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I'm having a little trouble with traction on the street. That said, I wanted to get some input from caltracs users. Of everyone who uses caltracs, how do you like them? How is the improvement in traction and how does the truck ride with them. My main concern the truck riding really rough with caltracs installed. Thanks in advance.
Caltracs don't have to ride rough. They are adjustable so if you back off the bar they don't hurt the ride. As for traction they're not really much of an improvement unless you are hopping. They are not so much about adding traction as they are keeping the axle oriented when you DO get traction.
Good to know, thanks. Keep the info coming guys
Pm sent, my 60' improved quite a bit plus street traction. Well youll see in the pm.
Did you have a lot of wheel hop or axle wrap before the caltracs? Also what leafs do you have? From what I've seen the Caltracs work much better with a lighter spring (their split monos are taking cars into single digits with ease)Quote:
Originally Posted by LamboDoNoMo
I did have wheel hop also, and im running stock leaf springs, with the overload removed.
Cal-tracs will not help traction on the street on street tires, it's just not gonna happen. They're street tires lol
I cut 1.5x 60's at the track. If I hit it from a 40 roll on the street with my slicks, I still blow the tires off.
I guess you may be able to work with them enough to gain traction on street tires but, why?
a mono or split mono is the best way to go with cal-tracs or smith racecraft bars, but good luck finding a bolt in set for our trucks.
Leaf spring cars are going well into the 7's with these types of bars so they do work, but people get the wrong idea of what they do. Roll racing traction is not it lol
cal tracs took care of my wheel hop ,not traction lol.....but it does feel nice with the cal tracs u phit the gas it lunges forward nice!
My truck is a daily, so I'm trying to get all the help I can with traction on the street and I'm pretty sure I am getting wheel hop. Also, I wasn't sure about the details on caltracs, hence the reason I started this thread. I'm still learning, lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by phantom405
Have you corrected pinion angle?
What tires are you running on the street?
Might try some wide, soft rubber drag radials.
Yes, my pinion angle is dead on. Uh, my current tires? I have 275/45/20 on all 4 wheels. Too narrow maybe?
Honestly drag radials are your best bet on the street. I am much lighter than you, and was dailying drag radials with no problems hooking on the street.
If no wheel hop is all you're looking for then cal-tracs will stop that without any tuning at all, but seems to be a waste of $400 in my eyes. Maybe try some leaf spring clamps? Alot cheaper and worth a shot. I used that for awhile and never had wheel hop...But then again even before that I can't remember having wheel hopQuote:
Originally Posted by jetmech
Guess im the only guy tthat got better traction.....from traction bars. If they were for helping wheel hop only, wouldnt they be called wheel hop bars?
What I'm getting at is 90% of the people that buy cal-tracs to put on trucks like ours, don't spend the time needed to properly tune them. They slap them on, go to the track, get traction without wheelhop and call it a day.Quote:
Originally Posted by LamboDoNoMo
Yea thats true.Quote:
Originally Posted by phantom405
Just to be clear, I need to install the caltracs and take a little time to make sure they are adjusted properly? I don't expect caltracs to eliminate my traction problem but at the same time I think they will at least help. Also, I just got off the phone with the caltracs guy and he said the traction bars would help me hook on the street.Quote:
Originally Posted by phantom405
hahahaha of course he did. that's his job man. You called and told him you were having trouble hooking on the street. He wasn't going to tell you his $400 product isn't in anyway going to help you. That's just bad busniess lol They won't hurt you, thats for sure. BUT, I would try some spring clamps before I spent the money on the cal-tracs. Blown06 has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING as far as traction devices out back besides slicks and has been mid 10s with 1.5x 60's i believe. Not trying to get in a pissing match, just trying to help you save some money. How often do you go to the track?Quote:
Originally Posted by jetmech
no matter how many times i adjusted my cal tracs ,,,new tires 456s and 6speed aint gonna get traction at all lol.......but at the track different story;)
Maybe a stupid question but what exactly are spring clamps?
Anything you can find laying around the shop that you can compress your leaf springs with. We used some metal strap and some all-thread to make mine. you can find them for sale online as well
throw a c clamp on them and go to town jk. ive been looking at these as well but am going to wait until i get some slicks and see how it performs
they actually sell Spring clamps at the store
caltracs can be made to hook on the street but were not talking about your typical setup either. youre not just going to toss them on and get instant traction. hell even DRs or slicks arent going to help unless your setup properly
You want traction on the street, get long bars and spring clamps. You want weight transfer over the ass end, long bars will force the front up. Dig way way back and see if you can find the video of Moze's (DamnYankee) at the LS1Truck vs. Lightning shoot out. Perfect video to show what long bars do, cuz Moze was having issues and had to keep getting in and out of the throttle, and it shows how much the ass end of that truck squatted and stayed squatted.
Do some research on the F.A.S.T. (Factory Appearing, Stock Tires), going 10's on old bias plys and leafsprings. And are nothing more than slightly tweaked factory setups.
only traction help i have are leaf clamps and they work well for me. but theres always gonna be a point you can over power any traction aid