I have an 84 ford f250 4x4. I just built the 351 windsor pretty damn good and its got LOTS of power. Problem is Wheel hop was there before.......well now it jumps clear through 3rd gear going 45! I am considering a set of ladder bars.


http://www.tuffcountry.com/miscellaneous/ladder-bars.html


will these babies do the trick? Im young and have a lead foot and i like it alot! I like to show the civics whos boss so getting off the line, and not jumping down the road is important to me.

Also Will I get rid of it all? or at least to the point where i can rev and dump it? That would be fun on the street stead of the dirt!

Are the dana 60's strong enough to do that? I can do the one legger burnouts easy. I believe they are but correct me if the they arent. I think it was 4:10 gears or 4:11.

 

I dont know bout the ladder bars, but when i got my 80 F-150 351M it wheel hopped half second and 1/4 third, bad, it woudl hurt thats how hard it hopped, and i looked like a dumass that couldnt drive, about 200 miles after that i put some 35's on and put the jack on the axle and the axle moved a hair upwards but the u bolts didnt "u bolts holding axle to leafs, not driveshaft to pumkin" and then i tightened it up and now it only does it when im at 3500 and punch it in 2nd, but most of the time i dont need that because the M's are a 1500 to 3000 rpm torque motor. Sorry it took so long but i guess just try tightening those bolts first, and im sure somebody will come up behind me and tell you straight forward, but this was my situation.

Taylor

 

hmmm, i have not considered that before. but that does make alot of sense why it would do that. My motor is more of a 3000-6000rpm engine. Its pretty much done but Next yr its getting aluminum high perf heads. so im lookin 400hp i think? I want it all on the ground to.

 

OK... this is from my drag racing experience in the late 70's and early 80's...

ladder bars are for holding the rear axle perpendicular to the thrust line of the chassis

wheel hop, or tire shake is caused by one thing... weight bias. Or more specifically, lack thereof.

your rear suspension is incapable of holding the back wheels on the ground given the amount of torque being applied to them

those Civics are dusting you because their meager amounts of torque is easily held captive by the weight of the engine sitting right on top of the drive wheels. Not that I haven't seen a FWD shake the tires, I have; normally due to insufficient compression AND rebound damping.

You need to bias the weight more towards the rear of the truck, get shocks with more rebound damping and choose actually a harder compound tire (In other words, loose the Thornbirds).

What happens is; the tire bites in and loads the suspension, untill the tread "shears" and the stored energy is released in a giant burst of rebound.

So you can slow the release down (more damping), lower the shear point (harder compound) and you're probably going to have to learn to feather the throttle & clutch (application of torque) as well...

 

gearhead, just a sugestion, Ive driven brand new 80s trucks bad wheel hop, right from factory. maybe get front end totaly cked out, for problems, might be simple and safe way to end problem.

 

Add weight aft of the rear axle!!! you need weight in a truck bed to hook up some traction or all the ladder bars and suspension tricks ain't gonna help!! Have a good welder make up some brackets for the rear frame area that you can put steel plate weights onto and adjust your weight to the conditions!!!

 

i use just a simple cheep old fashon slaper bar turned upside down and pointing backwards. 40 bucks solved my hop problem 20 years ago and still does. jegs part # 620-20475 $41.95 put'em on top of the spring piontin to the back and preload the heck out of them no more hop

 

Hey wizard, do you think that trick would work on my 65 2wd? (sorry to hijack) It is really bad about wheel hop. The 352 wants to go like hell but I can't let it because it want to shake the crap out of the truck.

 

any possibility of a picture of that? im looking for more of a dump that clutch and tires spinning action. Im not trying to get the truck moving off the line as fast as possible. I want to be able to dump it on dirt roads to. even in mud that thing is hoppin through the hole! Im young and i cant do any other burnout other than riding the brake! I wanna dump and burn! haha im so nice to my truck! Make the shakes go away! What will stop the bounces?

 

Good shocks and leaf spring clamps will help...

 

Yes, i have done alot of reading....lots. And the shocks would make the most sense to me to try first. What shocks have the stiffest rebound? or if im wrong would stop the hop? hopefully. What do you mean by spring clamps?

 

They keep the leaf springs clamped to each other so they can't individually load and unload causing hop. Run around $40. I don't know on shocks for pickups, but I put KYB's on my trans am and they alone virtually eliminated wheel hop.

 

dont they look like small U bolts. but more square? they clamp over the whole pack?

 

gearhead, why don't you try Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks? That way you could dial them in to your satisfaction.