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By FORD DEARBORN - 3 Years Ago
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Greetings to all - Open to suggestions regarding "wheel hop". This is my 64 F100 with bone stock suspension. I don't race or drive it agressively. I would estimate no less than 250HP, , T5 trans and 3.5 in the rear. If being a little spirited while taking off or even slowly pushing it to the floor in 1st, back wheel(s) will brake loose but instead of just a nice screaming burnout, an awful case of wheel bounce takes place which is hell on the drivetrain. Would a pair of simple traction bars be the cure for this? I have no issues at all  with the suspension otherwise, Thanks, JEFF.....
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By Joe-JDC - 3 Years Ago
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How old are the shocks? With those leaf springs, you might add clamps around the top two or three at the front and rear to help with spring wrap-up. Yes, traction bars will help if the shocks are good. Joe-JDC
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By charliemccraney - 3 Years Ago
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Get a set of caltracs. They're on the more expensive end but they work and are the best option for a street vehicle because they allow the suspension to function normally for regular street use.
The front spring hanger may need to be trimmed a little to fit the front bracket of the Caltracs. I had to do that on my '61. Accomplished with an angle grinder and Dremel. If the springs have been on for a while, clean the exposed bolt threads with a Dremel and wire brush attachment and spray with penetrating oil.
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By 55blacktie - 3 Years Ago
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Carrying a couple hundred pounds over the rear axle should help.
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By Sandbird - 3 Years Ago
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I've seen an oil soaked rear mount on the transmission get weak and spongy contribute to wheel hop.
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By FORD DEARBORN - 3 Years Ago
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Thanks to all for the good advise. Traction bars will now be on this winter's to-do list along with new shocks as they are quite old. Caltrac?? Google turned up a pair said to fit our F100's but the illustration shows the bars on an axle with leaf springs under the axle. (think Mustang) F100's are opposite, springs on the top side. A brand called Tough Counter #30695 looks like it may work? Charlie, do you remember the part number for the bars you installed? When able, could you post a picture of your arrangement? Sandbire, my F100 does not utilize a mound at the rear of the trans. The trans just hangs on the bellhousing/ However, I did fabricate a cross brace from left to right frame rail to not support weight but to stablize/dampen any induced driveline vibrations, for what ever that may be worth. Thanks to all...........
'
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By charliemccraney - 3 Years Ago
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Call them or look on their website. They have brackets for spring over axle, too. You measure for the link rods.
Dimension sheet here, https://calvertracing.com/faqs/, toward the middle of the page.
Pictures:
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By FORD DEARBORN - 3 Years Ago
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Ah ha! Now I see how this works on our trucks. New U bolts installed from the opposite end and a new plate installed on the under side of the axle for the thrust bar. Thanks again everyone...........
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By slumlord444 - 3 Years Ago
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My understanding is that CalTracs are great, but I have ran Traction Masters for many years and they ended my wheel hop issues on my 57 T Bird. Ran a home made set back in the '60s with cheater slicks and launched it at 5500 on the strip with no issues. Am running an old original set now also with no issues. A good set of shocks is a good idea also. If you were doing serious drag racing with big slicks the CalTracs would probably be a better choice.
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By FORD DEARBORN - 3 Years Ago
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No srious drag racing here, I'm not an agressive driver or one to abuse my vehicles. But, a little street fire is something I miss. This is the only vehicle I've had that produces wheel hop. Just trying to learn the causes and then find the right solution. After viewing Charlies pics, I'm impressed with the Caltracs because that setup looks like it will not hinder natrural axle movement (axle up-down and all related to that) when driving on uneven terrain. I still wonder how this can be with such a tall stack of heavy leaf springs back there. Besides the shocks, maybe the oversize 30X9.50R15LT tires add to the problem also.
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By Sandbird - 3 Years Ago
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It's been a real long time since I've been under a Ford pick-up and I can't remember if they had a two piece drive shaft or not. I remember the center drive shaft supports would give trouble. Also my T-Bird has a factory installed pinion snubber, I don't know if they were used on pick-ups or not.
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By FORD DEARBORN - 3 Years Ago
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On the pickup's, 2 piece vs 1 piece drive shaft had to do with the transmission option and the wheel base. My truck is equiped with a 1 piece shaft and does not have the T-bird snubber/bump stop either. The link provided in a previous post for Caltrac requires supplying them with important dimensions before ordering traction bars. At this point, that's what I plan to do. That way the track bars will be custom built for the application. I believe traction bars will also help improve braking since the axle tends to wrap in the opposite direction when acceleratiog.
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By charliemccraney - 3 Years Ago
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For '61 trucks, swb uses a one piece drive shaft and lwb uses 2 piece. I think that is true through the generation '61-'66.
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By FORD DEARBORN - 3 Years Ago
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Charlie, is your unibldy a SWB?
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By charliemccraney - 3 Years Ago
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It is.
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By FORD DEARBORN - 3 Years Ago
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Was just curious if your truck had a 1 piece or 2 piece driveshart. My '64 F100 has the 8' box (128" lwb) but with a 1 piece driveshaft about 80" long. I'm still not sure if it came from the factory with a 1 piece shaft of not. It was originally equiped with a T86 OD. After looking at the Caltrac site, it looks like the trac bars for our trucks supplies an aluminum bushing for the front eye of the rear spring? If that's true, was there any additional noise or harshness as a result of a solid bushing? Thanks.................
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By charliemccraney - 3 Years Ago
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Mine has a one piece shaft. 80" length might be ok for a truck but the maximum rpm for a shaft that long will be quite low. The shaft when I had the 3 speed was shorter although I don't know the length at this point and the max rpm for that was something like 4500. Since I now have a T5, which needs a shorter shaft, that max rpm is over 6000.
It does use an aluminum bushing in the front spring eye. You can see the bushing in one of my pictures. I noticed absolutely no difference in the ride or sound qualities of the suspension. Full disclosure, my truck is not the truck for evaluating sound. It's unrestored, has rust in all the places that you don't want it on one of these and makes all kinds of noises as a result.
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By FORD DEARBORN - 3 Years Ago
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I must really be showing my age when I stated 80" for the driveshaft. It's aprox. 67" X 4". When I did all the math, the critial rpm worked out to somewhere in the 80's mph range in my case. I can live with that. I believe a '64 lwb was built with a 1 piece shaft, only IF optioned with the T86 OD trans. The T5 in the truck now is about 3 - 4" shorter. I thought if you have a lwb and 2 shaft's, I would have asked for a pic - no big deal though. I now noticed the aluminum bushing in one of your pics. Since you can't report any additional harshness, then I'm even more sold on these traction bars. Do the side plated pivot on thet aluminum bushing? Or do they pivot on the through bolt? It looks like the plates have a hole large enough for the diameter of the bushing. Thanks for the iinformation......................
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By charliemccraney - 3 Years Ago
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Actually, I think it is a 2 piece bushing, steel inner and aluminum outer, if I remember right. I didn't take a picture of it separately. The aluminum is pressed into the spring, replacing the rubber bushing. So the bracket and spring (with aluminum bushing pressed in) pivot on the steel bushing.
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By FORD DEARBORN - 3 Years Ago
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Thanks everyone for the useful information.
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