that blue bar going from the back to the middle... i looked at lots of other peoples rides and they dont have them bars... can someone tell me what are they for? just bought the car.. thank you all

 

Traction bars I believe....

 

They look like traction bars to me, but I would need to see some more pictures of how they are attached to the rear axle. Anybody else want to throw in their 2 cents?

btw: Nice looking "truck".

1eye

 

My money is on traction bars as well but we will need better pics to tell for sure.

 

i'll take some pics tomorrow... girl took the cam with her to the OC. traded a toyo mr2 turbo for the truck... bought the mr2 for 4k.. not sure if its a good trade or not... too late if it is...

 

I think you could have got some cash plus the truck for an MR2T, depending on the year, condition and mods. If the truck drives as good as it looks then I think you got a decent deal.
I think everybody is on the money, traction bars reduce axle wrap and/or funky axle movement. I believe you can just ditch them for better clearance offroad.

 

True but i have also seen where they help guys roll of things so sometimes they can help. either way you can leave them on if you use it as a Daily driver for better on road performance.

or take them off for orr road.

I personally will be getting a set sometime since i drive 90% of the time on road. What year is the truck? If you take them off i might take them off your hands.

 

That truck is so pretty.. Street Queen.

 

it is deffenently a traction bar. and if you drive the truck hard at all with those big tires you will probably want to keep them. very nice truck by the way.

 

truck is clean... its a 92 with 240K miles on the body and 20k on a rebuilt motor... only problems is the horn and oil gauge doesnt work...

 

i cant tell from the pic but i dont see leaf springs... I see what looks like a driveline painted blue

is it a 3 link?

 

heres random pics of it...

 

Like others have guessed, those are traction bars. Keeps the axle from rotating under torque and causing the springs to make an "S" shape. Can lead to loss of traction and even possibly break parts... yadda, yadda, yadda...

I have just been doing a lot of research on traction bars and just completed one for my own truck because I was having some issues off road. I think the bars you have will significantly limit your flex and in turn articulation. So in fact, they may give you issues off road.

Thing is as the suspensions cycles, your leaf spring shackles want to move back. That bar design allows for zero shackle movement. No movement, more bind... less travel.

You'll have to hit the trails and see what happens. They look easy enough to remove, so you could try the same lines with and without them... and see which way works best.

 

have you no shame? clean your parts before taking pics.

carrier bearing. is it a 2wd?

 

4WD V6

 

ditto on the traction bar

 

Traction Bars+Drivetrain Loop+Bigger/Wider Open Tread Tires equals desert toy.

Looks set-up for low axlewrap and solid traction at speed. If you're going to be the type who loves desert play versus crawling around, keep 'em. If you're going to use it at all off road, scrap 'em, as yeah you can use them to slide off stuff, but look at how the traction bars hold up under landcruisers and 4runners, most folks end up damaging and either swapping to just leafs or 4 linkng their rear ends for serious crawling. Unless someone really detailed that thing (doubtful) the dirt and dust, versus mud, grass, and plant life shows fireroad/hardpack dirt play.

*Random thought too, pull your brake drums and inspect your hydros, I see a wet backing plate and splatter in those pics. You might just have a bad brake piston, but it might also be the axle seals going. You can pretty much gaurantee it's the axle seals, those big meats put a lot of stress on the axles/etc.

IE.....

 

looks more like PO just thought they were cool =)

 

As been said before

Those are RANCHO traction bars - circa 1991.

They are "looong" so that the amount of lenght change required of the shackle movement is "minimized".

Bigger problem is that the bushings used (pre johnny joint days) dont allow for cross articulation - thus it acts a giant "sway bar".

Installer put the bolts on the shocks in the wrong way - the head should be on the bar side and the threads on the in side - thats why they had to BEND the tab over like that.

The bottom shock bolts dont work right either.
To get the bolt to stop rattling it has to be cranked TIGHT - thus preventing the shock from articulating on the bushing.
This can be fixed by WELDING the bolt to the tab so it functions like the OEM bottom shock mound did.