I'm looking for some traction bars for my 56. "Right now" the axle is under the springs, and when I romp on it hard I get wheel hop due to spring wrap. New shocks help'ed, but....

These will only be on for a short time.
I am planning on racing at the local track this coming weekend. Then this spring I will do the 4 link. I need a quick n' cheap fix.

JC Whitney has these things, but will they work with leafs over axle rearend?


thanks

 

These were a quick install and did the job eliminating the wheel hop I had with monos.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...101030&width=2

 

"Wheel hop" eh? Could that be the sensation I experience on my '51 F1? Happened a few times while accelerating from a stop. I have all new leaf springs, pins, bushings, et.al., all around and I was taken aback when this occurred; didn't think this was supposed to happen on a completely stock, non-hot-rodded F1. I noted the axle is, of course, under the leaf springs and this is how Ford designed 'em. Is this a normal thing for the axle to move like this?

And while we're talking suspension, let's move to the front of this rig. I showed this truck to a friend who is a serious old ford collector/restorer (a warehouse full of mainly '39-'48 in perfect stock restored condition) and the first thing he advised is I should build a "panhard bar" for the front I-beam. He explained that these F1s are difficult to handle, because the front leaf springs will sway side to side. At first I thought he was blowing smoke, ya know, trying to impress me with his expertise. But now that I'm driving this truck more I am understanding what he is saying. I now kinda understand why so many of these are cut up and new IFS suspensions are installed. Well, I looked thru all my old ford catalogs and no one seems to sell a panhard bar for the '49-'52 F1. I'd really like to improve the handling of this old truck, but before I go back to my friend and ask more questions about this remedy, I'd like to know what others here would advise. Thanks.

 

Thank you Mister Randy Man, they look like they would have the same effect. Both of them stiffin up that front part of the spring. You said $60, they are now $42.88 for chrome and 39.88 for the yellow, plus Summit has their knock-off for $32.95 (also yellow).

If I order today, they should be to me by thursday or friday at the latest.
I'm going to zip down to Kragen and check out that thing I posted a picture of just for giggles. Who knows, they might have the same ones that summit does.
I'll keep ya posted on my findings.
*******************

I never heard of a front panhard bar, I see where he's going with his thinking.

 

Randy,
Did you end up cutting off the tube in front of the rubber snubbers? As I see it this part of the tube serves no purpose and would clean up the appearance.

Bruce

 

Bruce - Nope. I just left them long...just like the picture. It's hard to see them under the fender and they aren't for looks anyway. But you're not the first person to ask that question.

 

Sorry it took 2 weeks to post the results, but.......
Bought some leafspring helpers at Kragen for $29.
They were both on in 20 minutes.
After the install I put on some fat tires I had laying around and did a big smokey burnout on the street next to my house. It was very impressive with no wheel hop at all. But the smoke cloud had to go somewhere, and it went straight over to my neighbors house..... Doh!!!!

25 year head ache fix'ed for 29 bucks and 20 minutes.


here's a picture spinning the 9" M/T slicks at the strip.
ran 9.4's at 75mph in the 1/8th
not bad for a big old truck with a small block



An air bagged 4 link is still on the shopping list. But not this week.

 

I have always wondered if those worked or not. I had a real bad wheel hop problem with my truck and then I put some 4* pinion shims in the rear and fixed about all of it if I got the tires warm enough. I still have a real bad wheel hop problem on the street, so I'm hoping these http://www.truck-traks.com will work because I plan on buying a pair this weekend.

I wish there were more old trucks around here to race. BTW, do you have bigger versions of the pictures you posted? They are really small.

hotrod48

 

I know its not a ford but I have a set of 5 leaf big block springs on my small block camaro and still bent them at the front spring eye due to axle hop. Axle hop is caused by the pinion gear "climbing" the ring gear. I then ordered a set of CAL-Tracs from calvert racing and it was like driving a diffrent car. They also act as a rear sway bar. A cheap fix would be to make your own pinion snubber kinda like what mopars use. The only problem with add a leafs is that they may stop wheel hop but they do nothing for weight transfer and thats whats important.

 

That's true about weight transfer. My rear is a little soft from removing leafs to drop it down a few inches. But when I launched at the track, the rear totally squatted before it took off. I was thinking if I put on some coilover shocks if it would keep it from squatting like it did, and what the launch would be like.
Oh well, maybe next time. Hopfully I'll have the 4 link by then.

Hotrod48, here's a link to the gallery with a bunch of pictures of that day.
http://gallery26480.fotopic.net/c951467.html

or if you want to see the spring helper, here's that link
http://gallery26480.fotopic.net/c962116.html

 

There's nothing wrong with it squatting down like that on the launch. In fact I think that is probably prefferable and you are getting good weight transfer back to the rear and will have less tendency to spin.

Bobby

 

If it is squatting because the springs are wrapping up then a lot of power is being lost in the suspension and not being put to the pavment. That is the problem I was having. Now when I leave the line the front end really comes up and instead of my rear tire "tucking" into the rear fender well the rear body of the car actually rises as well, as downforce is being planted on the rear tires. Virtually no power is lost in the suspension.

 

OK, I hadn't thought of that....

That makes sense

Thanks
Bobby

 

A Panhard bar with parallel leaf springs??? It'll bind up something awful, don't do it. If you have axle shift it's because something is worn, i.e. spring eye bushings.
Are you sure you're getting spring wrap, not tire shake? Are you using street tires or racing slicks?

 

did I miss something? Who said anything about a panhard bar?