JHupp

Holy old thread bat-man! As far as I know, it is the drop bracket, not the extended bar that gives more articulation. The bracket is also a heck of a lot cheaper, you just have to know someone, or be able to weld it up yourself.

anthony1

iTrader: (1)

Hmmm there's lot of bad info going around. The pan hard bar basically centered the rear axle. you drop the axle, it moves the axle in a radius.
As the suspension flex, the axle swings the driveshaft toward the gas tank. You can swap with front double cardan d-shaft. It's skinnier than the rear one. I've been running it for a while now and it's fine. Another option is to move the gas tank to the rear where the spare tires is located. 2" body lift helps with the clearance.
I would just use Downey or Roger Brown bolt on type. When you're ready to go higher, you just change it.

this pic show my set up right after my SAS. I eventually took off the Downey one cause I swapped out the coil with a softer one.

FredTJ

Some other information.

Seems almost everyone makes a trackbar *DROP* bracket that drops the mounting location on the frame end (passenger side).

The is 100% ass backwards from what's really needed.

I've seen at least one vendor (can't remember who at the moment) that makes a trackbar *RAISED* bracket, that is it entends (raises) the axle mounted end (drivers side) of the trackbar.

This is the correct way if you're not going with an adjustable trackbar (and should even be done if you do go with an adjustable trackbar).

I haven't look at any of the adjustable trackbars that are being sold, but I sure hope that the ends are some sort of flexable joint (heims, JJ's, etc).
If not they'll contribute to suspension bind during articulation.




Fred

anthony1

iTrader: (1)

How does the binding occur? the axle is held inplace by the 4 links. the pan hard bar justs go up and down.

FredTJ

You should really set the vehicle up on jack stands, remove the rear wheels and, using a floor jack under the ends of the axle, cycle the suspension some and get an idea on how a 5 link suspension works.

The axle has *TWO* planes of movement.

- It moves up and down, as you've indicated.
- It also moves FORWARD and BACKWARDS (when viewed from the side).

These two planes of motion, combined, make the axle move in an arc when viewed from the side.
This is because the control arms (links) are fastened to a fixed place on the frame and thus will rotate around that fixed point (they are the radius of a circle). When the CA's (links) move up and down, when viewed from the side), they'll rotate around their pivot point on the frame end and thus, "shorten" or "lengthen" the front/rear placement of the axle.

So, this means that the trackbar does NOT just move up and down, but it's also pulled forward and rearward on it's mounts as the axle articulates.

With relatively tight rubber or poly bushings at both ends, that will introduce binding.



Fred

anthony1

iTrader: (1)

ic what you mean. I think these rubber bushings has a lot of give. I've never had issues with binding.
Having said that, I'd like to get rid of the pan hard bar all together and go with trianglulated 4 links.
but that takes $$ that I don't have.

FredTJ

Just remember that longer coils (and shocks) allow the axle to articulate more.
The more the axle articulates on the vertical place, the move it'll move on the horizontail (view from the side) plane and the more stress on the trackbar mounting brackets because of the rubber or poly bushings.

Now, just for fun, since you understand the axle movement.
The axle also moves on two other planes (at least), other than the vertical plane and the horizontal plane (when viewed from the side).
Can you tell what those planes are ?




Fred

Flygtenstein

With a heimed/stock jointed panhard, custom links and a drop combined with 5009 Ranchos, the rear of my truck worked better than I could have ever imagined. I was maxing shocks on both compression and droop.

I don't care what planes things move in.

I also think that for most people with a mostly stock suspension, the drop is the best solution bar none no matter what theory says.

anthony1

iTrader: (1)

I agree. I've never heard of anyone broke the pan hard bar mount before.

Flygtenstein

Never the panhard, often ripping the uppers off the housing.

I even had a bent passenger side upper to clear the tank and eliminate bind even more.