Universal Traction Bars install on a Duster....

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halifaxhops said:
Have them on my dart more for the look but man it hooks up now!
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That pre 60's looking car must be fun out on the dunes.I would extend the antenna to raise the flag a little for safety . To many idiots out there that don't care what or who they are jumping over. All that a side you won't have to worry about the rear coming out from under the car those skirts will hold it in place.
 
I dont have any trac bars yet.
Want them for the look. Im not racing it. Its something that was on so many cars back in the day.
 
The problem with aftermarket traction bars on Mopars is that none of them fit correctly without doing some cutting and welding. I have them on both my Mopars because when installed correctly they work very well.

There are a few photos in the middle of this post that show some slapper bars installed, but they are not correctly adjusted. It is critical to install them with the rubber snubber just touching the bottom of front spring eye. I even go as far as to cut the rubber snubber in half, and adjust the snubber until it is just touching the bottom of the front spring eye.

You can see where I had to cut and weld the back mounting plate to get the rubber snubber in the right position. I also painted both sets of my slapper bars satin black to help them disappear under the car. 99% of the time no one ever even notices them, especially all those who only see the back of the car pulling away from them.

slapper bar 3.jpeg


slapper bar 4.jpeg
 
jbc426 said:
The problem with aftermarket traction bars on Mopars is that none of them fit correctly without doing some cutting and welding. I have them on both my Mopars because when installed correctly they work very well.

There are a few photos in the middle of this post that show some slapper bars installed, but they are not correctly adjusted. It is critical to install them with the rubber snubber just touching the bottom of front spring eye. I even go as far as to cut the rubber snubber in half, and adjust the snubber until it is just touching the bottom of the front spring eye.

You can see where I had to cut and weld the back mounting plate to get the rubber snubber in the right position. I also painted both sets of my slapper bars satin black to help them disappear under the car. 99% of the time no one ever even notices them, especially all those who only see the back of the car pulling away from them.

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I've done that too, cut the rubber bumper I mean. And yes, if you just get the bumper to touch, they work best. However, I find the ride in the rear to suffer a little (more firm).
 
These are the best Lakewood bars for mopars . There are bars for the look and bars for the traction. These are for traction. And fully adjustable.
1960-s-70-s-vintage-lakewood-competition-traction-bars-restored-rare-americanlisted_31868453.jpg
 
These are for looks in my opinion. All they do is eliminate the spring flex. No adjustment for uneven spring count or arch. Reasonably priced for the look for a low HP car on the street/strip

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTC1OPFqnPvUP5cieJc3TejtBWP8Ddu6xP34XnPzwImjDHN9PNFOg.jpg
 
Oldmanmopar said:
These are the best Lakewood bars for mopars . There are bars for the look and bars for the traction. These are for traction. And fully adjustable.
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Agree, those are much better, cost a bit more too.

Oldmanmopar said:
These are for looks in my opinion. All they do is eliminate the spring flex. No adjustment for uneven spring count or arch. Reasonably priced for the look for a low HP car on the street/strip

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Disagree somewhat - As I stated in the video, these are the generic version, but still apply the same principle. When your whole back end rises about 2", that's a lot of pressure being applied to the rear tires. Ask yourself, "how much would I have to lift above the rear axle to raise the car up 2 inches?". About 200 lbs or more of pressure, meaning that's about how much is being applied to the rear tires. again, the generic form, but still do more than just "looks".
 
Oldmanmopar said:
These are the best Lakewood bars for mopars . There are bars for the look and bars for the traction. These are for traction. And fully adjustable.
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I have to disagree with the assessment that this style spring is the only one that is effective on a rear suspension. My reason for saying so is simple. The style you claim is only "for looks only" makes a huge difference n how hard my cars launch, although I did have to cut and position them differently than they came in the box. Had I just bolted them on as they came in the box, you are correct. They would not have done anything.

That being said, we may be talking about apples and oranges.

My lower powered 408" Magnum automatic trans Mopar runs in the high 11's with them, and my 493" RB 5 speed Mopar runs in the 10's. Needless to say neither one is really a low powered car that has slapper bars just for looks.

I do agree that I was fooled for a long time by the bad reputation these bars had. Then I remembered virtually every set I had ever seen on a car had 2", 3", 4" and even 5 inches or more gap between the snubber and the bottom of the front spring eye. No wonder they didn't do anything. The snubber virtually never touched the bottom of the front spring eye to stop the axle wrap and push the tire into the pavement.

For these bars to do their work, they must be properly adjusted as shown in these pictures. In both of my cases, I had to alter the rear bar attaching point by cutting and welding to get the rubber snubber into position. I assume that is what all that additional j-bolt strapping hardware is trying to accomplish on the fancy version you posted. It appears that once the other version is bolted on, that nothing moves or pivots once tightened, but I've never used that style.

I run a pair of 3200lb passenger side SS springs in both my 3700lbs cars. They needed something to control the spring wrap I was inducing with the higher power outputs I run. Turns out, these properly adjusted slapper bars are perfect for the job. Pinion snubbers and Caltracs are just too brutal of a ride on the street for me.

slapper bar 4.jpeg


slapper bar 2.JPG
 
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jbc426 said:
I have to disagree with the assessment that this style spring is the only one that is effective on a rear suspension. My reason for saying so is simple. The style you claim is only "for looks only" makes a huge difference n how hard my cars launch, although I did have to cut and position them differently than they came in the box. Had I just bolted them on as they came in the box, you are correct. They would not have done anything.

That being said, we may be talking about apples and oranges.

My lower powered 408" Magnum automatic trans Mopar runs in the high 11's with them, and my 493" RB 5 speed Mopar runs in the 10's. Needless to say neither one is really a low powered car that has slapper bars just for looks.

I do agree that I was fooled for a long time by the bad reputation these bars had. Then I remembered virtually every set I had ever seen on a car had 2", 3", 4" and even 5 inches or more gap between the snubber and the bottom of the front spring eye. No wonder they didn't do anything. The snubber virtually never touched the bottom of the front spring eye to stop the axle wrap and push the tire into the pavement.

For these bars to do their work, they must be properly adjusted as shown in these pictures.

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once you've experienced the difference, nobody can argue you out of knowing.. :)
 
I used to run them back in the day, went through that street freak era where bolt on's and add on's was the cool thing. I used to paint mine white to be different. I started using pinion snubbers on up in the 80's as I learned more, but I still love the good old day 2 look of traction bars and mag wheels and big tires, its as nostalgic as the car's are for me!

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jbc426 said:
I have to disagree with the assessment that this style spring is the only one that is effective on a rear suspension. My reason for saying so is simple. The style you claim is only "for looks only" makes a huge difference n how hard my cars launch, although I did have to cut and position them differently than they came in the box. Had I just bolted them on as they came in the box, you are correct. They would not have done anything.

That being said, we may be talking about apples and oranges.

My lower powered 408" Magnum automatic trans Mopar runs in the high 11's with them, and my 493" RB 5 speed Mopar runs in the 10's. Needless to say neither one is really a low powered car that has slapper bars just for looks.

I do agree that I was fooled for a long time by the bad reputation these bars had. Then I remembered virtually every set I had ever seen on a car had 2", 3", 4" and even 5 inches or more gap between the snubber and the bottom of the front spring eye. No wonder they didn't do anything. The snubber virtually never touched the bottom of the front spring eye to stop the axle wrap and push the tire into the pavement.

For these bars to do their work, they must be properly adjusted as shown in these pictures. In both of my cases, I had to alter the rear bar attaching point by cutting and welding to get the rubber snubber into position. I assume that is what all that additional j-bolt strapping hardware is trying to accomplish on the fancy version you posted. It appears that once the other version is bolted on, that nothing moves or pivots once tightened, but I've never used that style.

I run a pair of 3200lb passenger side SS springs in both my 3700lbs cars. They needed something to control the spring wrap I was inducing with the higher power outputs I run. Turns out, these properly adjusted slapper bars are perfect for the job. Pinion snubbers and Caltracs are just too brutal of a ride on the street for me.

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If you believe your slappers work on your car and you are happy with them so be it. When using a snubber there is a pin to move the snubber away from the body for street driving.

Mopar Rear Leaf Springs Suspension - Get Hooked Up - Mopar Muscle

I had 002 003 springs on my cars for years and they worked great. Now, I swear by Calvert Suspension and traction system.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
If you believe your slappers work on your car and you are happy with them so be it. When using a snubber there is a pin to move the snubber away from the body for street driving.

Mopar Rear Leaf Springs Suspension - Get Hooked Up - Mopar Muscle

I had 002 003 springs on my cars for years and they worked great. Now, I swear by Calvert Suspension and traction system.
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Fair enough. I also tried the Caltrac system and it was great on a smooth surface, but noisy and harsh on the rough open road.

Having to pull over, climb under the car and adjust the pinion snubber before I am able to use it is a deal breaker for me. Its impractical, as I am regularly in need of traction enhancement nearly every time I drive my car.

It sure would be nice to have a remote activation of a pinion snubber either electrically with a solenoid or mechanically using a cable. That way you could lower it for compliant street driving and almost instantly deploy it to control the rotation of the rear end.

It seems that such a remotely adjustable pinion snubber would provide the best of both worlds.
 
I installed these traction bars many years ago and ironically they fit to a tee. I have another pair where they're not deep enough to go over the shock mount plate and wouldn't be long enough. I even seen a couple photos here where I'm not sure if they're long enough and actually hitting the center of the eye of the front mount for the spring. If it hits an inch or two back it could probably bend the spring. I know on mine I adjust about a half inch each away from touching to allow a little bit of travel on the street and very quickly get traction when I need it. I have SS Springs so the right side wants to hang down lower but I've welded another chunk of metal on top of it to raise the stop point in extra inch.
IMG_20190210_133926.jpg

Also instead of having the hangers connected to the traction bar I use the hanger Mount as the clamp to clamp the front of the springs. So I have deceleration and safety protection and clamping at the same time.
of course everything to do with my car has to be old school first. I can hardly wait to get rid of the rims that's the only thing that makes me nuts now.
I'm very happy with them...
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IMG_20190201_201906.jpg
 
Bill - " I had eggs for breakfast".
Scott - "no you didn't, eggs aren't edible"
Bill - "they aren't? I've ate them several times over the years"
Scott - "you can believe what you want, but you can't eat them"
Bill - "but I ate them, I really did"
Scott - "your fooling yourself. I tried once and choked. Not edible"
Bill - "what did I eat then? I'm sure they were eggs...."
Scott - "no matter what you saw, or claim to have experienced, you didn't eat them"
Bill - ":eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:"
 
Oldmanmopar said:
These are the best Lakewood bars for mopars . There are bars for the look and bars for the traction. These are for traction. And fully adjustable.
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These were on my Dart when I got it. But someone had extended them so that that the bumper hits where the hanger mounts to the frame. At first I was going to trash them but decided to go with them for the old school look.
I have 2800# SS springs (2 pass sides) and I moved the front hanger back 1" via an aluminum block (so the bar bumper hits square on the alloy block ) and lowered the front eye 1.5". I also have springer sliders in the rear.
And I have a Helwig rear adjustable sway bar...

I am still ignorant as to what the J-bolts do exactly... Just cant visualize it...

My intention is to adjust both the bars and the snubber to hit at the same time. I dont mind crawling under to adjust the snubber at the track.
This is all gut instinct science... tell me how its wrong or ways to make this work....
 
Oh yeah... Its a 408 W2 Solid roller 4sp car running MT SS Drag ET radials .
 
j par said:
I installed these traction bars many years ago and ironically they fit to a tee. I have another pair where they're not deep enough to go over the shock mount plate and wouldn't be long enough. I even seen a couple photos here where I'm not sure if they're long enough and actually hitting the center of the eye of the front mount for the spring. If it hits an inch or two back it could probably bend the spring. I know on mine I adjust about a half inch each away from touching to allow a little bit of travel on the street and very quickly get traction when I need it. I have SS Springs so the right side wants to hang down lower but I've welded another chunk of metal on top of it to raise the stop point in extra inch.
View attachment 1715288461
Also instead of having the hangers connected to the traction bar I use the hanger Mount as the clamp to clamp the front of the springs. So I have deceleration and safety protection and clamping at the same time.
of course everything to do with my car has to be old school first. I can hardly wait to get rid of the rims that's the only thing that makes me nuts now.
I'm very happy with them...
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That's pretty smart for somebody who is "intellectually challenged". lol
 
RustyRatRod said:
But yall are completely missing his point. He doesn't care what's correct by operation. He's going for a certain look. I agree with what's been said. Snubbers and traction bars are useless add-ons as long as everything else is in good order. But again, he's after a period correct look. I wonder how many Mopar gurus back in the day ran traction bars who knew no better then?
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I did - circa 1977.
20120920163350352_0003 (2).jpg


Lakewoods painted white - along with spring shackles and Gabriel Highjackers - as RRR said" who knew?"
 
I ran Monroe load leveler shocks back in the day, and some no tit alls here said, not on a Mopar. lol
My advice came from real east coast street racers back in the late 60's and early 70's.
The stuff my dad , uncle and crew did way back would get all kinds of grief today.
But, there aren't to many guys here faster. 10's 11's piff. lol
 
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