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Hello everyone, I know I'm new here, and some of you may recognize or know me from wf. I thought what a good way to start out with a newer forum than to set things straight and maybe get a stickied thread! So down to business!
Call them a track bar, trac bar, panhard bar, or call them the bar that holds your axle under your rig! (But don't get it confused with a traction bar) There is much to be spoken of them especially on our YJs! I hope to make this as simple to understand as possible and to explain why they simply aren't necessary on a leaf sprung axle.
The whole point, or job if you may of the track bar on a vehicle is to center an axle left to right; or laterally under the vehicle. In the case of a typical coil sprung suspension; as you would see standard on any jeep vehicle with a coil sprung axle, this particular link in the suspension system is vital. Without it the axle would wobble horribly from side to side, and the only thing keeping it from completely coming out from under the vehicle would be the sway bar end links, drive shaft, and the control arms. If you're familiar with such a setup you'd see immediate disaster as those components are not designed to hold the axle in place.
However, looking at a leaf sprung axle you will see there are 3 points of contact both leaf packs make; at the frame hangers, at the axle perches, and at the shackle ends. This suspension while not only providing up and down movement for the axle, will also serve the purpose of centering the axle just by its inherent design.
Now you may be saying, "Well that's just great and dandy, but I'd rather just keep mine on!" I will give you a great reason, even if you do not off-road your YJ, why it's a great idea to ditch them all together! As I stated earlier, leaf springs in their traditional setup (IE. normal bushings) only want to move up and down, this is how they articulate. A track bar on the other hand, which is mounted to the frame, and one side of the axle, wants to move in an arc between those two points and perpendicular to the leaf springs. As your suspension travels, straight up, or straight down, the track bar also moves, but again, the track bar must move in an arc, and cannot follow straight up, or straight down, thus causing the suspension to bind. This can even effect your suspensions ability to cycle normally on road.
Edit:
Call them a track bar, trac bar, panhard bar, or call them the bar that holds your axle under your rig! (But don't get it confused with a traction bar) There is much to be spoken of them especially on our YJs! I hope to make this as simple to understand as possible and to explain why they simply aren't necessary on a leaf sprung axle.
The whole point, or job if you may of the track bar on a vehicle is to center an axle left to right; or laterally under the vehicle. In the case of a typical coil sprung suspension; as you would see standard on any jeep vehicle with a coil sprung axle, this particular link in the suspension system is vital. Without it the axle would wobble horribly from side to side, and the only thing keeping it from completely coming out from under the vehicle would be the sway bar end links, drive shaft, and the control arms. If you're familiar with such a setup you'd see immediate disaster as those components are not designed to hold the axle in place.
However, looking at a leaf sprung axle you will see there are 3 points of contact both leaf packs make; at the frame hangers, at the axle perches, and at the shackle ends. This suspension while not only providing up and down movement for the axle, will also serve the purpose of centering the axle just by its inherent design.
Now you may be saying, "Well that's just great and dandy, but I'd rather just keep mine on!" I will give you a great reason, even if you do not off-road your YJ, why it's a great idea to ditch them all together! As I stated earlier, leaf springs in their traditional setup (IE. normal bushings) only want to move up and down, this is how they articulate. A track bar on the other hand, which is mounted to the frame, and one side of the axle, wants to move in an arc between those two points and perpendicular to the leaf springs. As your suspension travels, straight up, or straight down, the track bar also moves, but again, the track bar must move in an arc, and cannot follow straight up, or straight down, thus causing the suspension to bind. This can even effect your suspensions ability to cycle normally on road.
Edit:
This is a free mod if you have not already done it to your Jeep, the only thing you're out if you do it is time! If you have already removed your track bars please feel free to give the rest of the forum your opinions!darkproximity said:In the diagram below you can see in FIGURE A the standard view of the YJ front axle as seen from behind, with a cutaway view of the frame rail above the axle (In this particular picture its shown with a spring over axle setup, however the same applies to spring under axle)
You see the pivoting ends marked 1 and 2 are pivot points, permanently attached to the frame rail, and axle respectively. They do not move.
Looking at FIGURE B you will see when the suspension flexes, the leaf springs can only travel up (compress) or down (droop). In this example I show the trac bar mounted on the frame (1) and show what arc the trac bar will travel in, the pivot point being the center of point 1. You see that in a perfect arc, pivot point 2 cannot stay mounted to the axle at the CAD housing, however being that pivot point 2 IS cast into the housing it cannot move as suggested in the example, and has to stay mounted at the top of the CAD housing. This is why your suspension will bind and not function as any other leaf sprung axle not made by Jeep intended the suspension type to cycle.
The trac bar when following its normal arc will only allow the suspension to droop or compress so far before it becomes the limiting factor, and must then pull the frame rail to compensate.
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