Whats the diference between the lakewood tractionbars and the truck- tracks bars?
I dont have the cash to buy the rancho style due to my driveshaft braking and the airbags deploying but i want some sort of traction bars so this doesnt happen again.

 

they both look the same to me.

 

The truk traks are of a heavier duty construction and are a better slapper style bar in my opinion. If you are going to stay with a slapper style traction bar I would go with the truk traks. If your going to go with the Rancho style later on just get the cheaper lakewoods for now.

 

I just bought some used Truck Traks from a member of this board and I am very happy with them. Like 2000L said, they are made a lot stronger than the Lakewoods and they are longer to. The Lakewoods are nice but the Truck Traks are made specifically for the Lightning and work great.

 

I have the Lakewoods and I upgraded the hardware. If were being honest, you're not going to get great traction with either bar but you will prevent any damage from being done if you install them. 2000L has a good point. The Lakewoods are $90 + $7.00 if you want to upgrade the bolts. Get them now for damage control and a little better hook-up and go with the 58"ers when you can afford them.

 

I had Lakewoods and they worked great..

infact too great and that is why I got rid of them.

when I'd try to kick the rear end sideways (around a curve or pulling out onto a street making a left hand turn) the Lakewoods would slap the leaf bars and give me traction and make the rear end jump funny. I was getting traction (eliminating leaf spring wrap and planting the rear end) but not when I wanted it.

I went with JLP Lift bars 58"

 

dan SS, can you get the ugreaded bolts from any vendor that sells the lakewoods? (ie Summitt). also, what's the fastest 1/4 mile anyone has run w/ the lakewoods? didn't rob02 have some?

 

I think Rob02 had Truk Traks. I believe he went 11.8 with them. I think he said the launch was a bit violent though. Im sure he will chime in before long.

 

i have a question about the lakewoods i have them on my truck and when i put them on, it says to put the yellow bumber on the eye of the leaf spring well that wouldn't work for me i had to move it back right before the eye on the flat part is that ok and about how big of a gab should i have from the bumbers to the leaf spring

 

mine were in the same place (just before the Eye of the Leaf)

For normal driving I had about 1" gap (it rarely made contact)
For the track It was real real close (not touching but real close to touching, almost touching)

I had a black rubber Stop that I cut down and put it on the traction bar for daily driving (it was short)

Then I used the one that came with the Lakewoods, the yellow poly-plastic one for the track, and it was about 20 pieces of paper thick from touching the spring.

It took aobut 5minutes per side to swap them. I had to loosen the from U bolts to give me enough room to do the swap, but I had the deep well sockets so it was no problem at all.

 

Here is a good reference for adjusting them.

The stickier the track or the more aggressive the tire (ET Streets, etc.), the more space is needed between the snubber and spring. This can be accomplished by installing a shorter snubber, or cutting down the large one. The gap should never exceed 3" or driveshaft binding may occur.

If you are using street tires (F1's), you may find that the tire hooks upon launch, then spins. This is because the bar is "planting" the tire initially, but the torque overcomes the available traction. This situation will require a taller snubber, or a spacer under the snubber. If you need a drawing of the spacer, I can provide it upon request.

 

I just got the Lakewoods in on last friday, installed them in about 30 min, went to the track and cut constant 1.8 60ft's. I think that is pretty good since I was at 2.1's all day long. I know somepeople are doing 1.8 and 1.9's with no traction devices, but here, our track sucks................

 

at 3" I'm thinking the driveshaft angle is going to BUST.

Read on Page 2 where they discuss pinion angle.

If you can figure out your pinion angle and then allow the slapper bars enough play to allow the pinion angle to go to -4 degree's on launch You shoul dhave maximum traction.. once you are outta the hole, it will return to normal

 

hey silverbolt1 i think i talked to you before at the track i had a silver 2000 and my buddy had a silver 01 i think when i talked to you, you were talking about buying one then another time i saw you, you had the lightning you came to me and asked question about our lightnings im chris and im looking forward to going to the track again since i got my new mods how is the track doing? and what was the space you had on the tractionbars to the leaf springs i have to re adjust mine but im out of those spaces so i don't know what to do unless i just cut one side of the bumber cuz when i wrecked my truck and got it back one side touches and the other side is about 3/4 from the leaf spring will it be ok to just cut the drive site bumber. silverbolt01 we should meet up some time again along with my other lightning buddys i live in waco well close to midway by hewitt dr

 

I bought them at a local machine shop.