Rancho Traction Bars

[LaserBob]

Mounting brackets?

Can anybody out there tell me, am I the only one who thinks the gold plates with the mounting ears are on upside down. I thought that traction bars had to stop the axle from rotating. How does it do that when it is hooked in line with the center of the axle?



I have never put any on, so maybe I am missing something .



LaserBob

 

[drrhoades]

The force to stop the axle from rotating is still going through the bottom of the axle tube. The gold piece that holds the bar acts as a lever arm and transfers the force to the bottom bracket that connect it and the axle.



Doug

 

[n7gxz]

LaserBob,



In this case the traction bar is mounted on a plate in front of the axle. As the axle tries to rotate it will pull back on the traction bar, kind of like if you think of your wrist being the axle and traction bar mount binging your fingers. If you keep your wrist in the same place and just rotate your hand up letting your finger pull against something.



The on thing I see with this design is that on a high torque applications that the plate can start to bend down word. Adding a couple of stiffening pieces would stop that.



Kevin

 

[csutton7]

Laser Bob--you are correct in your thinking, but with mildly HP'd vehicles you can get away with this set up--chris

 

[y-knot]

OK,..... you guy's are worse then a bunch of old women... . and I would hate to have to listen to you on Monday, with your after the fact quarterbacking!



The little gold thinges are store bought, they are the Rancho mounts I told you about, No i did not weld on then. The only thing I made was the 1/2" plate that fastens to the axle and provides a place for the Rancho mount to bolt too. No I did not leave the price tag on... ... It is the factory part Id tag.

The "Blue" shaft is my rear drive shaft, yes I pint them, all three of them. And yes I even put decals on them. Excessive? Maybe? But I also clean the bottom and I enjoy it. I have alot of time to kill.

Could the mount have been made differently? Yes, feel free to experiment and post your pictures.

Will they bend? Not on me, but I suppose they could.

Do I care? not really, if I bend them, then I have a new project to do, and that is good.

Are they mounted up-side down? I would think they would work either way. I mounted them this way so they are protected by the plate, and not hanging down below the axle. If you would mount these bars on the vehicle they were designed to be mounted on, The "gold thinges" would be mounted under the axle, and held in place by the U-bolts.

 

[OTRPU]

It I told a weigh-master that he'd call me a smarta$$ and find a reason to ticket me. Course. . . I ain't got shinny pan nut covers.



Cheers,

Steve J.

 

[jrobinson2]

The rotation point is not the axle, it is actually near the center of the spring pack. Because of the lift blocks when the spring pack winds up the entire rear axle moves forward and when the spring pack unloads the rear axle moves to the rear. It is the fore and aft movement of the entire axle assembly that you are controlling with this type of bar not the actual rotation of the axle housing.

Jared