Is the track bar need for any special reason? Because my 4-runner seems fine with out it. Let me know Thanks

 

I dont have one on my '79. or a sway bar. i took everything off and chopped the brackets off the housing. seems fine to me. but mine is not a daily driver either...

 

No track bar needed, same for the sway bar.

 

You guys are talking about the stock traction bar right? Does that limit alot of travel?

 

My 81 seems to be fine with out it. But IMO if you have worn components on your front end it would probably help somewhat stability wise. Toyota saw a purpose for it at some point.

 

As brought up on another post, remove the track bar, install large tires (35" or more) then hit the brakes hard. It will pull to the right. Hard. Now, crossover steering totally negates the need for the track bar so if you have any form of crossover, by all means get rid of the thing. If not (like me) be aware that it will pull right under hard braking.

 

AKA the Torque Rod. Its purpose is to prevent brake and bump steer. It is in parallel with the steering drag link and prevents the axle from rolloing forward or back and causing a pull on the steering. Also helps to protect the drag link and steering arm from damage off-road. You will see more flex with it off, but if you find your steering components being pushed to the limit, they may break. You can make it a quick disconnect bar:
http://www.mindspring.com/~jayk3/toyota/torque.htm

 

That's not a track bar. It's a torque rod. Toyota's don't come from the factory with any form of track bar. I've heard of people making custom track bars for soft, flexy leaf springs in the front. I don't feel that they are nessessary.

 

It sounds like the same thing to me.

 

Most track bars run parallel with the axle


The Toyota torque rod runs perpendicular. They serve two different functions.

 

That would be a panhard rod, those run parallel to the axle and hold the axle in place side-side.

Trac (short for traction) bars run perpendicular to the axle and generally control axle wrap and wheel hop. That is how they improve traction. The torque rod on the front axle is not so much for axle wrap control, since it does not have a triangulated axle mount like a real traction bar. Rather it is more to keep the axle from rolling under braking and when hitting bumps and having that input feed into the steering and cause the truck to steer one way or the other. I ran my '85 a few times w/o the torque rod attached and it was a little twitchy under hard braking. You could get used to it and that twitchiness would depend on how much lift and how stiff a spring was up front.

 

on my 81, it pulled harder to the right with it installed. But the truck was more stable on the road. I got rid of it anyways, since I got used to it.

 

I got one of those rancho torque rods, Its got a heim joint on one end so i dont loose any travel and its adjustable for different amounts of lift

 

I've heard that you can use an old shock in place of the torque rod, for the best of both. Keeps the axle where it should be during braking and allows for articulation when wheeling. Anyone done this?

 

I've used a shock in place of the torque rod and while it controls wrap a little better than nothing at all, it is not as good as a solid rod.