rear suspension

need information on how to set up ladder bars on a 1979 Ford Bronco

There needs to be way more info . What kind of use, tire size, what style springs, and what kind of ladder bars?

It's for super stock mud racing, 38 inch boggers, stock 4 leaf springs, 50 inches long ladder bars

Do you have a lift kit on it?

And how much cna you get away with "rules" wise. A typically mounted set of ladder bars on a stock shackle/leaf spring suspension will bind up as the axle moves through its arc of travel (yes, arc and not straight up and down ). To fix that, you need to do some work either with the ladder bars or the springs to make them work for you.

As Schmitty said, need much more info on what you are doing with your truck

Can you post your rules or a link to the rules that you race under?

4). Ladder bars allowed. (No 3-link, No 4-link suspensions).
5). Front suspension may be OEM leaf-spring, coil & radius, or IFS. (Other front suspension styles permitted if OEM for that vehicle).
6). NO Coil over shocks OR Coil over suspensions.
7) Leaf-spring vehicles shall have at least one functional leaf spring per spring pack. Floaters/Sliders are permitted.
Any OEM front and rear differential (axles) allowed. (Modifications allowed).

...it also has a 4 inch lift which I'm trying to go lower on

get rid if the lift kit and put it on stock springs. Spring sliders or a housing floater system will be required, use as few rear leafs as possible to keep the body off the tires. Make sure the forward mounting point is very solid has several adjustment holes. Research how to properly set-up suspensions there is alot to making it work properly and if not correct you'll waste alot of time and money trying to go faster and not. There is a book I cant remember the name of it but it has been referenced on here many times. Buy good shocks at a minimum single adjustable preferably double adjustable for both the front and rear of the truck.

Yep, you can run the same setup that Myron, Critter, me, and a couple others have with the exception of the coilovers. As been said, go with a monoleaf/spring slider setup, add a housing floater to keep from binding and the ladder bars. For shocks, give a call to the folks at AFCO or QA1 and talk to them about your rules. I run with a guy that runs the same setup as me (and as I've described) but runs a nitrogen charged coilover body shock only, no spring. He had them ordered right from AFCO with his valving requirements to allow him to run in classes that prohibit coilovers like yours. If it's set up correctly, the monoleaf will do nothing more than locate the axle under the truck and the ladder bars/shocks will do all the work

Isn't Myron using Caltracs?

nope. 3 leafs for his class rules, housing floater, spring sliders, ladder bars and coilovers. Just like me, but I'm only running a main leaf from the doner ranger's spring packs.

I respectfully disagree with kjett on shocks. Why order custom valved shocks that work on some tracks and not so much on others. order the proper length qa1 single or double(prefered) adjustable shocks yes they are a bit pricey but well worth it if you want to tune your suspension for different track conditions. You know how my truck(Insanity) ran deshawn you've seen it several times and we have talked before at bullitt county fairgrounds.

It's all good. If i remember correctly, your setup used the leaf springs as a major part of the suspension where you didn't need coilovers. With mine, they are really there for centering the axle and to keep me in class rules. I've taken the springs completely out of mine and it sits the same, just wants to slide side to side.

Karl
Up until the last year I ran I used factory springs(highly modified) with a slapper bar/top link system. I then switched to a full ladder bar coil-over setup they said was allowed mid year at the end of the year they changed the rules back to what you see above and that is when I retired. I helped a buddy set up his truck that year with ladder bars and leaf springs without floater boxes we used shackles on both ends of the leaf springs "pita" to get to work but can be done. I also have a good friend that still runs the same slapper bar/top link setup I did in a pro-street truck that is extremely competitive.

Todd

Thanks everyone for all the info, it was a big help

I recently bought some ladder bars from a local speed shop but I think they might be too short they are 36 inches long, does anyone know how long they should be? or do u think these will still work?

I think the 36" bars will be a little on the short side for a truck. Pick yourself up a copy of Comp Cams Door Slammers: The Chassis Book and start reading. All your questions should be answered there, but if you still have questions after that, then ask away

I still have the 50 inch ladder bars off my old truck that I could make you a deal on.

get the book Comp Cams Door Slammers: The Chassis Book you really need to find your chassis centerline on my long bed truck the ladder bars are 6 feet long

how much? do u still have the brackets?

I have the adjustable ladder bars, the front brackets and crossmember I built for them and the rear brackets. The rear brackets are welded to a 9 inch housing but can be removed.

lghting94... at a reasonable price I will buy it all, how much was you wanting for it?

How about $200

kjett wrote:nope. 3 leafs for his class rules, housing floater, spring sliders, ladder bars and coilovers. Just like me, but I'm only running a main leaf from the doner ranger's spring packs.

That was the leaf sprung chassis. The half ton was set up different.

68formalGT wrote:

kjett wrote:nope. 3 leafs for his class rules, housing floater, spring sliders, ladder bars and coilovers. Just like me, but I'm only running a main leaf from the doner ranger's spring packs.

That was the leaf sprung chassis. The half ton was set up different.

I think you are talking about Schmitty, not Critter

Rule of thumb for ladder bars is 1/3rd the length of your wheelbase. Most Bronco's are 105". SO,.......with that said, the 36" bars should be good,.... IMO.

Granted, I'm refering to a drag application and not a mudder, but the same principals apply.

FWIW,.....
My truck has a W/B of 117" and I run 36" bars on it and it does fine. I would have liked to have had them around 39-40", but those more than likely would've been a custom deal and I just bought what was available at the time of my build.