how-to build a trac-bar bracket....

[mississippi_xj]

Well.... I just put on some black diamond lift springs and edelbrock shocks this week. I couldn't stand the way the jeep was driving so I threw togethere some crappy trac-bar relocation bracket.... that worked it's way loose.

Yesterday I finally decided to stop screwing around with it and just build a super heavy duty *adjustable* bracket.

What I did was use some 3/8" x 2" bar stock. I used my angle grinder to notch the metal just over half way through on one end than proceeded to bend it to match the contour of the underside of the factory mounting location. I then took the welder and ran a few large beads to fill where it was cut. I then cleaned it up with my angle grinder.

After I had everything welded up I measured for the bottom hole than measured off for 3 holes above that. The bottom hole was 3/4" from the inside of the bend. The top holes are @ 2", 3", and 4" on center from the factory hole. I then drilled them out on a drill press. I don't remember the drill bit size.

I drilled the holes at different lenghts to give me some future adjustablility if I decide to re-do my steering.

After all that I just bolted everything up with old jeep hardware I had sitting around the garage.

The jeep drives *way* better now and has *zero* bumpsteer.

[jeepchipjones]

this is a great example of a "do-it-yourself" solution to a popular problem. i wouldnt mind having one of those for my tj, would this piece fit a tj? dana 30 right? ill have to go check mine to see if it looks like yours, it doesnt look like it is...

[broncocraigellis]

i may not be looking at this right, but what is keeping the trac-bar from pushing the new bracket over?

[rccolacc]

That bracket would probably work well for YJs. I know several people that just take theirs off. Since it has leaf springs, the axle doesn't move side to side very much.
That bar would not work well on a coil sprung front end. The fact the track bar bolt is not double shear would worry me. It looks like it would put a lot of stress on that bracket and the bolt. I busted up 2 track bar brackets on my XJ when I wheeled it. The brackets have a ton of stress on them when you turn the wheel or put the Jeep on its side. Combine that force with big tires, and it's worse. If the trackbar goes out and you're on the highway it'd be real bad. The Jeep would go whatever direction it wanted, regardless of how you turn the wheel.
I have seen someone make their own adjustable bar. Here's the link:
www.nagca.com/grandtech/adjustablereartrackbar.htm
Doesn't appear too hard. I'll probably do something like that one day to save some money on a new one.
-RC

[broncocraigellis]

RC, that's what i was talking about. track bars are essential on a coil suspensioned rig. i could push my bronco off the coils without the track bar, so the track bar is very essential.

[mississippi_xj]

What is keeping from rotating on the lower mount is the way the metal "L's" under the factory mount. It is really tight. I have torqued the hell out of everything. I also made it so it would put extra pressure on the bottom L piece when it was torqued down to really hold it in place.

The fact that it isn't double shear doesn't really worry me @ this point. if nothing else I could just weld some more bar stock on the left side and it would really re-enforce it. I took it out and wheeled on it earlier today. I think It is going to hold up just fine.

[broncocraigellis]

just take the track bar off like RC said, those are over rated anyway. anything to make the rig lighter, right?

seriously, as long as you're confident with it that's all that matters