Lifted rear end question

[NCbluebird]

Ok so my RR has not arrived yet, but I'm curious about a couple things and thought I should ask here first before making any assumptions.

How are the rear of 71-74 RR/Sats lifted for the wider wheels commonly? Any one have pictures of stock and their version of modded?

The RR I am picking up, from some pictures I received appears to have an odd configuration, maybe one I'm going to have to undo and put right. Appearently the owner before the guy I bought it from started with Air Shocks, then at some point has mounted coil overs on the axel housing to lift it. The current owner said that the air line tubing to the air shocks was bad and did not appear to work so he removed it.

Picture to follow, I'll know more when the car gets here later this week. Now that all said I'm not sure I want to keep the High School boy look <grin> but may opt for a RetroRod look instead. We'll see when it arrives

rear-sus.jpg

rear-suspension

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[Dave]

I guess it all depends on how wide you want to go. I have 295-50-15s for Project Blue Bird. I had a set of wheels made up with 4.75" backspace which pretty much has the rim dead center in the wheelhouse. With the 295's, I have 3/4" clearance to the spring. Matter of fact, I did my trial test on my SSP, and with her original (and probably a bit tired) springs in a stock setup, there were no clearance issues at all:

http://www.roadrunnernest.com/forum/vie ... f=12&t=270

[Serious Satellite]

A lot of us back in the day used Shackles to lift our car a bit. . it's fallen out of favor in a lot of circles, especially in the younger Mopar crowd, but it's the easiest way to lift your car for clearance AND get you a good dragster profile for your car.

[landon1]

i've never had to deal with too wide of a tire, but my car has add-a-leafs and air shocks - pumping them up makes it handle horribly. hopefully re-building the suspension this winter, at which point, it will get stock HD stuff and sit pretty much level. i've followed behind my car before and really don't like looking at the gas tank, and everything else under the rear of the car. jmo

[Elvad]

You have to ask yourself one question..do you want it to hook or handle? You have to approach each topic separately. First take all the air shocks, coil overs and traction bars* and throw them in the dumpster out back. Now you have to realize that you (we) all own a car with the best rear suspension in the industry. Ever heard of an SS/AA Dart or Cuda? Its all factory suspension. This is where the asterix on traction bars comes in. I think if you search a car called The Mopar Missile there is a factory torque link/traction bar on some of those cars. Our cars do handle best with a slight forward rake angle (SLIGHT like 1") not only will you car handle poorly with an extreme rake angle I have seen this completely wipe out a K-frame. The lower control arm pivot pin hole can't handle the increased angle and will oblong, good luck fixing that. These cars have huge wheelwells why would you want to go bigger than a 9" slick? Search the factory performance catalog for spring and torsion bar choices They (used to be) the best source.. a lot of stuff is discontinued now but still a good source for research. As far as hooking or handling a lot of this is decided by the front suspension. 90/10 front shocks and small torsion bars means weight transfer accelerating = hook. Higher spring rates front and rear with stiffer shocks (leave the coil overs in the dumpster) and lower the whole car = handle. I went with the 1.125" 1/2 mile flat oval track torsion bars and the 1" arch NASCAR rear leafs,( both discontinued now). I probably won't break anything with it sitting in the garage w/no motor in it.

[scotts74birds]

Interesting thread. I'm old skool and like the slight rake look. Plus the added mileage benefits of always going downhill ! I have 235-60 15's on the front and they fill the holes fine, keeping the 15 inch rallies, I plan on having the rear rims widened to accept the larger tires so I don't get the balloon look. The 295-50 15 sounds great and I'll check that backspace you recommended. One suggestion on my part, if you are running a big tire combo on the back, might want to look into a rear sway bar to minimize any side to side movement.