I drove my Skylark for the first time on saturday. I got on it a few times, nothing major really. I hit it a bit and broket the rears free, and wham- nasty axle hop. It is violent. I have new everything- bushings, springs,& shocks. control arms are stock with factory boxed lowers. I've heard that air bags might help, but I have no expereience with them. what should I do?
Make sure you have good gas shocks. Air bags are cheap and you can get them from Sumitt or Jegs. Do you have a posi rear?
how about a traction device? possibly a set of slapper bars for the a - bodies or those no- hop bars that relocate the upper control arms?
I put some "no hop" bars on mine a couple of years ago and it still hopped. I think the stock stuff can be made to work with the right pinion angle, shocks and tire pressure. I was not happy with the "no hop" bars. Mike D.
Yes, Its an 8.5" 3.42 posi. What brand is good though? I have sensatrac shocks all the way around. I've had good luck with them in the past- loved them in my 85 T/A. A friend of mie told me the only way to fix it would be ladder bars- sounds ridiculous to me. I'm bummed, but when it does hook the car really squats nice and goes.
What you want the car to do on acceleration is to try and plant the rear axle and LIFT the back of the car, to do this the Instant Center must be changed by either raising the control arm inner mounting points on the rear axle, or lowering the outer control arm mounting points on the rear axle. Metco provides a drop bracket with their billet (adjustable upper) lower control arms to do this (weld it and bolt it) Southside Machine's lower control arms have the drop built in to their steel design lower control arms. Voila! no more wheel hop and a more stealthy look, just enough change to be known by the experienced or sharp eye, not so blunt as Ladders that control hop but really don't help traction as much, plus you create bind in all the pivot points because everything is trying to articulate at different angles with the ladder bars. The ladder bars also interfere with your Exhaust component location, Metco's are on my car and I LOVE them, but they also cost twice as much as the Southsides which would be my next choice, they have been doing them since the sixties. Shane :3gears: :Smarty: :TU:
The old school no hop bars that raise the upper control arm mounting point up a couple of inches - work like stink. I had tried everything and had terrible hop until I went with those. The only problem is that if you like to hammer around corners, you don't necessarily want to have the rear end lifting at those times. I ended up taking them out, now that I'm a corner burner.
Less Power? That should do the trick. :shock: Sorry, not very helpful, but I just couldn't resist. :spank:
