After I lifted my Rodeo, I had lots of complains about its handling performance. When I removed my sway bars, I got even more problems. I spent some time looking at my suspension geometry and calculating stuff. Eventually, I came to conclusion that my stock track bar is too short for lifted suspension. Too short track bar forces my rear axle to sway unpleasantly. I contacted Matt in Independent4x, and he suggested to make a longer heavy-duty track bar for me. Last Thursday I installed the new track bar (about 1/2" longer than stock) and this weekend I was testing the new suspension setup. I must say that the difference in handling is huge. The body roll is significantly reduced, to a normal stock level. I can drive high-speed on mountain roads again !
Remember that I have no sway bars on both ends.

I made a rather difficult Pardoe trail in Saturday, and I did not notice any articulation problem with the new track bar. The difference on trail is not noticable, but longer track bar makes really big difference on twisty roads. If you need to drive long way to the trails, and if you have a lift, then a longer track bar is a good mod.

Good info, I have been wondering how much the track bar came into play after a lift. I think I will buy. Does Independent4x regularly sell them? I don't see them on his site. I know that Darlington and Calmini have always had them.

StinkyFab is the only vendor I can think of making links and panhard bars for isuzus
http://www.stinkyfab.com/index2.html

Hi Oleg,

After my lift, I ended up bending then later on breaking my rear Latteral Bar (Panhard). I went through Joe at DOR and the difference is noticeable.

Ashby

CALMINI also makes one:
CALMINI HD Track Bar

As far as the difference between the different bars, there probably isn't much. The geometry is barely affected by the change in length of the bar. Perhaps this difference in length is noticeable to some -- but perhaps there were other contributing factors with the suspension that seemed tightened up by the new bar. Personally I never noticed a difference between the stock bar and the DOR bar I ran once I broke mine. I did, however, feel that my Amigo handled far better lifted (even with the stock bar) than it did stock...

Anyway, so you know, the bar doesn't break because of the lift -- it breaks because the stock bar is a total piece of garbage. Ding it on a rock or two and it's shot. You could probably get under there and bend it with your foot if you tried.

Also, so you know... The truck is *driveable* without the bar, so if you break it on the trail, you can get home without it. This is in no way shape or form safe or recommended, but it can be done. I did exactly that -- except the trail was in Colorado and as you know I live in New Jersey. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Drove it all the way home that way, kinda scary, but I got used to it. I do believe that was around the same time that Kevin dubbed it "The Wet Marshmallow" tho, due to the way it handled on the street... Picture yourself sitting behind the wheel of, well... a wet marshmallow. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

-Chris

Correct me here if I'm wrong, but a longer bar doesn't really do much for correcting the problem of the lifted coil rear.

All a longer bar does is center your axle back for you. The bar is still at a pretty good angle compared to the rear axle. Preferably you would want this level with the rear axle at rest. So without dropping the frame mount (which I intend to do) You are still in the same boat. Just with a much stronger panhard bar.

Joe

Joe, my understanding is that when the distance from the frame to axle is getting bigger, you need a longer bar to compencate. Otherwise, the axle placement and axle behaviour is different from how it was meant by truck designers.

I did not broke the stock bar - it made some terrible noises on the trails but it was still intact and straight. But I definitely noticed big difference in handling between stock bar and long bar. I do not care much about theory, because I tested it in practice - my Rodeo can now withstand much higher lateral forces than with stock bar.

Well, not entirely. Stock, the lateral bar sits parallel with the rear axle at rest, thereby centering the axle under the truck. Once it's lifted, say, 3 inches, you have to use your old Geometry notes to get the Pythagorean Theorem out and see what length bar you really need now, because you have a triangle instead of two parallel lines. When you do the math, the difference is less than a half an inch or so, even up to 4 inches.

Now, that being said, there's the debate whether you should be lenghtening the bar and making a triangle, or dropping the mount and going back to the two parallel lines. Theoretically dropping the mount is the way to go because it brings it back to stock geometry, which is what all those engineers spent so much money and time designing. That being said, the triangle works pretty well and lines up everything pretty well, although at some points in the travel of the suspension it's not doing exactly what it's DESIGNED to do. Not to say it doesn't work, I don't think anyone has had any problems with it, but like I said, it's not exactly the way it's DESIGNED to work.



This is true if you DON'T drop the mount, but if you drop it, the bar you need would be the same length as stock.



The fact that the bar was making noises at all leads me to believe there was a problem with the mount and that was causing your handling problems, which were corrected by replacing the bar itself. The bar shouldn't really make any noises unless it's somehow compromised.

-Chris

Just for the record...

On Lisa's Rodeo, 'The Turtle', Doug fabricated a lowered mount for the track bar - thus putting it back to being parallel with the axle, just as it was originally.

Trust me; this set-up has been thoroughly field tested, and has proven itself to be sound under even the most extreme forces (such as those capable of snapping a D-44 axle shaft, for instance <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" /> )


I'm NOT saying that a lengthened track bar isn't a valid solution - I'm just pointing out that using a lowered mount is more than just theoretical engineering... it's well-proven technology (and an added bonus is that, at-rest, the axle sits exactly where itÆs supposed to û squarely centered).


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<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Smiley, I do not argue about this - the lower mount would be also a solution. I just wanted a stronger bar as a bonus, in my case.