I'm guessing leafs were fading in popularity by the mid 80s.
Rear suspension set ups were one of those areas that seemed to be changing week to week back then. There where still some hold outs in the mid to late 80's that swore by leaf spring set ups, but the days of leaf springs being equated to doing well on the dirt tracks was becoming a thing of the past.
Was there ever a 3 link setup where they ran 2 lower arms and then a coil over shock on top of the rear end (horizontal) attached to the cage? Or something like that? Probably would still require a panhard bar.
I vaguely recall seeing something similar only thing different was that the coil over shock on top of the rear end attaching to the cage was actually a torque link and yes, an adjustable panhard bar was used....so a torque link made for the 3rd link
Any input, ideas or pics welcome. Tom
Leaf spring cars of that era ran axle dampers...think a shock attached in the same way as the torque link (above)
Torque arms where becoming more and more popular by the mid 80's with those who where still running the leaf spring set ups with the torque arm attaching pretty much the same way as the axle damper or torque link on the rear axle with the forward mounting point being pretty much next to the driver....longer was better.
Another set up that was popular for a moment was a leaf spring on the Left rear and coil over on the Right rear.
Left rear shock behind the axle tube and Right rear shock ahead of the axle tube and a slider bar in place of the leaf spring going from the rear end forward to the frame.
This is from the 1981 Midwest Race Engineering catalog that shows a chassis with this set up.
Larry Moore #14, and teammate Buck Simmons #41 in Dillon chassis late Models from 1981 . Moore went on to win his second World 100 that year and Buck Simmons went on to finish fourth. Both these cars ran coil overs on all 4 corners.
By the late 80's 4 links and "Z" link rears where showing up more often at the local , weekly tracks.
