Home made ladder-type traction bar
After the spring-over conversion my rear end had a pretty bad axle wrap whenever I got on the throttle and it was threatening to destroy my u-joints pretty quickly. As a temporary fix I installed an extra set of full-length leafs from an old 4" spring pack. This however made the jeep ride very stiff in the rear and reduced flex quite a bit. So the plan was made to fabricate a traction bar so I can use the original softer spring setup. I decided on the ladder bar type traction bar (like Sam's Offroad's or MORE's design) as being the most effective design in my opinion. It's basically a triangulated ladder bar setup with two somewhat flexible joints at the axle end on a bracket and one flexible joint at the transfer case cross member end. The front joint of the bar and the cross member are connected via a flexible shackle setup. In designing the whole setup I tried for the least modifications required based on the mostly stock drivetrain I still have. However I opted to fabricate a custom cross member as I didn't think the factory t-case cross member/skid plate is strong enough to withstand the forces generated. For the bars I used 18" commercial tractor top links. These have strong enough tubes and heim-like joints on both ends on adjustable threaded rods. I also picked up a length of heavy wall pipe of the same diameter as the tractor links. The components and assembly brake down of the whole setup are listed below:
The custom cross member:
Parts:
| Quantity | Description |
| 1 | 3"x1"x46" 1/8 wall box tube for the cross member |
| 2 | 1.5"x1.5"x8" 1/8 wall angle iron for the forward mounting brackets |
| 2 | 2"x8" 1/4 strips for the rear mounting brackets |
| 2 | 2"x6" 3/16 strip for the shackle mount base |
I wanted the cross member to follow the bottom contour of the factory skid plate but not hang below it. I formed the box tube by notching it at the right locations and bending it to follow the same bends that are on the factory skid plate. These notches than were welded up. The 1" height of the tube drops the bottom just low enough that it's in line with the bottom of the t-case skid plate. I used the angle iron pieces to mount the cross member to the top of the factory skid. I drilled a hole on each side of the factory skid, close to the frame for the angle iron mounting tabs. These tabs were welded onto the top of the cross member with the 1/4" spacers and had matching holes drilled in them to allow them to be bolted to the factory skid. The rear 1/4" thick mounting tabs were welded to the bottom ends of the cross member and were notched and bent into a lazy Z shape to fit up to the front of the forward rear spring hanger bracket. These brackets have a hole in them by the factory so I drilled 1/2" holes in the mounting tabs to line up with the factory holes. It's good if you design these tabs so at rest they stand away from the spring hanger about 1/8-1/4 inch so when you bolt it up it'll put some tension to the brackets. This will eliminate any loosening and clanking later. The ends of the cross member then should be capped with some thin plate welded on. I then welded the shackle mount base to the approximate position where the shackle would mount. This base serves to stiffen that part of the box tube and distribute the loads more evenly. The shackle mount was positioned to the rear of the cross member to allow room for the shackle to move forward when the rear axle is articulating. It was also set left of but as close to the axle center line as possible. My Ford 8.8 axle differential has a slight offset to the right so that helped.
The shackle setup:
Parts:
| Quantity | Description |
| 1 | sawed off track bar end or CJ spring hanger or anything similar with a bushing in it will work |
| 1 | used set of stock YJ or CJ shackles |
| 1 | shackle bolt that fits both the shackle and bushing holes |
| 1 | 5/8 bolt and assorted flat and lock washers as spacers |
I try to reuse old parts as much as possible when fabricating something so the sawed off end of my rear track bar came in handy for the bottom shackle mount. I trued the mounting surface and welded it to the shackle mounting plate that was already welded onto the cross member. The top holes on both shackles were drilled out to accept the 5/8 bolt then the whole assembly was bolted up for measurements. I had to build and mount the cross member and shackle setup first so I can accurately measure for the ladder bar's tube lengths.
The axle bracket:
The two axle brackets were made of 8"x3" 1/4" thick plate. I designed the bracket so the top joint is about 3 inches above the axle tube vertically and the bottom joint only hangs below about 1.5 inches and it's a little forward of the axle tube. At first I was thinking of taking the pieces to a welding shop to have the radius for the axle tubes cut out with a torch but per a friend's suggestion I tried my jigsaw. This didn't work at first as my loaner jigsaw had only two fixed speeds that were too fast to cut metal and it also lacked power. So after a trip to the local hardware store and some $$ later I had a nice DeWalt 4.5A orbital jigsaw in my hands. Now this is the tool to make smooth cuts on metal plate! I installed a 12 tpi metal cutting blade and with the orbital action on low setting and at a slow steady speed it made short work of the 1/4 plate and made a perfectly smooth round arc cut along the mark. I was impressed to say the least! The right tool for the right job makes a difference. Just keep the blade speed real slow (just like if you use a hacksaw) otherwise you'll burn up the blade in a hurry.
The ladder bar:
Parts:
| Quantity | Description |
| 2 | 18" or longer tractor top links from Tractor Supply or similar farm equipment store |
| 1 | 3/16-1/4 wall pipe about 40" long, the same outside diameter as the tractor link tubes |
| 2 | 5/8 bolts about 4" long with 5/8 lock and flat washers for spacers |
| 2 | 8"x3" 1/4 thick plate for the axle brackets |
First I tack welded one of the brackets to the tubes, mounted the cross member with the shackle assembly pointing straight up and took measurements for the length of the upper and lower traction bar arm. Since the tractor top links are not long enough I cut them in half and welded in a length of the pipe to get the proper length for the upper arm. The lower arm is made of another section of pipe and half of another top link. The end of the pipe also needs to be cut off in an angle so it fits up with the upper arm tube. First I mounted the upper arm leaving some threads on both ends for adjustment then mounted the lower arm and tack welded it to the upper. Leave some threads out for adjustment here also. Once this was done I measured for the connecting section of pipe and, cut and fish mouthed it to fit both pipes properly and tack welded it in place. Once everything was tack welded together I mounted it all in place to check the fit up one last time and as everything checked out I welded all the joints up solid. If you use a connecting piece of tube between the upper and lower arms as I did make sure that you leave the center-to-center distance of the heim ends slightly longer than the center-to-center hole distance on the brackets as the tubes will warp some during welding and the distance of the heim ends will shrink slightly. Otherwise you'll have to screw the two rear heim ends way out to increase the center-to-center distance and shorten the front heim quite a bit. It's better to figure this in before welding. After the bar is done I bolted it into position with the second axle bracket attached and tacked in place. I also welded a small cross brace connecting across the backs of the two brackets to eliminate any possible deformation of the pieces. The final step is to finish all the welds and clean and paint the parts as desired.
How does it work?
It works great! Contrary to some suggestions the cross member seems plenty strong and shows no signs of bending or deforming. There is some room on the top surface of the cross member so if further reinforcement is needed I can always weld something like a 1"x1" piece of box tube there for reinforcement. In my case the two rear joints don't flex a lot even during full articulation so I could've used some rubber type bushing there also if I wanted to. The front joint of the bar is definitely the main point of flex so a heim-like joint or Johnny joint is required to provide enough movement. Since the bottom shackle mount is a rubber bushing that along with the upper heim-like joint of the tractor top link provides plenty of movement in my case. I ramped the jeep on both sides on the RTI ramp and could not see any binding at any of the joints. The bar does a great job and completely eliminated any axle wrap I had before. The jeep hooks up a lot better up hills and I have no axle hop either. I tested it at the last trail ride and it held up great during a particularly nasty obstacle that I had to use full throttle to get over while all the bystanders were ready to see some major part blow up on my jeep. Now I'm convinced more than ever that a traction bar is a requirement for a proper spring over setup if good flex is desired.
Note: I'll be posting more detailed pictures as time allows.