Alternative Traction Device For '60-'64 Galaxies,Pics:

I posted this in the Galaxie pages, but I thought someone here could learn from it as well. This style of pullbar could be adapted to any leaf or coil spring style rear suspension.

I was experiencing severe wheel hop on my Nascar styled '64 Custom because of some 2" lowering blocks and the long stock leaf springs. I built my own version of the C/E Slide-A-Links which worked well but they would hang up on everything as the car is very low. I thought about building a torque arm, but the Frankland quickchange made it very hard to package. I finally settled on a circle track style spring equipped pull rod to control the axle wrap, as well as to help plant the rear tires. This is a very common type of traction device in C/T racing. I used progressive rate AFCO spring that goes from 250 pounds to 800 pounds in 2 1/2" of travel. This type of pull bar is usually the upper bar of a three link coil spring rear suspension, but I have successfully used it on leaf spring suspended cars.

The first thing I had to do was build a rear crossmember for the front of the pull bar to attach to. The driveshaft also had to pass through the crossmember. I used some .083 wall x 1 5/8" chrome moly for the side pieces, and .058 x 1 1/4" chrome moly for the hoop portion. The front of the pull bar attaches at the same height as the front of the leaf spring eye so that there are not two competing instant centers that could cause a bind in the suspension. The 4 1/4" aluminum driveshaft was found in the dumpster at a local Ford dealership, I took it home and shortened it to fit and it spins vibration free and the cost was nothing.


The front bracket attaches the front of the pull bar in double shear.


The rear of the bar attaches to a 3/8" bracket that is welded to the housing tube.


Here is a view from the bottom of the car. The spring is pre-load adjustable in case you want it to hit the tires faster and harder.



This is a side view, the bar angles down to the same height and distance as the front leaf spring eye. The traction is awesome with the pullbar now!! You can definately feel it lifting on the chassis when you mash the gas pedal , and there are no clearance issues. The feel is totally different than with under-rider style traction bars, as it really plants the tires hard.







_________________




_________________


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: F15Falcon on 4/4/06 10:32am ]</font>