shock drop

[JHobbs26]

Is there a "magic" number people shoot for as far as how much the LR should drop?

I know my modified has 7+ inches of drop, I'm planning on adding a chain to the front of the cage to limit this and trying to figure how much to limit. If 5" is a common number what would happen if you went less than that? Would the less amount of steer help keep a car tight enough at say 4" of lift with less bar angle?

At belleville a couple of weeks ago, I was looking at Boen's car he wrecked in hotlaps and he was limiting the amount of lift with a chain on the front of the LR cage.

[Rocket Bonehead]

Is there a "magic" number people shoot for as far as how much the LR should drop?

I know my modified has 7+ inches of drop, I'm planning on adding a chain to the front of the cage to limit this and trying to figure how much to limit. If 5" is a common number what would happen if you went less than that? Would the less amount of steer help keep a car tight enough at say 4" of lift with less bar angle?

At belleville a couple of weeks ago, I was looking at Boen's car he wrecked in hotlaps and he was limiting the amount of lift with a chain on the front of the LR cage.


The shock drop on the birdcage isn't as important as the amount of total lift you get on the LR in order for the car to get a proper amount of travel and forward drive. Since modifieds are all so different, it is hard for me to give you a number to shoot for (axle tube to frame measurement). Maybe Billet can give you some more specific advice as he has more time with modifieds than I do.


RB

[mbaker76]

I have spent some time looking into this and quizzing Billet about it. I dont know that there is any right or wrong answer, but I do know we went from limiting the drop at the cage at 5 1/2-6" down to about 4 to 4 1/2" and the car is much calmer and still has good drive off the corner, all else being the same. You can get more LR drive wiht more lift but it also puts a lot more steer in the car as well, whcih can hurt more than the lift helps. Limiting it will keep steer out and it will keep it tighter, but I think if you go too far you wont get enough loading on the LR to keep the car tight even with less rear steer. We had the chain get tangled up last year and limited lift to about 1" car was super loose off the corner because there wasnt enough LR drive to work with everythign else, like the soft RF.

I think you are on the right track limiting it from 7", that seems really excessive to me depending on where you measure it at. I measure from right inside the cage to the upper frame rail, that is my reference point and we have been keeping it at about 4 1/2" drop from ride height with driver in the car. Right or wrong i dont know but thats what is working for us.




FYI...we are in a mod too.

[2dumb2kwit]

Can one of you smart guys help me with this, so I won't be dumb my whole life? If you hike the lr up 'til the limiter(shock,chain,etc.) stops it, then doesn't the lr unload anytime the car wiggles or hits a bump? (by unload, I mean try to lift the tire off the track)

[billetbirdcage]

Is there a "magic" number people shoot for as far as how much the LR should drop?

I know my modified has 7+ inches of drop, I'm planning on adding a chain to the front of the cage to limit this and trying to figure how much to limit. If 5" is a common number what would happen if you went less than that? Would the less amount of steer help keep a car tight enough at say 4" of lift with less bar angle?

At belleville a couple of weeks ago, I was looking at Boen's car he wrecked in hotlaps and he was limiting the amount of lift with a chain on the front of the LR cage.

There is no magic number, however if you have 7" of travel from the axle tube to the undersling/upper rail and you lessen that to around 5" you most likely will make the car tighter on the gas. Usually at that point (7" of travel) it is adding a tremendious amount of steer verses lift (wedge) and is actually loosening the car, so by limiting it down some you will tighten the car. All cars with cross a threshold point on the travel when the go from more lift tightens car to actually loosening the car. Where this happens is dependant on bar lenghts, angles, and such. So there isn't an exact point at which this happens but this usually happens around the 5" to 6" mark under a lot of cases. Which mbaker76 prety much covered.

Don't pay much attension to Belleville as alot doesn't tranfer to a normal track were you aren't full throttle all the way into and thru the corner.


2dumb2kwit, It doesn't upset the car as bad as you would think in my experience. If we weren't jacking up the cars on the bars and were driving more like the old days and the car rolled enough or caught a rut and lifted the left side of the car up, there wouldn't be much wieght on the LR tire anyways.

[JHobbs26]

thanks guys, I'll get over to the shop tonight and take some measurements and see exactly how much lift i'm getting and how much I can reduce that too.