Anyone ever ran ladder bars with leaf springs by putting sliders on the front of the leaf spring as opposed to running a housing floater kit?

Or running only the back half of a split mono spring. Essentially a quarter elliptical spring.

Nope. I don't know what you would gain. The ladder bar and the front spring eye are different distances from the axle centerline. If you don't use a floater, the axle will be in a bind. The slider allows the spring to change lengths, just like the shackle.

Yes, a friend of mine 1970 Duster had that set up, ladder bars and a slider on them. He won the NHRA division 7 Pro bracket championship in 1984
I had a 1968 Baracuda with a floater on it with ladder bars, both worked well. My last street and strip car, 1971 Duster that ran 10.00 on pump gas, had double adjustable coil overs with ladder bars and a diagonal link, that was the quickest and best working rear end set up I've own and built

The back half of the split mono would still use a shackle or slider.

How does the slider allow the rear axle to move? The ladder bar pivot and front spring eye are not the same distance from the axle centerline?

The front of the spring and the back of the spring would be able to float.
I'm leaning toward just running the back of a mono leaf as the front half of the spring would be worthless anyway. I believe Monte Smith mentioned running cars this way.

That's interesting. It would also be lighter that way you are talking about. At that point you are close enough you could just about throw coil overs on it. Unless there are class rules that say you must have a leaf spring.

My friend had one of the old Dodge Material S/S 65 Dodges. It had the springs mounted as stock. The front of the ladder bar was on a roller similar to the current rear leaf spring sliders. It worked well in the low 10 second range with 10.5 tires. That being said you need decent shocks either way? Makes absolutely no sense not to convert to coil overs.
Doug

I already have double adjustable Viking shocks on the rear, and some extra split mono rear segments from experimenting with ride height. Adding coil overs would just be unnecessary expense and work.
I'm trying to relocate the instant center, in that setup the IC would still be the spring eye not the ladder bar eye. Only thing the ladder bars would do is act as a slapper bar, which probably worked

I ended up buying that car back twenty years later and raced it, I tried moving the front ladder bar up and down to all three choices and that stupid car ran the same, I ended up leaving it in the bottom hole
On your deal try moving it to see if it helps the 60 ft. or reaction times

Ok...now I see what your getting at. You want to change the IC. Do you want it higher or lower? IIRC, once the ladder bar is in it becomes the de facto IC and the springs just hold the car up. The way I see it, you can just use the full split mono and a housing floater with a slider in the rear and get after it.

The problem I see would be spring location. Whether you put the slider in the front or rear, the opposing side of the spring is also going to need to slide to prevent bind, or you will need floaters.
Seems to me that floaters would be an easy bolt on that achieves the same goal, without the work involved of fabing a 4 point slider system.

I already have double adjustable Viking shocks on the rear, and some extra split mono rear segments from experimenting with ride height. Adding coil overs would just be unnecessary expense and work.
I'm trying to relocate the instant center, in that setup the IC would still be the spring eye not the ladder bar eye. Only thing the ladder bars would do is act as a slapper bar, which probably worked [/quote]

Coil springs won't go install on your Vikings? Why try and reinvent the wheel?
Doug

Coil springs won't go install on your Vikings? Why try and reinvent the wheel?
Doug[/quote]

No they are the smooth body shock, and the stock shock mounting isn't suitable for coilovers.