80/20 street/strip, worked well on the street once I got it setup. Changed out the springs segments once with Calvert. Once I got that done it was all good.

 

spring wrap is your problem---don't over think it...

 

PM sent

 

I think the early Shelby Mustangs had Caltracs or Traction Masters as an option, so that would have put them in use '65 or '66.

 

No they ran a Traction master bar which is not the same as a Caltrac, other than they both used round tubing.Caltrac allows for a pivot in the front Traction masters clamped the front spring.Even if they were the original post was for a cheap way to stop wheel hop.******* bars will be much cheaper than Caltracs as I said a friend of mine is running them on his 55 and my brother in law ran them on his slightly off topic 67 Camaro and both were happy with them.I am not knocking Caltracs,but the cheapest answer would be ******* bars and they work fine.I have built 4 link race cars, ladder bar race cars ,and ******* bar race cars.Look at the picture of Jenkins car in this post (post 10) he is using ******* bars. What is wrong with them?

 

were ******* bars around before 1967 ? we all know they can work but they look funny---when were they first used ?

 

I run homemade *******s on my 55 w/9"...I moved my springs under the frame for tire clearance.... the *******s hit the spring under the eye .... used s**** tubing & plate cost nothing... for the ft pads I used free salvage yard pinion snubbers.... I did make a shock xmember out of s**** angle & 1x1 tubing
I guess they were free if you don't count your time....
the car leaves good, but I am not running slicks on the strip....
*******s do nothing for bite, just keep the spring from wrapping up.....
hope this helps
email slacker1965@juno.com if you want me to take a pic or 2.....I did this in '85 so it's not real pretty under there