Wheel hop is completely gone - thanks to the help from this site. The cure was two things. I replaced the rear UCA bushings with new rubber ones, and swapped out the wagon springs for ones from Global West. Ride height difference in the rear was 2 full inches! I will create a seperate post for my version of the home made bushing removal tool.

Thats great news, can't wait to see what you came up with to remove the old bushings. Jb

It amazes me that some people still want to raise the ride-height of their cars, despite all the horrible side effects such as wheel-hop in the rear, camber issues in front, scary handling and increased braking distances.

Good to hear you got yours fixed :) :thumbsup:

Derek;

It's all in the look.........beefy rear tires and a slight lift!! :cool:......I'm also fighting a wheel-hop problem. I have my lower control arm boxed and have a set of traction bars on the way to me via UPS, my next step is adjustable upper arms to change the pinion-angle. If all false I'll have to bit the bullet and lose the "look" :( .... I too am waiting for that bushing removal tool.

The way that I have removed bushings is to drill out holes all arround the rubber. The rubber is slightly larger and pressed in the bushing collet, therefore when you drill the holes, it releaves the pressure, and they just pop right out.

Have your new ones in the freezer for a couple of days before you do your work, so when you are ready, pop them out of the freezer and into the control arms. Let them defrost, and then they expand in the bushing collet.

Bushing removal tool from his other post. (http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114858)

The axle rotation is dramatic. two inches of lift rotated the axle down at least two inches. The bolt holes on the UCAs were at least that far away from lining up after I swapped the springs. I'm not sure my bushings were all that bad, but now I know what I have. I was planning on new lowers and shocks next, but I'm so pleased with the results of this repair I may move on to the next most needy item.

Mine sits at stock height with 295/65/15's under the rear wheel wells, of course I had to do a little lip trimming. It sure looks good with big meats at stock ride height :thumbsup:

my thoughts on wheel hop for the chevelles has leaned more toward driveshaft angle??? this may or may not be true,,, but lowering the car by 2 inches does change that angle. just a thought.

Wheelhop is my middle name!

my thoughts on wheel hop for the chevelles has leaned more toward driveshaft angle??? this may or may not be true,,, but lowering the car by 2 inches does change that angle. just a thought.

It definitely changes that angle, and creates a less than straight transition in the rear U joint. When lifted, the axle is further from the frame, the UCAs would need to be longer to keep the axle rotated properly and in line with the shaft. With stock UCAs, there is no adjustment, when you increase the spring size, the UCAs stay put, rotating the axle to a point where the UCA's do not have the proper geometry to help reduce the wheel hop. I'm sure I'm not explaining it well, it became obvious when I went to bolt the UCAs back in after the spring swap - the bolt holes were at least 2" off.
BTW - I'm running unboxed lowers, likely with bad rubber bushings, and relatively new AC Delco shocks. Nearly 500hp and no hop.

I had severe wheelhop so I lowered my `71 2 inches in the back (just cut the springs trial and error) after that no wheelhop. May have changed the weight distribution but my thoughts leaned more toward it changed the the axle angle in reference to the rear end and trans. And yes raising the rear end may effect camber (adding more wieght to the front may cause a slight decrease in camber but doubtfull) but more so it effects caster lowers it (relationship of the upper and lower ball joint which would change if you raised the back) but even then it would be minimal and more impotantly equal side to side. Why do guys raise the back end up??? That was cool 20 years ago in high school. Back then we thought ladder bars would fix it. Ussually didnt. I had air shocks then and the higher I raised that car the more it would wheel hop. Didnt know why then and still not 100% sure now. but getting the right driveshaft angle seems to be the fix for me. And if you have a ton of horsepower the tirers dont have time to try and grab. LOL.

It definitely changes that angle, and creates a less than straight transition in the rear U joint. When lifted, the axle is further from the frame, the UCAs would need to be longer to keep the axle rotated properly and in line with the shaft. With stock UCAs, there is no adjustment, when you increase the spring size, the UCAs stay put, rotating the axle to a point where the UCA's do not have the proper geometry to help reduce the wheel hop. I'm sure I'm not explaining it well, it became obvious when I went to bolt the UCAs back in after the spring swap - the bolt holes were at least 2" off.
BTW - I'm running unboxed lowers, likely with bad rubber bushings, and relatively new AC Delco shocks. Nearly 500hp and no hop.


SOunds like great info to me, this is an issue I am dealing with right now. Thanks. Im thinking that the edelbrock upper control arms are what I need!

Borderbum - Your rear is much higher than mine was - you'll need every bit of that adjustment to rotate your axel to the proper location....good luck

Borderbum - Your rear is much higher than mine was - you'll need every bit of that adjustment to rotate your axel to the proper location....good luck

MJRIBEIRO, thank you for the information, If the edelbrock system is not enough, what else should I look at doing?

I know that lifting the back of the car isnt the best for the thing, but I love the old school look of it, and it sure made the car look a lot meaner. NOW I have to get that BB in to back it up! (that is if I can get this sriveline straightend out! lol)

Borderbum - I've never used the adjustable uppers, so you may have enough adjustability. I'm not an expert either, I was originally reporting on my particular experience. I'm guessing you could fab up a longer adjustable heim joint for the edel's - but cross that bridge if you ever get there.....good luck, and share your outcome with the group.

Im assuming that I will start with the udjustable uppers, then if anymore is needed Ill go with teh Edelbrock no hop bars, (or whatever they are called) seems to me that should take care of it. I do have to say as well that those new springs have not settled yet, so they may drop some more in the end. Thanks again!! Remy

THose EDELBROCK adjustable Upper COntrol are the best things I have ever seen for fixing the Driveshaft/diff drive angles, I am back in the action!!

Borderbum,

Did the anti-hop bars bolt right in or did you have to do some drilling on the bars themselves?

I just got off the phone with Edelbrock's tech support and boy did I get an earful on setting up the rear end.

I had issues with the predrilled holes of the bars not lining up with the webbing. Little did I know that many of us are allowed to modify the bars by drilling, grinding, etc.

Just FYI for anyone out there!!!

I got the Upper udjustable arms, and my "ear" bushings were good, so all I did was bolt them on the top and run the bolt through the old bushings on bottom, and I was good to go, I had replaced the lower bushings a while back with rubber, and like the feel of rubber better than the poly.

The bars were a dirrect bolt in.....they did have instructions for a drill and some other mods in my dirrections but that was for new Chevelles, I think they were 74 and up chevelles....so I didint need them. The only part you have to do is udjust them after you put them in, then your good to go!!

I udjusted to almost a straight line, then I went ahead and tightened them, cause I will go back after I drive it to tune them in perfectly, but for now, it is perfect that I can actually take out the 600 lbs in the trunk!!! haha