Quick and dirty install pictures
|
First thing I had to decide when creating my own adjustable track-bar was what material and end links were going to be used. My Jeep by far is a daily driver first and an occasional off-road vehicle second. It isn’t uncommon for us to drive 500 miles for a weekend of off-road driving and then plan to be able to safely drive back. Because of this I tend to build things stronger whenever possible within a certain amount of reason. Ultimately I want something durable, strong and reasonable to replace/maintain with high parts availability. Link material: This track-bar build was coinciding with a custom steering project so choosing the link material was easy. I used 1.5”x.250” DOM tubing with threaded bung adapters 7/8”x18 TPI that I paid a local welder to TIG weld them onto it. Axle-side end link: I decided to stay with a rubber bushing on the axle-side mount but wanted something larger and more durable than the smaller factory piece. I found that TeraFlex makes a modular rod end that can accept a larger rubber bushing in its cradle in the appropriate bolt specs 7/8”x18 TPI. Frame-side end link: Many that build their own adjustable track-bars go with a heim-style rod end, Rubicon Express Flex joint or Currie’s Johnnie Joint. All of these are very good choices that can be mounted in either a single shear or preferably a double shear configuration. Due to my goals of durable, strong, cheap and high availability I chose to use a high misalignment tie rod end on this side of the track-bar. I already had used the same TRE’s on my custom steering, so using one of the same ends on my track-bar makes sense for a couple of reasons. |
Factory track-bar axle-side rubber bushing TeraFlex Modular Rod End - Medium with rubber bushing - Tera Part# 985-R Factory UCA bushing to be used in axle-side track-bar rod end Weld-in threaded bungs and jam nuts |
|
Custom axle-side
track-bar bracket A custom axle mount was needed for the new track-bar. JKS Manufacturing sells a weld-on bracket for such a purpose, but the unknown factor for me was how well it would match what I was doing with my steering. Because suspension ride height, drag-link mounting position, pitman arm drop and frame-side track-bar mount can vary so greatly, I didn’t feel confident that this bracket would easily offer the finer amount of height adjustment I might need. It may work in your application, but not in mine. I wanted to make sure I had as much granularity to give my track-bar the same path of travel as the steering drag-link so building my own was what we ultimately decided to run with. I had plenty of scrap steel lying around and someone with experience in welding completely at my disposal (my father), so off to deciding how to make an appropriate bracket. I decided I wanted the axle-side mount to be two separate pieces. The first component is a platform that would be permanently welded to the axle tube. The platform extends forward from the axle and allows the track-bar to have clearance around the passenger-side UCA tower and differential. The platform would have four 7/16ths bolt holes drilled into it so that the next piece can be safely attached. The second component will surround the TeraFlex/rubber bushing and will be bolted on top of the platform by four 7/16ths bolts. The second component that I designed is what we call the “Dog House”. The bushing being used in the Dog House is larger than the factory track-bar rubber bushing as it is a factory UCA bushing. My hopes are that it will last a longer period of time than the smaller factory component. I designed the Dog House to allow enough room internally to pass a 7/16ths socket on the end of a 6” extension from the top down for fastening the Dog House to the platform. You’re maybe wondering why I didn’t just weld the Dog House on to the platform. I really wanted to make this component be modular so that I could raise or lower it to best match the angle of my drag link. I was planning on having the ability to add metal spacers underneath the Dog House whether they were washers or larger pieces of metal. When placed in-between the platform and Dog House it would allow me to adjust the height of the Dog House in relation to the height of the frame-side mount to best match the drag-link angle. Without this adjustability I would have had to guess what the best height would be. I didn’t want to make a poor guess and then find out that I was off by too much and be forced into a position where I had to decide as to whether I remake a component or live with the consequences. I made that mistake once (as you will see in the next section) and didn’t want to do it again. **Important note** The original holes drilled into the top of the platform had to be changed due to some changes in the frame-side track-bar bracket. Additionally some grinding had to be performed to allow the tie rod link clearance to go from wheel stop to wheel stop. All in all nothing earth shattering, but something that the photos can’t or don’t show. |
JKS Over the Axle Bracket - OGS920 Axle-side track-bar mount - Platform Pic #1 Axle-side track-bar mount - Platform Pic #2 Axle-side track-bar mount - Platform Pic #3 Axle-side track-bar mount - Platform Pic #4 Axle-side track-bar mount - Platform Pic #5 Axle-side track-bar mount - Platform Pic #6 Axle-side track-bar mount - Dog House Pic #1 Axle-side track-bar mount - Dog House Pic #2 Axle-side track-bar mount - Dog House Pic #3 Axle-side track-bar mount - Dog House Pic #4 Axle-side track-bar mount - Dog House Pic #5 |
|
Explanation of the Pro’s
and Con’s of Frame-side Track-bar mounts, whether to go vertical or
horizontal. Each style of mounting, Vertical and Horizontal, has its own Achilles heel, but it is my contention that vertical mounting creates a larger problem than a horizontal mount. Vertical: When viewed from the front the axle will yaw from one side to another as the terrain dictates. The amount of yaw or articulation seen will vary depending on a number of items. Amongst other factors the suspension setup that the individual vehicle has received will determine the amount of articulation a vehicle is capable of performing. The only true concern for vertically mounting the track-bar is while off-road where the articulation limits of the ball joint on the track-bar can be reached or exceeded on even a fairly mild trail. Range of motion that an axle may articulate off-road undoubtedly can be from 10 degrees to a whopping 45 degrees. Your typical factory/aftermarket TRE/Heim joint has about 20 degrees of articulation built into it before the joint binds. With larger suspension lifts and longer suspension arms it isn’t uncommon to have a suspension system that can out flex what the track-bar is capable of keeping up with. Once you hit this limit the rod end in question binds up and is now holding back a fair amount of force from articulating further. This hyper extends the ball and socket and the joint increasingly becomes looser creating a greater opportunity for death wobble to rear its ugly head. So how do you keep your vertical mount and prevent this binding from occurring? Well if you go with the Chevy 1-ton TRE ES2027L it actually is a high misalignment joint that provides for almost 30 degrees of articulation, which is a fair improvement over the other types of TRE’s. In addition to using a high misalignment joint, a track-bar manufacturer will bend the link tubing (like a lazy S) to take some of the angle out of the TRE when the vehicle is at its static ride height. The downside to this approach is that the bent tubing is weaker than a straight piece of tubing and is more likely to bend further when forces are exerted onto it during off-road driving. Otherwise limiting straps at the corner on the front axle that stop the axle articulation from over extending the rod end is another option albeit not necessarily a desirable one. Horizontal: If you stand to one side of your axle and view it along the beam across the vehicle, as the suspension compresses and opens up, the axle rolls forward and rolls rearward. The type of rolling and how much depends on the types of suspension links, rid height etc. Generally this rolling isn’t all that much, perhaps 10 degrees or 15 at most. As you can see from above that mounting a rod end horizontally makes the most sense as the range of motion the rod end mounted as such sees less articulation than one mounted in a vertical position. |
|
|
Custom Frame-side
track-bar bracket with a horizontal mounting point The following pictures show the process of trying to get the frame-side track-bar bracket mounted at the correct height and angle. Unfortunately I failed to take any significant amount of pictures to show the progression of this mount as we had a couple of false starts. I was looking to create a setup that was more durable, stronger, cost effective and readily available in the event of breakage. While some prefer to switch to some other type of rod end, I still wanted to use a readily available automotive-style TRE. I was already using two sets of Chevy 1-ton TRE’s, ES2026R & ES2027L, on my steering linkages (drag link and tie rod) and had an extra set to carry with me for emergency spares. So I settled on a Chevy 1-ton TRE ES2027L (the L designates it has left-handed threads) mounted horizontally. Now that I knew what the rod end was going to be it was just a matter of determining how to create a new bracket to accommodate the new rod end. I knew that it wasn’t worth my time and effort to try and modify the factory stamped piece so it wasn’t a consideration. I first had the idea of mounting a TRE horizontally 2-3 years prior to this project and kicked it around with a friend. Neither of us could think of a reason why it wouldn’t work as I had planned. As a matter of point we couldn’t figure out why the track-bar end wasn’t mounted this way from the factory. The more I thought about it the more it seemed like the perfect solution to my problem. I did a little searching on a number of Jeep forums and found at least two other Jeepers that had performed the same feat that I was looking to undertake. Neither had a bad thing to say so that clinched my decision to have a horizontal mount. Although it may appear that everything is one large piece, there is two pieces to the bracket in the pictures with two unique roles. First there is a larger bracket whose sole purpose is to stiffen the surrounding uni-frame for the installation of a coil-over suspension and the coil-over towers. To this my track-bar bracket was welded. These two combined brackets get bolted onto the uni-frame. My first attempt at creating this track-bar bracket was a minor failure. I got two things wrong. First and most embarrassing was that when I took the two brackets to my local welder (I paid a welder for this part instead of having my father go at it with our smaller MIG) I somehow got the angle of the mount wrong. So $40 in welding was gone rather quickly. But ultimately that wouldn’t have mattered because the larger screw-up is what we missed when cycling the suspension to check for clearance issues. Prior to going to the welder we had the brackets held together with some vise grips and mounted on the Jeep. We assembled the track-bar and put everything in place and cranked the suspension up and down and watched to make sure that the links and ends weren’t going to interfere with each other or any other components. Turns out we didn’t pay enough attention on the up travel portion of the checking. We could see upon going up that it was free and clear of everything so we didn’t compress the suspension fully like a couple of idiots. So when I get the bracket back from the welder, it then became obvious that my oil pan was in jeopardy due to the lack of fully compressing the suspension. Now I was faced with rebuilding the bracket or losing a good inch of suspension up travel. So out comes the sawzall and we cut the two welded together brackets apart. We now realized that the mounting point had to be lowered on the frame-side bracket by a good inch. So with a piece of .5” plate and another .25” plate we re-welded the components back together. Prior to doing this we re-clamped everything back together using vise grips and triple-checked the clearance. Of course lowering the one end an inch creates other problems that we previously didn’t have and with some finagling we finally found the best compromise. Upon this final decision my father whipped out our little Miller MIG welder and did his best to meld the pieces together. The welds aren’t pretty, but I have full confidence that they will hold. |
Rubber bushing information - Pic #1 Rubber bushing information - Pic #2 Rubber bushing information - Pic #3
Frame-side track-bar mount - Pic #1 Frame-side track-bar mount - Pic #2 Frame-side track-bar mount - Pic #3 Frame-side track-bar mount - Pic #4 Frame-side track-bar mount - Pic #5 |
|
Final track-bar
brackets and linkage The following pictures show the resolution of my track-bar project. All in all it wasn’t horrendously difficult of a process. Time consuming, yes. Impossible to do, no. We spent a ton of time trying to make everything perfect the first time out. When you have to re-make a bracket time just flies out the window. Later I decided to try and add some adjustability to what we were doing so that if things don’t work out the first time we wouldn’t have to scrap the part. But this wasn’t always something that can be done. The end result as seen in Picture #12 is track-bar that is almost the mirror image of the drag-link in front of it. The best we could measure was that the track-bar was ½ degree off. When driving down the street zero bump steer is observed. In conjunction with my new steering, the Jeep feels rock steady rolling down the highway and is virtually unaffected by pot holes and other pavement imperfections. |
Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #1 Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #2 Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #3 Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #4 Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #5 Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #6 Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #7 Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #8 Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #9 Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #10 Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #11 Pictures of the fully assembled track-bar - Pic #12 |
**Disclaimer**
The above information has been created by someone that is an enthusiast
and not a trained automotive
professional. My
intentions are not to have any physical harm come to anyone, but to highlight
what I have done to my
own personal vehicle.
If you decide to use any of my information, you bear the responsibility
to verify its safety.
