Can I please see your front trac bar(panhard bar)mounts?

[Turdle]

Well, I am slowly gaining the confidence to try to make a trac bar and get the angle correct.

I have all the steering tubes, but the one thing stalling me is the trac bar. I need to make a frame mount, and, possibly raise the axle side a tad.

The current frame mount point needs to be moved forward. Most I have seen , the upper, or,frame mount bracket is straddling the rearward steering box mount bolt.

I would like to see yours in detail please.

And, Ideas for fabrication of such device.
Thanks

 

[IZwack]

Do you still have a rear one? Cauz if not, I'd go with a rear one before the front.

 

[Turdle]

Panhard bar?

I will edit the title

 

[IZwack]

Ahaha my bad, just woke up and read the post incorrectly. I seriously thought you were talking about an anti-sway bar.

 

[Turdle]

Oh and yes IZ I have seen your beautiful panhard bar mounts. I think I will settle for something a little less extreme for now.

 

[rookieshooter]

Axle end with adjustable mounts and enough liner welds including back side.
Actually I made this to incorporate upper link bracket also.

Welded underside, side and even welded to top.

Try to keep drag bar and track bar the same and close to horizontal.
You want to keep away from the evil bump steer.
Now I have not had this on too long but it has worked great with no bump steer due to the shallow angle and this is on a DD.
Just remember that there is a tremendous amount of pressure on these brackets so make sure your getting a good penetration on your welds.

 

[james t]

I can get you pic of mine, but mine is not ideal. Since you're re-doing most of it, do it right. Raise the mount on the axle end and have the frame mount as short as possible. This for 2 reasons-

1- Clearance over the diff. With the axle mount up high you dont ever have to worry about the tracbar tagging the diff cover

2- Way stronger. Because the axle mount runs parallel with the axle housing, you can build it uber strong because the forces mainly run laterally through the bar and mount. You cannot do this on the frame end, because the mount is perpendicular to the frame rail, and the longer it is the more it leverages on the frame and wants to crack or tear.

 

[Turdle]

I have another question please.

The pan-hard bar should be parallel to the drag link.

However, this does not work if a bent pan-hard bar is used. The mounting points of the bent pan-hard should be in line with the mounting points of the drag link---correct?
this would make the bent bar to "appear" out of angle, when in fact it is in line.

Am I correct?

 

[IZwack]

Correcto!

 

[Turdle]

So, I will use a true straight piece of wood ( I have a bunch of 1/2"x1/2" x48" strips) as a guide for trac bar bracket locations, then, fit the bent tube in.

 

[rookieshooter]

To help in reducing bump steer try to keep the lengths of the track and drag link as close to the same length. Lot of times this may not be possible.
This does not mean measuring bends just the distants between mounting points.
You want both drag and track bar to follow as closely as possible the same arc.
When there traveling in different arcs, that's what adds to bump steer.
Like James said, keep enough distants between top of pumpkin and the link. But not so high that the angle wants to shove the axle outward anymore then necessary when cycling. The closer to horizontal the less sideways shove.
But again like James said about the lengths of the bracket, keep that in mind also.
This is like a balancing act thing. Nothing that could not be changed if it does not work out the first time.

 

[Turdle]

I think I can get the lengths within an inch of each other.

I'll post up a progress pic in a moment. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how little angle we achieved on the drag link. Matching the pan-hard bar to it is the tricky part. There is only so far to the right side the bracket can go, as there is a spring perch in my way. Because of where the frame bracket will have to be located, I had to ditch the front sway bar.

 

[Turdle]

Ok, yes I am asking for help here.

So, pictures are in order. I think this is a livable drag link angle.

Using the present panhard bar for illustration only

looking under engine cradle

Adjustable ballistic axle bracket installed.

I do not have a working frame bracket yet, which is why I asked for pictures of options please!!!

 

[Turdle]

Oh and drilling out the pitman arm to 3/4" while it is mounted to the truck ---I will never do that again. Before I got all the way through, I coulda given a hoot about the truck. I was not going to let a hole kick my butt. That is the only way I made it through, while laying on my back, using my elbow as a lever against the axle, with shavings going in my hair. Screw all that.

 

[FireZapper]

Home made frame side.

Ballistic fab axle side.

1 1/4" .025 wall. Threaded for 3/4" heims.

 

[Turdle]

So nobody told me I could cut the front cross member of the engine cradle--


Geez, no wonder I am having such a hard time.

 

[FireZapper]

Yea just watch causing sharp inside corners. They will crack over time.

 

[rookieshooter]

I just cut my cross member out...welll kinda, I replaced it with a tube/angle one that gave me plenty of room. Next I'm going to modify it so I can completely take it out to pull oil pan.

Like Zapper said, if you cut, do not leave and sharp corners where you have two cuts meeting. But if you do, take a small grinder of some sort and radius the corner. When I cut my cross member out, I did it in a way that there was no sharp edges also. You could always reinforce the cut off part with a small angle welded to the edges for reinforcement. Just a thought.
Hope you did not go to far with enlarging the pitman arm hole?
Seems like your doing a great job.

 

[Turdle]

Please look at the below picture for reference. On the passenger side knuckle you see a real long bolt to accommodate the high misalignment shims for the heims, They also bring the drag link more level.
I am only using them on the drag link. They look long but allow more movement. Since changing them out will greatly affect the angles, I need to ask if I should change this or go with it.

Thanks.

 

[rookieshooter]

Hope someone else chimes in on this. IMO that bolt is just too long. That length compounds the lateral forces greatly.
You will increase the leverage exponentially. Bolts are really not designed to withstand all that much lateral forces. They're made to clamp down. That's why I try to double shear all my suspension mounts at frame end and use TRE for other ends. They have the tapered cone to help in the lateral forces. On my High Steer arm the bolts that pass through the high steer arm pass through a conical spacer that spreads the torque of the bolt out to the sides also. Kinda hard to explain.
Like I said, we need some more input on this. But I'm going too long.
Is this street driven also?
Maybe a shorter misalignment spacer? The ones on the drag link look like way more angle then you need.
A lot of people use the Chevy TRE and get crazy flex out of them.


I used Chevy Blazer TREs, 7/8" x 18 tpi. But your tubing might not accept it.