Wondering if anyone has tried using Cal Trac bars with SS springs. I've heard both ways. Trying to get drivers rear to stop unloading on launch.

Been running them on my Dart Sport with SS springs for 4 years and car consistently hooks up, even on bad tracks. But, I am not putting a lot of power to the ground. I only run 7.40's in the 1/8. They may not work with more power I am not sure.

60' 1.47-1.52 depending on track. 6.97-7.00 1/8 mile. 500 cid 8" coan conv. 4.56 gears. 29.5x11.5 phoenix

My car has never hooked as well with monos and 22" cal tracs as it did ss springs and cal tracs
ss and cal tracs below

I am not a big fan of using both. We have found that it is too violent and you can't tighten the shocks enough for control. I like the mono leaf beacause it alows the bar and the shocks to do all the work. The spring is just to hold up the car and go for the ride.

I never ran both but always heard you shouldn`t. My 60 fts were actually better with the S/S springs 1.40 best with 1.42-1.44 average when I was running mid-10s. When I went to the CalTrac/monoleaf setup my 60fts got slower 1.44-1.46 but the car didn`t rise as much in the rear and the 60fts were more consistent. All with 10.5x29.5 Hoosier slicks. Now the car is setup to run 11.50 and my 60fts are 1.53-1.55 with Hoosier QTPs 29x11.50.

Answer to the question - SS springs are not optimum for cal-trac's but will work.

The principle of the cal-trac is to move the IC (Instant center) of car farther forward on launch. The IC is the effective lifting point of the suspension system as the rear end rotates.

The super stock spring has a stiff front segment which is designed to act like a ladder bar and lift upward just a little in front of the spring perch. This will lift the back end of the car, since the perch is not very far forward on the body. The cal-trac bar will try to move this lifting force (IC) a little further forward, effectively trying to pickup more of the car. The more of the car you lift, the more downward force there is on the tires.

The cal-trac system with a softer spring will allow for a little more roll rotation of the rear end, resulting the some wrap of the front spring segment. This gives the cal-trac bar a better force vector to effectively move the IC even farther forward. Thereby picking up more of the car on launch, providing additional downforce on the tires.

IF there is not enough front end travel (5-inches is recommended) it could limit the amount of roll rotation of the body, reducing the continuous downforce on the back tires. In other words if the motor is not strong enough to keep lifting, the body will drop the front back down too quickly and remove the rear tire downforce.

In that case, you would move the cal-trac bar to the top hole, so the motor does not have to pick up as much of the car.

The "magic" number of 5-inches of front end travel comes straight from john Calvert. Less can cause the tires to bite on initial hit, but spin slightly a few feet off the starting line. More than 5-inches does not seem to help any more than the first 5-inches. To measure this, check the height of the front wheel lip. then jack the car from the center of the k-frame till the front tire starts to come up off the ground. Remeasure the wheel lip height. If there is not five inches you will need to loosen the torsion bar settings (both sides the same amount to keep the corner weights similar) to lower the front end. Taller may be needed to bring the ride height back up.

some forces at work

I have been running them for four or five years that way I did make one adjustment I took one leaf off each side to soften the spring as it now only carries the car and is not used to help traction

IIRC, Tony Russo (aka "n2Omaster") ran SS springs w/ CalTracs years ago. I asked him about it back then and he said he did manage to make 'em work, but it sounded at the time like he was having to tune 'em not to fight each other.

FWIW, I have the monos w/ CalTracs on my Challenger and it's currently pulling better 60-fts. on DOT 275/60R15 "drag radials" (1.46) than it ever did on SS springs w/ 9" slicks (1.54). There ARE other factors involved here, but the link suspension definitely works better.

Also, setting the front end up for 5 1/4" free travel from the static ride height definitely helped w/ getting the car to hook w/o unloading the rear tires right after the hit.

I have the Mono's and my springs have been relocated into the frame rail, so I have the same front segment of the spring as a SS spring. I have to run way more preload than anyone I have heard of. Calvert told me I was the only one in the country running this much preload, and it shouldn't work. Recently I tried going back to the basic setup he suggests and the car still didn't work, so I went back to my setup. May have something to do with the short segment?

No - The short front segment on the Mono's should not be an issue, they are designed to flex.

From the pics, you definitely get the front end up! NICE!

But, do you have the 5" of front end travel BEFORE the wheels carry?? If not, it could be limiting your front-to-rear body roll/weight transfer when you don't have excessive pre-load.

By the way - nice level wheel stand too! Means the pre-load you do have it set about right from side-to-side!

What rear tires are you running?? They look really large in the pics.

Maybe saying drivers rear is unloading is not the right way to say what is happening. I was told the drivers rear is actually coming off the ground on launch. I've tried switching shocks from side to side no change. Pinion angle is 7 degrees down. I will check front end travel to see where it is at. Just cant figure out why car is so violant on launch. I will try to post some pictures in a bit. Thanks for all the help.

Admittedly, it has been a long time since I checked the rules for Stock Eliminator....but I've always understood them to be that they could not add or subtract leaves in their springs....they had to remain stock.

That being said, none of those guys could be using the monoleaf, they'd have to use the Cal Tracs with the stock spring setup. Is this true, or are they doing something else to help make them work?