Lets talk rear suspension: specifically straight axle (Page 2 of 2)

You are correct about a leaf spring in drag racing applications (although I have had a PHR/TQ arm set up wheel hoop as well). However we are not drag racing, you are not launching the car, and if you have enough power to wheel hoop out of a corner, you're cheating (in a Lemons race). IMO the name of the game is to keep it simple. Maybe add some stiff shocks, more pack clamps new bushings and call it a day. Trying to re-design a rear suspension one these hoopties makes little sense, unless of course you are doing something really over the top and going for the shock and awe factor.

Thanks for a good post. I ask this because of what I have seen at a Lemons race, with a big monte carlo that would wheel hop out of the corners pretty bad, and it was pretty slow around the track.

We are not good drivers, and I am a big fan of driving around the track having fun. Not that I havent spent time on a rolling toilet for spinning and laughed the whole time, I just would like to avoid spinning in a corner and hitting someone else. And by "I" I mean myself and the newbs on our team.

If there is a "good" solution that we can fab, then I would like to look into it.

Wait... not everyone goes for the shock and awe factor? I thought that was part of the point...

We kept things simple on our Cherokee, and it handles alarmingly well (for a POS race car).  We converted it from spring-over to spring-under and added a stiffer leaf to the stock pack.  Netted about a 3 in drop in ride height and stiffened it up a lot.  Stock sway bar and shocks.

-Matt

Here's a tidbit a lot of people overlook:

If you've got a traction problem in the rear, it's not always the fault of the rear suspension.  You want to plant the rear end?  Keep it soft.  Stock springs, stock shocks, stock swaybar.  Then, on the FRONT, put the biggest swaybar you can find with some good shocks and adequate camber.

Then, if you find you've gone too far and the car understeers more than you can deal with... either make the rear swaybar larger or start going smaller on the front bar.

As much as "racers" will tell you how much understeer sucks, if you're looking for a predictable handling car that will get a bunch of newbs around a race track without a lot of trouble... a LITTLE bit of understeer is exactly what you want.

Firm front suspension with a big front swaybar will allow you to put more power down on corner exit... which is the hot ticket both for making use of your power, and for fun driving!

EDIT:  Think "slow in; fast out".  You can deal with the understeer by being "slow in"... the proper setup will allow you to dig in and be "fast out".  And then, as your drivers develop, they'll figure out how to be "fast in; faster out".

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing..
   What is needed in drag racing is lousy on a road race. Likely to bind up and turn your car into a dump truck when it comes to handling.

Sure, you can build a 3 link etc (I've done it myself) but that's overkill for Lemons. I'd stick with the leafs but they will need some improvement. Something a lot of people overlook: rubber bushing bind. If you have access to a shop, pull the leafs, do the grease and reassemble thing, but also trash the stock rubber eye and shackle bushings, replace them with bronze or equivalent, grease the crap out of them and reinstall. I wouldn't get too worried about side to side location. But if you do decide to work on that, Panhards are difficult to get right on a leaf setup. The Watts is better but as mentioned it too can bind. Fixing that usually means spherical bushings which = $$$$.