Pan hard bracket or adjustable bar? That is the question.
 

I want to straighten out my panhard bar situation, but not sure which way to go. I can have a bracket welded on for around $50, which would put it at $125 minimum plus the hassle of that process, verses adjustable bar for $175 plus shipping and popping it on myself with no hassles of having a bracket welded. I did see somewhere that someone thought the bracket wasn't as accurate as the adjustable bar, too. Any thoughts on this either way?

I know Sonoran's web site is fairly thorough with explaining this, but it doesn't say which is best. I e-mailed them to ask the other day, but never heard back. Guess I've asked too many questions and become a pain already! :con:

Anybody got a good used bar for sale? Anybody made their own bracket or their own bump stop adapters? :welder: I can do some welding and decent fabricating, but thinking it might be best to order the real thing from Sonoran to have the correct measurements. It's nice to save some money when you can, though! Thanks for the input!

go with the bar, I used a bracket, the idea is good, but you are correcting for 1/8" to maybe 1/4" of adjustment, how accurate will the welding that bracket on be? If you can get it perfectly aligned go for it. I cut mine off last summer, and actually, tomorrow, I'll be getting a fully adjustable bar made. Lucky for me there is a fully stocked "Chassis Shop" catering to race cars, dune buggies, and other, near me. They stock pre-drilled/pre-tapped tube and pipe that you just cut to length, and thread the ends in. I'll update you on it tomorrow when I go to pick it up.

Also, alignment shop told me they will give me specs on rear after front-alignment to adjust myself, or they can do it there for another $10 when I explained how easy it will be.

Steve will get back with you, just give him some time, or he'll chime in here.

I think both when properly installed correct the problem, just depends on what is easier for you to install and/or prefer.

:guitar:

My understanding is that for proper link angles, the drop bracket (or lift bracket if you put it on the housing) is the ideal way to go, especially it's it perfectly fitted. If you have some fab skills I don't think this would be an issue.

- Take some appropriately sized square tube and cut off a side.
- Make it ~ the length you need to drop (I'd say center-to-center plus1.5-2")
- Drill one hole and bolt it up to the truck.
- Line the bar up and mark the correct place for the second hole.
- Drill those holes out and attach as you would (ie, weld the bracket on, add diagonal supports, etc).

This is what I would do. Maybe Schaffer, Flyg, or someone with some suspension expertise will pop in and mention something

To get mine in rough position, I will hang a plumb-bob thingamadoodad, from the body, with the string hanging across the axle... there I will scribe a line, and adjust my bar till the string hangs appropriate distance away from the mark to correct for the lift... then I'll verify when front gets aligned again at shop

I constructed my own drop bracket by cutting out one side of some square tube and using strip steel for the kicker braces. I didn't want to hassle with the welding so I drilled holes in the frame crossmember so I could just bolt it on (and easily remove should that be required).

The bracket is only as accurate as whomever does the install. To ensure good drop bracket alignment I parked on a level surface (the garage floor) and took a tape measure and measured from the floor to to the very back of the frame on each side. One side was about 1/2" lower than the other (probably due to spring sagging) so I jacked up that side of the frame to make it level with the ground. I bolted the drop bracket to the frame through the exisiting frame panhard mounting holes and snugged them down. A bullet level was placed on the drop bracket and the bottom of the drop bracket repositioned until the bullet level read vertical. The kicker straps were positioned, marked on the crossmember and a hole drilled to bolt everything up. You could substitute welding for this step.

Ideally, the panhard drop bracket hole spacing should be identical to the amount of lift you are adding to the rear (e.g. a 3" lift would require a drop bracket with holes drilled 3" apart center-to-center.

It sounded to me as you want to make your own solution.

I remember you from 4X4Wire. Way back in 2002.

If you're unsure of it you should order the bar from Steve (SonoranSteel), I personally do not have any of his products, but he sells a guaranteed and tested product with everything on his site. This is from what everyone who has ordered from him here have said.

Between bar or drop bracket, the bar is really the "only" way to go IMO, since you KNOW :) you will change the amount of lift at some point, his is adjustable for different heights

Steve, In my last e-mail I asked you which way I should go with this and told you I was ready to buy from you. You never responded. I don't necessarily want to make my own solution, but I have seen several people do that and was wondering if it was doable to save the bucks. Can't blame a guy for that, espcially when extra cash is hard to come by... and after not hearing back from a company I tried to spend some money with. I was ready to order a drop bracket based on information I found on my own after you did not respond to my inquiry, but then I read a couple of posts where people thought the adjustable bar might work better. So, I'm trying to clear that up with this thread.

Yep, been visiting 4x4 Wire for several years off and on. Tried to fix this suspension long ago thinking I would have the cash, but then it would have to go for other things and I sure didn't want to waste any on something that was not going to make things any better! Too many opinions on what works to know what really does, especially when I don't live in an area where people with modified Toyotas are plentiful. I finally have some surpluss so I'm looking for solutions and answers to suspension problems that seem to have a zillion fixes and as many opinions about it. Very confusing, but there have been lots of really nice people on this site who have been more than willing to help with information. I ordered my OME stuff the other day, so I am actually finally getting something done with this.

Good advice. I appreciate that Andrew. Another example of the many nice folks on YotaTech willing to help a brother out!!

Give me a call then and order a trac bar.

The drop bracket is going to be discontinued once I sell the 3 precut ones I have on hand. The adjustable bar is a better solution and the only one will offer in the future.

I have sonoran adjustable panhard bar and it works well for me. I Like like the idea of being able to adjust if I decide that I want to go higher.

I've got the solid Panhard bar from Sonoran and it works...adjustable would be the best idea though.

Fink:devil:

i have the adjustable. it took 15 minutes to put it on. i would recomend it because it is so hasle free, and if you ever want to sell your truck on stock ride, you do not have to worry about grinding and re-welding

Steve, to answer your question, using the drop bracket is the closest to maintaning the stock rear axle geometry.......however......the adjustable or lengthened panhardbar will give you the most clearance (and axle articulation) for offroading. Like I mentioned, both will get the job done, but if it were my truck I would probably just get the panhard bar because it's just a bolt on part (vs the drop bracket which needs to be welded accurately to work properly). Just my $0.02 anyway.

......Steve's a good guy and he was probably just too busy to respond quickly.

OK, I'm convinced and will send the dough. I was not looking forward to welding it myself and maybe not getting it right or having a local welder do it and the same happening. A good two cents Jamie! Steve actually replied again, so I guess I'll give him a call today.

Update:
Wow, got the adj. bar today and maybe it's the temps in the teens that have my shock oil so cold they'll hardly move, but what a difference! Hard to believe putting a bar that's adjusted just a fraction of an inch longer than stock can get rid of quirky handling charecteristics like this thing did, but it sure seems to have! A few more days of driving and hopefully some warmer weather will tell me if what I'm feeling is real, but I have a feeling it is. Pretty amazing. Wish I had done that long time ago! Now to bolt on the new spings and shocks!