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Pavement princesses generally. The purpose of the bar is to arrest the rotational inertia that is caused by driving and braking forces on the axle. The springs are the default mechanism, but while springs are ‘wrapping’ they are less free to move with load and road changes.
prevent axle wrap…helps transfer max power to wheels
will prevent drive line variations ….meaning one side of the axle leads or follows the other side ….this is intensified on roads with heavy truck gullies
Whatever you do, do NOT, repeat NOT, use Caltracs from Calvert racing.
I put a set of those an DRW F350 I used to own to help limit axle wrap when towing. During install when tightening the fasteners (with a torque wrench), the weld on one of the them popped off because there was no weld penetration (see pictures below).
And the way these mounted they replaced the lower plate. So if these had broken while driving the result would likely have been a pretty severe crash.
And what did Calvert racing do what I told them about this and even sent them these pictures,,,oh, yeah, they offered to sent me a free T-shirt so I could advertise for them.
Stay far , far away from Calvert racing and their Caltracs bars.
...
prevent axle wrap…helps transfer max power to wheels
will prevent drive line variations ….meaning one side of the axle leads or follows the other side ….this is intensified on roads with heavy truck gullies
I get what you are saying but what I asking is what happens when the road is uneven or there is a drop of angle. I don't know what the limits of articulation are on traction bars. If the axle is locked with no articulation is that bad or does it matter.
I get on flat and even paved roads, like going to Walmart, Starbucks, Chick-Fil-A and pulling a fifth wheel trailer down the highway.
What I'm asking is, is it bad for the axle and frame to have the axle locked into place with no articulation?
Totally understand the axle wrap and keeping the power centered. I'm trying to think outside of the box because Murphy's Law states that shizza will hit the fan when you least expect it to.
Ok, my truck 2017 F450 P/U: stock suspension, no lift, no front leveling kit. Let's say I do go to Walmart, Starbucks, Chick-Fil-A and pulling a fifth wheel trailer. If I never planned to go off road then I would assume traction bars would be ok. If there was a chance of going off road then would traction bars be off the table?
Does this make sense?
On another thread with old steel body 2011 -2016 F450 with the over sized camper on the back and truck frame snapped / bent in half. If the trac bars are locked in place could you snap the bracket and is it bad to have the rear end locked in like that? This is of course a worse case.
I get what you are saying but what I asking is what happens when the road is uneven or there is a drop of angle. I don't know what the limits of articulation are on traction bars. If the axle is locked with no articulation is that bad or does it matter.
so heres my thought on this
the longer the bars...the less your concern will have an impact....for example..the tube style can be adjusted to 8ft in length...the pivot angle at these kind of lengths is small...meaning...you can easily lift the truck and put the tires in mid air and the traction bars would still have plenty of available travel....the limiting factor on most trucks is the shock extension lenghts.
the longer the bars...the less your concern will have an impact....for example..the tube style can be adjusted to 8ft in length...the pivot angle at these kind of lengths is small...meaning...you can easily lift the truck and put the tires in mid air and the traction bars would still have plenty of available travel....the limiting factor on most trucks is the shock extension lenghts.
Ok, that makes sense.
The Wehrli Custom Fabrication Inc. at 68 inches or the S&B Short Gusset Traction Bars from 50" or as long as 84" is the way to go then.
That's what I was trying to wrap my head around was the travel piece. It just was not making sense.
Whatever you do, do NOT, repeat NOT, use Caltracs from Calvert racing.
I put a set of those an DRW F350 I used to own to help limit axle wrap when towing. During install when tightening the fasteners (with a torque wrench), the weld on one of the them popped off because there was no weld penetration (see pictures below).
And the way these mounted they replaced the lower plate. So if these had broken while driving the result would likely have been a pretty severe crash.
And what did Calvert racing do what I told them about this and even sent them these pictures,,,oh, yeah, they offered to sent me a free T-shirt so I could advertise for them.
Stay far , far away from Calvert racing and their Caltracs bars.
...
The front of the arm is like a older ford radius arm. It can swing just fine. The main goal is to alow the axle to move up and down in its travel and resist the urge to wrap up. These bars do just that. When I lift up my truck on a two post lift the axle has all the down travel it needs. Same with up travel. Instead of hiems or Johnny joints it is poly bushings on each side of the frame bracket. The rear is a poly joint. I have hade no ill effects when off camber from this set up. Here is the instructions on how this is achived.
I need to get some bars for my truck. Always wanted them on my 2018 that axle hopped bad, but never pulled the trigger.
I'm thinking about making my own. If you use a shackle at the front mount, the axle can still move forward and backward some following the natural arc. And the heim joint will let it pivot. Prevents axle wrap, and allows flex offroad...best of both worlds...
I need to get some bars for my truck. Always wanted them on my 2018 that axle hopped bad, but never pulled the trigger.
I'm thinking about making my own. If you use a shackle at the front mount, the axle can still move forward and backward some following the natural arc. And the heim joint will let it pivot. Prevents axle wrap, and allows flex offroad...best of both worlds...
I can see that working for axle wrap prevention.
in my case...I have th HD versions of the sulastic shackles which work great at low and medium sspeeds.....but once you get to 65mph and start hitting the road caverns that trucks cuase into the roads....the turck will snake dance pretty bad. I called sulastic about this and they said add preload...which I did...and the snake dance at high speed caveren dipping stopped.....then about 10 month later I noticed the extra preload had reduced some clearences in the sulastic HD devices and cuased wear on a crirical bar.....called sulastic about that and they said oopsy...you should not have added the preload. so in review...my previous truck setup with sulastics had traction bars...the traction bars were long tube bars and they precented left or right independent wheel advancement ...so the shakle type track bars would not work for me.
when I do the track bars mid may..plan on adding a washer or two on the sulastic springs frame mounts to try to increase the clearence at the trouble spot. and maybe get the damaged bar welded. so right now..the preload is rolled back to where the snake dancing was occuring....so that means until I get the traction bars in....need to keep it below 65 if the roads have tractor tralier crevasess.
Yeah, I don’t care about the highway mannerisms in my case. I just hate the jarring axle hop when spinning on wet roads, dirt, or trying to drive uphill on gravel.
The solid bars will definitely prevent axle wrap as the axle simply cannot try to walk forward. For articulation, they hold the axle in a constant arc of motion, which with leaf springs means the spring will bind a bit as their motion is not in an arc. This limits travel. Not really important on a pavement rig.
The S&B (OUO) bars have a bushing on the front that allows for point of rotation and will provide some give fore or aft in the axles arc of rotation. These will limit articulation less that the solid bars.
The traditional shackle traction bar (ladder bar) give an obvious point of rotation and allows the axle unimpeded articulation as the shackle can move. Spacing of the bracket on the axle is important and keeping the top bar as horizontal as possible is also key. This will reduce axle wrap and allow the axle freedom to articulate. More complicated to install and you will likely need to build a shackle mount off the frame.
