Bushings for traction bar?

[scotts90ranger]

I am in serious need of some sort of axle location device in the rear of my '90, it's taken out 2 radiators from the axle moving forward...

I want to build one of the lever and shackle type bars but there is a serious lack of real estate under there... I was under it pondering Thursday night when I realized my rear drive shaft was too long (3/4" of compression room at ride height) and had a bad U joint at the axle and believe I have a plan and I'm hoping it will work...

If I just make two links, one for each side and go at or under the axle housing at the leaf spring and then up to the bottom of the frame rail between the transfer case rear output and the front leaf spring mount on each side. This "should" transmit the forward force from the axle to the frame without causing too much suspension changes I believe or inhibit clearance too much. My thoughts are using some control arm bushings from say a Jeep like https://www.amazon.com/Rugged-Ridge-18362-06-Control-Bushing/dp/B01M2U2C7K/ref=sr_1_37?keywords=control+arm+bushing+poly&qid=1583637699&s=automotive&sr=1-37 (I tried to make the link fancier but the url bracket things aren't working like they used to) Does anyone else have a better idea on bushings or ones that have the sleeves with them since I don't have any DOM... The only bushings I'm finding with sleeves are leaf spring bushings for shackle mounts and those are wider than I'd like...

Also, I'm open to better traction bar ideas, I've contemplated making one side have 3 points to stop rotation as well and leave the other side so the axle twists like it's supposed to... but no matter what I do I will need bushings.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I would take a look a what they have at Ruff Stuff... all kinds of goodies

RuffStuff Specialties: Crossmembers & Skidplates

Need Extra Offroad Protection? Check out our Mounting Platforms, Bushing Replacments, Link tabs, Outriggers

www.ruffstuffspecialties.com

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I can't picture why the rear axle movement would affect the radiator. Unless you've moved the rad to the back. I'm at work so can't search thru your build thread. I used a single slapper bar on my truck. It comes off the center of the axle beside the driveshaft and a rubber bumper hits the C rossmember in front of the axle. It seems to work good enough for what I do. I set the gap as best I could figure but the first jump corrected the gap for me...lol.

 

[scotts90ranger]

It involves the radiator because I had the big Explorer radiator in it, with the tall soft motor mounts (2.3L mounts are like 3" tall and solid rubber) and old trans mount combined with around 4" of blocks in the rear axle, upon HARD acceleration (using all the turbo 2.3L will do, WOT high rpm mud drags and such) the axle is twisting forward trying to push the thing forward but just twisting the leaf springs and shortening the drive shaft pushing the engine forward and into the radiator... With the big radiator there was like 1" of room between the fan and radiator and the fan just barely kissed it... no room for that radiator and an electric fan in the back. Now I'm running the manual trans explorer radiator so have more room.

Looking at rough stuff, saw some of their stuff on Amazon, will look through, I want to get this addressed before April 12th I think it is when I'm going on my next wheeling trip.

 

[scotts90ranger]

conveniently on roughstuff they have https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/BUSHDOM.html which is what I was looking for, and for $13 each (if I go 1/8" wall which should be fine) it's really not too bad... they are of course out of the pre cut tabs that would make life easy but not a huge deal. Will order later tonight.

 

[JOLENE_THE_RANGER]

are you sure about this? pushing the engine into the radiator via the driveshaft?! do you not have a slip yoke in your driveharft? leaf springs do not "shorten".

 

[scotts90ranger]

There's slip in the shaft, but only 1/2" in the one I was running when I broke the radiator...

Leaf springs don't shorten, but with 4" of blocks and soft leaves I think the axle is pushing forward twisting the front part of the spring flat. It has to be pretty violent, several years ago when I did a tractor pull I broke the pinch welds on the explorer 8.8, that turned the passenger side tube I think 13 degrees, bent the drivers side leaf spring, twisted and bent the rear drive shaft, broke the rear U joint, broke the output bearing snap ring groove in the transfer case and pierced the radiator... For obvious reasons I haven't done a tractor pull since

 

[JOLENE_THE_RANGER]

if you flatten a leaf spring it gets longer not shorter

 

[BlackBII]

I used poly bushings on mine and they work great

https://www.barnes4wd.com/DIY-Fabricators-Corner_c_8.html

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yes, it gets longer being flat, but the axle still moves forward when the blocks tip that way, having stupid blocks is my problem honestly but you can never go wrong adding something to keep the axle from rotating.

BlackBII, you're cheating not having a stock gas tank , but I think I might be able to pull something like that off on the passenger side. I'll spend some time under the thing this weekend hopefully and work up a plan, I should have gotten more than one stick of tube...

 

[BlackBII]

Yes, it gets longer being flat, but the axle still moves forward when the blocks tip that way, having stupid blocks is my problem honestly but you can never go wrong adding something to keep the axle from rotating.

BlackBII, you're cheating not having a stock gas tank , but I think I might be able to pull something like that off on the passenger side. I'll spend some time under the thing this weekend hopefully and work up a plan, I should have gotten more than one stick of tube...

Have you looked into getting rid of the blocks and getting new springs? Barnes 4x4 also has some extended length spring perches which are supposed to help with axle wrap. I have them on my truck.

The passenger side is the side you want the bar on, but with the gas tank gone I made use of the space on the drivers side. The passenger side is a bit tight with the shock and exhaust on that side, but it can be done.

 

[Uncle Gump]

All this is getting logged into memory... someday

 

[scotts90ranger]

did you use .125 wall or .250 wall tube? I only bought 7' since I was planning on doing under slung bars, but the suspension travel will be better done right... will make another run to the steel yard on Saturday...

I would like to do springs but always forget, the next trip is coming up in about a month so it's just enough time to get a traction bar fabbed, not enough time to custom order springs or completely redo the suspension... My spring perches are custom and 7" long, when I did the swap I bought a foot of receiver tube and cut it in half at an angle which gave more than 6" of length, welded them together and took a hole saw the right size to the middle...

 

[scotts90ranger]

I drug the Ranger back into the driveway today and I think I have a plan...

Space is REALLY tight with my muffler and add in the rear shock on the passenger side and it's a narrow window... I think I'm going to relocate the lower shock mount outward about an inch for some more room. I sketched out some axle side mounts on some plate a little bit ago, will plasma them out tomorrow. I have 4 sticks of 1.5" tube that are 7' long so there's plenty of that. The furthest forward I can go is the rear of the gas tank and exhaust hanger crossmember at the rear of the cab so I'm going to just tie into that crossmember going around the exhaust and go to the side of the frame if I can.

We'll see if I can get anywhere tomorrow...

 

[Uncle Gump]

I forgot you had this thread going... still following along to see where this goes.