Slapper Bars

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I know its period correct but its just an eye sore to me, why not just use the pinion snubber what chrysler designed from the factory, now thats period and factory correct lol
 
I have the stock snubber on an 8 3/4 rear. Clearance is about an inch. Still, certain driveways, certain angles and it still bangs. Leafs are not SS but 7 leafs on each side and they look sound. Maybe it's due to my car having the leafs "relocated".

I put the Lakewoods on mainly for the period correct look. I don't find them to be an eye-sore, just the opposite. Back in the 60's and 70's in Queens, NYC everyone ran them. I had them on my 1971 Road Runner back in 1971 (pic with my sister blocking the Lakewoods, lol). Today I have them on my 1972 Duster. Love how those yellow Lakewoods contrast with the Plum Crazy exterior! Thanks for the feedback and advice everyone. I do appreciate it.

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Blind Squirrel said:
In the 70's, these were a must have. It was part of the look. The matter was not how effective they were. They were billed as the **** and you had to have a set on your car to be bad ***. Illusions and delusions, aren't they grand. I had a cool car and I got laid. What else could matter?
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Had to have lightsmounted to the rear of them too. :)
 
Holycow!, I had totally forgotten those. And there were a lot of those back then, cuz the fad was to fit the most tallest widest tires, (like N50-15s) we could find and air-shock it up to make the car driveable, oh yeah.
Well not me. My Dart could only fit Gs. But you bet the bad-boys all had that Sox&Martin look. Yeah they were tough guys, don't mess with them.

And then one day the airbags sprung a leak, and you started having to air-up before going out. Which progressed to airing up more often and before long you were airing up every hour, and then.... well to heck with this. The tires were done by this time too and now we were into the eighties anyway, so RADIAL tire technology had exploded on the scene.And I was a 35 year old dad of 3, so, time to make some changes around here,lol.We need to put some baby-seats in this car, so all that junk has got to go.
But no, I never did install lights in mine.
I tell you what tho, I installed a little pump in the trunk,a reservoir,and some tubing to the tires,and used to water-up my tires,and with the line-loc, it would do really smoky burn outs with those el-cheapo ATLAS tires. That was 1971, and I was in grade 11. Yeah I knew about girls by this time, but I didn't have to take my car to the movies to get excited.I had better use for that cash; like GAS; 340s were hard on gas.The girls could wait........
 
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1BAD72 said:
I have the stock snubber on an 8 3/4 rear. Clearance is about an inch. Still, certain driveways, certain angles and it still bangs. Leafs are not SS but 7 leafs on each side and they look sound. Maybe it's due to my car having the leafs "relocated".

I put the Lakewoods on mainly for the period correct look. I don't find them to be an eye-sore, just the opposite. Back in the 60's and 70's in Queens, NYC everyone ran them. I had them on my 1971 Road Runner back in 1971 (pic with my sister blocking the Lakewoods, lol). Today I have them on my 1972 Duster. Love how those yellow Lakewoods contrast with the Plum Crazy exterior! Thanks for the feedback and advice everyone. I do appreciate it.

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This has been a great thread as I am looking at the same issue for my Duster. What size tires are you running front and rear? Rear shocks? Thanks.
 
I think I recognize that style of bar. Does she come with an integral lower shock plate and mount up with the factory style U-bolts? I had a set custom made for me in about 1971 or 72. They worked pretty good.Mine were a little longer, and my added second leaf continued to under the eye.
 
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AJ/FormS said:
I think I recognize that style of bar. Does she come with an integral lower shock plate and mount up with the factory U-bolts?
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Yes, also has a J bolt going over the axle tube as well off the angled area near the tire in the pic.
 
Part of the reason Mopar guys were told not to run "slapper bars" is the 8.75" welded axle housings. Placing the application of torque at the pinion to the chassis doesn't put as
much torsional stress on it, slappers put a lot on it. Traction bars work, and the previous posts have basically got it covered, get a proper set & do it right.
 
Snubbers are best used to keep the garage door open.

Total crutch for a crappy set of springs. Mopars with factory or SS style springs should not squat.

Traction bars work on mopars, just like SS springs or cal tracks. Set up improperly, none of them work well.
 
I am running 2800 lbs SS springs on my 3700 lbs '68 A-Body and on my '70 E-Body. The rear suspension works incredibly well with this light spring in there, even though the '70 must be somewhere north of 3700 lbs and has a few hundred more horsepower. I was told about this set-up by Dr Diff. It is the best rear suspension set-up that I have ever experienced on my car, and I have tried a lot of them.

I didn't have the slapper bars on the '70, and I bent the right rear spring a bit due to the wrap it was getting under throttle. There was no wheel hop, but the spring obviously needs some help. 700+ hp, a 5 speed and 325/50-15 drag radials will do that to them.

This time I ordered a right side 2800lbs SS spring from Summit along with another set of slapper bars. I had 2 driver's side springs on the car, but the right rear squatted more that the left rear. Makes sense, as that's why the passenger side rear is a bit stiffer. I opted for the 30" long slapper bars this time, and will post some pictures of any modifications I have to make to get them tuned right on the car.

Another trick I've learned over the years is to lube all the suspension & shock bushings with Synthetic Disc Brake Lube. It really reduces sticktion, wont wash out and wont attack rubber or plastic. Its great for just about anything that moves, slides or pivots.

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I should add that Mopar's concern over the distortion of the 8.75" axle housing isn't w/o merit, if the car isn't a lightweight & on slicks, a big blocks worth of torque and a high
numerical gearset will deform the housing under launch..........that's why they have weld on bracing for them................
 
In the late 80's, I briefly had a '68 340 dart, auto, 3.91 sure grip with traction bars. Biggest bias plies you could get under it. When you punched it, the whole car would come up evenly several inches, then take off forward. Always wondered if that's how traction bars were supposed to work...
 
1969reddart said:
In the late 80's, I briefly had a '68 340 dart, auto, 3.91 sure grip with traction bars. Biggest bias plies you could get under it. When you punched it, the whole car would come up evenly several inches, then take off forward. Always wondered if that's how traction bars were supposed to work...
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They help the rear suspension push the tires down into the pavement, which lifts the rear of the car.
 
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