Hello all. Not sure if this is the right place to post this but i am 20 years old and building my first project. I have a 34 Chevy Pickup that i am making into a gasser. I am going with a 2 inch drop straight axle on the front. I plan on racing it at my local track but my question is would i be better off going to a ladder bar setup with a Ford 9" or stick with the stock leafs on the rear with traction bars? I apologize if this is in the wrong section so please delete if thats the case!
Start by asking yourself what you gonna build. Is it an oldstyle build that should have a sertain look or a racer with performance as main goal? Should it be streetable or pure racing?
I am going for a period correct look but will be running a turbo LS. I want the truck to look like it came out of the 60s but decided to go with the LS Power plant to do something different. It will mainly be a street/strip car with the goal being mid 9s at the track I have seen several running ladder bar setups such as the 38 special but have also seen a truck run 8s on leaf springs.
If you have the low budget that most of us had at twenty, keep it cheap. In the sixties the Mopar factory boys were quite successful just clamping the front half of the leaf springs. I'm sure there's a thread on here somewhere showing how that was done.
If you gonna run on the strip regular that old rear will fail sooner or later. Go for something with parts available. With an modern plant it will be your style anyway so go for what you have access to and like. You will have to do some chassiwork to or that poor old frame will have a hard life.
To start off, if you're building a gasser you don't want a dropped front axle. Gassers have a nose high stance. 9" rear is a good choice along with the ladder bars. Stock leafs will work with ladder bars as long as you have a slider type mount between the leafs and rear axle. You'll catch some flack on here with that LS motor
As stated above... ladders and leafs with a slider kit. You don't need to go nose high for a gasser look. Make it level with maybe a small nose up attitude. (look at my avatar) Keeps the caster angle reasonable and not prone to deflection. Also reduces the likelihood of death wobble and keeps the potential for bump steer to a minimum (if you use a cross steer setup). To avoid the death wobble keep the caster around 6 - 9 degrees and use a Speedway motors vibration damper. They are small (hard to see) and very effective. Great platform for a first build. It will get the attention you want and it's not a tough build suspension wise. Speedway makes great packaged kits for axles, brakes, steering etc. Putting an LS in it will plant you smack dab in between 2 groups. The gasser guys will love the stance and hate the engine. The LS will push you off this board (if that matters to you. The hot rod guys will chastise you for not using a Mustang II front end and generally do not accept the gasser look. If you want acceptance then pick a genre and build to it - otherwise build what you want and damn everyone else Good luck
The LS will not be a permanent choice by far! The future goal is a forged 383 with a 671 blower but decided to run a carbed 5.3 for right now since the total price was under $1,200 and bolts up to my TH400. I wanted to go with a dropped straight to reduce bump steer and wobble at higher speeds. I have seen many gassers running dropped axles with lifting blocks or arched springs. I do know the dangers of blocks so i had WAC Customs make me a custom axle for my application. Thank you all for the help and i will post updates later this summer when i get the frame back together.
The Jalopy Journal
