I am Running a Heavier Right Rear Leaf Spring to make this Car Faster!

[@rickeykeith7175]

Thanks for showing the math behind it this is my first year trying to set up a leaf car

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Yes sir, and thank you for watching

[@jaymay75]

Jason I went from running on oiled down dirt and ran 225 left and 200 right. Tracked closed and we went to clay. Swapped rear springs after struggling to get the car to work. It worked really good after working with the shackle adjustments on left rear. It was luck because I definitely don’t know the math like you. Thanks for the video.

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

I knew a few of you had done it and made it work. I think it has potential ;)

[@team44racing]

Thank you sir!! I really think this is gonna fix that center push I have yet to get out of my car that I have talked to you about, never even crossed my mind to try this. Thank you! We will see………

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Glad you found it useful. I don't always have all the answers but I try to be honest about what I understand and why I am trying new approaches. Hopefully it works out well for both of us!

[@MikeSr.06]

Another great one Jason. Getting started onmy rebuild of the ol Chevelle and someone switched it over to a leaf from coil. I never have run leaf but have always been curious. I may give it a shot

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Well it's different from coils for sure but they have their advantages too :)

[@MikeSr.06]

@@DIRTRACELIFE would you say Leaf springs are more or less consistent.? I feel like Coils are more adjustable but Leaf may be more reliable and consistent..... I’m building the chevelle for the Lonestar 600 enduro race. Looking for reliable and consistent. Thanks for your help

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Well as always it depends and the answer is yes and no. . . . . :) YES, on the track during a race the leaf spring gives you a car that will rotate and drive through and off the corner more predictably in regard to where on the track you are and how you enter the turn. For example if the car is really good in the middle on a smooth track, a rut can form and that car can continue on that line and blow right through it yet you still seem to hold the same corner speed as before, or if you move up or down the track it will still seem pretty good. Just keep in mind, if the setup is junk, then it's probably junk everywhere, and you are just hunting around the corner to find a line that's least offensive to the car. In a coil car this is not at all the case and moving around or changing track conditions can give significantly different lap times BUT a well-tuned coil car in the right line can be faster so it all a trade off of gains and losses between the two. NO, Stacked steel leafs change in rate and shape at a significantly faster pace than coil springs. You wouldn't think anything of running a full season on a set of coils without checking them for free height change. On leafs, they wear enough with every race event that you can detect changes week to week as a measurable change in the scaling of the car and ride heights. It's not a bad thing if you know what you are signing up for but if you for example take your car to a buddy's shop at the beginning of the season and then expect to run great all year, well that might not go well for you. This is the main reason I knowingly gave up some forward drive by going to the composites. They will not wrap up the same way as a stacked steel leaf but the rates don't change until you break them. I hope this helps!

[@MikeSr.06]

@@DIRTRACELIFE That, Helped tremendously ! Thank you a ton for taking the time to explain.

[@brittonspradlin4681]

I been watching a lot of your stuff, just got my first dirt car. It’s an old sport mod leaf spring car. I know I ain’t gonna do real good, as most cars here run the 4 link pull bar set up, but I wanna do all I can. 4 tires are just 4 tires, they offer X amount of traction and I think I should be able to give the anti squat guys a decent run… just gotta figure out how to

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

If its mono leafs and coils it's still going to be pretty competitive and if it's stacked leafs the key is putting some known fresh leafs on it. And don't be afraid to run a heavier RR leaf than LR leaf!

[@roccoprocopio5619]

Changing the angle of spring changes the anti squat. My go to on a leaf pro stock to add forward bite is to space the rear slider down an inch. Go to far and you’ll get wheel hop tho

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Exactly and yes I can tell you from experience that 12 inch shackles and 3 inch blocks will wheel hop. Oh yeah she bucked like a mule on tacky gumbo down at riverside international speedway but I had to try it :)

[@DanielBrickert77]

A year ago I asked you about swapping them if you can remember. The first camaro setup video you did its in the comments.

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Daniel, You know I am slow to the game ;) But I'm learnin!

[@DanielBrickert77]

@@DIRTRACELIFE learning with you man

[@ronaldmaples7564]

I believe I'm going to have to use that tape measure hack

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

It works for me pretty dang good.

[@sonliving]

It looks like you are on to something..hope to hear how it worked out for you 👏👏

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

I'm doubling down! Just ordered a new 225 and 175 and I am putting the 225 on the RR ;)

[@stevenwade9813]

Jason I’m gonna need you to run it one time behind the wheel and let us know, I’ve gotta buy new springs in a couple months an would like to see how this works for the car. Also would this not take a lot of your left rear bite out since it’s heavier on the right side

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Well Steven, There is NO WAY I can fit behind the wheel the way I set it up for her LOL The heavier spring to the right is not at all a factor in cross or bite because I have adjustable spring cups in the front, multi-hole shackles in the rear, and can change lower block heights on the springs as well. Just for frame of reference, if I had not adjusters in the front and the same rate springs across the front, just a one inch taller lowering block on the right rear would be more than enough to compensate for the heavier right rear leaf and put bit into the left.

[@jeremyfowler7505]

​@@DIRTRACELIFE So what kind of split have you found in the front goes with this rear spring change you have made?

[@tommyhitt9071]

I used composites when they first came out. Since steel springs always want to return back to their original state of being flat. Was going through three sets a year, re-arching made it worse. Composite springs made it tighter going in. Since the arch is less than a steel it lowers the rear roll center’s.Since this all happened in the middle of the season I started trying different rates. Put the stiffest that they make LR250/225RR cut 2” off the rear of the spring’s bolted I let back on to change shackles angle made a big difference and helped the entry and exit with forward bite. Was wondering how soft of a front springs Can go with the roll center’s height and to the right. Also with the longer shackles could help with rotation. Thanks

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

All that makes sense to me Tommy. I do the same thing and raise the ride height while extending the shackle to prevent lowering the roll center and taking anti-squat out of the car. Also, I was doing pretty decent on a 750 rf as the softest but honesty I think 8 to 900 is better for drive off.

[@tommyhitt9071]

@@DIRTRACELIFE was getting ready to go with a 900RF 800LF with front roll center’s to the right of center line.

[@RylinDuncanRacing14]

Would this work on my Camaro if I’m running a smaller dot tire?

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Well sure, tire size affects a car's ability to hold wheel load to the track and that is just lap speed at the end of the day. It's true that the more a tire can hold, the free-er you need to make the car, but DOT tires compared to H500s, G60, or grooved asphalt scuffs is not a big change that wrecks your setup. You just free it up or tighten according to how well they work.

[@outfitsgarage88]

Interesting theory. I believe you have something figured out.

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

I hope so sir.

[@outfitsgarage88]

@@DIRTRACELIFE I'm thinking you might have to still go up on the LR spring to make the bite work. Because of not enough arch in the soft spring. Although the longer shackles might fix that.

[@danamcintyre3565]

On the modified there's a place behind the seat on the frame that is built for squaring so that it makes it easier to measure from but what you have work that's just another way you can do it.

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

I have square tubing built in on my Camaro just for that purpose as well. Smart minds think alike ;) I still use the front lowers as well and it's very universal :)

[@jeremy8169]

Does the Lf leaf flatten out or wrap up under drive ? You use a spring rubber on the right rear ?

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Jeremy, on acceleration the front flattens and then the back wraps as it does it. It's the reverse when you let off. No, I don't have a rubber isolator on the right side.

[@russwagner753]

So do the shocks stay where they were before the spring swap or do shocks swap with the springs?

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Russ, No you would not swap the shocks. We are still looking to have a shock on the rr that's main job is to keep the car planted by smoothing out the the bumps with it either 50/50 in nature or possibly a slight increase in rebound where as we are looking for some extra compression possibly in the lr for timing the load during mid-turn and exit. Swapping them would be the opposite and would be bad 👎

[@russwagner753]

Thank you Jason I’m in the process right now of installing new leafs in my nova, I’m going to give this a try.

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Just keep in mind, I am trying and learning as well. I don't claim to know the best way, just to be honest and bring everyone along for the journey. Good luck and please let us know how yours does as well. Maybe we can compare notes and both get faster 😀

[@daleolson3506]

So your going to make it tighter in and looser off .

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

I did this because I adapted my driving style to make the leaf car much better in the slick. And it is. But you drive it differently because you pick up the throttle on entry and roll into the corner instead of drifting it in on a slide/skate. comes through the middle much faster and you no longer need a ton of bite to get off the corner.

[@kechumgreen8893]

back in the day my buddy built a rear end straightener out of I beam. you could mount a rear end in the jig and measure with a dial indicator. he would use a bottle jack to make the adjustments. the jig isn't that hard to make if you got a welder and drill press. there is bound to be some videos doing this on youtube.

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Absolutely Kechum, the one way I have straightened an axle was a trailer axle with just a log chain and bottle jack but boy oh boy you better have that jack chained up cause if it jumps out she's a missle 😞

[@jeremydavis5915]

Unfortunately I can't run composits. But this is the route I'm going, but started thinking.. would it make sense to run the 5" arches instead of 6.5"? Or do people mix and match?

[@DIRTRACELIFE]

Mixing them could be confusing in the setup because ride height blocks wouldn't act the same. You would have to account for that and then it would shift the roll center but not sure by how much. I like alot of arch and in stacks I like the 6.5" Landrums but in composites it just doesn't exist (there is no 6.5 inch composite) More arch with lowering blocks has more anti squat and more forward drive.