dhsavage

New to owning a truck (doublecab), I was dumbfounded after bringing it in some light sand how terrible the axle wrap was....it shook hard enough to crack the exhaust and I could imagine a day of driving in sand would do some destruction on various suspension components. I couldn't believe that the tacoma pre-runner...practically built for southern cali and baja adventuring couldn't handle driving in sand! What a mistake Toyota has made by not adding factory traction bars.
Anyways...got some custom traction bars from The Truck Shop in San Diego...great construction, great welding, and holy crap the result is simply incredible. Not just in sand (where the problem went completely away)...but a great improvement in normal street driving. Acceleration off the line is much crisper and more responsive...and braking too.
Anyways...I am dubbing this the most essential mod to a stock tacoma. I really think toyota made a poor engineering evaluation not to include these stock.

WATRD

For many of us, traction bars have significant negative effect on articulation, so we would never run them. They may be an "essential mod" for a narrow range of Tacoma use, but saying that as a general statement regarding Tacoma's is a mistake.

For a pre-runner used in certain circumstances, perhaps. For almost anything else, the loss of articulation and clearance is a huge negative.

cvlighthouse

Anyone have experience with these:
Tuff Country EZ Ride Traction Bar

neliconcept

that doesnt look like its going to do much, id check out budbuilts traction bar for the rear which bolts on to the axle housing and then the frame. rides beside the driveshaft.

cvlighthouse

Here: http://www.budbuilt.com/new/traction_bars.html



THe price difference is literally night and day. Perhaps I could mount a ball joint on one end to give them more flex. I could see how budbuilt would allow max flex since it holds from the center. The tuff country and pro comp ones are on ea side.

I would just like something to take care of wrap from the added add a leaf spring.

norcalsvx

i'm going with a budbuilt one on my truck, i cant take the axle wrap anymore

toylocost

Its a pre-runner, why do you need so much articulation? Its not like its going to go crawling anytime soon.

cvlighthouse

Well I got the traction bars for $60 shipped. I'll see how they work out and report back. Hopefully I don't need to list them as a mod I regret.

Same deal here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=270151909999

ewong

No need to mod the BudBuilt.

His has a shackle at the horse collar end.
It doest work the way you might think it works - it prevents the pinion climbing the ring gear by blocking the up twist of the axle.

Thus it does NOT limit articulation.

ewong

I yer serious about "dez" running you fix the axle wrap the RIGHT way

http://www.chaosfab.com/toyaccess_rearsus.html

62" springs

SPRUNG UNDER

No more wrap
No restrictions on articulation
Minor ground clearance issues (not ideal for hard core rock crawlin)

cvlighthouse

I understand that, i was thinking of modifying the tuff country one to do the same.

At $60 shipped, it is a lot cheaper than $400.

The 63 " springs are out of the question since I need to have my bed clear for the cab over camper.

Elvota

Actually, sometimes spring under rigs can "ride" the springs like ramps over obstacles. It's pretty impressive, as I have seen that move in action a few times on the trail. So, even though one looses clearance, it might not be all that bad.

You may have misunderstood. 63" is the length, and wouldn't interfere with the bed at all. Maybe longer shocks, like 14" or more might have to go through the bed. But that would be only looking for max flex, nothing to do with axle wrap.

It will be interesting to get your feedback on the T-Bar design you went with. I am in the process of building a shackle style one for my rig and am hoping I'll be able to reduce axle wrap without effecting flex.

ewong

Nope

Runs 62" Deavers and a Cantilever set up - fits UNDER the bed.

http://www.tacomaterritory.com/forum...ght=cantilever

cvlighthouse

I gotcha. The bed only needs to be cut for maximum flex (I read the Total Chaos description all the way through this time)

I'll try the OEM springs + add a leaf + tuff country traction bars first before completely scrapping the whole idea and going for the 63" leaf springs under the axle.

For $50 shipped for the tuff country traction bars, it's worth the experiment. I have heard of guys bending the hollow bars on 2500 chevy's. I don't think my truck (even with the s/c) will be putting out that much torque. If I break em, oh well... I'm sure my best bet is going for the bud built one, but I am buying other parts too like a new custom bumper and a 7th injector kit for the s/c.

I will promise to wheel this truck enough to test these cheesy bolt-on traction bars out.

ewong

In your not too concerned with limit articulation... Rancho used to make a bolt on "trac arm"... It slung a loong (50"?) tube from under the axle to the frame rail.

(its on the 4Runner in the Avatar)

Since the arm was long the change in length as the suspension cycled was low.

But the bushings limited cross articulation

Hmm - new Rancho website has NO Toyota stuff?


----

Its a cheezy scan...

The bar is barely visible
The frame mount point is under the drivers door somewhere..

cvlighthouse

I remember those:

Pretty close to the pro comp ones. Still an arm and a leg compared to the tuff country ones (that I'm going to break my first time wheeling w/ them) for only $50 shipped. lol

cvlighthouse

So I installed these tuff country traction bars this weekend. There weren't any instructions and the job took forever because I was replacing the bushings in my leaf springs (or trying to) to stop the squeak in the rear.

Bottom line:

I stopped the squeak and the traction bars work great. I will take pictures and start up my own thread (instead of hijacking this one.)

For $50 shipped, so far these traction bars are worth it IMO. I haven't tested them out wheeling yet, but I have no problem spinning the rear tires now.