Front axle hill-climb limiting strap

[4x4junkie]

so, are they pullies welded in place and don't move, the cable only slides on them?

Notice the pulley's axle pin and clip sitting on top of the tube there. That's what they rotate on

The cable is simply wrapped around the swaybar bolt on the axle, and secured with two cable clamps.

I am missing the point here. What is the purpose of the straps and doesn't it limit flex ????

When climbing a steep hill or any obstacle that points the hood of the truck upward (especially on a short-wheelbase rig like a BII, or jeep), weight transfer carries much of the vehicle's weight onto the rear (or downhill) axle. This causes the front suspension to unload (extend out), further raising the hood and throwing even more weight onto the rear. The better you can keep the front axle down (and keeping more weight on it), the better your stability and overall traction will be.
In the case of a TTB with the notoriously crappy steering you get with a mis-matched pitman arm, the suspension's unloading becomes compounded by the tires toe-ing in at the same time. A limit strap or cable would certainly help some with this as well.

Flex is not limited in any way. As one side moves up, the other side is allowed to move down.

 

[JFA_Spyderman]

Yo,
Does this compare with an actual sway bar on the road at all? By the looks of it, i am guessing no because there is no way for the cable to push back. Is that right?
Thanks!

 

[4x4junkie]

No, this doesn't substitute for a swaybar, it doesn't affect onroad handling vs. no swaybar at all.
If you set the slack real tight, it's possible you might feel it pulling against the axle when going over speed humps or through crowned intersections, though.

 

[Ozwynn]

this is the most genius thing I have ever seen. you need to do a right up on it and submit it for the tech library.

 

[4x4junkie]

this is the most genius thing I have ever seen. you need to do a right up on it and submit it for the tech library.

Hmmm. I wouldn't have thought there'd be this much interest in this, I guess I'll have to get to work on it then

 

[PARKINGLOT]

one more great idea from the mind of junkie!

 

[Bent Bolt]

Cool idea. Thanks.

 

[CopyKat]

Interesting idea.

 

[samsonitesamsonite]

as soon as I get some tubing, Im gonna do it.

 

[CopyKat]

But it looks soo kool!

 

[CopyKat]

Now I got to thinking. How do you keep the cable in the pulley? what happens to the slack in the cable?

Now if you were to add a nice heavy spring between the cable ends. you could use it to pull the slack but the spring will allow some slack in the cable.

Ideas are floating now.

 

[arrabil]

I was thinking that too, but it seems to me the cable has no where to go put the pulley groove when it gets tensioned.

 

[CopyKat]

So Junkie how much droop did you limit it too?

I still think it's alot of snapping and chaffing having the cable slack like that.

 

[arrabil]

So what rate spring would you use and rated for what strength? They have to hold a serious amount of "bouncing" weight. 4x4junkie said he has 3-4" slack for each wheel.

 

[kunar]

So what rate spring would you use and rated for what strength? They have to hold a serious amount of "bouncing" weight. 4x4junkie said he has 3-4" slack for each wheel.

i was thinking about this at work today, you dont want a spring inline in the cable. what you need is a pulley somewhere in the middle of the cable where it is slack that is pulled out by a spring. that way the tension from the cable never travels through the spring. anybody understand what i'm saying? it will work like an idler pulley, it has to be inline with the other pulleys though. i have also seen somewhere (magazine im sure but i dont remember where) that people had used small atv winches attached to the frame to pull on the axle, compressing the suspension. this could also be adapted to the ttb, my first thought would be by mounting the winch to one axle beam in the same spot where the cable would normally be teathered. with this setup the axle could still articulate but the length of cable could be changed...if you really want to get technical you could use one winch for each side so you could adjust them individually....

edit: if you wanted a spring inline, it would have to be similar to a screen door chain's spring, set up so after it is extended a certain distance then be mechanically limited, another idea would be putting a couple loops in the cable maybe 8" apart and putting a 4" spring between them so the spring can only stretch another 4" before the cable is taught but now im just rambling...