Thread: ladder bars

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ok guys here is my proplem. i have a 69 camaro norrowed rear end with ladder bars and coil offers.. my problem is it starts to whipp side to side real bad after 1st gear.. i got the rear end in there sitting in the center of the chassie,, with the diagonal bar pinion angle is 1 degree my right side is leading by 1/8 th of an inch,, not sure if my shocks are bad or my springs are weak or if i need to put a pan hard bar in it it help keep the rear end in there better any ideas would help

It sounds like you do need to put in a panhard bar. It needs to be welded to the frame and another tab on the rear. You want to use heim joint as you will need for it to be adjusted to keep the rear centered.

A friend built a pro street Cuda, drove it once, the sidewalls of those big meats flexed so bad it was almost undriveable. Sold it 3 months after he registered it! It was the worst thing I ever rode in!!

I hope yours is the panhard (or watts linkage)... maybe it'll fix it!

How about a picture of the underneath????????

that car as been done many way many times so its not some thing that should be a bad driver. i did my first tub job in 89 did not know much used a pan hard bar from frame to rear. end car worked like it was on rails in a turn . pick up some coil over new ford housing had a Pro redo all the things i did wrong he told me ... first time i drove the GTO done right? race a guy up a bridge back end was tracking were the front was not i had my hands full allmost ended up in the other oncoming lane was four lane brige . he used a track bar for the street not a good deal as you turn you have to take up all the slop so the back and the front can have a mind of its own watts link or panhard most all the time is what i like to see with a track bar if you really have to drive the car hard you will not like it

here are some pics

as you can see there is bracket on the rear end just need to put one on the frame

under the camaro

there is a braket in the top pic.... you can see it on top of the rearend on the right side

Originally Posted by mbabbitt

as you can see there is bracket on the rear end just need to put one on the frame

Yep.. you're halfway there!

under edit, in the last pic it appears to have a link from the front of the left ladder bar mount to the right rear ladder bar mount. that should be controlling the sway side to side. Check to see if it's tight?

Personally, I think a short bar to the top of the axle from the frame rail is a bit better... a Watts link is the best imho...

thats a track bar not what i like on the street the coil over brackets could be triangulated for less flex on side loading i run two bars center of pig to lower points of inner ladder bracket

yes it is tight,,,,,,,,, that is holding my rearend in the center of the car .. in the second pic you can see amother bracket on the top of the rearend.. i can put a panhard bar from there to the frame

The existing bracket is pretty tall and will do nothing for roll center. Just making a point as I don't think you will be auto-crossing the car next weekend. Like Pat said the track bar is not going to work that well on the street, as you have discovered. There is too much leverage on that short bar for it to be affective.
Make the panhard as long as you can. A short panhard bar will move the housing in a quicker arc, cross car, then a long bar. This actually moves the whole rearend side to side as the bar is swinging in it's arc of travel.
Pat and I built this housing for my Astro. Notice the side support going out to the shock/panhard bar mount.
http://images61.fotki.com/v249/photo...MVC010F-vi.jpg
http://images16.fotki.com/v301/photo...MVC011F-vi.jpg

I had a BB 72 Chevy Fleetside w/ tubs, Mickeys, ladder bars and a diagonal link. It was squirrelly. Gave up on diagonals for the street many years ago. Put in the longest Panhard bar you can fit - or a Watts link if it will fit.

what do you mean the longest panhard bar i can put in ??????????? i can put one the on passenger side on top of the rearend 2nd pic and tie it to the frame on the driver side