Any input on setting up 33" ladder bars on a leaf spring truck ? the instructions state to have the bottom bar level with the ground , that puts the front hiem 12" below the the frame , I havent seen too many mud trucks with front brackets that long? I thought the front hiem was to be half the hight of the cg for a starting point? Have not welded yet , It seemed to funky. thanks Craig

level is where you want to start off. Thought I had some pics of my setup but I dont.If I were to guess or simply go out to the garage and measure, The front heim on my car is at least 10-12 inches below the frame rail.

Thanks for the info , I had 60" bars before & the right side was flexing 2" on launch , mabe the reason I could not go straight. any input on the floater thing with leaf springs? I run sliders on the back leafs now , I thought the sliders stoped the spring bind?

Quote:

I had 60" bars before

Keep in mind the "instant center" on ladder bars are at the front heim where the bars meet. If you had 60" bars on it before and your installing 33" bars you have made a pretty big change from what you had.

Hey Jeff , I hope the shorter bars have less front end lift , I am trying to keep the front wheels on the ground or with more weight on the front tires , with the long bars I had no steering out of the hole and if the truck dident track straight I had to peddle out to steer, I hope the 33" bars will still transfer the weight back enough to hook up & go. I havent a clue how the truck will react with the short bars , but we will see , the 60" bar was flexing with 40" cuts enough for the pass side tire to hit the front of the bed skin - around 2" , that cant be good for going straight

In "theory" thats what your gonna get. It should hit the tires a little harder and not pick the chassis as forward as it was. You should end up with less weight transfer.

have you tried a bar that the front floats? I have tried short and long ones to me they seem to work best when they line up with the front ujoint on the rear shaft mine ended up 44" long, mine goes stright now that they line up with the joint

Well its time to cut & burn & see whats up , when you think about it , its only time & money. In a few more years I"ll write a book on what doesent work on mud trucks. Anybody run floaters on the rear axle with leaf springs? or mabe its time to go coil over? anyway we keep on trying!

Well hears the scoop, the 33 inch bars are a whole lot different , the truck leaves straight and level, cant lift the fronts past the spring travel on dots , the short bars are a lot stiffer , feel every little bump , right rear tire stays planted hard on launch , lost most of the torque roll, have bars set on lowest hole , lower bar level with ground. I havent tried cuts yet or changed hole settings , seems like the 1-2 shift is 10 foot further down the pit / ET about the same but mph feels faster , turning 400 rpm less in 200ft , been messing with suspension so much we havent tuned yet , still on last years engine set up , thanks again for all the input , hope this helps someone somewhere , I am still trying to figure it out// Craig

what are you running for a floater setup, I bought the comp engineering kit c2030, but the instructions show it with a spring under axle, do you think there would be a problem just turning it upside down for a spring over axle setup, or is there a better floater kit that will work with a spring over axle and ladder bars

thanks for any info
Steve