BCB

I finally got some time to crawl under the truck yesterday and take some measurements for ladder bars and where I have seen everyone else weld their axle bracket there was this



There is another pic of it in my gallery. What is it and can I just take it off and throw it over my shoulder when I mount my traction bars?

Bobby

Rods

Its not that bad , i just welded some flat stock to the factory plates , for up top cut 3/8 plate then had some U bolts made to fit , the hardware was the most exspence i have .... 3/4 shoulder bolts arnt cheap

BCB

thanks those look good.
but what is that bar and what does it do?

DMcPherson

the sway bar?

BCB

I thought that only came with the camper pkg. and i don't think this truck has this. I may be wrong tho.

I am talking about the horizontal bar that has the castle nut attaching it to the vertical bar.

Rods

yeah sway bar , i have one too its not in the way so u should b fine

if not toss it , yr not road racing

BCB

Why is that? aren't the traction bars going to stabilize the the axle better?

BCB

all the other trucks i have seen ( except for Rods) didn't havw the sway bar

Rods

i meant toss the sway bar if its in yr way

was they duallys ?? i havnet looked at many myself figured they did , this had a towing package added at the dealer wonder if thats were it came from ???

i should toss it

BigBlue

Once you put the ladder bars on you won't even realize you have a sway bar. I took both my front and rear sway bars off (I've got ladder bars) and I don't notice a single bit of difference handling (I am lifted 4.5" on 35's). Take it off and you'll be fine. My rear end is so tied down to the road with the ladder bars that it's not even funny. It corners better than it ever used to with the sway bars.

PureTexanRebel

The guy I bought my truck from added ladder bars (which I then took off lol) and tossed the sway bars that were on it. Never had a problem.

And BigBlue, what kind of minivan did you kill? I took my '02 Chrysler Town & Country to Alamo Motor Speedway and ran a 15.013 quarter (took out all the seats and spare tire haha)... All stock. Well sorta, tuned it with a hypertech (which I was VERY suprised when it worked... Only thing was that it threw my spedo off cause the smallest tire size it has was 30". But those hypertech's really do make a difference. Guessing I would have had near a 17 after I detuned it, but I threw my CV shaft lol)

BCB

My truck is a 2500 with the towing package from the factory so maybe it is a towing package thing.
sorry i misread your first post. I'll toss it when i put mine on.

Thanks for all the replies I will get the ladder bars on the truck this week and post pics. when I am done.

If any of you guys have any tips they would be greatly appreciated. Like how long your bars are, and how you mounted them (front and back)


I plan on building the traditional 4 bar setup mounted to a shackle in the front to compensate for the arc of the springs.

Rods

i used 1 1/4 pipe then bought 3rd arms from TSC cut those to fit inside the pipe bought extra jam nuts and doubled welded them to the pipe , then for mounting i used 3/4 shoulder bolts

HOHN

Sway bars and ladder bars do different things! Ladders are NOT a replacement for sway bars

Sway bars reduce body rolly by linking the two wheel's motion together-- the right rear can't go up without trying to take the left rear up with it, and vice versa. This makes for reduced suspension flexibility off-road, but makes handling on the hwy a lot more stable, especially when towing!

A Ladder bar, on the other hand, is designed to control axle motion in a different respect. A LB is supposed absorb that "equal and opposite" part of Newton's laws of motion that tends to wrap the springs up when you step on the gas. As the wheels turn in one direction (applying force to pavement), the axle wants to turn in the opposite direction (newton's law), and wrap the leaf springs into an "S" shape. This is what causes your wheel hop-- when the axle jumps up and down.

Sway bars do nothing for wheel hop, and ladder bars do nothing for cornering.

They are two completely different things that have entirely different functions.

They are NOT interchangeable. If you take off your sway bars and don't notice a difference, then you wouldn't notice it whether you had ladder bars or not.


The factory sway bars were part of the "camper special" package-- and having sway bars with a slide-in is essential. That's why they are part of the pkg, but not included on every truck- because you might not need them if you don't have a slide-in.

Justin

BCB

thank you hohn I never see myself having a slide in. It just isn't enough room for me. However i do have PLENTY of wheel hop.

How did you guys attach the front of your bars? I would like to do some type of bushing that i can grease and rebuild when need be.