Front Struts on a Dragster?

January 07, 2022, 09:47 AM

329L

quote:
Originally posted by 1320racer:
if there was a performance benefit it would be at least offered as an option by every dragster builder and it's not. The 2 or 3 builders that offer it as an option build few cars with it. The quickest, the fastest and the winningest dragsters in the country don't have a front suspension.

On the contrary, some of the fastest, non top- dragster, are Diamonds going 3.90s/4.0s and are at ALL the big money races and winning. Chris Stine, Dan and Cory Mong have WON BIG money with their pro charged Diamonds. With that being said, i am not sold on a dual suspended car BECAUSE, we went to dragsters to have less moving parts for the consistency aspect.

January 07, 2022, 10:03 AM

1320racer

again, the winningest dragsters in the country do not have a front suspension as my current dragster does not nor will my next dragster.

January 07, 2022, 11:26 AM

Jodie Jent

Of course there are benefits to either the struts or diamond style suspension.

We have had 3 altereds for example in the past with only 1 of them having struts. It was the best car out of the 3 hands down.

My current Diamond has been .957 60' with no bar, no weight in the nose, and no wheelies or any kind.

January 07, 2022, 05:56 PM

TOP38

For those who state adding a front suspension helps to keep the front tire in the beams without adding weight, well how much do you thing two shocks, springs etc weigh? For the pivoting type front ends, same deal, your adding weight up front. On track performance, meaning added consistency for these vs hard mounted front ends is zero IMO or they would be on each one built. I am sure they ride better though, especially in the pits.

BTW, stating that your dragster went .957 in 60' with no bar and no weight with a front suspended car, (which I believe) just means your entire combo is well balanced, and as I mentioned above you do have added weight up front. My hard mounted 4 link car has gone .965 in 60' with no weight and no bar. Not hard to do with the right combo.

January 07, 2022, 06:53 PM

Cashflow

My car lost weight because I was carrying weight up front so it wouldn’t red light. I know, I know, I just needed to tune the chassis better.

Wouldn’t take for my Diamond front suspension. Drives like a dream and rides like a dream and no more red lights because of a wheelie.

Pick your poison, let’s race!

January 07, 2022, 07:05 PM

abitz

I converted my 09 Nelson last year with a Diamond front end and I can honestly say it was worth the effort , it even worked out to be lighter than before !
- I bough a kit from Dan for $1k and did the work myself.
- I went one step further and added an air bag to be able to lift it up so I get it in and out of the trailer without having extra long ramps or lifting front of trailer .once airbag is deflated the Original design is permitted to work with no interference.
- Our tracks back home are like Beirut so the suspension really helped !
- total weight gain was 33 lbs and removed about 9lbs in bars and wiring .
- so how did I save the weight ? Well I always ran 2 battery’s and deleted one . By moving the battery closer to the engine I no longer needed that extra battery to crank it .

January 07, 2022, 07:25 PM

Mike Frizie

diamond for the win !

January 07, 2022, 09:02 PM

Cashflow

Ed, you have a PM

January 08, 2022, 09:15 AM

Top355x

Pic of diamond front with air bag

January 08, 2022, 01:09 PM

Hotrod Corvette

quote:
Originally posted by Top355x:
Pic of diamond front with air bag

Yes I would like to see this set up too.

January 08, 2022, 05:09 PM

Top355x

I would guess the airbag is probably pushing on the axle but still want to see a pic

January 08, 2022, 05:15 PM

abitz

I got a complete build photo and video on my fb page U can see them there or anyone that wants u can pm me ur email and I’ll send u pics that u can post on here also .

January 08, 2022, 07:25 PM

Cashflow

Abitz,

Need a name for your Facebook page. I couldn’t find it.

January 09, 2022, 12:05 AM

SLICKSTER

Actually most all the Diamond Dragsters are built with the front suspension. Also the amount of Dragsters getting dropped of to be retrofitted is large also. It kinda all come down to preference. I have owned and driven solid car, rear suspension, and rear and front suspension. Won races with all and they each have their own personality so to speak.

January 09, 2022, 08:04 AM

Curly1

Many of you may be using a Grid to pull some timing at the hit to keep it from popping out of the beams and going Red.

With front suspension you may not need to pull as much timing if at all meaning you have the potential to run faster. The harder you can hit it earlier in the run the faster you will be. IF YOU ARE USING A GRID TO KEEP IT FROM POPPING OUT OF THE BEAMS YOU COULD PROBABLY BENEFIT FROM FRONT SUSPENSION.

The main reason I went with front Strut Suspension on my new Altered is to keep it from popping out of beams, we are not allowed to use Grid. And of course smoother ride on some of the rougher tracks. Two of the tracks we run at have a rough shut down. Anything we can to to make it smoother makes it safer is worth considering for those tracks.

And Dragsters may get even better as front suspension would allow to use a stiffer chassis which could help even more. The chassis flex which all of us long cars have helps the car to hook and absorb some rough stuff but it is un-dampened and can cause bounce. If I was going to keep my 225" Front Engine Dragster I would look into front suspension. On a long car the Diamond or Yancer type is probably better and more stable than a Strut type. For shorter, wider car like altered I would go with Struts.

May cost a little more but that is not much of an issue. You would get much of it back if you ever sell it and may win more to. At least on my Altered I think it was worth every penny and was one of my hard requirements for the new car.

Hardtail cars won a lot of races and a lot of money. Then at some point the Four link cars started taking over and everyone though you had to have rear suspension if you were a serious racer.

Very soon we could be saying same thing about Front Suspension. Just Saying.

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January 09, 2022, 09:49 AM

1320racer

my car does NOT use "a Grid to pull some timing at the hit to keep it from popping out of the beams and going Red", my car WORKS!

IMO and many, many others, a front suspension on these cars is a marketing gimmick. Don't want it, don't need it.

January 09, 2022, 11:54 AM

TOP38

quote:
Originally posted by Curly1:
Many of you may be using a Grid to pull some timing at the hit to keep it from popping out of the beams and going Red.

With front suspension you may not need to pull as much timing if at all meaning you have the potential to run faster. The harder you can hit it earlier in the run the faster you will be. IF YOU ARE USING A GRID TO KEEP IT FROM POPPING OUT OF THE BEAMS YOU COULD PROBABLY BENEFIT FROM FRONT SUSPENSION.

The main reason I went with front Strut Suspension on my new Altered is to keep it from popping out of beams, we are not allowed to use Grid. And of course smoother ride on some of the rougher tracks. Two of the tracks we run at have a rough shut down. Anything we can to to make it smoother makes it safer is worth considering for those tracks.

And Dragsters may get even better as front suspension would allow to use a stiffer chassis which could help even more. The chassis flex which all of us long cars have helps the car to hook and absorb some rough stuff but it is un-dampened and can cause bounce. If I was going to keep my 225" Front Engine Dragster I would look into front suspension. On a long car the Diamond or Yancer type is probably better and more stable than a Strut type. For shorter, wider car like altered I would go with Struts.

May cost a little more but that is not much of an issue. You would get much of it back if you ever sell it and may win more to. At least on my Altered I think it was worth every penny and was one of my hard requirements for the new car.

Hardtail cars won a lot of races and a lot of money. Then at some point the Four link cars started taking over and everyone though you had to have rear suspension if you were a serious racer.

Very soon we could be saying same thing about Front Suspension. Just Saying.

Taking timing out at the hit to prevent pulling the wheels out of the beams usually hurts and not helps! By removing some power it allows the tire to dead hook! which is the main cause of this issue. Reduce launch rpm works the best, but you still have to balance the car vs the hp!

January 09, 2022, 07:55 PM

SLICKSTER

Curly, you are absolutely correct on the short and wide with the strut. And very true as you said about unsuspended cars winning a lot of races through the mid 80s to latter 90s. A solid car with the right tire and convertor was killer back then. The 4 link or swing arm then made the cars more versatile and sure made the ride way softer. And one more thing you can scrub 20 mph off at the stripe and not worry about bouncing.