suspension gods!! need some advice

this is the deal, my truck squats but pops back up quikly, i added adjustable shocks, ( hadnt installed) and caltracs (installed) still does it, still slipping pretty good off the line, trying to figure things out, we came up with the decission the leaf springs are really stiff, weighing my options here!! i talked to calvert racing it was mentioned to clamp the rear part of the springs with at lease 3 clamps each side, cheapest thing to try in my opinion, or remove the load spring.. but if i remove the load spring how low will it drop the rear? and would i need to add C notches? figure anything over 2" i'd have to drop the front more? maybe? what i have now is beltech drop hangers and shackles, and caltracs, i know it aint easy making a ecsb to hook 100% but i am determined to do it :) any ideas or thoughts would be appreciated.. keeping from going 4 link or any other heavy modifications.


p.s. i ran a best 11.8 with lots of slippeage on the line, thinking here if i can dead hook i can grab another tenth maybe 2 :) on a NA motor once i get all the NA i can, flaco and myself will be installing a 150 shot ;) for SA :)

you need weight transfer..

remove weight off the frontend, now one major thing that helps is relocating battery from front to rear. the 30lbs your take off the front and add to rear is about 100lbs of force when you launch.

if truck is bouncing back up then your rear shocks are stiffer then need to be. stock sprigns should do you well. i run v6 springs up front for transfer it seems to work but i do bounce back up some in rear but i dont have a drag shock

an old hot rod trick before drag shocks was to use worn front shocks up front for weight transfer and a stock shock in back.

a 50/50 lakewood is similar to a stock shock
a 90/10 lakewood is similar to a wornout stocker [drawback to this is how it comes back down.]

remove sway bar up front or least disconnect hte end links so your truck actually rises up

caltracs dont do as you want, i would notch the frame, my truck hits the frame when it launches and i have 4" in rear.

a lowered stock suspension never weight transfers as well as a stock height suspension

thanks quik!! seems like i should just have pmed you about the situation, lol

yeah thinking of going back to stock springs, this was a v6 setup once upon a time,i have lakewood 90/10s up front with 3" lowering springs, sway bar will be removed also soon enough, yeah thinking about battery location but not now, got my eyes on a C notch also, dunno looking for effecientacy vs. dollar amount without going into a big cost. <--- make sense lol.. anyway i talked to scott at calvert racing, he mentioned clamping the rear leaf springs to help out, came up with some formula and explanation why too. sounded promising , might try it, he told me just how much to clamp the clamps without over doing them..

with the overload spring removed, do you have an idea how much the truck would be lowered? just another thought, sux track being close so i can test each mod out, oh well by the way i got some adjustable shocks in, will be installing them this weekend!!



once again thanks for the reply!!!!

I got almost a 1.5in when I removed the overload. My truck only has 2in shackles with this setup and Im happy with it. My bumpstops are completly gone in the rear and it still hits when I nail it. I really need a c-notch and some cal-tracks...... real bad!!!

Chris

thanks chris!! thats what i needed to know 1.5 to 2" isnt bad concidering i will be C notching the frame anyway!! basically just dont want the rear lower than the front !!

yeah the rear is just a lil bit lower than the front on my truck, you can kinda tell from the pic in my sig. I need some spindles and ill be happy. Good luck man

Chris

Dave, I knocked a .10th off my 60ft by putting the spring clamps on my old truck. My springs were soft though. It felt like the springs were rolling up like a sling shot. With the clamps, it didnt do it anymore. With 28x10.5 slicks and leaving on 200, I cut a 1.6 60ft. All stock rear suspension except for the clamps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by skeet

this is the deal, my truck squats but pops back up quikly, i added adjustable shocks, ( hadnt installed) and caltracs (installed) still does it, still slipping pretty good off the line, trying to figure things out, we came up with the decission the leaf springs are really stiff, weighing my options here!! i talked to calvert racing it was mentioned to clamp the rear part of the springs with at lease 3 clamps each side, cheapest thing to try in my opinion, or remove the load spring.. but if i remove the load spring how low will it drop the rear? and would i need to add C notches? figure anything over 2" i'd have to drop the front more? maybe? what i have now is beltech drop hangers and shackles, and caltracs, i know it aint easy making a ecsb to hook 100% but i am determined to do it :) any ideas or thoughts would be appreciated.. keeping from going 4 link or any other heavy modifications.


p.s. i ran a best 11.8 with lots of slippeage on the line, thinking here if i can dead hook i can grab another tenth maybe 2 :) on a NA motor once i get all the NA i can, flaco and myself will be installing a 150 shot ;) for SA :)

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I'll say start by removing the spring clamps from the rear of the springs and move them to the front of the leaf springs. Unhook the front swaybar end-links, and get a set of adjustable front and rear shocks.

as quick said, try to ditch (or atleast transfer) some weight off the front end, Softer front springs will help and allow the front suspension to react faster. There are many things you can do, what are you running for tires? Slicks or Drag Radials?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by trtturbo

Dave, I knocked a .10th off my 60ft by putting the spring clamps on my old truck. My springs were soft though. It felt like the springs were rolling up like a sling shot. With the clamps, it didnt do it anymore. With 28x10.5 slicks and leaving on 200, I cut a 1.6 60ft. All stock rear suspension except for the clamps.

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hey billy thanks for the input thats what calvert basically mentioned to me, but my springs feel really tight, reason i was thinking of removing the overload spring. scott mentioned to try the clamps first since it was cost efficient. rather cheap!! dunno rather do it all at once, but dont know what the out come would be, would it hurt to remove the overload with then clamp it, or just remove overload? dunno still thinking on this one..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Justin_Inc

I'll say start by removing the spring clamps from the rear of the springs and move them to the front of the leaf springs. Unhook the front swaybar end-links, and get a set of adjustable front and rear shocks.

as quick said, try to ditch (or atleast transfer) some weight off the front end, Softer front springs will help and allow the front suspension to react faster. There are many things you can do, what are you running for tires? Slicks or Drag Radials?

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calvert told me NOT to remove the front clamps but add 3 clamps to the back! already have adjustables, fronts are lakewoods back are rancho's.. hadnt ran it with the rear adjustables though.. running on full slicks with some seriuos slippage at the tree.

[quote=skeet;204098]thanks quik!! seems like i should just have pmed you about the situation, lol

yeah thinking of going back to stock springs, this was a v6 setup once upon a time,i have lakewood 90/10s up front with 3" lowering springs, sway bar will be removed also soon enough,


Sway Bar = ALOT of problem...... 3" lowering Springs = The rest of the problem....

[quote=casey23;205123]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by skeet

thanks quik!! seems like i should just have pmed you about the situation, lol

yeah thinking of going back to stock springs, this was a v6 setup once upon a time,i have lakewood 90/10s up front with 3" lowering springs, sway bar will be removed also soon enough,


Sway Bar = ALOT of problem...... 3" lowering Springs = The rest of the problem....

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chit casey that was the last thing i wanted to hear lol ( 3" drop springs) causing issues!!! sway bar removed today, hadnt drove it but will this weekend ..yeah mine was a v6 setup also at one time, but i been told by a few others that ran my truck says the damn leaf springs feel to damn tight!!! dunno go figure!!