Modified Aftermarket Track Bar
 

So I bought a Rough Country double shear track bar. It was the one for 4.5" - 6.5" lift. I got their 3" lift. Their track bar for 3" lift has a ball joint in the upper end...so WTF is the point. Looks Just like OEM. So I wanted to make this double shear thing work. I think I did, but I'm a bit concerned that the mounting bracket might whack into the front diff housing if I stuff the drivers side wheel up in the well.

So what I did was redrill the track bar bracket so that bar's mounting location is the OEM distance from the bottom of the frame rail. Then I hacked about 1.5" off the bottom, rounded it off and ground it smooth. Had to redrill the mounting spacer bushings to fit the included bolt...but other than that the install was straight forward.

SO...Take a look at the pics & point out anything that might bite me.

Rc products suck. But you could get away with them as long as they are not safety related. This is a bit different. General consensus is that their track bars are weak. To top it off you messed with the already weak track bar bracket and possibly made it weaker. I don't see the good here. Why didn't u just buy a track bar for a 3 in lift to avoid the redriling?

Ok, let's think about this for a moment. OEM stuff was replaced with this.

The bar is 1.25" DOM tube, .280" wall. How is that weak?
Rubber bushing is Clevite brand. Probably better than stock.
New bar has big-arsed heim joint in the other end. Better than stock ball joint.

Bracket is made from 1/4" steel and has a stiffener run all the way up the back side - definitely stronger than stock. My bracket mod raised the track bar mounting position, thus shortening the "lever arm" resulting in LESS side load than the bracket was designed for....so how would that weaken it?

Anytime you change the geometry on a track bar from what it was intended for it can create problems. Plus with the bar your using was not the best to begin with as far as quality.

The best thing might have been for you to sell it the way it was and then bought you a new correct one for your lift.

As with all things YMMV.

[QUOTE=goatherder;2980976]Ok, let's think about this for a moment. OEM stuff was replaced with this.

The bar is 1.25" DOM tube, .280" wall. How is that weak?
Rubber bushing is Clevite brand. Probably better than stock.
New bar has big-arsed heim joint in the other end. Better than stock ball joint.

Bracket is made from 1/4" steel and has a stiffener run all the way up the back side - definitely stronger than stock. My bracket mod raised the track bar mounting position, thus shortening the "lever arm" resulting in LESS side load than the bracket was designed for....so how would that weaken it?[/


All good points. Rc bar is better then stock for sure.

Well done, looks like everything lines up good.

Only problems I had in the past was with a lower lift, the track bar can smack the diff housing especially one with a aftermarket cover like a solid...not a big deal but it did happen....

...and thats exacly what I'm worried about. I may take that thing off there and bend a hook in it to give it some more clearance above the diff cover. Specially since I'm gonna buy one of those 3/8" steel diff covers for the front diff. (I only have 29" tires so I might bash it)

There is wide spread agreement that the RC TRE trackbar sucks, mostly because of the TRE.

I don't think the forum has a lot of experience with the double shear version.

It looks to me like you have used all of the bar length adjustment on the short side. For anyone else doing this, it might be better to drill the hole closer to the drive side.

FWIW - According to their site, their TRE track bar has just been re-designed with the thickwall DOM tube and Clevite rubber bushings...and a TRE that's beefier than stock.

That's right, I did. And I did this for a reason: I wasn't sure that the bar wouldn't smack the diff cover on upward travel. Still unsure about this. If I want I can bend more of a hook in the driver's side and gain some clearance. Then I would need an inch or so of that Heim joint's adjustability to get the bar back to the right length .

Yeah I'm well aware the lack of knowledge most the members on this site have. That's why I was giving him a positive response. I noticed the keyboard warriors had already started bashing his work for using a proven in my experience trac bar. I'm currently building my 5th jeep. I've had the hyped on the forums suspension, and I've used RC. And all I can say is RC is tough enough for 99% of the members here. Good product for are old crappy jeeps, and I'll continue using some of there products for my builds.



Once again nice work, looks like you thought it out very well. Much better then stock re-drilled no doubt.

are you talking about bending your track bar to clear your diff cover? don't do that unless you have a proper way to bend it. "bending" (aka kinking) an object will leave it with the tendency to keep bending. definitely something you don't want to increase your odds of

take out the coil springs and check to see what your full bump is. if it clears fine, get the 3/8 diff cover. feel free to remove a liberal amount of material from the cover to make it clear once again. people groove them to fit tie rod/track bar clearance all the time

removing material from and already weak axle side bracket is ill advised. try to refrain from similar "modifications" that involve making parts weaker. such as trying to bend your track bar

Yeah, I'm talking about bending the track bar to clear the diff cover. The hydraulics shop down the road has a tube bender and the 1.25 dies. I was going to order a JD2 Model 32 but bought a MIG welder instead..or I'd have the bender myself. No, I don't want to buy a new 3/8" steel diff cover and then hog out a bunch of material to clear a stupid track bar. Factory track bar has a big hump in it and it works fine. Mine would be OK with a small hump.

Uhh...who's removing material from the axle side bracket? Not me. If anything, I'd whack out some plate with the plasma cutter and beef that axle side bracket up. (now that I got a MIG welder) I cut down the frame-side bracket, thus reducing the loads placed on it and effectively making it stronger.

Don't love the idea but I have to admit everything looks alright.