I am curious. Those of you that have suspension lifts, did you have a problem getting your track bar to fit after you put the rear springs back in or did you put the coils in without removing the track bar? Did you extend your track bar in any way?

I have the Calmini kit and am having all kinds of problems getting the track bar back on. I have tried jacking things up in different combos, just trying to muscle it over, and putting the tires back on and trying to move things around and I CAN NOT get it back in.

On another note, can you drive the vehicle without the track bar on? I know I probably don't want to do anything high speed or anything, but how driveable is it without the track bar? I'm thinking that if I drive it a mile or two, that maybe thing will settle and align a little and let me get the bar back in...

The rear suspension geometry is different after the suspension lift. You need a longer trac bar. According to my calculations, after 3-4" lift the trac bar must be about 1/4" longer. Talk to Matt about this.

I forget who it was that drove back from Moab on a lifted second gen without a trackbar.....I think it was Chris Perosi.

If I remember correctly he said it was like tring to balance the truck on a giant marshmellow.

You should be able to coax it into place. The track bar's only purpose is to keep the rear end in the correct position side to side. So you will need to push on the rear end to get it to line up.

Joe

I never took off my track bar when I did my 3" lift. Everything seems to be working fine. The tire wear was pretty even the past 2 years. I did disconnect my upper trailing arms when I did the lift so I could slip the longer springs in more easily.

Pete

Surely you can. I went thru this one when I was putting the stock bar back:

1) Put the truck on the ground.
2) take a high-jack and grab the rear driver wheel, somehow.
3) raise the wheel and try to get the trac bar into the place. At some point, the bar mounts will be close enough to each other to let it slip into the place.

If you do not have a high-jack, you can try something different to raise the rear drivers wheel.

You'll need two people. put the jack stands on the frame (make sure they are very secure!)

Have one person pry like hell while the other one gets the bolt in the track bar. just try to get the axle to shift that little bit so you can get the bolt in (and watch out for brakelines, etc.)

You can drive it without a track bar, but very scary! I've watched it and I wouldn't want to be in the car when it starts floppin around.

^^^^^^^ fixed it for you <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Didnt the calmini kit come with a drop bracket for the track bar? I thought they did. Its best for track bars to be parallel with the axle at rest. Would also make it easier to get it back in place.

Removed the track bar on the 2wd, as I did that one first in Uwharrie...

On the 99, I didnt remove the track bar, just disconnected the upper links...

Dont drive without that track bar...the rear will be all over the place....

Chase

no, the calmini kit didn't come with the extension because I bought the optional Calmini track bar. However, measurement from eye to eye of the calmini bar is the same as the stock track bar - 37.5". I asked them about it and they said it was supposed to be 37.5", but when I asked them about why they use an extension for the stock ones, he said that because the bar was bent, that it didn't need to be longer - it doesn't make sense to me because the only thing that matters is the distance from eye to eye. THe bend just helps in clearance. I did talk them into overnighting me the track bar extension and 2 new UCA's since the screwed up the ball joint bolt pattern on the first set. I hope they let me keep both sets of UCA's since the first set will just take some milling to get them to fit, then I could sell the 2nd set to make up for some of the expenses that Calmini has cost me by shipping me bad parts.

Anyways, I am thinking about extending the track bar by 1/2" by cutting it and welding a sleeve over the bars. How much force do these bars take? In other words, how beefy will that sleeve and welds need to be? I am guessing that the majority of the forces that this bar sees are compression/tension forces.

trust me, 1/2" is way too much. I tried this size.
1/4" is just right.

Oleg