I know Solid and BD both make a steering brace, and solid and Lazar something? make a track bar bracket, whose is better, and why? The truck is stock height with 285/75-16's on it, if anything someday it might get new stock springs but that's it. Thanks

 

your probably referring to Lorenz,

I stayed stock 2nd gen with the Moog heavy duty track bar, has a DSS steering brace for years, steering stabilizer is Thuren, getting new (heavier) Dodge springs this week

many go to the 3rd gen track bar, some use the Luke's link fix, there's a jillion ways to fix our front ends

 

There are quite a few options out there for our trucks, price and function are the key issues for what to buy. I bought solid steel biz. items, and with my own experience, never again. The 3rd. gen. track bar, i will say is nice, no complaints about that, but the conversion bracket, and the steering box stabilizer were absolutely horrible to install. I had to grind out so much metal to get bolts to line up, i was really ****** when i was done. For as much money as i spent for them, i was very dissapointed on the fit. Again, that is my experiance. If you never take your truck off road, or put much stress on the front axle, the lukes links seem to be just fine. If you put bigger tires on, and stress the front end a bit, go with the 3rd gen. track bar conversion and track bar, and get dual stabilizers, or better than stock anyway. I think you pay more for the Carli and some other brands than the solid steel, but you kinda get what you pay for as far as quality.

 

I went with the Lazarsmith.com trac bar set-up. He uses a 2nd gen trac bar (for clearance issues on the differential) but welds on zero-deflection bushings to make the ends like a 3rd gen trac bar. The adapter mount is solid and top notch as well. Intallation was straightforward and easy. The kit runs on the higher end of the different options you have as far as price, but I almost consider it a custom piece since he makes each one individually. I have been extremely happy so far!!

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's better to convert the steering setup to the heavy duty T-style and keep the stock track bar.

I converted to T-style steering and 3rd gen track bar (lazar smith bracket) and i had the truck was steering real nice. However, I had clearance problems with the stock 3rd gen track bar hitting the front diff. A few weeks ago, the conversion bracket loosened up and cracked while I was driving. I limped the truck home, removed the broken bracket, removed the 3rd gen track bar, and put the stock track bar back on. Now the truck handles better than it did with the 3rd gen track bar.

If I had done the HD steering 1st, I would have saved myself about $400 ($155 for the bracket and $245 for the bar). Whenever the stock bar wears out, I'm going with a moog bar. Just my opinion.

 

Was your truck lifted at all or did you have an aftermarket diff cover? Thanks for the input.

 

I have the factory HD steering on my truck, it's never had the death wobble, but it has wandered. I replaced the stock track bar with a moog years ago, and the wander came back this year. Sure enough, the joint at the frame was loose as a goose. Luke's Link is out of question with a moog. After researching on here, I ordered the 0'3" track bar from Thuren fabrication. My restriction is the snowplow frame bracket that would interfere with an aftermarket bracket for a 3rd generation track bar conversion. So this fit the bill for me.

Now, I also have had the DSS steering brace for sometime. That helped alot. But again, the wander came back. I installed the Thuren track bar, and while doing so, and noticed the front sway bar links were marginal. So I ordered Maxx link aftermarket links, and together with the new track bar, my truck now steers like a dream with 200K+ miles!

So in conclusion, it's got to be a combination of things that causes steering issues with these trucks. Apparently, not engineered very well from the get go. Unless you transport heavy cargo all the time, by nature of the vehicle being nose heavy, something has to give.

JMHO

(FYI: 2000-2002 4x4 trucks have the front axle tipped forward, I'm guessing for better prop shaft angle. Causes clearance issues with some trackbars.)

 

I've had my Thuren TB & DSS for yrs now with no problems.

 

Check out lazarsmith.com. I love his steering brace.

 

Nope, my truck is pretty much stock. I also added Moog sway bar bushings, links, and bilstein shocks. I wish i did the front end re-furb in incremental steps so that i could infer what replacement part made the biggest difference in the steering.

 

I usually go through a Moog trac bar every 1.5 years. They work great at first then start to loosen up. I have the DSS and my third PSC steering gear box. It stills wander.
I think I need more caster in my front end. I've tried different shops and 2.7 degrees is the max I can get. But over time the escentrical washers turn (or something else) and I loose caster.

Love my truck, but the steering is horrible. I would like to install adjustable arms to increase my caster, I think this would help steering and make my trac bar last longer.