Anyone add a Track Bar to their lifted Bobber?

[MrM4]

I built a Bobber a while back and have had to put it on the back burner for a while. I hope to get back into the project this winter. Under the truck I have a 9" lift and 1600x20s on Hemmets. I used the trailer springs off a 105 for the rears and used the 105 box as well. I still need to fab some brackets for my new shocks up front.

Currently I have a Violent death wobble at about 25MPH. At this point Im thinking about installing a track bar, either fab it from scratch or buy a set of mounts and bar that either already fit or chop and extend the bar & mounts as needed. I have both Arc & Mig welders as well as a Good Mill and a couple lathes and a 50 ton press if I need to bend the bar.

Anyone try this? Idea about better things to try?

Any help is welcome. Thanks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I would guess the death wobble is in your tires/wheels.

Also how are your front wheel bearings, kingpins and steering components (all tight no play)?

 

[rlsnide]

And from what I gathered you do not have shocks on the front? If you don't that would be my first step. I ran without shocks for a very brief time and had trouble with bumps in the road although it didn't "death wobble" the frontend did hop for a second or so and then clear up and shocks fixed it. If you have a wheel/tire that is the problem that will just amplify a problem you may not really have in the the first place. What is your tire pressure? Toe-in ok? what is your caster?

 

[MrM4]

No shocks yet. That will likely happen in the next month. From what I have read they should help a little but likely wont cure the "wondering". I will jack the truck up and check my steering set up and see if there's any thing there that I missed when I built the truck. They were OK when I built it. 99% of the time the truck is off road or on gravel roads. I'm not sure what my issue would be with tires, 4 like new 1600x20s ZXLs from surplus, CNCed plates for the rims. Maybe they are out of balance but I am not sure that would cause the nasty veering from side to side.

Pressure was about 70psi( maybe it should not be that high) . Toe in is maybe 1/4 inward on the front.

I went out and check my caster, it was a little dark but it appears to be a little bit negative angled. Im not sure how one would fix that.

 

[rlsnide]

I thought we were talking about death wobble not wondering. Do you have power steering? These trucks are set up with 0 degree caster in the front or somewhere there abouts for "relatively easy" steering. There is a caster shim in the front that has roughly 6 degrees of caster in it to set the front end up with 0 degrees caster. Mine has been flipped around to give aproximatley 12 degrees of positive caster. If you do not have power steering you will not be able to do this unless your the hulk. What gives you the wondering is the straight 90 degree angle of the kingpins vs. the road it has no choice but to for the width tire whereas a 9.00r 20 is not so bad. I have herd of guys putting new tires to almost new tires on there truck and it taking a little while for the tires to get worn in and had trouble with wondering and a couple thousand miles later it was alot better. I run 40 psi of air in my tires that seems to be a sweet spot for me anthing less you get sidwall flex anything more you get a, not wondering but more responsive steering if that make any sense. Your toe sounds OK. So play with your air pressure some and give it a little more time for the tires. I dont know how many miles you have put on them but like I have said I have herd it could take a couple thousand miles. But caster is the biggest concern when faced with wondering. Hope that helped some.

 

[welldigger]

No shocks yet. That will likely happen in the next month. From what I have read they should help a little but likely wont cure the "wondering". I will jack the truck up and check my steering set up and see if there's any thing there that I missed when I built the truck. They were OK when I built it. 99% of the time the truck is off road or on gravel roads. I'm not sure what my issue would be with tires, 4 like new 1600x20s ZXLs from surplus, CNCed plates for the rims. Maybe they are out of balance but I am not sure that would cause the nasty veering from side to side.

Pressure was about 70psi( maybe it should not be that high) . Toe in is maybe 1/4 inward on the front.

I went out and check my caster, it was a little dark but it appears to be a little bit negative angled. Im not sure how one would fix that.

70psi? Air them things down to 35 or 40 psi and report back. When I switched my truck over to 395's it drive a little squirly until I dropped the air pressure from 45 to about 35psi. Much better now.

 

[MrM4]

Ill try them with less air. RLSNIDE are you tires 53" that your running 40 psi in?

 

[rlsnide]

yes they are.

 

[booger]

I concur. I've put about 6,000 miles on my Bobber with 53's.

I run 40psi in the front and 35psi in the rear and the wear pattern and handling is perfect.

 

[MrM4]

Good to know, I am going to flip my Casters and see it that helps as well. Worst case I put them back.

I am starting to wonder if my steering arm is flexing a little. I have been looking at pics from other builds and my steering arm appears to be less ridged than most. I might call Kyle at Black Rock and see if he can get me a tougher steering arm.

 

[Hottrodd789]

There is a guy on here that can build one for u kyle will recommend u call him to steve6x6 his company isdifferentialengineering out of winter haven fl

 

[Hottrodd789]

We also developed track bars made of 2 1/2 in aluminum round bar. Using 1 inch heim joints. Also made steering linkage and the tie rod all with with 2 1/2 aluminum round bar and 1 inch heim joints

 

[quickfarms]

Death wobble and wondering are two different issues.

A track bar is not used with a leaf spring suspension they are used on coils. The leaf springs should provide the lateral stability.

First add the front shocks, check and adjust the tire pressure I would also jack up each tire and spin it to make sure they are running true.

 

[MrM4]

I dropped some air out of my 1600x20s (running 30 psi currently) and that helped a fair amount. Im hoping to get the truck jacked up this weekend and check for wobble, maybe flip my casters and see what happens. I have an arm from Steve6x6 but he based it on a A3 not a A2 so it never fit the truck. I still need to call Kyle sometime and just talk with him. He was doing a 5" raiser which bolts on top of the kingpin and building a new drop pitman arm for the steering box dropping the other 3".