I don't know, that's what Bud told me he does. I guess because of the "chrome moly threaded bungs" he's welded in. He told me he only goes about an inch at a time and goes on to another piece.

 

Then he's destroying the heat treatment too ... the only real way is to weld it all up, THEN have it heat treated as one fabrication.

Most all tubing is sold annealed or normalized (basically stress relieved) - not heat treated for properties - so you're not losing much if anything.

 

You're probably right TC, maybe Bud can stop by and explain his side. There has to be some distance at which point the heat of the welding is far enough away though, 1 inch, 6", 12", 24"...some point. But I'm no expert on heat treatments and it been over 15 years since my one semester of metallurgy. Basically I'd say stay as far away as possible from the threaded ends and keep the heat to a minimum, and remove the teflon filled heim joints completely. Personally I used a TIG welder for it.

 

I know this thread is little old...sorry

Sooo would this traction bar help in desert racing at all? Like keeping the rear axle a lot more planted on the ground? Or do i just have no idea what the traction bar is made for besides preventing axle wrap.

 

i dont think it really adds "ground force" ( i made up that word), there isnt a spring or shock on it vertically, to keep the axle planted to the ground, its just there to hold the axle in its posistion, if that makes sense...sorry, lol, im not good at explaining things haha

 

though, might i add, putting a coil over shock, on an angle like this \, mounted to the center of it,is a pretty good idea

 

It's cool, i see what your saying. Yeah I was thinkin after this whole college thing is over, and my truck is still runnin good, I would go with trailing arms and coilovers. Then I saw this, and I was thinking cheap. Thanks for explainin it though.

 

Can you elaborate further? Center of what?

 

putting a coilover mounted on the center of the traction bar, i think its a good idea, anyone else think so? like in the above picture, mount a coilover from the center of the traction bar, up to a custom made crossmember on the frame

 

I think it would hella tight if I could put two of those traction bars on without hitting the gas tank. Then put coilovers on and get rid of the leaf springs. They look pretty beefy from the picture except for that it's only hanging on one bar going towards the front. Maybe if the front part came together like < and was attached to the frame at the end of that, I would consider it lol

 

sounds like you are getting really close to a dezert racing style rear 2 link. they put the coil spring up the lower link to get more travel out of less travel on the shock for less wear, heat and more compact shocks. it can be done but your frame connection would have to be different and i would want it to be a little beefier than that if i built one.

 

As stated, a race truck might have something like that, but I don't see any point in doing it to the above truck.

 

Why? The traction bar is only making sure the axle housing doesn't spin. Yes, it has to move up & down to account for the rear suspension but it's main job is to stop the rear axle from rotating. That's is. If your traction bar is doing more than that, you've got problems.

 

That's called a link suspension if you get rid of the leaf springs

 

lol that's pretty much what I was going for Volcom

 

i know its main job is just to prevent axlewrap, but if you did mount a coilover, it would help with rear end sag in heavy loads...kinda like a 2 for 1 deal...just throwin that out there...i was thinkin of ways to enhance the product ya know

 

I think with one coilover, the truck would tilt over to one side while sitting there.

Its honestly not that hard to get rid of sag. That is not a good way to do it.