my ladder bars

Now those are some traction bars. Deffinately strong enough and they are bad azz. Those are exactly what I want to build but I can't find the tubing anywhere local.
 
nate said:
I'm curious to see where you are going to fit that axle mount. Between the swaybar, shocks, brakes, etc all in the way, I couldn't see a place to put a mount like that. I'm just going to weld the mount on the lower leaf spring plate.
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The mounts on the axle will sit directly below the frame, right underneath the bumpstop mount (where the airbags sit).
 
cummins724 said:
Incase anyone is interested, I found a good read on the subject. http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/tech/susp/axlewrap/
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Awesome read, thanks Jamie! With an engineeering degree, I've spent years in school learning about the way things are SUPPOSED to work according to mathematical calculations. I've come to realize that sometimes, you just have to go with what works in real life. If the single bar doesn't work, I'll triangulate with an upper bar attached in a ladder bar configuration. Clamping the spring pack in conjunction with the ladder bar setup seems to help as well. That supports the point made by the author of the link you posted, that the leaf spring pack is used for triangulation in a single bar setup. I've learned alot from SMOKIN93, as he pulls in a lot of the local events. I've watched his 1st gen go from a bouncing, breaking mess to a truck that is competitive with other much more complex and expensive trucks out here. He runs a single bar setup and has good luck with it.
 
I worked on my bars yesterday a little while. I have company coming over today & I'll work some more tonight. They are turning out great. I just need to find a 1" tap for my heim joints as I don't want to go from the DOM tubing to butt welding a top link at the ends, kinda defeats the purpose of me buying the .50" DOM. I think I'm going with the 77" design. I finally found some square tubing that fit together real nice to build my suspension blocks. I've got alot of work to do. How are your bars coming along? Mounted yet?
 
Man if you want to make another set and if they would work for a mega cab pm me a price... VERY INTERESTED!!!!:rockwoot:
 
cummins724 said:
I worked on my bars yesterday a little while. I have company coming over today & I'll work some more tonight. They are turning out great. I just need to find a 1" tap for my heim joints as I don't want to go from the DOM tubing to butt welding a top link at the ends, kinda defeats the purpose of me buying the .50" DOM. I think I'm going with the 77" design. I finally found some square tubing that fit together real nice to build my suspension blocks. I've got alot of work to do. How are your bars coming along? Mounted yet?
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I'm going to weld up the bars today. Tomorrow I'm going to hunt down some more steel to make the saddle. I'm going to tig the bars and mig the rear end bracket. We'll see how far l get, I'm pretty hungover:bang
 
I plan on doing the exact same setup on my '06 already got 2 sticks 0f 2" DOM x.250 wall that are 10'long.Just have to figure out who long I'm going to make them.Going to use the Johnny joints as well.The frame mount I was going to use this mount.
yJjwX-fgbeU-jDnJc-DSC00815.JPG


Just can not decide if I'm going to bolt it on frame or weld it.More than likely welding it on.
 
welded the bars today. Sometime this week, I'll install the mounts on the rear end housing.

tractionbars003-1.jpg
 
Howling said:
I plan on doing the exact same setup on my '06 already got 2 sticks 0f 2" DOM x.250 wall that are 10'long.Just have to figure out who long I'm going to make them.Going to use the Johnny joints as well.The frame mount I was going to use this mount.
yJjwX-fgbeU-jDnJc-DSC00815.JPG


Just can not decide if I'm going to bolt it on frame or weld it.More than likely welding it on.
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I think a mount like the one pictured would be best welded on. Unless you could run a bolt through the bottom part of the mount somehow, I think it would have a tendency to want to bend away from the frame. Nice mount.
 
cummins724 said:
I had a post a while back asking about using .25 wall DOM & everyone told me that it isn't strong enough. I also noticed that your front mounts don't have a piece of angle welded to the top. I was told that if you drill holes in the bottom of the frame, the frame can crack. They said to use angle iron & bolt through the side of the frame. Just letting you know what I was told. By the way, I got the Pacbrake today, looks like new, Thanks.
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According to your post earlier in this thread you still used .25 wall (2" od x 1.5" id).
These trucks would split the factory lift block before bending a 2" .25 wall piece of DOM. A piece of 1.5" sch 80 pipe would have been a much better purchase pricewise and worked just the same for this application.
 
braxton357 said:
According to your post earlier in this thread you still used .25 wall (2" od x 1.5" id).
These trucks would split the factory lift block before bending a 2" .25 wall piece of DOM. A piece of 1.5" sch 80 pipe would have been a much better purchase pricewise and worked just the same for this application.
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OOPS! I meant that I used .50" wall 1" I.D.
 
braxton357 said:
According to your post earlier in this thread you still used .25 wall (2" od x 1.5" id).
These trucks would split the factory lift block before bending a 2" .25 wall piece of DOM. A piece of 1.5" sch 80 pipe would have been a much better purchase pricewise and worked just the same for this application.
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Been there and done that. Scheduel 80 pipe didn't work. It flexed badly on my truck and a friend bent his. The 2" DOM 0.5" wall might be overkill, but it works.
 
braxton357 said:
A piece of 1.5" sch 80 pipe would have been a much better purchase pricewise and worked just the same for this application.
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2" Dom.250 wall/ 2" O.D. = 4.673 lbs/lineal foot
1.5" sch. 80 pipe/1.9" O.D. = 3.631 lbs/lineal foot

Yield strength of ASTM Grade A-53 Pipe = 30,000 psi
Yield strength of 1020 DOM = 70,000 psi

Section modulus of 2" DOM = .5359
Section modulus of 1.9 OD pipe = ~.4000

Modulus of elasticity (stiffness) for both MATERIALS are about the same, when they bend, the DOM will return to its original shape (memory) better than pipe (this is where yield strength is important). DOM also has a much more consistant inner diameter which makes it less succeptable to having weak areas like pipe may have.

I did a couple calcs on the sched. 80 pipe vs. 2" DOM based on a length of material, finding that 2" DOM is approximately 35% stronger in a bending (stress on beam) application than the sched. 80 pipe.

This doesn't mean pipe will not work. It's simply illustrating the differences between the choice of materials.
 
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jlibert said:
I did a couple calcs on the sched. 80 pipe vs. 2" DOM based on a length of material, finding that 2" DOM is approximately 35% stronger in a bending (stress on beam) application than the sched. 80 pipe.

This doesn't mean pipe will not work. It's simply illustrating the differences between the choice of materials.
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just curious but in which plane were your loads calculated from and where were the loads concentrated?? in a trac bar application strength would need to be calculated using Moment (M) about the ends of the DOM...point loads would be useless
 
I was looking at different bar designs when I designed my bars & it looks like most companies just use 1/4" wall DOM tubing & then use smaller pipes kinda like reducers till they get down to 1" Heims.
 
1.5" sch 80 works great!

There is no need to make them any longer than need to match the angle of your driveshaft.

I have a finite element stress analysis of mine...lol.
 
jlibert said:
Tell me what you come up with, and what tubing (or pipe) would be superior in a traction bar application.

-jp
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the DOM is definately the superior steel when comparing strength to sched. 80 of the same dimension..there is no doubt about that...let me dig around my steel manual a little and try to come up with a real world comparison and calculation b/n sched 80 and DOM used in a single bar set up on our trucks...i dont do calcs like this everyday so give me a little time...it should be a fun project
 
Those look familiar.

jlibert said:
I did a couple calcs on the sched. 80 pipe vs. 2" DOM based on a length of material, finding that 2" DOM is approximately 35% stronger in a bending (stress on beam) application than the sched. 80 pipe.
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Why are we talking about bending forces? A single bar without an outside force will see compression forces.

Of course DOM is a much better choice for dragging it over rocks, and even so in a traction bar setup. Enough to justify the cost...thats up to the buyer/builder.



I build 1.9"OD x.200" wall SCH80....run by many on this site...we have yet to have a failure. Just some real world experience. DOM would be pimp, but i try to help the customer save where possible.

Nice set of bars btw.
 
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