All right folks, let's see if you are as fast this afternoon as you were this morning. I just bought one of the trackbars for my 2000 Ram 2500 4x4 that you can adjust at the ball joint. I was just about to pullthe old trackbar out of the truck and now I think I already have a good one. The trackbar in the truck right now has a long intermediate piece that is threaded with nuts on each end to lock it. Is this stock or upgraded already?

 

This is a fair representation of the stock track bar:
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=389511

 

We haven't had a trackbar debate in at least a couple of days. It would appear I have a choice to make this morning. I have a clunk in steering that is supposedly a bad trackbar bushing. New poly bushing is sitting on the bench waiting to go in. As I said earlier in this thread, I crawled under truck yesterday and found that I already have an adjustable trackbar under there.

Earlier this week I bought a Frank's Trackbar like Dr Evil references in the thread below.
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ight=track+bar

Question is, which trackbar should I put in truck? It is stock height and I have no intention of putting any lift kits on.

If you feel like jumping in with an opinion, I am all ears.

 

I've had a Thuren adjustable in mine for about 4 years now and its a non-issue. Its still tight as the day it was new and pretty bullet-proof.

I think there are a lot of options in this area because the stock trac bar is such a weak point in the suspension on the 2nd gens.

It sounds like you already have an aftermarket bar in there, a new bushing may be all you need to snug it up.

 

Well, I seem to have hit a snag. I have been trying to get the nut and bolt off the axle end. It wouldn't budge yesterday so I loaded everything up with PB Blaster and left if overnight. Put an 18mm socket on it today and applied a lot of force with a breaker bar. All I have succeeded in doing is breaking the tab off the nut. There is no way I can get an open end wrench up into that little housing where the nut is. Any suggestion?
The truck is driveable but I cannot come up with any ideas about how to get the nut and bolt apart that hold the axle end of the trackbar.

 

I need one asap...I see NAPA has a premium gold one for $299.00 .. has a lifetime warranty..anyone know if they are any good??

 

I googled real quick and found this one. Looks like its built well. Haven't seen anyone else post about this one before
http://www.off-road.com/trucks-4x4/n...cks-32105.html

 

For 300 bucks I'd get a Thuren.

I do not believe NAPA has a lifetime warranty on them anymore and some guys who got this bar got tired of changing it out every two years.

 

hey sean,

haha, i thought you had a stock bar under there!

to get that off maybe you can cut or grind the head down. you could always buy a couple cheap wrenches from PA and then grind/cut them to fit.

 

Dewd,
Trust me, I thought I had a stock bar too. Grinding the head down won't get me much but a few wrenches from PA is a good idea. Plus, I get to go to PA. Check your email - will send you the whole story.

 

did you get it off? I had to cut a little of the track bar bracket off (~1/2 inch) so I could fit the wrench when I installed my Thuren bar. I can snap a pic if you need it. ...but I won't be back on line until later tonight.

 

I would love to see a picute of what you did. I worry about grinding or cutting around that bracket too much as I don't want to weaken it. I can get a box end wrench in the hole but obviously not over the nut. I couldget an open end around the nut but can't get it in the hole. Doj Dewd might be on to something - get a few open end wrenches and grind them down a bit. Not sure if they will have enough strength. I wonder if a few more doses of PB Blaster and then the blue wrench with a ground down open end wrench will do it.

 

I was worried about cutting, for about 5 min.. I considered the following.

1. My truck was usless without that bolt - it had to go in some how.
2. If I hit something hard enough to tear that bracket (even with the cut) I'm looking at enough front end damage to make the bracket insignificant.
3. I can always bend & weld it back if it looks like the bracket is pushing - so far so good.



P.S. The safety police can kiss me where the sun don't shine. I won't get into that argument - don't bother.

 

That is pretty solid steel plate. What did you use to cut/grind it?

 

When I had a nut tab that broke off the way I dealt with it was to turn my stick welder up full blast then stick a rod to it for second till the nut turned red.
Unscrewed like nothing with an impact without holding the nut after that.