Ok, its sandy where i live and my '03 has terrible axle wrap. Cant hardly drive on my driveway in 2wd. My dads '06 is the same way, but his '02 power joke goes right through with no problem. When the dodges start hoppin, it makes them get stuck. I am lookin for an affordable way to fix this axle wrap. I dont do any serious 4 wheeling so im not looking for anything big and fancy. Any help is appreciated

 

Truck Suspension Systems - One Up Offroad Suspension Systems - Traction Bars and Traction Blocks - HDR Diesel

 

Thanks, but im looking for something a little more economical. Maybe someone built there own and knows the parts needed? I can fabricate them if i knew where to place them and what kind of joints i needed, im on a low budget

 

If you can weld, you can make your own traction bars out of some 3pt hitch top links and some 1.5"-2.0" schedule 40 pipe and some good bolts. You'll also have to fashion some mounts. Don't know if there are details here, but I know there are on some other sites.

 

Yeah, i googled it and found some links to cumminsforum. Found plenty there about 2nd gens, the only diff is the ubolts are different on a 3rd gen, so you actually have to weld on the axle instead of bolting to the u bolts. I have a question. When i have these on and put a heavy load on, wont the bars force my axle to twist because they will push on the axle? Seems like it could be bad for u joints. I figure i may have to take them off to use a gooseneck

 

I don't know enough about them to comment on what you're asking. All I know is that they're put on to stop "axle wrap"......which should help your u-joints!! I did a search on one of the sites and the geometry and science behind them can get involved. That said, if I needed them, I'd fashion up a set of my own with the info I had........I'm a cheap ***!!!

 

Here is a good site that explains it all.

http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/tech/susp/axlewrap/

Also check out these,


http://www.4secondsflat.com/CalTracs.html

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...3Dus%26ad%3Dw5



Here is what I have, They work great. Notice they are the same angle as my driveshaft.

 

I built mine and it only cost me 100 bucks and i did all the fabbing of parts! 8ft stick of 3/16 wall dom tubing and a 24"x24" 7/16 plate steel, 2 8000# tractor top links. I cut the tube in half and got two 4' sticks (one for each side) then cut the top link in half and make sure the top link will fit inside the tube snug. I then tig welded arond them to join the two peices and overlayed them with some 220,000 tensile strength arc welds. Out of the 24"x24" plate I cut 2 peices at 3"1/2x10" these are what i welded to my frame I then cut 4 pieces at 3"x7" and drilled 3/4" holes in them for mounting the bars. Got some cardboard and cut out my brackets to go around my axle and cut 4 of them with 3/4" holes for the bars i put the brackets on the bars and tack welded in place checked clearance and then went to town welding. This my not help you at all but it has worked great for me and it doesnt break your bank account!

 

Thanks for the links guys. The ones about the cal-tracks made me think theres a different way to do it. That being said, has anyone here that has traction bars ever hauled a really heavy load that makes your back end squat a lot? I pull a 40' gooseneck, and when i have 20 round bales on there im sittin on the bumpstops. When that happens, the leaf springs and traction bars want to travel in a different arc, like the first link was talking about. Im afraid this may cause my traction bars to force the axle backwards, tilting the pinion down and either hurting ujoints or breaking u bolts. Anyone have any experience of towing heavy loads with them? Im poor and cant afford to mess up my truck

 

And the first time you get some good traction and bend that Schedule 40 all to **** you will already know how to make the next set! Or you can just use some DOM or even HREW.

Also Tractor end links suck on the street, after a while they get alot of slack and start banging.