In an industry that has horsepower readily available, the need for a consistent product and a consistent solution for racers rises up. That's where the AFCO Reinforced Front Segment Leaf Spring comes in. Today we're going to cover some information regarding leaf springs and why you need to consider making the upgrade to your leaf spring package.
In this example, notice how the front half of the leaf spring is wrapping the wrong direction a little bit.
Notice how much the leaf spring is opened up here in the rear. The shocks are at all full droop and the pinion angle has changed drastically. Any time we get into a positive pinion angle, you lose traction so we want to keep negative pinion angle there.
In this example, this leaf spring is completely worn out. The front segment is wrapped the wrong direction - it's gone up. There's no arch. This is not an ideal situation.
Slider Box (Camaro & Chrysler) - Frees up bind that mounts on the rear of the leaf spring.
Shackle - Rear Camaro
Weld On Pad - Goes on the axle housing that the U-bolts go around.
U Bolts - Go around the Lower Plate and sandwiches everything together.
There's a trick to mounting the slider box. You need to mount them at the same angle as the leaf spring. Look at the pictures above. They are not mounted correctly. Note the drawing below the cars for correct mounting. The slider box requires some welding. On the left picture, the racer has it close, but not completely right. You want the bolt more centered and welded with a wedge so it's on the same line as the datum line. This stops you from picking up undesired spring rate and bind.
You want the shackles mounted where it can swing forward and back without pre-loading or deloading the spring. You want them 5 degree back at the bottom so the bottom of the shackle is going away from the car. When you accelerate, the leaf spring distorts, it's going to pull the shack forward. You don't want that shackle to reach full travel because once you bind it, it unhooks the car and damage can occur.
Bottom Line
The use of AFCO Reinforced Front Segment Leaf Springs, new mounting hardware, and properly installed slider boxes or shackles can and will improve both starting line and down track performance.