Lakewood Traction Bars..Anyone running these?

Codydubb · Jan 15, 2012

http://www.americanmuscle.com/lakewood-tractionbars-7995.html

Have a chance to pick a set of these up cheap...just curious if anyone is running them and if they would be worth the hassle to go get...

Codydubb · Jan 15, 2012

Also ive seen some sort of 'lift bars' for traction? anyone wanna fill me in on the differences goods bads?

CarMichael Angelo · Jan 15, 2012

Codydubb said:
Also ive seen some sort of 'lift bars' for traction? anyone wanna fill me in on the differences goods bads?

Traction bars like the Lakewood control rear end rotation by tranferring it back to the body. On a hard launch, the car would squat.
I would think a bar like what you have pictured would be very harsh on the street, and I'd bet that your cars' handling will be adversely affected. For a drag race only application, they may offer some additional support for your torque boxes, as there is now an additional mount point helping to handle some of the stress.
Lift bars, like South side change the angle of the lower control arm by lowering the rear mount point. They are still mounted in the same mount points, but the bar has an extended drop in the rear. The rotation will make the body rise instead. It also changes the pinion angle, and that may also be detrimental to your u joint/ring and pinion life. (that's just me guessing though)

Codydubb · Jan 15, 2012

As of right now my car currently has the southside lift bars on it, i do have a set of of bbk lowers layin around, i was considering picking up the set of lakewood traction bars and swapping out my lift bars for the bbk lowers and running them with the traction bars. just wondering what my best bet would be to keep it as it is or to change my set up. you guys all have years of experience playing with these cars as i dont, this type of suspension is a little different than the old leaf spring set ups i have played with for years. as far as handling the car doesnt see much corning mainly a weekend street car with the occasional canyon cruise but nothing too hardcore.

rcode99 · Jan 15, 2012

Used to control what we old guys called 'wheel hop'. And it had to be adjusted taking into consideration such things as 'loading up'.

rd · Jan 15, 2012

Yep. I have a set on the 82 that I have had for at least 20 years. Pro- They work great, and provide good launches on Drag Radials. I have stock 1980 rubber bushings and an airbag in the right rear. I like them. They can be a pain to remove and replace and they do need to be adjusted. The cons are that they do tighten up the rear suspension and are not really street friendly unless you are careful.

Have not tried lift bars.

txstang84 · Jan 16, 2012

IMHO, keep the SSM lift bars-they work better at planting the tires under hard acceleration than traction bars. I had the factory slapper bars on my '84 until I shelled out the rear. Later I bought the Lakewood traction action lift bars-had them for probably a dozen years and I don't really have any desire to go back to standard lowers...

Codydubb · Jan 16, 2012

Never knew they came with slapper bars? im thinking im going to stick with my lift bars also and spend money somewhere else..

txstang84 · Jan 16, 2012

'82-'84GTs came with them...if you don't have subframe connectors yet, that would be a good direction to go...

Codydubb · Jan 17, 2012

Yep already got those, i was thinking maybe doing a battle box kit since i hear lift bars are hard on the torque boxes.

Sharad · Jan 17, 2012

slapper bars and lift bars are old tech.

A good quality tubular chrome moly control arm is the way to go. Polyurethane bushings for a street car, spherical bushings for a street/strip car. No relocation (like the old style arms) is necessary for good traction.

Codydubb · Jan 17, 2012

Old technology still gets the job done.....
So your saying my bbk lower control arms are going to be better than my SSM lift bars?

Lakewood Traction Bars..Anyone running these?

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Lakewood Traction Bars..Anyone running these?

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