Finally had a chance to install the One Up Offroad Traction Bars on my stock height 07 F-350.
I would get some wrap backing heavy trailers on uneven terrain or uphill. I would also get some pretty good hop when snowplowing if it was icy underneath and the tires would break loose.

While there are many options for traction bars I opted to buy the One Up Offroad bars since IMO they perform and are built the best.
They also come extremely well packaged to help prevent shipping damage. They come in three separate boxes, one with the traction bars, the second with the axle brackets and the third with the frame brackets. All the hardware is sealed in 3 mil thick poly bags and then placed in small boxes that are placed in the box with the axle and frame brackets.

I ended up going with a 80" fixed bar with the bolt on axle mount. The 80" is a custom length for my long bed as I was having them custom powder coated in charcoal anyway. OUO offers the bars in either silver or black, but I wanted the charcoal as my wheels are charcoal. The custom lengths and colors are available at an extra charge.


All the OUO mounting brackets come in black and are very well designed and built. Here's the bolt on axle mount (you can see the u-bolts next to it that secure it to the axle). The Bushings that go in the mount are included in a poly bag with the hardware.:




Here's a pic of the back side of the bracket. You can see the notch in the upper right corner, this hooks around the u-bolt and the bracket sits right up against the spring perch. It also has the tabs at the bottom that lock it laterally against the u-bolts at the bottom of the tube as well. The notch that locks the bracket to the u-bolt on the top goes towards the differential/inboard side, so you have a Left and Right bracket:




Here's a couple of pics of the frame mount bracket. It's a very nice 1/4" thick formed steel laser cut bracket:




On the bars themselves I opted for the "no gusset" option which has this small wedge welded to the bar and bracket for additional support. Also has the OUO logo laser cut into the bracket on the end:




One of the bars unwrapped next to the other bar still wrapped up. A whole lot of Styrofoam wrap and bubble wrap on the bars to protect the powder.



Of course before we started the install my buddy had to go turn this light on "to properly do the install"




Installation of the axle mount is pretty straight forward. Hook the u-bolt with the bracket, push it against the spring perch and install the u-bolts. Once it's hooked you can't move it (pushing or pulling on it) even before the u-bolts are installed. I used a little bit of medium strength thread locker on the threads.




Once the axle brackets are in place you install the bushings, install the sleeve for the bolt into the bushings and install the the traction bar onto the axle mount.

With the bar attached to the axle mount you can assemble the upper mount to the bar and tighten the bolt securing the bar to the bracket to spec.
Now, raise the bar/bracket up the frame rail (using a clamp if needed) to mark the holes to drill the frame rail. We used a 3/8" transfer punch to accurately mark the holes in the side of the frame (4 bolts in the side). We lowered the bar, drilled the holes (smaller "pilot" bit first, then the 3/8" bit) and bolted the bracket to the side of the frame rail. With the bolts in place and the bracket secured to the frame rail we drilled the holes through the frame for the bottom holes (4 bolts on the bottom), on one side we drilled a smaller pilot hole and then the 3/8" hole, while on the other we opted just to to the 3/8" hole without the pilot. Note, you need a really good sharp bit to cut through the frame....if it's dull it's going to take a lot longer. A "Drill Doctor" is very nice to sharpen the bit prior to starting and a few times between drilling all the holes.
Once everything it tightened the final result is this:



And the entire final product:




Yes, the factory exhaust looks like azz compared to the T-304 cat-back.....I know.


Once installed I took them on a 20 mile drive to test them out. They perform very well, no harsh ride or binding that is associated with many of the single tube traction bars on the market today. I went through a lot of road construction and over some severely crowned intersections and rough railroad crossings. Couldn't even tell that they were there. I'd jump on the throttle at a few lights and it's very quick to put the power down and break the tires loose. I also mashed it on some hard packed snow where I would often get hop and the tires just spun through the snow....and continued to spin once they reached the pavement.


I'll have to get some daylight pics once I wash up the truck.

 

they look like good quality bars. are you worried about ground clearence? they look a little low to me. maybe its just the angle of the picture. nice write up.

 

Nice! Might be something to add to my wish list.

 

Not too worried about ground clearance....they only hang down a little bit lower than the shock mounts.
And I don't do any rock crawling so I'm good

 

DC, what lift kt are you running on this truck?
were you experiencing a lot of rear axle wrap?
def looks like a sturdy kit!

 

DC. Once again you have done your homework. That looks like a well made HD setup. Powder coating looks good too. I especially like the machined in company logo. Thumbs up!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Answers from the beginning of my post:






Yep, I'm very pleased.

 

What is the standard length for the bars (72"?) and what are the benefits of the longer 80" bars?

 

One Up Offroad makes a few different sizes including 64" (short bed SDs and X's) and 72" bars.

The 80" was needed for a Long Bed SD to get to the straight part of the frame rail to mount the bracket. A 64" or 72" will not work on a Long Bed SD.

Normally, an adaptable length bar is used on a Long Bed SD which can be set anywhere from 52-82" in length and locked in place with a coupler.
Also, was a chance to see how bad the 80" bars dinged us on shipping due to their length (oversized shipping).

 

I would think that the one-piece 80" bar is more reliable than the two-piece adjustable bar.

 

No issues with the adaptable length bars. My buddy runs them sled pulling with a 5.9 CR under the hood:

YouTube - Denny Hao Sled Pull - First Place


Has some footage from under the truck.


The adaptable bars can also make mounting the frame bracket easier if anything is in the way as they give you some wiggle room.

 

SWEEEEEET DC !!! Not trying to jack your thread, but Dave (Diablo ) installed mine OUO traction bar/block system along with the ouo driveline drop bracket back in October when he relifted my truck. All OUO is #1 ! You can`t beat it!! SWEET job DC!!

 

Nice looking tracton bars. Last year I installed a set of Pro Comps on my Excursion, which has a 4"lift. I repainted them to match the accented color on the bottom of the truck. The only problem I had was the bars were hitting the large helper spring, Something the grinder and a cut off wheel could't handle. I also found the ride was a lot better and not as much body lean. Again looks great.

 

Snapped a few pics when I got back this afternoon:







They work good, ran my passenger side rear tire up over a snow bank as I was turning in a parking lot since there was a van in the way and didn't even noticed that the bars were there. Tire went up and over the snow bank w/o any binding.

 

I wonder if anyone makes a bar that mounts on the rear of the axle? Would that design provide the same level of stability? The bar would be much shorter and not potentially obstruct the approach to the rear axle when off-road.