got them wed. tore car down last night after work started to install,thought i was tired and stupid so went to bed.woke up went back to the garage to install them and everything is wrong hardware and such?directions stink,spacers wrong length,had to turn them around they had them assembled backwards(so i thought)wich put the grease fittings on the top.anyway i think i'm gonna get the ladder bars
so my question is do the ladder bars replace the bottom control arms or do you still have to have them installed??????
shane

I dont have lakewoods ,I have ssm,try to make these work,ladders stiffen the ride,and a stiff ride dont make for good traction,the ladders bolt to the rear axle tubes,the lower rear control arm bolt,and forward on the frame ,you must drill the frame,and YOU should make a backing plate for forward mounts,or they might pull the frame out,with hardware provided!!that is if your makin good horsepower--- :D 67rat

shane ,what kit do ya have,explain please--67rat

http://store.summitracing.com/default.asp?target=esearch.asp&N=100&Ntk=PartSearch&Ntt=lak-21312&x=14&y=12

look pretty much like ssm,whats the problem your having--in depth--67rat

the bars will bolt in without hardware in stock location in other words when you put the hardware on the lower control arm shackles the bars wont slide in the brackets below to actually change pinion angle..the actual hardware that makes them "lift bars" is wrong.the one plate that actually supports most effort by the shock gets bolted on the inside of the lower control arm mount then theres is a spacer that strengthens were the old control arm was its to long,on the other side of the spacer on the inside of the mount should be the other lift bar plate cant get it in cause spacer is to long and even if i were to cut down spacer the actual control arm itself will not fit inside the two plates.
this kit came with instructions for my '71 and a 80's camaro coil spring rear.are the 80's camaro coil rear lower control arm mount wider than ours are????
i dont get wheel hop as it is,i see cars with ladder bars at the track hit the ground pretty hard.what is the main function of a ladder bar setup??
shane

well the ladders bolt to the rear,and to the frame(forward),under power the rear twists upward and the pinion goes up,being the bars are mounted far front,leverage pushes the axle housing down, pushing the tires harder into the asfault,ladders work ,but in my opinon lift bars work better,ladders do help support the rear better,being the trailing arms are left alone,ladders adding more strenth and support!!sounds like the bars you got just wont fit,dont go chopping to make them fit neither,ladders will work,just mount the front mounts so they wont pull out the frame,another set up that works is the slapper bars for a coil spring rear,lakewood has them,they bolt to the rear lower trailing arm mount,(around,using the stock bolt poss)and a rod with two hiem joints adjusts the bar height ,(which also mounts to the rear ,above the lower rear trail arm,lake wood site shows them,I had a set on my chevelle and they worked very good!! :D ----67rat #199

to my beleif the lakewwod lift bars are ssm liftbars they bought the tooling and ssm has discontinued them not sure if theyre even in business at all anymore... very bad costumer service anyways. i have an old set from ssm missing brackets they wouldnt return my phone calls now that lakewood took over theyre sending me the missing brackets very nice now i can use them! cant wait!!!

to my beleif the lakewwod lift bars are ssm liftbars they bought the tooling and ssm has discontinued them not sure if theyre even in business at all anymore... very bad costumer service anyways. i have an old set from ssm missing brackets they wouldnt return my phone calls now that lakewood took over theyre sending me the missing brackets very nice now i can use them! cant wait!!!

actually, jegs took over the tooling. The lakewood bars are similar but have a different plate. i got the jegster lift bars on my car and I had a hell of a time since the instructions were`nt any help. Finally figured it out though. also, these aren`t the ladderbars, they are the lift bars that replace the lower control are. ladders are a different set up. Have you tried calling summit or lakewood for techh help?

Shane;
The bars I have are like the Lakewood model #20188, mine are made by Comp. Engineering, Edelbrock make the same bars, I think their the same bars that 67rat has. their fairly easy to install, If you go with ladder bars you will have to remove your rear swaybar if you have one also those bolt-on types may need to be welded to the rear housing for better support. I would return the ones you have to Summit and try a different type.

I have lakwood ladder bars on my 69 chevelle with drag radials. car hooks hard with no wheel hop . without them wheels would hop 4 inches off the ground. The brackets they come with may need some mods, If you go ladder bars set up take the shocks out and make sure the axle is not binding up a good check is to see if you can get front bolts in ladder bars without pry bars. I had to shorten side brackets 1 inch to get them straight to bars. They will take the stealth look away from your car if thats what you are going for.

SouthSide Machine made a good product, not sure what happened there. I think that was one of the first improvements I made to my car.