Traction bar info/ideas

[railscommonly]

Im planing on building my own traction bars since i cant really afford to pay 800 for a brand new set and im decent with metal work. but i am new to pulling witch is why i wanna get things like this going. So what do you recommend for sizes such as hiems, threads, ball sockets, tube adapters, dom etc? does anyone know where there might be a chart for this kind of stuff. If anyone has some used ones they might want to sell let me know that might work too.

[barbastard]

I’m sure you could go with some ¾” bore (size of bolt that goes thru the heim) rod ends and be fine. Although for longevity (rod ends on street trucks tend to wear out fast) and ride quality (and to keep the cost down) I’d probably just use bushings at both ends and call it done. You’d lose the adjustability of the trac bars but if you do your design right you probably wouldn’t need any. If you wheel your rig a lot and still need good amounts of articulation from your rear axle than go with the rod end design. DOM would be great but the loads on the trac bars would probably be low enough you could go with HREW and be fine. If you use a ¾” bore rod end you’d need to run some tubing with about a 1” ID so you could either run 1 ¼” OD tubing with 1/8” walls or 1 ½” tubing with ¼” walls. If you gusset the trac bar correctly I’d bet you could do it with 1/8” wall and be fine.

If you want some info on where to buy rod ends, misalignment spacers, weld in tube ends, etc. let me know. I know tons of good places to buy this junk at.

[railscommonly]

Im not gonna be wheeling it at all jus going to be my daily driver that Im gonna run down the pulling lane every once in awhile. Id feel best going with something as big as i can without over doing it. some info on the places your talking about would be great. thanks

[liftman]

I'm telling you check out Balistic Fabrication.  That's the best way to go.

[JOESHTRDDSL]

I'm telling you check out Balistic Fabrication.  That's the best way to go.

Do you have a link sir?

Thanks, Joe

[Strokin_Early_99]

I got my parts from here: http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/home.php

But I will be getting a couple of forged poly bushings from http://www.ballisticfabrication.com because polyperformance does not sell them.

[barbastard]

Poly is who I was going to suggest as well. I've never seen those forged bushings before...those are bad ass. That would yield an awesome setup...get the ride quality and durability of a bushing but still have the adjustability and ease of replacement of a rod end. I'd definitely go that route.

[liftman]

Poly is who I was going to suggest as well. I've never seen those forged bushings before...those are bad ass. That would yield an awesome setup...get the ride quality and durability of a bushing but still have the adjustability and ease of replacement of a rod end. I'd definitely go that route.

You talking about the ones from Ballistic?

[barbastard]

You talking about the ones from Ballistic?

Yep. I've never seen those.

[railscommonly]

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com they got great joints dont get me wrong but im still open to options and i would enjoy the forged poly bushings ride but are they still strong and solid enough to prevent wrap

[Strokin_Early_99]

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com they got great joints dont get me wrong but im still open to options and i would enjoy the forged poly bushings ride but are they still strong and solid enough to prevent wrap

I would not worry about using them for sled pulling or drag racing.  But I drive a ford so I am a little off anyway......

[railscommonly]

I would not worry about using them for sled pulling or drag racing.  But I drive a ford so I am a little off anyway......

are you saying no trac bars at all? or dont go with a bushing setup? or is the bushing setup good?

[barbastard]

are you saying no trac bars at all? or dont go with a bushing setup? or is the bushing setup good?

I think he's saying go for it...and I'd agree with him. Those forged bushing's are plenty stout enough for what you want to do with them. Worst case scenario...if they break you can simply swamp them out for rod ends.

[railscommonly]

ok i was hoping he wasnt say no trac bars so it looks like im gonna go with the bushing set up and ill still have the adjustability of a rod end or heims right?

[barbastard]

..... and ill still have the adjustability of a rod end or heims right?

BINGO!:cool:

Now the only question is are you going to use the forged bushings at both ends of the trac bar or only one. If it were me...I'd use them at the axle end and go with a greasable bushing at the frame end. Something like this:

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Ballistic-Poly-Bushing-263quot-w-weldable-housing_p_1663.html

Good luck and post some pics of what you end up doing.