Traction bar oooops......

[MSicotte]

So I pulled into the driveway the other day and after getting some stuff out of the box of the truck I noticed oil dripping off of the bottom of one of my traction bars under the differential. Naturally an oil leak at the diff isn't good to start with, but when its on the tube, that can't be good... ... ... ... and it wasn't. After a quick look it was easy to see that at the top part of the brackets, the diff tubes were cracked from the load of the differential trying to wrap up and the traction bars keeping it from doing so. The differential was actually tearing itself apart from the driveline torque. Fortunately a good friend of mine is a pipeline welder/fabricator and after a few hours, some Die-pan (sp?), 14 cracks were repaired after the brackets were cut off. They ranged from 1/4" to almost 1" in length in all directions. Gonna run without them for a while. Time to start looking for a different style I guess... ... ... .

 

[Hoefler]

Have you been running with your truck loaded?? If you have, that is most likely the cause for your failure. Traction bars or ladders are very rigid. They do not allow for much suspension travel. When installing them, one should load with the intended load, adjust to that suspension squat and connect them up. If you go beyond that load, it puts everything in a bind, and something has to give. Our trucks have a progressive suspension to allow for a comfortable ride when running empty. When loaded, even with 200 or 300 lbs, you get considerable suspension squat. Now your ladder bars are in a bind, witch is multiplied every time you hit a bump or swell in the road.