bigwheels94

He seemed like a nice enough guy, & was helpful, but I'm going to take some measurements to see for myself before I do it. I'm sure they will have some effect on control in cornering, but not much. I had a set of cheap trac-bars on for a short while, before they broke. They do square up the rear end on corners, & they're great for eliminating wheel hop in the snow.

TexasCTD

I guess im missing the point of this rude and unnecessary comment. I don't make a dime one way or other whether BigWheels buys a set of Lazarsmith Traction bars......or any other brand. I am just relaying my own experiences with my Lazarsmith bars..........and that is that they help in cornering. Why bust the man's chops if he is trying to make a living selling traction bars or any other product that we find useful here in the diesel truck community? If you want it, buy it. If not, don't..........geesh! These are not outlandish claims.

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TexasCTD

Do you know what caused your bars to break? Could they just not hold up to the truck camper weight? I have some pics of mine with 5K (or close to it) in the bed...with these traction bars in place....if you care or want to see them.

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Swarthy Dago

they might have broken if they don't have a shackle on the front (the end mounted to the frame). something has to give during their arc.

Ace

Yes, maybe one of the bolt-on suspension binder users would care to explain the geometry of how this works. And exactly what is the mechanics involved in "squaring up" the rear end in corners? I'm very curious...

Swarthy Dago

Ace, if i'm correct, when the axel goes up, that bar wants to move forward, if its locked down what happens is the axel will want to move back and that isn't going to happen as easy as the fwd. mount on the bar will give, or maybe bend the bar. I would put a shackle on the front, maybe 3 inch ctr. ctr.

Ace

Actually it moves backwards as the axle travels through it's arc of movement in compressing the suspension. It basically tracks a variable arc path in the vertical plane depending on the specific springs involved, lift etc.

People selling these bolt-on or weld-on bars will tell you they can precisely calculate this clearance or suspension track by the mounting position and length of the bars, but that is total horse doo doo. The geometry of a fixed bar simply doesn't line up to move more than couple inches before binding. Trucks employing this type of traction aid to effect are normally sled pullers with blocked suspensions. It doesn't work on the street.

Here's a write-up on how I did streetable bars for 6" skyjacker springs. It's not as simple as just bolting on a bar with a couple heim joints if you want to actually use the springs for their intended purpose:

http://www.1stgen.org/viewtopic.php?t=2322

Fisherguy

That's interesting Ace.
There's lotsa talk about control arms etc when people bring up lift kits or even leveling kits; but how traction bars affect the rear suspension seems kinda overlooked.