Old School Mono Leaf

[HMS27]

Like the title says. Have a mono leaf / coilover chassis. Any old school chassis guru's remember how to set these things up? It has the lift bar also. Was wondering if using it as a way of tuning it was common.

[TheJet-09]

I still have my notes from a chassis class I went to back in 1996 (?) put on by Bloomquist and Barry Wright. They covered some Mono-Leaf stuff. No guarantee as to its accuracy (but it must've worked for him) or how it would relate to today. 1) Run softer leafs (244?) on a slick track and stiffer (260/290?) on a hooked up track. 2) The RR coil straight up reduces roll (not sure how?) and tightens up the car, turns better through the corner. 3) You can run 80-90 lbs of RR bite with the LR out (wheel spacer). 4) A progressive 5th coil works somewhat well. 5) Scott won at Eldora with a 125# LR coil spring and a 200# RR coil spring (tight going in but better corner speed). 6) Keep the mono-leafs at the same angle (toe in) and run the rear sliders parallel to the ground. 7) You'll only get about 1" of 5th coil travel with mono-leafs. 8) Lift bar length (5th coil) should be 34". ***If any of it works, great. If not, blame Scott! He also talked about running a locker in the rearend and not a spool. Logic says a mono-leaf car won't want to turn very well, but lockers can be inconsistent as well.

[HMS27]

Thanks for the information. Did he by chance say anything about front springs?

[TheJet-09]

Nothing specific to mono-leafs. At the time (which was before the LR spring behind era on a 4-bar), he made it clear that you have to "work" the RF spring. The car he had at the class was a 4-bar. I had a couple mono-leaf cars way back when, but ran limited LM stuff on hard tires. The only thing I remember distinctly is that new leafs always made the car feel better. I liked Landrum leafs best. I wish the best for you, but with the stuff that's available today, unless your track stays hooked up and you have a ton of horsepower, you might get discouraged quickly.

[25drtrkr]

Man you're talkin old school here. On our Warriors, we usually ran 500/500 and up to 550 on rf. Usually in the rear, the monos were rated at 55-65 lbs, we ran 200/200 for springs. We also ran a locker in the rear and ran the adjustable lowering block on the rr. Hope this helps!

[HMS27]

Thanks guys. When they first created this class they wanted it to be a cheap throwback class. Since then they have allowed the bar cars back. There is one who is running a half leaf deal and is having very good success with it. He's won a few features this year already.

[HMS27]

I've been thinking about floating the right rear like the fastboys setup. Just not sure what it will do with a coil over on the left rear instead of the stacked leaf. I guess I'll find out soon enough. Lol

[DaveBauerSS6]

You will bend the mono on the left floating it.

Scrap the mono and the coil and go to a stacked leaf on the LR, no lift bar.

Or

Mono and float both sides and run the lift bar.

[lovinlatemodels]

Sounds like a great class to race in I like old school. Now as long as they keep the bar cars to 1 shock and spring per corner and no shock behind. Also keep the shocks standard 50/50 valving and get away from the high dollar stuff the mono leaf cars will compete just fine. I kind of miss this style racing you couldn't buy your wins you actually had to drive and know how to handle a car.

[HMS27]

I'm going to try the floated rr. I think with the lift bar and coil on lr in front it will be strong enough to keep the lr mono from bending. Time will tell.