I just recently swapped out my Dana 50 TTb for a Dana 60 under my 1996 f-250. I used an '88 Dana 60 front axle, which had the track bar mounts taken off of it (if it even had any) and of course the TTb did not have or need one.

Therefore lies the problem I need to make a custom trackbar, I planned on mounting it from the drivers side of the low part of the engine crossmember to somewhere on the passenger side of the axle. I've heard that the track bar is suppose to be parallel with the axle, and I've heard it is suppose to have a certain angle, etc. I plan on making it out of some 3/4 inch heim joints and some Dom tubing or schedule 80 pipe.

Any recommendations or critism?

 

If you install a shackle reverse kit from Sky manufacturing, and you have pos. arch springs, you can actually get rid of the bar, or since it is not there, you don't have to install it at all. The springs actually do a pretty good job of locating the axle when the shackles are at the rear of the spring, and not up front. Drives better too.
The previos owner must have agreed because it lookslike he removed the brackets.

 

The bar needs to be parallel to the axle at normal ride height. And the bar needs be as close to the same height as the axle itself. We can discuss roll center and the effects on effective spring rates under braking and acceleration if you'd like.

I make my own track bar and trailing arms as well. I get my parts from Coleman Racing www.colemanracing.com. For my race car, I use the aluminum threaded tubing, but beefier material is available.

HTH

 

I have that done on my truck, I will try and post some pics in my gallery this weedend of what I did.

mitchntx - I am assuming that the track bars you build are for the rear axle of your cars and in this instance, you are correct, the bar should be as close to parallel with the axle as possible. However; in the instance of a steering axle such as this it is more important to have it parallel to the drag link. Without getting into discussions of roll center and all that, the problem is the farther from parallel to the drag link the more of a problem bump steer will be. I think that in most builders eyes minimizing bump steer is of much larger consideration than roll center and some of the other variables.

 

Wow ... I hadn't considered it for a steering axle. I'll have to cypher on that one for a bit ...

For argument's sake, if the PHB is parallel to the DL and at a 15* angle, as the suspension compresses, it would shift the whole diff to the side as the PHB moves toward horizontal.

Being as the steering is fixed on one end, wouldn't lateral diff movement also cause some steering issues? I need to study front geometry a little closer.

 

Copied from a previous post of mine on a different thread dealing with the 05-06 steering oscilation issue.

"When you have a rigid track bar in place the axle acually moves side to side under the truck as the suspension compesses. This is because while the bar holds the axle firmly, it also forces it to travel in a mild arc. Your front axle actually moves side to side under the truck as much as an inch (under severe wheel travel) when the suspension compresses up and down over bumps. Bump Steer happens when the arc created by the axle differs from the arc created by your steering centerlink. The steering centerlink acts similar to a trac bar because as the suspension flexes, it too travels in an arc. When the axle is moving side to side becuase of the trac bar, the tires actually twist from left to right because of the arc created by the steering centerlink. So, if the axle moves an inch, and the steering centerlink only moves say 3/4 of an inch, this means that the tires are twisting left to right a few degrees simply because you hit a bump. This is felt in the steering wheel in mild cases as oscillation and in extreme cases as this wild violent shaking. "

I have built several lifted trucks, including my own that required modified or custom trac-bar setups and I have found that if you can keep the DL and the PHB parrallel there is virtually NO steering wheel oscilation or bumpsteer even without a stabilizer.

Now, in the instance of Stephen.south's truck, he has two different options as I view it. One, is that the axle he installed is an older king steer axle that is fairly easily converted to a high steer setup where the Drag link mounts to the top of the outer knuckle via custom top caps that are readily availble from most 4x4 shops. He can then turn his upper u-bolt plate into the outer track bar mount by welding tabs onto the the u-bolt plate.

Option 2 I would say is to leave the drag link going to its current location and turn the bottom of the u-bolt mount on the bottom of the axle into the trac bar mount and keep it parallel that way. For the center mount, I would use the OEM mount, availible from FORD for less than $50. Make a custom drop plate if necissary, but I doubt it will be. The center crossmember already has the holes drilled, so just get grade 8 bolts and slap it in.

 

Yes, it does and that is the problem, but as long as the axle tube shifts to the side the same amount and rate as the tip of the steering knuckle, you are good to go. That is the geometrically critical part.

Most definately. discussed in my above post.

Sorryfor the double post, I have a cluttered mind.

 

Excellent!

 

05-06 steering oscillation is a concern for those vehicles equiped with coil springs. The trac bar locates the front axle.The OP has a solid "ball joint axle". Completely different.
If he moves the shackle to the rear of the spring where it should be, the leaf springs will do what they are suposed to do and keep the axle located perfectly. A crossover stering design is a little more difficult to do on the ball joint axle but can still be, and should be done. Unless the tie rod is re-located to the top of the knuckle on both sides it is considered X-over and not high steer. There are two types, high steer and rear steer. High gets the tie rod up and away, and rear steer moves it up and to the rear of the axle. Both styles require the X-over to steer from the pass side knuckle.
All that aside, if the proper shackle geometry is obtained the truck will not even require a trac-bar.
When I had leafs under my 97-350, before I did a coilover swap, I removed the trac bar, and i do not run them on my current Super Duty, nor does my Excursion have one. None of the trucks have steering stabilizers either.

 

Yes, the 05-06 trucks are completely different, but they still use track bars and trust me, there is a serious design problem. They are two totally different suspension designs that are still susceptible to the same problems if the trac bar is not set up right. I am throuroughly conviced that the 05-06 "oscillation" is actually bumpsteer that is the result of really, really bad steering geomety. I was merely giving that information to say where the cut and copied info came from. Not to imply that he had the same exact system.

To do the shackle flip as you describe will result in varying amounts of suspension lift depending on how you go about it. He may not want that because it is like opening pandoras box. Up goes the front, then you gotta do the back, now your tires look like roller skates and you get bigger rims and rubbers to make everything look normal again. Then your speedo is off and you have to recalibrate or things shift funny. Mod fever goes on an on. I was merely proposing a solution to fit what he said he currently was trying to do. That being said, what you propose is really and truly the best overall design and I agree that it is completely able to be run without the bar altoghether, IF you are willing to do all the other stuff that goes along with that particular Mod.

 

Actually I would like to do the reversal, I've got a 4 inch lift already and would like to go higher, I got the 315 BFG's and I saw the same tires on a f350 with an 8 inch lift and it looked way better than my truck with the same tires. But I'm not sure a custom trac bar will run me around $125 or so and the Sky kit woulb be around $500, so I'm not really sure, If I did the reversal, what would I need to do with my driveshaft?

 

Nothing, you only need to worry about the drive shaft if the truck is stock height. The housing in the D60 is longer than the TTB setup so at stock height the original shaft is too long. However, the lift more than adequately deals with that problem. By the way, you need to look around for f350 rear blocks. The D60 is about 2 inches taller at the spring perches than the TTB setup. If you stick with the F250 blocks, you may notice the truck a little taller in the front than the rear.