Lakewood Bolt On Ladder Bars 1973-1977 A Bodies

Looking to sell the set of Lakewood Bolt On Ladder Bars that were on my 1974 Cutlass.
Lakewood no longer manufactures the bolt on ladder bars for 73-77 A bodies. They still manufacture the slapper bars.
They are bolt on no welding required. You will need to drill two holes in the frame to mount the front bracket. It also bolts to the front trailing arm bolt/nut/bushing.

I'm changing to adjustable upper and lower control arms.

I have pics that I can send to those interested.
They are black, powderocated with all of the mounting hardware etc.

Lakewood has the instructions for the 68-72 A Bodies, Same procedure for installation.
https://www.carid.com/lakewood/ladder-bars.html

Unless they changed their design, the 73-77 should bolt to the lower shock bolt in the rear. Unlike 68-72 which bolt to the rear most lower control arm bolt. Directions should be.different.
Post up a pic.if.you can.

If I wasn't going a different direction, I'd be interested in them. I've always loved the way they look and how well they performed. Back in the day, the early to mid 70's, these were the way to go for anyone that had a coil spring GM car. How much you asking for them Jeff?

I had these on the monte for 10 years. replaced the lower bar,and you could not use a sway bar.

Those replaced the.lower.control arm? That's.pretty cool. Never.seen those.before. They look like a ladder.bar.

The lower control arms are still used. Makes the car stiffer and hooks better.

I'm asking $250. Also posted locally on Detroit craigslist.
http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/pts/5892928586.html
Regards,
Jeff

Image of the ladder bars

I haven't figured out how to imbed a pic. I keep receiving a Syntax error?

Here's a link of my '74 Cutlass.

LIMEY LIKES THIS RIDE VERY NICE

Limey SE wrote:LIMEY LIKES THIS RIDE VERY NICE

Me too, Me too. What size back tires were those ??

325/50/15. Had to roll the wheel well lip a little. Pained me to do, but upgrading from the 350 olds to the 455 (.060 over), I needed more traction.

The Chevelle's look good. My Dad had a 75 Malibu, picked up from a little old lady with 10K on the odometer.

I was wondering if you still have the ladder bars off the 74 cutlass if you do are you still willing to sell them
Chris

What was the Lakewood part number for these. I am looking for a set too.

I bought a set but the guy was pretty clueless I think they fit 72 and earlier GM A Body. So I would love some pics of the right ones too so I can identify them.

Dave Smith wrote:I bought a set but the guy was pretty clueless I think they fit 72 and earlier GM A Body.  So I would love some pics of the right ones too so I can identify them.

Just an FYI this post is a Few Years Old thanks Admin

The black ones in the pic above are definitely for 73-77 A body. You can tell by the large angle bracket. That bracket goes between the lower shock bolt and its mount. Very weak place to mount it. IT WILL eventually oblong and rip your lower shock mount bolt hole off. Ive done it several times and had to repair it.

The pre 73 bars, for that mount, mount to the lower control arm rearward bolt. Much stronger mounting with no issues.

All in all, the traction bars do work well. Ive run them for quite a while until I got tired of re-welding the lower shock hole and changing the front rubber bushings on the ladder bar mount. But they do look super cool under there.

In my opinion, bolt on ladder bars would be my last choice for a traction aid for our cars. My next choice would be traction bars. They look cool as well but in order for them to do their "traction" job, the snubber needs to be close to the frame to stop axle rotation and direct that energy to the wheels. Works well when going straight but with the snubber close to the frame, while normal driving. the suspension articulates up and down. The snubber will constantly hit the frame and rotate the axle for no reason putting stress on suspension components.

For me, the best traction "add on" are no-hop bars. They move your upper control arm axle mount just a bit higher. This changes the imaginary meeting point of your upper and lower control arms. That meeting point is brought closer to the center of the vehicle. Upon launch, it stops the car from squatting and plants the tires. Works very well. edit Miller racing (which I believe might be out of business) makes/made them for our cars. My question would be, since we have an 8.5 rear axle and some 71-72 A bodies did come with an 8.5 rear axle, would a pre-gen pair of no-hop bars work on our cars?

Just my 2 cents.

Thank you very much. I am trying to reproduce a car I had in high-school, 1982-3, not necessary the best or most efficient option. I had severe axle hop and the bars did stop that!

The bars will stop the hop. But to address the issue Id make sure the control arm bushings and shocks are all new. That will get rid of the hop. Also, the more horizontal (parallel to the ground) the lower control arm is, the less hop you will encounter. Usually when the back end is jacked up it will be easier to run into wheel hop issues.