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Traction Bars with offroad capabilities

10K views 37 replies 15 participants last post by  Betaracer 
#1 ·
Ok, so i just got my truck back from DI today and installed my tunes from Eric at IDP. Right away i realized im going to need traction bars to help with the axle wrap. I have done a lot of searching on here and the inter-web at different options there are. My problem is i need some that are stiff enough to contain the axle wrap, BUT have something like a hinge where it connects on the frame to allow some articulation. Anyone ever installed or seem something similar to this?

I found some for like a jeep, as seen here...


For my application i require, or want something, a little bit longer and has similar hinge mount to the side of the frame. Any help or someone point me in the proper direction?
 
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#4 ·
Wouldnt the OUO be the same as a set of bars you could build yourself? They are a single pole design just as many people build, they just incorporate a lift block in some of there designs.
Shouldnt any properly set up single pole have the same articulation as the OUO?
 
#5 ·
Well the way my buddy are thinking of it, if you have say a frame mount bracket bolted down, when your offloading and start flexing your leaf springs will flatten and kick back. Which in return will pull back on your trac bars and most likely tear the bracket off and hinder the amount you can articulate. If you have a shackle type mount on the frame, when your axle goes back due to the leafs flattening, the shackle will will move as well and not bind and rip off.
 
#7 ·
Exactly why i am looking to get rid of my Pro-comp bars . My truck doesn't have a lift and the bars are pretty much parallel to the ground , and when the suspension travel beyond a certin point the bars fight the suspension and i get a hoping feeling from the reart end . Segemented highway is where i feel it the most and when hitting a pothole you get a thud from the rear .
 
#8 ·
If your going off road ladder style style bars will likely get damaged or get you hung up.
have a 4x4 off road fab shop make you bars similar to the jeep style.
 
#9 ·
David with DI Performance just told me there is a new sponsor on this site who sells exactly what we are looking for.
 
#10 ·
Check out PMF! Precisionmetalfab.net
Exactly what I was talking about.
 
#20 ·
I going to get the ouo ones as soon as i can. They are a well known brand and about the same price as the link you showed.
 
#24 ·
Bending stress is applied to any type of traction/ladder bar. ;) I have stayed out of this back and forth yadda yadda and will continue to do so. However, I keep hearing statements made about "shackle ladder bars will bind under certain conditions". This statement is somewhat misleading. This "condition" is under extreme travel situations. To the point that it is outside of the abilities of a normal leaf sprung F-250. With the design of our setup, this binding will occur at approx. 5" of travel (be that upwards or downwards). Normal driving conditions use only 1.5"-2" each way. So although making this statement makes one product look as though it has an advantage over the other, in reality it does not. The real reality of this is that there are more than one quality American made product out there, offered by more than one supplier. ;)
 
#26 ·
Bending stress is applied to any type of traction/ladder bar. ;)
Ok, if I were to take the axle and fix its rotation and translation in space. Then hang a set of traction bars off the axle. The set that is fixed/rigid with (2) connections to the axle, would hold you up if you were hanging from the end of the bar. That makes it a bending element. If the bar is Pinned, (1) bolt, then you won't be able to hang from it. Making it a non bending element.
 
#29 ·
i have read quite a bit on traction/ladder bars. my issue with a "single pole" design, the ones that have one mounting point on the axel, is high hp will bend it. slowly, but it will bend. we have taco'd two sets of 2" .250 wall dom tubing that were about 72" long.

so we went to a ladder bar. two mounting points on the axel. the issue with that is it turns the axel into a sway bar. if your familiar with how a sway bar works, as one side goes up and one side goes down it twists in the middle. well, now your rear axel is a sway bar. the twist in the middle comes from rotating a axel tube in the pumpkin. it will effectively, greatly reduce if not eliminate body roll, and cross a ditch crooked and rotate a axel tube. been there done that fixed it yesterday.

so were up in the air on weather or not were goin to a single centered ladder bar, or if were gonna take the single pole design and exchange the round tube for a square tube. mathematically, comparing a 2" .250 round tube to a 2" .250 square tube, the square tube is about 60-66% stronger. besides, it gives us a flat surface to put some lettering on. :D :poke: OUO, you should make a square set :poke:

every bar has it intent/designed purpose, and one bar will not work for everything. it has to give something up. you look at the high hp truck pullers, you will not see a single pole design bar, you will see a ladder bar. you look at a dedicated off roader, you will not see a ladder bar, you will see a single centered or a 4 link. you look at most street trucks you not see a single centered, you will see a single pole design. you have to see what each design is weak in, to decide which one will work for you.
 
#30 ·
i have read quite a bit on traction/ladder bars. my issue with a "single pole" design, the ones that have one mounting point on the axel, is high hp will bend it. slowly, but it will bend. we have taco'd two sets of 2" .250 wall dom tubing that were about 72" long.
.
I have never EVEN heard of a set of OUO bars failing with the single pole design. I guarantee that there are some high horsepower/torque rigs out there running them... I am pretty sure there are a few on this site.

If your connection at the frame doesn't mimic your suspension travel, you can force your "single" pole bars into a bending element. If it is design properly then it won't bend.
 
#33 ·
Guys I appreciate all the info. I have read and taken it all in. Like I said before, I was having this discussion with a friend about fabing our own and that was our consensus on this matter. I just was basically looking for y'alls input. I totally understand nothing is going to work totally for both situations, just hoping for best of both kind of thing.
 
#35 ·
That's true. Lol
 
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