No rear suspension ratrod

I was looking at old pictures of a chopper I built a few years back. It was a ridgid meaning no rear suspension. That got me thinking, how about building a rat rod without a rear suspension? Kind of a rat rod bar hopper. All I would do is run the pressure real low in the rear tires. This way I would not have to worry about all the extra hardware, no Zing the frame, no axle hop, etc. What do you guys think? I initially posted this on the more tradionlal hot rod site and they bascially ran me out of town.

Gee they ran you out of town? Can't believe that...I thought they were so understanding and caring.
Amyway.....I would think that the "bouncing" around might not be the most comfortable. I'm not sure how safe it would be too...you would have a lot more weight moving around everytime you hit a bump with a car compared to a bike. That's where I think the problem would be, but that's just one mans opinion. I'll be interested to see what others may have to say about it

I'm no fuddy duddy, I've done some pretty crazy stuff, but that idea only sounds good till the novelty of your car wears off. It will be very uncomfortable, but I spose you could do it.

Now leave town.

I seen a blown t-bucket with a ridgid rear on it ! years ago when i was in the navy at a car show in va.
it was a nice show car too, a high dolor ride,i asked how it rode [he had big pro street micys on it] ,he said it rode great and hooked up great too.
But with that blower on it it looked scary to me .
Air pressure is a big factor and i'd say big byply tires would be best.
I know why ,but i still have to ask ,why not just build a suspension,i know some cheep and easy ways to do it [low buck] if you need some good advice ,you can deffinatly get it on this forum!

chopper tom said:

I seen a blown t-bucket with a ridgid rear on it ! years ago when i was in the navy at a car show in va.
it was a nice show car too, a high dolor ride,i asked how it rode [he had big pro street micys on it] ,he said it rode great and hooked up great too.
But with that blower on it it looked scary to me .
Air pressure is a big factor and i'd say big byply tires would be best.
I know why ,but i still have to ask ,why not just build a suspension,i know some cheep and easy ways to do it [low buck] if you need some good advice ,you can deffinatly get it on this forum!

Click to expand...

I was thinking no suspension for the same reason I did not put one on my chopper. Basically to keep things nice and simple. I would not have to deal with Zing the frame or pan hard bars, leaf springs, coilsover,etc. Also no axle warp. Just to give you more info, I am building a model A truck, flat bed. Not much weight over the back. Also, since I would not have to Z the frame, It would be a breeze to build the flat bed. Sure it would bounce around but how would it be different from a dump truck with no load. My understanding is that the supension on those rigs are designed for load, and when they run empty, it is basically like no suspension. Also, if this experiment does not work, it would not be difficult to add a suspension. I would not build the bed until I tested this so it would not be much work to add the suspension later.

Have you seen a Dragster do that wicked bounce thing on the rear axle when they get out of shape? And that is on a strip, not the roads around here. I say sure, anything can be done, but will it stay in it's lane? Probably not. Safe? I don't think so. Maybe that is just me.

99% of people seem to think it's unsafe,for one reason or another.

Try blocking the suspension up completely solid on any car you have around,
and try and drive it.See how it feels.


With a real light car,springy seats,and big soft sidewall slicks or sprint car tires,
flexible chassis,etc,you might get away with it for a while.

Decent suspension will let you drive faster,on rougher roads,
and still be able to see.
-------
One one of the Biker Buildoff shows,Billy Lane competed against
some guy with a swing arm frame.Billy couldn't go any faster than 60,
the other guy left him behind.
-------
I usually don't follow the crowd,but in this case,they are correct.
Zeeing a frame isn't that hard.

i think it could look really cool if done right. I would think you would meed huge rear tires with giant sidewalls to make it liveable though.

We ran a 1937 Fiat with no rear suspension at the drags. You feel every bump in the track and when it got out of shape it was a hand full to get back.

We used to block the rear on our 4X4 for pulling. You couldn't stay in the cab on the highway! 40 mph was torture. Don't do it.

Not to mention jonny law ! id hate to try and exsplaine that one to a ****ed off cope ?
We have enough of a bad rap agaist us ratters anyways ,we need to go forward not bacwards!
I dont blaim you for trying to save time and money but ive seen an s-10 with a 2/2 sqaure tubbing with a bushing sleive welded on one end and a lowwering block on the outher side that bolted on with u bolts ,and with coil over spring buckets on the back and a pan hard bar ,it worked great and i'm planing on putting the same on my rat.2'' tubbing is very cheap and very strong ,should hook up very good too.This guys been driveing it that way for years and it's dependable on long trips too.
Thers ways to do things that are cheep and effective with out having to order every thing ,just check around !

If you want something different,go with an underslung suspension on both ends.
It's different enough to freak out the "self declared experts",
but safe and reliable if built correctly.Search for Underslung on the HAMB.

Second choice is 1/4 elliptic springs.

Thanks for the great feedback, and not one insult! You guys rock. I think based on what I heard, I will put together a simple suspension. ChopperTom, do you have a picture or a drawing of the suspension you mentioned?

All of the advice to not do it was very good. Years ago I had an Austin Bantam altered drag car with a solidly mounted rear axle. The rides back up the return road were pure torture and I was only running 11-13 pounds in the slicks. On the street you would be sitting on a lot of cushions before too long, not to mention the ill handling qualities.

But you are thinking, and that is always a good thing.

Don

Ever see how much spring is in the stock VW Beetle seats ?
And they have 4 wheel independent suspension.

With solid suspension,you would need the seats on air bags,
like some of the big rigs.


Simple is good.

I'm glad to hear you're going to use a suspension now...
When I read this my first thought was a 71 Challanger that I had back in the early 90s.. When I got it someone had put air shocks in the rear and they were pumped up nice and high.. but the thing rode like crap. I almost lost the car one day when I came around a corner that was kind of chewed up so it was like a washboard, I was not going fast at all, but the back end was way to hard and it started skipping over the tops of the bumps and almost came around...
After that I put regular shocks in it, and you would not believe the difference going around that same corner...
I believe it's a safety issue, not anything more..

Used to see the kids around with the slammed Mustangs.
You could tell they cut too much out of the coils,or just
heated them until it was down on the bump stops.

The cars would hop from one bump to the next.
Kind of like riding in a shopping cart.
A year later,you didn't see any like that.
They were either sold,or put back to stock.

The next year the kids with the Hondas did the same thing.
A year later ....

Let me see what i can do for ya jayzx6 .A pic is worth a thousand words if i can get some time to do it for ya .
You will need some tubing [2'' square is prefered if you are going to be using the factory leaf spring saddles ]a couple of 3/8'' allen bolts and nutz,and some light duty coil springs out of some thing small.[ i used chevette's and mg's,and mustang gt's]
I dont know how low you want it but i would get a 3'' lowering block kit with u -bolts from auto zone or other parts store.I'm using leaf spring bushings out of a 68 camaro and a piece of tubing cut to fit them and weld it to the end of the square tubing [kinda like a control arm]And make your own spring buckets and i prefer to mount them behind the rear end so i can control the hight easyer and it will hook up better also .A pan hard bar can be made out of just about anything if you look around [the longer the better too,and how you install it with decide how much side to side movement you have also]
I run the shock in the middle of the springs also[through the center and make custom mounts.]
There are many variations on this but i know for a fact that it works well and is so simple and cheap [air bags could be used also easily]

I have seen people using stock rear controll arm suspetions from buick reagel and sutch on other sights and looks real good too,if you can find some that arent rusted out.
I will try to get some pic's up asap!

Thanks for the reply Chopper Tom. I think I get what you are saying. Basically a contol arm for the back. What if I substitute the coil with a shock in the middle with a coilover shock.

Reminds me of when I had ridged chopper. First time I really slammed on the binders, the back end kept bouncing up and down. Went through a red light. Thank God there was no cross traffic.

Simplest suspension I ever saw was on a V8 Bug. Rear axle had lower lift bars , pan hard bar and air shocks. Actually worked quite well.