Finally built a trac bar! (1 Viewer)

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thsorens

thsorens

Joined
Jan 15, 2006
Threads
30
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173
Location
Nebraska
OK, so 6 months after I broke my pinion from NOT having a trac bar, I finally got one built. OK, the paint isn't real nice, but I was laying in the snow welding and lost interest by the time the rattle can came out, plus this is an offroad rig not a show rig. :) Pay no attention to that wire coat hangar around the exhaust pipe either.....:doh:
tracbar1.jpg
tracbar2.jpg
tracbar3.jpg
 
lools good... nice boogy welds lol jk..


any testing done on her?

you weren't weiry of welding that on the stock x-member? i seen that break off before and by-by pinion...
 
I would also look at putting a brace from the driver side of the vertical riser on the rear axle. I have seen these tear out before. Might not be a bad idea to tie one into the passenger side one and back to the housing as well.



Watch that mount on the cross member tube; Trollhole has pictures of his posted out here where it tore out of that tube.

You can use that tube, you just need to increase the area that the anchor is using to distribute the stress out over a wider area and make it harder to tear out.



:beer:
 
OK, I'lll brace it up a bit more on both ends thanks guys.

I have not tried it out yet.

I realize my welds aren't that pretty, but I was trying to use my little 110 wire feed at my other garage (no 220 outlet there) and it wasn't working out, so I drove it over to my house to use the ol Lincoln but my leads barely reach the shop door (40 wont fit inside my garage with the top and cage on) so its a big PIA. I need to get an outlet wired in my other garage.
 
Ouch! thanks Trollhole, I'm on it! Had I known this ahead of time, I could have welded a foot long piece of angle iron under the crossmember then welded my mount to that, but a strap would work too. Thanks again
Tom
 
In all honesty, you will want to spread the load out on that tube more than just the width of the two pieces welded to the tube, or anything between them. I would look at making something go three or four inches either way of the two vertical pieces on the tube, and then tie that all together on the tube. The idea is to try and spread the load out on the tube over a wider area. I do not know if simply welding a piece of strap between the two vertical mounts on the tube and then welding that to the tube as well will be enough.


:beer:
 
Yea, I should probably just cut it off, then weld a foot long piece of angle to the bottom of the crossmember then weld the mount back to that. I'll figure something out, but thanks for letting me know. I was a little curious about how low to hang the mount below the crossmember, and was going to mount it closer to the crossmember but some of the other pictures I saw had it down a couple inches so I did too, but I'm not sure why. With the adjustable ends, I could actually raise it up a bit when I redo that mount, but I think it will be fine where it is. The trac bar itself is definately solid. I'm anxious to try it out. Without it I could actually get the ujoint to pop just dumping the clutch hard. The rear springs are pretty flat so it will be a nice addition!
 
Poser said:
In all honesty, you will want to spread the load out on that tube more than just the width of the two pieces welded to the tube, or anything between them. I would look at making something go three or four inches either way of the two vertical pieces on the tube, and then tie that all together on the tube. The idea is to try and spread the load out on the tube over a wider area. I do not know if simply welding a piece of strap between the two vertical mounts on the tube and then welding that to the tube as well will be enough.


:beer:
Click to expand...

Poser knows what he is talking about.
:D
 
Took it out last night and beat the s*** out of it with a couple big clutch drops and WHAM! Broke it! I really need to get better at welding! Guess there is only 1 way to learn.......back to the drawing board.......it actually broke right at one of my welds, on the front end of the trac bar itself where the heim joint was welded to the upper bar of the trac bar........ Better to break it in front of my house than on the trail though
tracbarbroke.JPG
 
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post up a pic of the broken pieces...
 
I doubt it was the quality of your weld. You were asking a LOT from what looks like a AG rod end. After seeing many like yours fail at that point this is how I built mine. The problem is the leverage on the joint that far down the bar. Come to think of it... All my friends who have built trackbars with AG joints have had them fail. It may sound crazy but I have over $200 in just parts in my tractionbar.
tbar 003.jpg
 
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No heim joint at all at the front? Where do you allow for twist at? It is an ag joint yes, and the other problem is that I made it with stuff I had laying around instead of buying the right tubing and doing it right. I never would have guessed it would have broken where it did though. I'll take some pictures tonight of the broken pieces and of my redesign, whatever it turns out to be......
 
I am using a trick BTF system for the front flex joint. My tracbar is built with 1/4" wall DOM also. Even without an AG joint you need to reinforce the bar all the way to the front flex point. The leverage on the top link of the traction bar is huge. The yellow paint on the nuts and bolts is so I can tell at a glance if the nut has backed off.
whitedeer 016.jpg
 
That looks nice! You should sell those things!
 
crazylandcruiser said:
where on the site is it. i was looking for that one the site but couldnt come across anything let me know exactly what im looking for.
Click to expand...

Go to the "Link Parts" section then the "1/4 Lip Suspension" section and you will see it.
 
Hasn't broken yet. And I've beat on it pretty well. Though I'm not running a v-8 and I'm not real heavy in the skinny pedal. I will be amazed if I can break it. Its all about how cheap you are and how you drive your junk.

IMG_4127.jpg
 
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