Steve,
First off, it's sure nice to have the List back up and running again. Many
thanks to Mark Bradakis for overcoming Qwest's bureaucracy and obsolete
equipment to get us back on line.
The way I understand the bolt-on traction bars, their main advantage over
the weld-on type is that they actually do allow the front half of the leaf
spring to flex. Under normal up and down motion from bumps, the front
portion of the bar is clamped with only nominal force to the springs,
thereby letting the clamp move on the spring as the spring chord length
changes as it flexes. The clamp is located near the front spring perch, but
not close enough to push against it unless you apply torque to the rear
wheels. The only explanation I can think of for why the bolt-on bars would
increase spring stiffness is that either they are bolted on too tight and/or
the clamp is too close to the front of the spring, either of which would
restrict up/down motion.
I like the Caltrac design which looks like, as Hank says, doesn't jack the
car up (at least not much) during acceleration and doesn't produce any dive
during braking. For drag racing, lifting the front up (shifting weight to
the rear), but this is not what one wants during braking. Unfortunately, the
Walters design has this bad aspect under braking.
Bob
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