On this subject, I bought the adjustment wrenches from Calvert and they suck, all my nuts are chewed up and half rounded over because of them junk things. There nice and short but to thin.
Leaf springs
- Thread starter 56taskforce
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On this subject, I bought the adjustment wrenches from Calvert and they suck, all my nuts are chewed up and half rounded over because of them junk things. There nice and short but to thin.
I've built quite a few replacement bars/heims for cal tracs on trucks. Part of them due to that or the heims seizing up in the bar. The bars they build are not the best quality but they work.
I added a solid block for pulling a sled and ran my bars out to far to hit the spring again and bent a heim over at the threads, got a new bar and heim plus the wrenches. there not to bad to spin the bar, but I wouldn't try to break the nuts loose with them. Next time I'm going to antiseize mine
Some good information here but let's put it back on track... The original question was about the use of a half top leaf for controlling axle wrap... Is anyone using this set up???
It won't be enough. The idea works on some rigs but under high torque situations, you still get axle wrap. Then there is a double military wrapped top leaf which would be better but again won't stop all the wrapping, specially with your block. Had you been stock height, it would probably stop most of it.
You can certainly try it, it would take all the guess work out of it but spring clamped overload would work much better
If I go with the half leaf it would be wrapped at the front eye and while building the half leaf the springs would also be rearched to eliminate the block. It would kind of do the same thing that Calvert racing does with their two piece mono leaf springs, where the spring rate in front of the axle is very stiff and quite light behind the axle. In this type of set up the front of the spring is more like a trailing arm and the rear is the spring.
Springs guys says he can give a better ride he said spring life could be shortened but would probably last longer than they would if I continued to abuse them like I do in their current configuration. For hauling he is steering me away from air bags and toward a wrecker overload pack. This guy dose a lot of springs for wreckers, ambulances, race cars, off road and commercial truck. The shop its self has been around since the early 20's.
I like the ideal of non contact overload springs. Bottom line is your asking to be good at to extremes of the spectrum . For drag racing and applying power to the ground , you need a light spring rate to allow the tire to follow the ground and stay hooked. Heavy spring rate will cause bounce and this bounce is more of your problem then axel wind up.
I go with the lightest spring rate as possible, and use non contact overloads , then you could remove the over load bumpers when you go to the track
I did an article on this subject in diesel power a while back. One of 37 Articles I had in diesel Power on Diesel Powers Project X diesel. This is the extreme , but it was simple and would 60 foot in the high 1.60s and low 1.70s at will . One other thought is to get 4 short drag radial , It will look like a roller skate , but you will pick up dramatically. We picked up 7 tenths of a second in 1/4 ET and 4 tenths on 60 foot , This was a great deal due to gear ration reduction to shorter tires .
In project X diesel I race a 4.88 rear gear with a 29 tall tire
You need to just try a few things , work makes you faster
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Well then I guess I'm not sure why your asking us lol. But seriously, some of these guys old school thoughts are just that. I'm not green around leaf springs or a Duramax. He contradicts his statements in giving you a better ride, then says he wants you to put a wreckers leaf pack under the truck. He's not realizing you want the best of both worlds and to achieve this, you have to make some sacrifices. Otherwise, gear the truck for one or the other
I like the ideal of non contact overload springs. Bottom line is your asking to be good at to extremes of the spectrum . For drag racing and applying power to the ground , you need a light spring rate to allow the tire to follow the ground and stay hooked. Heavy spring rate will cause bounce and this bounce is more of your problem then axel wind up.
I go with the lightest spring rate as possible, and use non contact overloads , then you could remove the over load bumpers when you go to the track
I did an article on this subject in diesel power a while back. One of 37 Articles I had in diesel Power on Diesel Powers Project X diesel. This is the extreme , but it was simple and would 60 foot in the high 1.60s and low 1.70s at will . One other thought is to get 4 short drag radial , It will look like a roller skate , but you will pick up dramatically. We picked up 7 tenths of a second in 1/4 ET and 4 tenths on 60 foot , This was a great deal due to gear ration reduction to shorter tires .
In project X diesel I race a 4.88 rear gear with a 29 tall tire
You need to just try a few things , work makes you faster
Greg has some good info there
I am here to help, I have been racing for a long long time. The basics apply to what ever you are doing whether its a Top Dragster or a diesel truck.
You have to work on making the tire hook and stay hooked. Huge boosted launches are impressive but usually not as fast or effective as allowing the torque to work the rear suspension and physics to drive the tire in to the ground. If you leave flat with a bound suspension due to torque braking for boost , you will only have the weight of the truck to push the tire down. If you leave a little lower , and allow the soft suspension to work, you have the weight and the inertia of the movement to apply many times the static weight of the truck to the contact patch.
These are just the basics principals of drag racing. I do a motivational speaking presentation that is titled " Physics in Motion, the basics of drag racing" .
He is not counter dicting himself. The wreaker packs are the heaviest of the non-contact overload springs from the factory. The softer spring rate comes from the same springs starting their cycle with the shackles at close to center instead of already past center allowing the springs to grow in length easier as they are compressed.
And as far as why I am asking my question here I thought maybe some one has tied it or is currently using a half leaf set up...
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You realize your stock setup should have the shackle at close to center before loaded, then starts leaning back as you load the truck to stiffen the pack. The wrecker pack won't ride smoother, I don't care how he wants to put it. The stock shackle is too short and no matter how you place it or lengthen it, the leaf packs are too much for the unloaded light rear end of your truck. Each leaf adds spring rate to create "progressiveness" as leafs inherently do not have a linear spring rate as a single leaf. Composite springs are the only ones that get you in this realm. That's why you have so many or so little. It's also the reason you see deaver leafs with 10-12 leafs but very vey thin (unlike the thick wrecker leaves) to create a more linear spring rate that actually has preload in it to force the axle back down.
Re arching a spring won't do this and adding more leaves in a heavy duty spring pack won't help you at the track. Re arching bends it up and looses its structure to return back to "rest" when you actually flatten the spring under a heavy load. Basically the arched spring can not be flattened or you will loose the arch. Same deal if you start inverting the arch on stock springs, they will start sagging in a hurry. What your not seeing is you want to control the rate the truck moves in the back and not with springs. The truck won't move with too much spring. You want to use the shock and things like cal tracs that input preload into a leaf pack as well as stop wheel hop but let the truck move at a controlled rate. Springs get you the ride height and fine tune the back end.
Your wanting to do something different than what works already. The setups your talking about I've worked with, tried and beat on off road in different rigs over the years and seen them try to work in off road trucks or guys that want the best of both worlds and couldn't get it. He's promising you more than what you will get and I wish you the best there. There is way more to be looked at
James the wrecker pack does nothing to stiffen the ride,the ends don't even touch until there is a load.
I also know the draw back to high arch springs but still 10 times better than having the block in there. Besides this thread isn't about the arch in my springs it is about the half leaf used to stop axle wrap...
I also know the draw back to high arch springs but still 10 times better than having the block in there. Besides this thread isn't about the arch in my springs it is about the half leaf used to stop axle wrap...
Thank you James :thumb:
This spring guy is pretty sharp and he hasn't counter dicted himself, what I am asking for having the truck work good at both ends of the spectrum is contradictory.:roflmao: racing a work truck is a ridiculous idea to start with but neither one of us here choose to do what's easy or in the average person's eyes a good idea.
This spring guy is pretty sharp and he hasn't counter dicted himself, what I am asking for having the truck work good at both ends of the spectrum is contradictory.:roflmao: racing a work truck is a ridiculous idea to start with but neither one of us here choose to do what's easy or in the average person's eyes a good idea.