Been wanting to do a trac bar for my truck for a while now and I finally had the time to do it on my to do list.

I did some research on this a while back so I knew what I wanted. I knew I needed something that would control axle wrap without limiting flex. It basiccally needed a swing shackle to allow for it to move under compression and extension of suspension travel but also have a top threaded end to allow articulation. I think it turned out pretty good...

I wanted it as centered as possible so one axle bracket was made to sit on pot and the other on the axle tube. The side on the pot was welded with a high nickel rod for cast.
The top end was mounted to a 2 1/2x 2 1/2 1/4 wall tube that is welded to the crossmember that I beefed up on top with a 3/8x3 flat bar welded to the top from frame rail to rail.

Here it is complete


The actual trac bar tube is 1 1/2 OD DOM with a .270 thick wall(just over 1/4 "). The top bushing is a 1 1/4 thread the biggest I could get and was a good fit to tap the inside of tube. All bolts are 3/4" again the biggest Ballistic Fab makes.
I hope it keeps any axle wrap under control especially in reverse it would tend to hop and sometimes kick it out of gear. Looking forward to doing burnouts with my 44's to see how it all goes!

 

You have made a ladder bar. A trac bar or panhard bar goes crossways.

 

Ok then Traction bar.

 

Other than the name being wrong, it looks pretty decent in design..

What is it mounted to up top though? It looks like a tube attached to your bed?

 

looks like a spitting image copy of a raptor.


Works good I think.

 

As mentioned in first post its a 2 1/2x 2 1/2,1/4 wall tube. I first reinforced the stock crossmember with a 3/8x3 piece of flat bar even though it could of probaly been able to support it but I didnt want to risk it as I hate doing things twice and if I dont overkill everything I tend to break it! Its welded along the 3 inch sides and front and back with a 7018 rod(not breaking).

 

Never heard of that one just going off some of the pics I've seen online and some tech articles.
I kinda just winged it as I went along and was originally going to box in the triangles with some 1/4 plate with a couple 3 1/4 holes in the center of them. Its heavy enough as it is so I decided to not do it to save some weight as my truck is already too heavy with 1 tons,roll cage,dual winches,dual batteries,winch bumpers, and a spare 44 in the box!

 

same design i'll be running.....if i need it.

 

Heres the wraptor. Its made for a 14b. Welded on truss that bolts to the pinion support and diff ring. The rest is pretty much like you made. Although at the frame end the wraptor has a wristed setup with roller bearings that allow it to spin with the articulation of the axle.

 

Fixed it for ya.

 

Wow that setup is intense. Its basically setup on the same part as my diff near center but what is cool about that is it elimintates the welding to the pot with a cast rod which you know dumb hicks would screw up and just weld it with standard soild wire or 6010 or something. Thanks for the pic.

 

Yeah i weld for a living but im still not up to the task of cast. This thing is made of 3/8" plate and 1/4" wall DOM. Retails for about $600 plus shipping. I lucked into this one for $300 to the door.

 

As I don't have much experience with these I'd like to know if anyone who does could answer this..

Wouldn't it be better to weld something across for the top of it to mount to? Such as a cross member specific for that, instead of welding a tube on there? Seems like a whole other cross member would be more sturdy then what you have there, not saying it will break, just saying I think it would be better otherwise.

Look's good though. Comments?

 

Dont you think the angle is a little steep to let your springs go to work? The way I see it in my mind it looks like a bad design. Let us know how well it works

 

I weld diff housings with mild steel filler. I dont believe nickle rod has any business on an axle housing. It's not grey cast it's ductile (nodular iron) and mild steel works great as long as you pre and post heat correctly. Keeping the different cooling rates of both metals in check, this is where people run into problems.