Well guys, its been a while since I've made a post, since I have to drive into town now and use the computers in the town's visitor center . I'm in the middle of a trac bar dilemma. The bolt that holds the trac bar to the axle was not tightened (I'm blaming myself and BigBlue for that one) and I lost it while driving down the road. Now that was as scary as when I broke my pitman arm. It sucked.

Anyway, I found a grade 8 bolt that was pretty much the same size as the factory one and tossed it in there. Well all was fine and dandy til one day, I get that darn popping noise again, and this time it sounded 10x's worse. Well I get down there and I see that the hole has been wallered out enough to where there is slop between the bolt and the hole. I still get the popping sound. Well I got a piece of 1/8" steel and welded it to the front side of the axle, and drilled a hole in it, hoping it would add extra support for the bolt. I think it is helping, but there is still slop in it because there is no way to do something like that to the back side of the hole b/c there is no room back there at all (you can't even fit 2 fingers in there).

I'm open for anything right now. I'm sick of the popping coming from the front end of this truck. I plan on upgrading to a DT trac bar soon, but since the hole is wallered out, I'm going to be in the same boat as I am right now. Any ideas guys?

 

Go here-www.solidsteel.biz

 

weld it shut and redrill

 

Next size bigger bolt.

 

Oh my god you do exist. I agree with racer 9, just go to a larger bolt. I think your pop is contagious cause now my truck is popping. I think mine is my steering box. New new one should be here this week.

 

Only problem with the solid steel trac bar is that I have a 4.5" lift. The problem w/ a bigger bolt is that I would have to drill out the bushing on the trac bar itself, and I know that that is no walk in the park either. Re-welding it is not a bad idea, but how strong would that actually be. My truck clocks in at over 8200 lbs and the idea of that weld breaking while driving down the road doesn't put a good feeling in my stomach. Any other ideas guys?

 

Maybe check with Russell at Solidsteel, i think he is comming out with a bracket for his adj. track-bar that will handle any lift, correct me if im wrong on this,I could be wrong.

 

weld a couple large, thick washers where the slot is now....it should be stronger than before...and if you doubt the strength...weld more steel in that area

 

He's already got a metal plate welded onto the front of it.