that's a good link Cranky
Chris Alston knows his ****, breaks it down pretty well too
fab work & lack of room
or people wanting to keep their backseats or not wanting to cut the floors
also deter them from using a 4 link suspension sometimes too
it's a tad more (depend on you fab skills) fab work
& only slightly more $$$ for the parts, special brackets with crazy adj. holes in them
most combos still need the same style coil-overs too, pref. dbl adj.
4 link, are in all classes
that rules allows it, it is the industry std.,
in drag racing & other racing styles too
there's in from 14 second cars (maybe slower) & low 5 second cars running them
it's sort of more of a personal preference deal IMO
Yes ladder bars are a bit simpler, they aren't certainly or necessarily better
it doesn't take as much room underneath the car too, as a true 4 link
like I said above it's more of a room (
or lack of room & don't want to cut it up)
& fab or tuning deal/choices
I've been in the high 7's, in the 1/4 on ladder bars @ almost 170
They obviously will work...
Originally I was slowed down for a 8.50 index car for Pro-Gas,
all steel 2900# 49 Ford with a FI 488cid PG trans-brake or foot brake
View attachment 958123
pretty much the same
Chris Alston dbl. adjustable ladders
way back in the 80's
I had the 4 link later in the same car,
4 link also from Chris Alston Chassis Works
(I knew his old shop foreman Jim well, he raced with US)
it worked better, freed up movement,
slightly better 60ft low best of 1.10-15-ish vs 1.20-ish,
on the same types of tracks prep surfaces
same engine trans combo,
faster basically by the better 60ft,
getting into 2nd gear a tad later "not spinning",
mph better out the back
x maybe 1.5 - maybe 0.05-0.15 hundredths better,
depending on the track prep or altitudes
it helped to get down tracks that were more marginal before
usually with just a little upper bar adjustment,
it'd get down tracks it didn't do as well on before...
I also planned on putting far more HP (1500-1800+) to that rear suspension
nobody that had that much power back then, was running ladder bars
it later had a
526-540cid Milodon Mastodon Hemi 8.71:1 Blown, Enderle Bug Catcher Inj-Alky
that'd run in the best of 7.20 @ 188, with the 4 link best (IIRC) 1.05 60ft
my buddy claimed it was doing on the rear tires past 60ft
on a lot of good tracks (I'm not so sure about that)
wheelie bars (great tuning aid) was keeping it straight
& not very high up, moving forward & out always,
not up
the adjustability of the 4 link aided tuning for that
this went consistent 7.0's high 180's
on 4 link too
Calif. Outlaw P/S early 1990-ish
View attachment 958145
this went best 6.69 @ 217 best 1994-ish Calif. Outlaw P/S
on a 4 link too
if I can do it, 20 years ago, many should be able to today
with better technology & better tire compounds
View attachment 958146
IMO, it depends on what you're doing, what you want
are you going to step up later ?
4 links are infinitely adjustable for many different ways,
(
to tame it down or to pull the front wheels, change center of gravity
a little or drastically too, there are basic 4 link settings to start out with too,
just like ladder bars, a good fab & chassis guy could get you dialed in
& teach you pretty quickly too, it's not crazy tough,
it's more of a personal choice & room thing or your fab/tuning skill)
you really want the car to move forward & out of the beams
(
think of Pro-Stock cars, how they leave, drive out forward/hard, not huge wheel stands,
I know we aren't talking about P/S power or ET's here either)
not necessarily up & out, rip the front end up, pull the tire out of the beams
like many tune their suspensions/cars to do/leave
unless trying to cheat
a red light & want to pull the tire Up out of the beams
like many "super stocker" type cars, appear to be doing,
or when you're running on an index or dial in, mostly bracket racing
not heads up racing, with no breakout
hell I went a best of 8.58 @ 156
in a street/strip 68 RR 3520# car, on a 300 shot of N2O
same car would do 9.77 @ 135 with a little N/A street/strip 479cid wedge
15 years ago
with Calvert CalTrac bars with just a few flats of preload
on some shitty near wore out 315/60/15 M/T Drag radials,
test & tune day Sacramento in 100* heat, appr. 2000ft AD
I'll bet I didn't have $20k in the whole damn car
sometimes simpler is better
the guys at Calvert all always said you had to
have 5" of separation on the front suspension for them to work
that car liked more like 3"- 3-1/2" or it'd just wheelstand like a mo-fo
wasting ET going up, not forward & many times having to lift
some of them phone call tune ups, aren't for every combo
one size doesn't fit all either, neither does one specific suspension
good luck what ever style of rear suspension you choose
