Ok, so since I got the truck, I've wanted to put a ladder bar on it. I hate axle wrap, and its worse when trying to take off with a load behind you. Once I finished my lift I knew I had to do something. Been working on it for a little over a week here and there since I've had work in between and been busy with thanksgiving, yada yada yada. Started off with a 22' stick of 1 1/2" DOM tubing, .250 wall and tough as nails. Started with a Z bar up front. Drilled out my drop pitman arm and lower tie rods to accept a 3/4" bolt. Got heim joints 3/4x3/4 and the weld in sleeves for the tubing. Since there was nobody who could bend this thick of tubing I had to find a guy who builds all kinds of tubing out of his garage. He said his bender wouldnt do it, but he'd sure give it hell trying.

Got it all bent up, tapered the ends and burned in the ends. got it all thrown up and it works great. theres not much load going though it since I have the hydraulic steering assist, and glad I do because my box would be hating me right now. Anyways, next step was building box brackets for the rear heim joints for the ladder bars. Took some angle iron, boxed it in top and sides, ground the bottom town to cradle the axle and burned them in. i got high misalignment ends that reduce the bolts needed to being 1/2" bolts.

Since I wanted the lower bar inline with the frame, I couldn't make a straight top bar, so I welded the boxes in towards the differential and had the upper tubes bent into Z bars. Used 1/4" plate bent around the lower links for the upper mounting points. Instead of running the lower link straight to the frame like i have seen before, i ran them to a shackle with polyurethane bushings. when you mount the lower bar straight to the frame, as the axle travels up, it pushes on the bar and binds, as your axle travels down, it pulls and stresses the mounts. With the shackle it will travel free front and back, but still carry the downward load like you want. I'm not quite done with it, but close enough to throw some pics up here for yall. Oh, reason i went heim joints was for articulation! one end of the axle up, other down will put a huge twist on the tube, shackle and bushings. with the heim joints it twists freely without worry.

heres the Z bar first, you can see the difference between the 3/4" bolt and the factory draglink ends



the ladder bar









oh, heres a bonus pic of joe on a 6ft ladder standing next to my truck.

 

oh, all the ladder bar bolts arent staying. they are just grade 3 bolts that are just holding it in place til i get the measurements of all of them and get some grade 8 bolts. and the front upper mount for the shackle is getting welded on. the bolt is going to stay too. im also going to weld a tab on it with a safety chain tying it to the frame so if anything brakes it doesnt launch me into space. While Im at it, Im also going to make driveline hoops for the middle and rear driveline

 

I was wondering where you were.....

 

sweet, I like it! I don't like the extra wrap the lift blocks I've got in the rear gave me, so come spring I'm going to do a rear shackle reversal and see how bad the axle wrap is. If it'll be close to stock I'll stick with it as is, but if it's still got noticeable wrap I'll be throwing on a set of ladder bars much like this.

Awesome job man! Also notice you've got airbags on the rear - been thinking about adding a pair up front and in back as well...

 

it not that big in person i had my dog wih me i was hoping he go on the tire but no go lol

 

ya, it's my second set. 1st was outside the frame like the firestone kit but these wheels are just too close so I moved it under the frame

 

nice job man! are you gonna paint the bars black or any different color to match your up coming new paint job?

 

i love the front z bar with the heim joints!

 

gonna paint it all black. Gotta chip the slag off the wels then go across it with the mig weld for a clean finish then paint em. Got a buddy who said bring em down and he'd power coat them, so maybe do that

 

sweet itll look sharp man! great job