GaveUpOnTV

I saw somebody talking about CalTrac traction bars, and wondered how they compare to Glaciers bars. I know that Glacier's cost is $700 and CalTracs are $339, does anybody know some people who have both?(I mean seperate people-not on the same truck ) Is one better than the other? Are these bars different designs, the Glacier has 2 struts, CalTracs one. These things won't eventually put a 'bend' in the leaf springs, will they?
Also, I'm kinda into that 'sleeper' look, and if one brand was a little less obvious, everything else being the same, I'd probably prefer that one (I've seen Glaciers ladder bars, but not CalTracs) Any pictures of CalTracs?
I think that I remember someone said one of the magazines (maybe Diesel Power) used the CalTracs on a Dodge project.
Any comments on traction bars in general and either (or any other brands) of the brands specifically I'd appreciate......

The link to CalTrac http://www.calvertracing.com/info/info.htm

Link to Glacier http://www.glacierdieselpower.com/de...dept_id=11-001

ScienceOfSpeed

I would recommend them highly, i am ordering a set for my truck, i have seen them in action and they work, we used a set on a 790 hp GMC Syclone and it was rediculous how it hooked, we also put a set on a 2wd S10, with a 383 stroker and nitrous, that truck ran 10.11 in the quarter pulling 1.47 60foot times, not to bad, and both of those trucks hooked awesome on the streets and they did not loose there street manerism, hope that helps ya

tritont

by the time you get those Calteh mounted, you may have wished you spent the extra cash on the GDP bars. What a pain in the butt they look to be to get installed.

some info I found on them.....The Caltrac bar is an engineered bar that makes your leaf spring set up a "POOR MANS" 4-Link. The bars are removable but, the rest is in there. There were designed for muscle cars but, will work on your truck.

My vote goes for GDP bars. They're very well build, they install in an hour or less, and Richard is one of the best guys in the business with his customer service. Plus, the last time I looked at his bars they were on sale.

Mine removed all wheel hop and planted the rear wheels to the ground. On a stock truck, it's a lot harder to break the tires loose.

There's several people here with GDP bars. I don't want to speak for them but, I will put money down that they all love them... including myself....

GaveUpOnTV

Thanks ScienceOfSpeed !
Good to have somebody say that they've 'seen them in action', I haven't heard of CalTracs before today. So far what I've found out is moving me to get a set too.
I've been doing some searching and found a couple of pertinent articles. One is from here, DTR https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...c+traction+bar

and one is a article about how to make your own copy of CalTracs
http://www.hotrodsandhemis.com/Traction.html

Anybody else?

GaveUpOnTV

Those Glacier bars look good, Tritont. One hour to install, huh? Probably take me two then at least
I haven't got much horsepower yet, but I plan to as funds allow. So these work for you pretty well? I know you have a lot of HP.
I'm thinking that the CalTracs are a little more low profile, but I'm not sure yet (no good pictures on the CalTracs yet. They have some on cars on their site, but most of the pictures show cars at a distance and not right along beside them)
Do you ever have to worry driving around stuff? I know both the traction bars would be the same in this way, one is just longer but they both are kinda low I think.

tritont

Actually I said an hour is case you weren't to mechanically inclined. Once you put the bushing all in, the actual install can take :30.

HP doesn't matter. Our truck have a very soft suspension as is. The bars will help your stability and keep the tires on the ground. Even a stock Cummins has some good power to be able to break the tires loose. These bars help control that.

The longer the bar, the more it's going to do for you. Those bars may be ok but, the fact they were designed for muscle cars tells me they weren't thinking of a 8000lbs truck using them.

I would imagine they work find and I don't mean to sound down on them. I'm just very happy with the GDP bar. There's a lot of different bar's out there. If you 4x, you may want to look at something that articulates more ( heim joint ends ) otherwise, most all of them will do the same job. If you're a puller.... you'll want them as long as you can get them.

No, I don't worry about driving around things. There's a lot of clearance with them and you just have to use you own common sense if coming up on something in the road.

ScienceOfSpeed

well the Cal Tracs will work fine on a 2wd Diesel, they are not intended for 4x4 trucks that have lift kits and big tires. they were designed for cars and trucks that make power and need to solve tractions issues, and yeah HP does matter

ScienceOfSpeed

oh yeah also ridiculous amounts of Torque matter too

tritont

how do you figure ? I agree hp and tq matters because we want it too but, how do you figure it matters with ladder bars ? The only way I see it matter is if you have a cheap set of bars

ScienceOfSpeed

hp and torque matters because this is what u base ur suspension mods on. and a 2wd truck is alot different than a 4x4 that is lifted. u have alot of suspension articulation with a lifted truck, and axle wrap, thats why u go with the longer ladder bar setup. on a 2wd drive the suspension articulation is nowhere near as drastic as on a 4x4, that is why longer bars are not needed. the most drastic thing u face on a 2wd is wheel hop and lowering the truck. for drag racing the Cal tracs have proven them selves over and over. take a look at the Project X truck in the Diesel Power magazine. Greg Hogue ran them on that truck, 860 hp.

tritont

yeah, longer bars on a pulling truck I can see. There's way more torque and they're trying to not break the truck in half while keeping the tires planted. Shorter bars would do fine as you say on a drag truck because you're dealing with keeping the tires on the ground and not bending the frame. Up and down anyway.

so in reality, it's not the hp or tq that matters... it's what you're going to to use them for. I don;t think he's dragging or pulling and looking for some bars to help control and ride. Not that any of this matters. The guys asked about what people though of the two bars... I think most any bars you find out they will do the job as long as they're built well.

Coal Train

$700 dollars for a set of traction bars?? Come on guys your getting ripped off...

tritont

agreed... they are a bit pricey but, the man took the time to design them, produce them and market them... ya gotta be in business for something and not everyone has a welder in the garage.

Megacab07

How about the superlift trac bars?

GaveUpOnTV

Thanks MegaCab07,
I did a search on the Superlift and it appears from their site, if I put in my year, make, it allows me only to choose 4WD versions. http://www.superlift.com/suspension/Default.asp
I found another site http://www.rockymountainsusp.com/tra....htm#Superlift
that has 7 different manufacturers, but all are either for lifted or 4WD trucks (Dunno why anybody would lift a 2WD, though)
Hope somebody can post pictures if they have the CalTracs. I'm gonna keep near stock wheels on the truck, I just wanna be able to burn them up, w/o hop (and kinda not be too obvious)