sprung or unsprung wheelie bars

luckydog · 01-07-2009, 10:09 PM

What do you SS guys use, sprung or unsprung? I'm assuming sprung but thought I'd ask. I think I may need them next season and would like a recommendation on what to use. Thanks

Jeff Lee · 01-08-2009, 03:16 AM

I think it matters what you have for a rear suspension. I tried un-spung pro-style bars on my leaf sping / cal-track Stocker and it flat would not work. I added springs to the housing end and it helped but not enough. Problems are the car moves on the bar. I'm sure these bars would work on a 4-link car.
I then added AJE bars and it worked very well and I was using them (same rear suspension) when I changed to a SS engine. I'll be using them on the ladder bars / coli-overs that are being installed.
I think a safe bet will always be the Cometition Engineering leaf-spring style wheelie bar. May not be the absolute trickest but always seems to get the job done.

buzzinhalfdozen · 01-08-2009, 08:56 AM

As with most anything there are a lot of variables involved in your decision. The type of rear susp. you have 4- link-ladder bar ? For the most part I've found a tubular sprung wheelie bar works well the whole idea here is control, you need to be able to control the rise height and to some degree the rise rate. I like the sprung tubular type because you can adjust the spring tension on most model to "slow down the rise rate" before you hit the solid bar. The other benefit is you can make them a solid bar if you need that. My personal opinion is to stay away from the old flat spring bottom bar type, not enough control and whens the last time you saw a set of these that were not bowed? Joe

luckydog · 01-08-2009, 05:11 PM

Ladder bar. I used to have a TH 350 in the car that helped the nose to rise quite a bit. At the time I had the flat bottom bar type. They were short to begin with, but the car would get way up on them. Heck, I could bolt them back on the car if I needed. I'm looking for something with better tunability. Huh, tunability, thats a word right? Looks more like something that would come out of Richard Simmons mouth.

72Malibu · 01-08-2009, 08:25 PM

I'm not a SS racer, just a bracket racer. Have you tried limiting the front end travel? Mine was carrying the front wheels 100-150' tripping the 60's with the back tires. I took 1" of travel out of the front end and it still carries the wheels but they are back on the ground before the 60' beams.

buzzinhalfdozen · 01-09-2009, 11:24 AM

Damien, Ladder bar set ups are much more violent on the hit, mainly because of their short and low pickup point. Yes limiting your frt. suspension rise rate and amount would change how hard the car gets to the bars,however it also changes the way the car leaves. There are alot of variables involved in the"set up" changing one thing can often impact other things in a negative way. From my experience you really need a quality bar on the back to have repeatable results. Joe

luckydog · 01-09-2009, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buzzinhalfdozen

From my experience you really need a quality bar on the back to have repeatable results. Joe

Thanks for the info Joe. Back when the car used to stand up I used travel to help keep the front end down a little, but it only works to a certain extent. Also, with less travel, of course, the car doesn't transfer the weight as well. Which quality bar do you recommend?

buzzinhalfdozen · 01-09-2009, 05:32 PM

A.R.T. makes a good sprung tubular bar, I've put them on several hard leaving ladder bar cars with very good results. As i said you can make these "solid" if you desire, which I haven't had to do yet on any that I've set up, I believe the spring feature gives you more control at least in "slowing" the rise rate. Joe Forgot to mention I'd go with the longest bar that is feasible to use, Longer bars are less violent. Good luck!

01-07-2009, 10:09 PM	#1
luckydog Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Ottawa, OH Posts: 274 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	sprung or unsprung wheelie bars What do you SS guys use, sprung or unsprung? I'm assuming sprung but thought I'd ask. I think I may need them next season and would like a recommendation on what to use. Thanks __________________ Damien Hazelton Lucky Dog Racing

01-08-2009, 03:16 AM	#2
Jeff Lee VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Anthem, Arizona Posts: 2,766 Likes: 0 Liked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: sprung or unsprung wheelie bars I think it matters what you have for a rear suspension. I tried un-spung pro-style bars on my leaf sping / cal-track Stocker and it flat would not work. I added springs to the housing end and it helped but not enough. Problems are the car moves on the bar. I'm sure these bars would work on a 4-link car. I then added AJE bars and it worked very well and I was using them (same rear suspension) when I changed to a SS engine. I'll be using them on the ladder bars / coli-overs that are being installed. I think a safe bet will always be the Cometition Engineering leaf-spring style wheelie bar. May not be the absolute trickest but always seems to get the job done. __________________ Jeff Lee 7494 D/S '70 AMX

01-08-2009, 08:56 AM	#3
buzzinhalfdozen Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bellevue Ohio Posts: 985 Likes: 0 Liked 12 Times in 9 Posts	Re: sprung or unsprung wheelie bars As with most anything there are a lot of variables involved in your decision. The type of rear susp. you have 4- link-ladder bar ? For the most part I've found a tubular sprung wheelie bar works well the whole idea here is control, you need to be able to control the rise height and to some degree the rise rate. I like the sprung tubular type because you can adjust the spring tension on most model to "slow down the rise rate" before you hit the solid bar. The other benefit is you can make them a solid bar if you need that. My personal opinion is to stay away from the old flat spring bottom bar type, not enough control and whens the last time you saw a set of these that were not bowed? Joe __________________ Joe Buchanan SS/BX 3117

01-08-2009, 05:11 PM	#4
luckydog Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Ottawa, OH Posts: 274 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: sprung or unsprung wheelie bars Ladder bar. I used to have a TH 350 in the car that helped the nose to rise quite a bit. At the time I had the flat bottom bar type. They were short to begin with, but the car would get way up on them. Heck, I could bolt them back on the car if I needed. I'm looking for something with better tunability. Huh, tunability, thats a word right? Looks more like something that would come out of Richard Simmons mouth. __________________ Damien Hazelton Lucky Dog Racing

01-08-2009, 08:25 PM	#5
72Malibu Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Republic,Mo Posts: 93 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: sprung or unsprung wheelie bars I'm not a SS racer, just a bracket racer. Have you tried limiting the front end travel? Mine was carrying the front wheels 100-150' tripping the 60's with the back tires. I took 1" of travel out of the front end and it still carries the wheels but they are back on the ground before the 60' beams. __________________ * 72 Malibu * 1.329-3.99-6.28@106.71-9.98@131 best 60ft to date-1.2997

01-09-2009, 11:24 AM	#6
buzzinhalfdozen Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bellevue Ohio Posts: 985 Likes: 0 Liked 12 Times in 9 Posts	Re: sprung or unsprung wheelie bars Damien, Ladder bar set ups are much more violent on the hit, mainly because of their short and low pickup point. Yes limiting your frt. suspension rise rate and amount would change how hard the car gets to the bars,however it also changes the way the car leaves. There are alot of variables involved in the"set up" changing one thing can often impact other things in a negative way. From my experience you really need a quality bar on the back to have repeatable results. Joe __________________ Joe Buchanan SS/BX 3117

01-09-2009, 05:32 PM	#8
buzzinhalfdozen Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bellevue Ohio Posts: 985 Likes: 0 Liked 12 Times in 9 Posts	Re: sprung or unsprung wheelie bars A.R.T. makes a good sprung tubular bar, I've put them on several hard leaving ladder bar cars with very good results. As i said you can make these "solid" if you desire, which I haven't had to do yet on any that I've set up, I believe the spring feature gives you more control at least in "slowing" the rise rate. Joe Forgot to mention I'd go with the longest bar that is feasible to use, Longer bars are less violent. Good luck! __________________ Joe Buchanan SS/BX 3117 Last edited by buzzinhalfdozen; 01-09-2009 at 05:36 PM.