I hate to jump in on this and pick sides, so to speak, but I have never known a panhard bar (trac bar, tracking bar, whatever you want to call it), to have anything to with bumpsteer. As was said earlier, bumpsteer is in direct correlation to the angle formed between the the draglink and tie-rod. The larger the angle, the more the bumpsteer. BFR250SD is absolutely correct in saying that the sole purpose of a panhard bar is to keep the axle centered. The reason you want keep the draglink and panhard bar parallel is to prevent binding up the suspension by having the two form a triangle with the axle. Panhard bars are most commonly used in hotrod rear-ends with 3 and 4 link coil spring suspensions to keep the rear-axle centered under the car. Or on the coil spring suspension now on SD's to prevent lateral movement of the axle, 'cause lord knows those radius arms alone couldn't do it. On our leaf spring SD's the panhard bar is mostly a method of keeping the front axle from wobbling at freeway speeds and to also help keep the axle from pushing out when turning, preventing a loss of steering radius. Panhard bar's for the most part are detrimental to a suspension that you would want flexibility in, such as a rockcrawler. Just thought I'd ad my $.02.

 

I have trouble putting things into words occasionally but after dealing with Dodge Ram front ends for years I have a lot of time working with different Track bar configurations as the 05 and newer SD will guys probably will thanks to Coil spring front ends . Sorry to see Ford going a similar route and I hope it works out better for them but from some of the phrases I have noticed like Death Wobble comes to mind , it don`t look real promising. I have to agree with 99f350sd on his theory . I don`t like to keep bringing up Dodge but I have a lot of track bar experience thanks to them not to mention I have never been dedicated to any one brand in particular during my 34 years of driving .They all have good and bad points . Drop the pitman you should drop the track bar mount the same amount . Both the drag link and the track bar should travel the same arch in order to keep the steering wheel from turning left and right on its own as the suspension cycles up and down as you drive .Being Paralell is important . I tend to think that on a leaf spring SD front end the angle of the track bar is more crtical than it is on a coil spring being coils can get pushed in any direction without much problem compared to a leaf . To me a leaf spring front end with a track bar at an angle will push the leaf spring side ways as the suspension cycles up and down which I think would make the suspension a little stiff being it is trying to push a spring in a direction it really isn`t ment to bend. I only have a 4" lift with a drop pitman and a drop track bar bracket and judging by the angle of the track bar their is an awful lot of laterial force on the spring when the suspension is trying to compress which trans lates into a stiffer than needed ride . Just my .02 . not ment to offend any one