I had Caltracs on my Ford, didn't drag race but they kept my 37's under control under hard acceleration and towing.
traction bars...what would you run?
- Thread starter ZeroGravity58
- Start date
When you're pulling, the axle housing itself wants to rotate the pinion up towards the bed...so if you have a link mounted to the bottom half of the housing it will want to push forward (pretty much equal to the force of the pinion wanting to rotate up). When the link pushes forward and is connected to a point far forward on the frame, it will try to lift the front end of the truck...putting more force on the rear axle. The longer the bar, the better the point of application of the force on the frame, the more lift you get to an extent.
i dont think they work 100% correctly with that much block under the rear. least thats why i didnt go with them. jsut got done building some 60" bars for my long bed. dunno how they will do at the track though, hope to find out soon. also built a few for some buddies, one of which took his cal tracs off to put these on (48" bars for a short bed), made his truck ride rough or they clanked around if he loosened them up. we are very interested to see what his truck will do at the track for a 60 ft now
I cut 1.75-1.79's all day with caltracs n 20's but they make ur truck ride like shit and make a lot of noise. im going with one up offroad traction bars as they seem to have a much more thought out design and address all of the negative effects i saw from the caltracs.
just done with noise and a rough ride.
just done with noise and a rough ride.
ill give you that they're clanky,...but if they adjusted right i don't seem them effecting the ride at all
set it and forget it. thats where im trying to be.
any way you look @ it, the caltrac is preloading the rear leaf, causing the rougher ride. unless you remove all of the preload by backing them off when not in use theyre going to affect the ride.
any way you look @ it, the caltrac is preloading the rear leaf, causing the rougher ride. unless you remove all of the preload by backing them off when not in use theyre going to affect the ride.
but then i pull up next to you at a light and what do you do? plus then you have the noise. i liked em plenty and sure there are other things you can do to stop the BS, but WHY?
billy mays said it best, "set it and forget it"
i liked em plenty and sure there are other things you can do to stop the BS, but WHY? billy mays said it best, "set it and forget it"
^ that was ron pepeil :thumb:
but they will still work find if they aren't preloaded at all as long as they're very close. soon as the back squats the tiniest bit the pin will come into contact with the spring.
no offense but i think a lot of people who talk down on caltracs don't have a full understanding of how they work. they aren't made to have preload on them 24/7 and too much preload will make your launches worse
but they will still work find if they aren't preloaded at all as long as they're very close. soon as the back squats the tiniest bit the pin will come into contact with the spring.
no offense but i think a lot of people who talk down on caltracs don't have a full understanding of how they work. they aren't made to have preload on them 24/7 and too much preload will make your launches worse
I like the concept of the caltracs, but I hated mine. Rode like crap, and noisy over speedbumps. I got really tired of it so I sold them and had longer bars made. I need a bit of weight trasfer to my back tires and thats what the new bars do. Hopefully make it to the track in the next few weeks. best 60 foot ive cut with caltracs was 1.74 on stock tires, so we'll see.
I really want to do a set but I didn't realize they rattled I knew the ride would be little worse got me thinking if I should even do them. I have cut 1.71 with street tires and springs clamped and a well prepped track. I just want to knowif they will be worth it
i coppied the ones on brians truck, these work pretty darn good, ive had caltracs on my dodge and they worked good too, havent been to the track yet since i put the new brian(hondarider) style bars on, but a i can definetly leave WAY harder with these installed!! thanks for the pics brian....:thumb: