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To Wheelie . . or not to wheelie . . . that is the question

Island Girl

Well-Known Member
OK, So I decided to do the right thing, and spend my Christmas money on a set of wheelie bars.

Problem is, that I know pretty much diddly squat about wheelie bars so here I am hoping you guys with experience can point me in the right direction.

Seems like bolt-ons would be easier and wouldn't destroy the painted rear so much as weld-ons would.

I'm also guessing weld-ons are stronger though, but I have no idea if I would need weld-ons or could use the bolt on style.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,

Darlene
 
You might try your car without any wheelie bars first. Not everyone can get enough traction to lift the front wheels.
 
It would be horrible to see any marks or fixes to that rear end. I dont know what to suggest except a custom installation. As above 'maybe' it wont wheelie, but to me thats a lot of money '''''gamble''''.. One HOT day and some sticky tarmac and things change in an instant.

I actually think that bars would not look too good unless done with a lot of thought, but, and its only a personal 'but' that's a choice that has to be decided on..

If you can figure a way of mounting bars without damaging or redesigning that pretty back end, you would, at least, gain the experience of your T in a HARD launch, knowing you are not going to look at the sky or indeed do a back flip. Its then up to you to stick with them or take em off and go about your business.

Seen enough friends get a shock on an 'adrenalin high' launch that bit them in the ass.

Its not hard to pick the front up if your try......
 
Maybe something that clamps to the tubes?

clamp.jpg
 
One thing to note about the Summit wheelie bars is they fit a 2-5/8 inch axle tube diameter. A Ford 9 inch
axle is 3 inches. But certainly the concept would work if someone makes a setup to fit your tube diameter.
 
One thing to note about the Summit wheelie bars is they fit a 2-5/8 inch axle tube diameter. A Ford 9 inch
axle is 3 inches. But certainly the concept would work if someone makes a setup to fit your tube diameter.


This one is similar and made for a 3" axle tube:

Competition Engineering C2043 Competition Engineering Bolt-On Wheel-E-Bars | Summit Racing

This one might be more robust, (and it's longer, 60" compared to 44") but has no mounting brackets . . . would have to see if bolt on brackets are available seperately.

Competition Engineering C2145 Competition Engineering Universal Wheel-E-Bars | Summit Racing


Maybe these brackets???

Competition Engineering C7046 Competition Engineering Bolt-On Conversion Kits | Summit Racing
 
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It's just another $100 for the longer 60" bars! Either way, it's going to hurt the paint some.
 
If you put them on, be sure to put out a traffic cone so people at car shows don't trip over them! On another board, a Bucket owner got sued when someone tripped over his wheelie bars at a car show!
 
I'm with "409T" on this, Get your car going and do a couple of hard burn-outs, made sure the asphalt is clean so you're not spinning on sand and then hooking-up on the pavement. You can add it on later. I know you have a big motor, but you're on an island, you can't run too far!:thumbsup:
 
IG - The flags will work well. Just watching out for you!
 
When asking similar questions about wheelie bars an old man once told me , "Remember, what goes up, has to come down, and it comes down hard. Think about it. Is it worth your front end? You've got the power. You know you can do it? Just let 'em wonder." I have ever since.
 
Get yourself a set of cheater slicks or borrow some on rims you can use, OR if you got nice wide MT's, get yourself some 'Moose Juice'....
Find yourself a strip of clean, well packed, sorta new asphalt, air your tires down to 10-12 psi. Grab yourself a 5 gallon bucket of clean tap water.
Now, wet down the asphalt in front of your rear tires for about 4 Ft. Drive thru the water, before your outta the water, nail your throttle and drive outta it spinning your tires. Drive forward 20 ft., park your T, in front of each rear tire lay down some Moose Juice, about 3 ft.
Now, pull your T forward so your in the juice about 6" to 1'....let your engine idle, the flash stall it. If your T has a RPM frame and decent front springs you'll be OK. Nail the throttle, shut down when your tach hits 4000 or you can't see over your radiator....
If your front end comes up, you need the wheelie bars. Unless you need them, I wouldn't run them on the street. I've found myself getting m rear wheels elevated in the most odd places, like dips into drive-ins, turning off the main road to get into a restraunt, etc.
If you still wanna run them, run some like choppingczech showed you, and dowel pin them to the axle tubes, that way they won't slip. If your running a 4-link, bolt to those brackets....
 

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