Leaf springs

[56taskforce]

Anyone running a stiff half leaf top of the spring pack from center of axle to front eye for anti wrap???
I went to a local spring shop for u-bolts to swap out some 4" blocks for 2" in order to level the truck out after dropping the front end down and setting it up for drag racing. I am having trouble with rear wheel hop, plan was to get the stance the way I wanted then measure for Caltracs. The guy at the spring shop may have sold me on re-arching my springs for the two inches of lift and ditching the blocks all together then adding the anti wrap leaf...
I know not having the block would help a lot and the half leaf on top isn't supposed to affect ride quality it also works from the top similar to how they Caltracs work from the bottom.
It also appears that if not enough that it would only increase the effectiveness of Caltracs if I wanted to add them later...
Anyway anybody using an anti wrap leaf and if so how do you like it???

 

[COMP461]

On project X. I used CalTracs and a single top spring with a half leaf . I also used a air bag. You need suspension movement to set the tire. Make sure you have plenty of travel. You will have to work on air in the bags. and possible a pound to one and a half lbs stagger. calTracs has two different front plate lengths get the longer one .
with this set up don't torque brake as much , so as not to excessive bind up the suspension before launch. This is a common mistake. if the suspension is bound , the there is nothing left in it to drive the tire in the ground

 

[56taskforce]

This is a street strip daily driver the also tows heavy.
I need to torque brake to build boost. The truck does have a Goerend R converter with a 2,300 stall and a Stg-2 3794 from Danville but still have to work at building boost at the line...

 

[COMP461]

the calTracs like a light spring rate. getting lots of boost is great , but when it leaves flat with out setting the tire. you get excess spin. take out as much spring as you can live with , along with air bags

 

[56taskforce]

Well not being an actual race truck and the fact it must work hard I am going to have to sacrifice the light spring rate. Remember it is FWD, I think I have the front end pretty dialed in but I am obviously experiencing some wheel spin because I am getting rear end hop...

 

[COMP461]

the calTracs. will fix that .

 

[OregonDMAX]

Besides adding more parts, having no block will be the best thing you can do.

 

[DPC]

Sounds like all you need are spring clamps. Put them on at the track in about 5 mins take them off when you are done and very cheap.

 

[COMP461]

that will work great , aswell ,

 

[LBZ]

A set of 2" mini pack Deavers for $300 and a set of spring clamps is what I would do.
If you need a little more for towing then add a set of load helper air bags.

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[56taskforce]

I am thinking at this point the re-arching to get rid of the block adding the half spring and factory option wrecker overloads. The only drawback I see is added weight of the overload set.
Like OregonDMax stated above just getting rid of the block will be huge.

 

[Chevy1925]

A set of 2" mini pack Deavers for $300 and a set of spring clamps is what I would do.
If you need a little more for towing then add a set of load helper air bags.

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You can't run an overload with mini deaver pack so you can't put spring clamps on

I am thinking at this point the re-arching to get rid of the block adding the half spring and factory option wrecker overloads. The only drawback I see is added weight of the overload set.
Like OregonDMax stated above just getting rid of the block will be huge.

My suggestion is axle wrap bars or cal tracs. Being you use the truck like a truck, axle wrap bars would be best. Cal tracs would be best for the track but you will be constantly adjusting them for loads or the track. I would put some axle wrap bars on, pull a few leafs, put adjustable shocks on the back and use those bags. It would work well for many different situations without you needing to break out two crescent wrenches each time to adjust the cal tracs

 

[LBZ]

You can't run an overload with mini deaver pack so you can't put spring clamps on




My suggestion is axle wrap bars or cal tracs. Being you use the truck like a truck, axle wrap bars would be best. Cal tracs would be best for the track but you will be constantly adjusting them for loads or the track. I would put some axle wrap bars on, pull a few leafs, put adjustable shocks on the back and use those bags. It would work well for many different situations without you needing to break out two crescent wrenches each time to adjust the cal tracs

I don't have overloads and I run them......just installed farther back.

 

[OregonDMAX]

You can still clamp the spring pack without the overload.

 

[Chevy1925]

So what do you gain from them? The deaver mini pack adds preload to the spring pack and you don't have a spring to compress with the clamps to add more stiffness to the pack. Just keeping the leaves from sliding the slight amount they move?

 

[LBZ]

Keeping the front of the pack from separating due to axle wrap. Keeping them tight helps limit some of the wrap. Albeit not as well as a set of track bars like adjustable caltracs would.

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[OregonDMAX]

I was trying to edity post but phone shut off. I was going to say you can still clamp the regular pack in the front to keep the springs from flexing.

I leave my spring packs clamped perminent. It did help even with no overload and I tested it by temporarily removing my traction bars.

 

[Chevy1925]

Interesting.

Dale, you shouldn't see any leafs separating in the front. If you actually do get the leafs to separate, they would be in the rear as the pinion is trying to twist up when you hammer the throttle. So essentially, clamping the back would be best under that idea. The leafs are long enough though they will "s" or bend even with a clamp unless you have that big heavy overload in there to clamp too. So I can see it doing something, just not as well as it could

 

[plowboy_lbz]

Pull the block and add 1 or 2leaves to your spring pack then build some traction bars. I'm happy with my set up.

 

[LBZ]

Interesting.

Dale, you shouldn't see any leafs separating in the front. If you actually do get the leafs to separate, they would be in the rear as the pinion is trying to twist up when you hammer the throttle. So essentially, clamping the back would be best under that idea. The leafs are long enough though they will "s" or bend even with a clamp unless you have that big heavy overload in there to clamp too. So I can see it doing something, just not as well as it could

Ah your right. Had to go look at my truck before it clicked.

I was thinking about my truck and they are a bit different from the Deavers as like you say they already pre-load. Mine doesn't have the overload leaf but it has the one that leaves a bit of a gap. The clamp tightens it up giving it a bit of a preload. Not as effective as trac bars but it works.




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