Thread: Rear Suspension questions/Ladder Bar

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Hi, I am setting up my 36 Terraplane Coupe gasser style. This is my first attempt, and I am on the junk yard parts budget. I have a 73 Bronco 9 inch going in with welded on ladder bars. If I could afford it, I would use coil over Q1's but am probably not going to get any this year. I have 2 sets of coil springs laying around but don't know how much spring I need. I have an original set of early 60's Pontiac Cat rear coil springs that are probably pretty soft by now, and and a little set of front Corvair coil springs. Will the Corvair springs hold up the rear of a 3000 lb car or will they just bottom out? They look bigger than coil over springs.
How were the 60's gassers set up? I can see from photos they had ladder bars, but can't see if they used coil or leaf springs. I don't think they had coil overs then.

if you have the frame and axle in the car why not just fab up the set you think may work and duplicate the amount of weight you want and see how it sits and reacts, if it doesnt look or work good try the other ones. pretty hard to guess

ive got a quite a few gasser build photos from 1962, they are of a willys all out drag car gasser being built from the ground up. i cant remember off hand what rear shock set up it was, but i will come across it in a couple days.

Copied from Geezer Gasser rules:
"Rear suspension - parallel leaf springs, transverse leaf springs, coil overs and ladder bars are acceptable. 4-link suspension will be considered on individual competition basis."

Just note that using ladder bars with leaf springs causes some problems that must be dealt with - like bind.

^^^ as Henry said... you will need rear housing floaters to avoid binding with leaf springs and ladder bars. This is the setup I have (mono-leaf) and works great to put the power to the pavement
-Chris

ive found some 1968 race chassis pics and they had coil overs back then. still trying to find the 63-64 pics but i bet they had them then also. still looking though!

Housing floaters and ladder bars work great with a leaf spring setup!!! Ran them on a couple different cars over the years. Probably the only thing I did different then most was a Watts linkage to keep the chassis centered on the housing... Yes, a Panhard bar is easier, but IMO not as good....

Thanks for the response,
I am attempting to mock up the spring perches. Then I will cut down the old Pontiac coils till the car sits level. I tryed to insert a photo here. Don't know if it worked.

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Housing floaters and ladder bars work great with a leaf spring setup!!! Ran them on a couple different cars over the years. Probably the only thing I did different then most was a Watts linkage to keep the chassis centered on the housing... Yes, a Panhard bar is easier, but IMO not as good....

Dave,

I'm starting to think you get royalties on Watts linkage sales.

Nice looking ladderbar. store bought or home built? Im attempting/thinking of doing the same thing. nice picture too if you have more pls post them im curious to how this progresses. good luck

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

Dave,

I'm starting to think you get royalties on Watts linkage sales.

Nope, no royalties. Just seen a lot of panhard bar cars end up with "weird handling" problems on the street, usually caused by the single bar pushing the rear end around. A panhard bar is probably fine on the drag strip, but less then ideal for the street.... Wish I got royalties!!!!

Terraplane
The ladder bars should be fine, they are non adjustable so be sure your car is at ride height when you weld the bars in place, and get the pinion angle set so that it will be correct when the car has all the done weight on it and is going down the highway!!!!