Going with Cal-Tracs was going to require a trip to Lancaster, Ca becauses I have a spring lift and their bars are designed for OEM springs. Not to be sidetracked, I went to my local Summit retail store and bought Pro-Comp's traction bars.

First, let me say that nobody caters to spring lifts, even with their own stuff. The first challenge was finding 7/16x3 Allen headed bolts for the leaf springs. Because the traction bar plate goes between the spring and axle, a taller head is needed. Pro-Comp includes one, but it is really short for use with hollow blocks. Fine, 3 days later from Fastenal, I have what I need.

We get them in, drill out the holes for the forward mounts and it's test time! There is at least a 50% reduction in tire spin doing a full throttle punch from a dead stop. I can't tell you how much a boosted 2HI launch has changed because it always got too squirelly to ride out. Let's just say it's a little less than a throttle throw w/o the bars.

We'll see how long they last, they are a definite improvement and I highly recommend some sort of traction bar for all of my tuned up 6.0 Bomber pals.

 

These two shots are of the mounting plate install the shiney black part at the end of my digit is what you are looking for.

 

Oh yeah, the truck doesn't shutter in the 1-2 & 2-3 shift anymore, go figure.

 

Karl, looks good.

Have you tried any offroad articulation type stuff yet to see if they hinder that? It looks like they're solid mounted at both ends!? Hard to tell how they're mounted at the springs. Should it use some sort of a hanger up at the frame mount? Similar to how the leaf spring is attached to the truck, solid on one end, pivot point at the other?

I've been dying to try and build a set of my own bars, but never get the time.

Love the stick figure family sticker too

 

My club has an RTI ramp that I have been up before, I plan to hit it again to see what, if anything has changed. I'll take some pics and compare them to the RTI ramp pics in my profile. That one when I was way up the ramp was a 3 wheeled attempt that doesn't count, looked cool, but doesn't count.

The axle mount is a plate that is sandwiched between the axle and leaf springs, hence the longer headed bolt. It's the shiny part in those two pics. The are also holes for the forward part of the u-bolts to secure it as well.

I've never had the traction bar shackle mount explained to me. Seems to me that with the axle rotating forward, the shackle would move as well until it bound before letting the traction bar do it's thing. Consider this, if the shackle mount is so good, why doesn't OUO use it?

My fabricator friends pointed out that after buying enough DOM and heim joints, it would be less money to open the Pro-Comp box.

I don't know how they will perform, they weren't light, though. If they taco, I'll be impressed my truck had the *** to do it. Then we'll throw them in the bed, go home and figure something else out. However, I really believe that NOT having blocks will reduce the stress load on them. Everyone knows that blocks are quick and easy, but they also multiply twisting force.

Finally, Amazon has those stick figure family stickers. I paid about $7 for one for the wife's Jeep and my Souper Doody.

 

Have any of yall checked out our bars? We use ballistic joints and brackets with 2" solid aluminum bars. Both bolt on and weld on. No need for new tie bolt.

Sent with a Droid RAZR in one hand and 14,000 volts in the other.

 

Do you have a regular consumer web site? The Facebook page wasn't much help. What is a ballistic joint and bracket?

 

I do not sorry. I havnt updated the fb in a long time. Dont have time to. There is more info on them in my vendor forum with pics. Check out ballistic fabrication website for info on the joints

Sent with a Droid RAZR in one hand and 14,000 volts in the other.

 

My understanding (which isn't much) on this is some guys make "traction bars" which are as long as possible essentially and solid mount at both ends. They make them as long as possible because they hinder articulation. Making them longer sort of "cheats" this. You can draw this out on paper and visualize it much easier.

So as the axle try's to "twist" it forces the traction bar forward or back and it can't go anywhere, so the bar holds the axle in place. That's fine, but what happens when the suspension is cycling when you go over a bump, the same thing is happening. The axle moves forward and back (thus why there is a hanger at one of the leaf) and with the "traction bar" on there it can't do that, so it actually hinders ride and articulation.

Now, with a properly set up ladder bar... you would have two mounting points by the axle. Ideally one on top and one on bottom, and then the bars would run up to the frame and be mounted on a hanger type setup. So now when you stomp on the throttle and the axle trys to twist it forces the other end of the bar UP or DOWN, not in and out. So the bar can not move UP or DOWN on the hanger mount, only in and out. So now when you roll over a bump or try articulating and the leaf is moving forward and back, the hanger allows this movement. It only restricts movement in a twisting motion, not in and out.

Does that make sense? I'm terrible at explaining this stuff. Look at your leaf springs and study how they are mounted and try and think about what is moving where as the tire comes up in the wheel well. The spring is arched and as the wheel comes up it trys to "de-arch" that spring in a sense. If you had two solid mounts on the leaf, it would ride like crap and not let the spring do it's thing. With one end solid and the other on a hanger (swivel point) it allows the spring to flex and bend like it should.

Get it? Got it? Great!

 

Now, OUO has a similar setup to what you have, but the front mount is "rubber mounted" somehow. So it cant rotate around in it's mount, but doesn't move up and down exactly. It looks odd, but I've seen the vids of them articulating and such and they don't seem to hinder movement at all.

I still want to try and build a set of the "ladder bars" I just described.