Heavy duty traction bar on the front axle (1 Viewer)

[PPFJ60]

I was having axle wrap problems on the front axle after the SOA but the rear seems to be fine with the add-a-leaf so I built a front traction bar. I finished it last night and did some flexing on some steep ditch embankments and it seems to be working fine. I will give it a bigger test on Saturday when the Colorado Land Cruisers make a run up Gold CAmp Road. Here are the pictures of what it looks like. The adjustable ends are Teraflex joints with 1" shafts. The tube is 1 1/2" D.O.M. with 1/4" thick wall. Seems like it falls into the catagory of overbuilt.

 

[Isotel]

looking good Chuck! , let us know how it works! looks like it protects the driveshaft too!

And i think that you would be better off having the shackle angle of the wrap bar match that of the springs. I know that the shackle angle can effect the squat characteristics and cause Hopping if its wrong, But i believe its more important on the rear than the front!

 

[Tapage]

First time that I see a front track bar in a Cruiser ( down here Hi Lux - 92 - 98 front factory solid axle come with one simple that go from the axle to the frame down the rad ) you really need it . ? ( sure yes if you take time to do )

Sure overbuild .. but looking sweet ..

 

[jgordon]

Looks well-built. Could one of you explain axle wrap and what the traction bar actually does?

Much appreciated.

 

[PPFJ60]

When the springs are set on top of the axle instead of under the axle the torque on the driveline will allow the pinion to rotate down in the front axle and up in the rear axle. In my case I have a front locker and plenty of torque from the 350 strocker motor to make the front pinion rotate down enough that the drive shaft hits the drive flange and breaks the pinion. The traction bar will not allow the axle to rotate very much so I don't break anymore pinions (one was enough).

The rear springs have a stiff add-a-leaf that prevents the springs from flexing to allow the pinion to rotate up so that has not been a problem so far.

This design allows the arm to rotate up and down as needed and in and out to make adjustments as needed.

I think I will try to adjust the arm shorter to make the angle of the traction bar shackle match the angle of the spring shackles as Isotel suggested.

 

[PPFJ60]

The traction bar worked great for controlling axle wrap and also protected my front diff and drive shaft from some heavy rocks. I did bang up the rear diff and drive shaft a little so I now need some armor there.

 

[Tapage]

Just a thought ..

Due to your shackle reversal Setup, are not posible that you trackbar comebackward and limit your shackle travel ?

 

[PPFJ60]

It doesn't seem to cause any limitations on spring flex. I have checked it with one tire stuffed and one tire off the ground. One spring is pressed up and one spring is hanging down. I did adjust the lenght of the tracbar to make the angle of the shackles about the same. The tracbar shackle is just a little further back than the spring shackles so they are almost inline.

 

[Randy88FJ62]

Any more input after driving it with the front traction bar. I'm going SOA soon and I'm wondering if it's worth the effort.

 

[PPFJ60]

It still works great!. I just finished putting in an NP203 doubler so the next projects are a skid plate to protect the transfer case and a rear traction bar to match the front.