Ruttenit

I just bought a cherokee yesterday with a brand new BDS 8" long arm Lift. After he built the jeep he didn't even put 1000 miles on it untill he sold it. The entire jeep looks brand new. You can tell that it has never went offroad. He told me a guy test drove it and brout it back with the track bar mounting bracket broke. He had it welded but I am not happy with the welding job. It is the bracket that in on the axle where the track bar and steering stabilizer bolts onto. Do they make a heavyer duty bracket to put there and what would cause it to brake like that?

PingPong

Sheer force or metal fatigue is what caused it to break. At 8" I cant imagine the steering angles are right. I think TNT makes trac bar relocation brackets. I aoso think Terra flex does too.

Ruttenit

On the drivers side of the track bar it has a trac bar relocation bracket on it that drops it down 6 to 8 inches or so. That side is fine its the axle side that broke

SeriousOffroad

With 8" of lift it's a safe bet the the tires may be slightly larger that stock. PP is correct, there's going to be a tremendous increase in the forces applied at the height your at and with the larger tires.

There's already another thread on this forum about caster/pinion issues with an 8" lift on an XJ....you might want to subscribe to it.

JKS makes a beefy OVER the axle track bar mount.

4.3L XJ

If I remember correctly, BDS was having trouble with their track bars and have upgraded them at the tie rod end. They are much beefier now. Just replace it with another brand if you are in doubt.

97liftedxj

yea I would replace it with anoter brand.. Never a hughe fan of bds suspension products on anything

PingPong

If I understand right the trac bar didnt fail, the axle side mount did. That is a direct result of sheer strength and the tensile strength of the metal. I would never considerr using a stock trac bar mount with 8" of lift. The angle on it (force) would be tremendous just turning the wheels let alone while wheeling it. I also cant imagine the steering angles being in plane with the trac bar further complicating the matter.

Check Ballasticfab web site out.. they have some nice tb mounts that will take some skill to mount, but can be done. I would definately go with 1/4" or thicker mounts though.

Ruttenit

You are correct its not the trac bar that failed its where it bolts to the axle on the axle side that broke. I got under there and looked at it really good today and it looks like there is another bracket that raised the trac bar also on the axle side that bolts to the axle where the trac bar origanaly bolted up. (that is what broke) I wish I could post a pic. i am running 33" tires and the angles on the trac bar and the steering are the same.

PingPong

Buy a quality aftermarket replacemnt TB mount, but be cautioned some of the mounts require custom built trac bars.

trapper

I would love love love to tee some pics of what broke. Please post them. it helps all of us who are on a bulletproofing mission..

thanks much