Track Bar
After fighting doing what I could to solve my death sway issue with the rear (Added rear leafs, played with the shocks, etc) I turned my attention to the front end. Now I knew my front shackle setup was causing some of my vague steering that I was experiencing, I didn’t realize how bad it actually was until I added this track bar. Adding this track bar also appears to have solved my death sway issue. I still need to load the truck down to confirm it, but the initial feeling is that the problem is solved.
Onto the photos! During lunch I borrowed some Torch Mate time and burned out some brackets on some scrap metal. I think they turned out all right.
Frame side bracket (attached to the bump stop):
Bent up a track bar to clear the K member and pumpkin. I’ll need to do something different if I go 60 in the front some day as this won’t clear a 60 pumpkin:
I goofed on my axle side bracket so track bar isn’t quite parallel to the drag link. Its close enough that it doesn’t bump steer. Or at least not enough to notice.
The Track bar is about 10" shorter than the Drag Link, so it tries to pull the axle over to the side some. Which is not going to lead to long leaf spring bushing life
Full Droop:
Full Droop again (You can see how much it torques that leaf spring bushing):
So, I'll swap out the bolts holding it on for some pins. That way I can just pull the pins out when I get to the trail to help keep things from binding up. On road its a non issue.
As I noted earlier, I need to put a few more miles on it before I swear that the death sway is gone. Even if it didn’t solve that issue, it was well worth the effort just to get the front end tightened up. I’m giddy with how nice it turns right now.
Another Eidt: I'm fairly certain that the sway is a thing of the past now.