W20 DIY Trac Bar

[mgscott4]

Here is my version of a Trac Bar I installed on my 2006 Hurricane on a WH W20 chassis. I did not want to connect it to the third member bolts and decided to weld it to the housing. Connected it to the frame rail using the bump stop bolt holes with new grade 8 bolts. Total cost about $60. The Hiem joints with Zerk fittings were $15 each. My brother in law is a proffesional welder, the welds look good with good penetration. I will test it out on the way to quartzite in a few weeks.

[Easyrider]

Looks good! I'm just curious about why you didn't want to bolt it on, seems like all the store bought trac bars are bolted on.

[DriVer]

All I can say is .... Wow!

I hope it works out for you! Good luck.

[mgscott4]

Easyrider- The reason I welded it to the axle was because I did not want to take a chance on messing up one of the bolts on the third member. It is sealed and not leaking. The weld is stronger than the bolts would be.

[scoutmstr]

Did you make or buy the brackets/rod? If bought part numbers please

[mgscott4]

I made mine, but Oemys web site has good info to do it yourself. Here is a link.

Oemy's Web Site - DIY Trac Bar

[dezertcamper]

Here is link with pictures and details of what was used to make a track bar and brackets. There is also some good discussion on design and theory.
Dezertcampers DIY WH Trac Bar

[Mr_D]

Wouldn't a longer link and level with weight on the axle be better? That would keep the sideways motion lower.

[Dunner]

Most of the automotive track bars I have seen go almost the full width of the axle. The shorter it is, the more "Bump Steer" you have.

[mgscott4]

It works great. I just drove it 1500 miles to Quartzite. The 18 wheeler push is gone. and the tail wag is gone too. My gas mileage went up slightly too, but I attribute that to new plugs and wires and some flat terrain out west.

The best trac bar would be one that is tied to the frame and axle both above and below the axle (equal and level) with a folulm pivot centered on the axle. But that would be overkill for this application.

I think the bump steer on the rear is minimal do to limited axle travel. All I was trying to do is to limit the side to side movement from the leaf spring bushings.

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dunner Most of the automotive track bars I have seen go almost the full width of the axle. The shorter it is, the more "Bump Steer" you have.

Dunner, Any track bar that you will see used on an RV only will span 50% or less of the track width. The two attachment points center and isolate the powertrain from the frame which reduces in most cases yaw.

Full width suspension devices such as those manufactured by Helwig are most likely anti-sway bars and those could span close to 100% of the track width. This device coupled with a track bar will reduce or eliminate yaw and roll.

Bump steer is unrelated to the use or not of a track bar. Bump steer is created as a result of rutt tracking whereby the steering gear is bumped by the tires as they negotiate road surface irregularities. Bump steer causes the steering wheel to fight driver input where at the end of the day a driver can wind up exhausted. Effectively isolating bump steer and rutt tracking is accomplished using a steering damper such as the Tru-Center, Steer-Safe or Safe-T-Plus AND a track bar such as a Tru-Track, Tiger Track, Ultra-Trak and or Super Steer as a dual system.

I have a track bar & damper system installed on my rig and its been doing an excellent job for over 7 years. I initially wrote about the installation however those were lost when we switched over from the old to the new iRV2 interface.

[Dunner]

I didn't mean actual bump steer, that is why I put it in quotes. What I meant was the the shorter the bar, the more movement the diff or frame would have as the suspension goes up and down.

[dezertcamper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_D Wouldn't a longer link and level with weight on the axle be better? That would keep the sideways motion lower.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dunner Most of the automotive track bars I have seen go almost the full width of the axle. The shorter it is, the more "Bump Steer" you have.

You guys are both correct on your thoughts and this too was a thought of mine when I first built my track bar set up. A longer track bar would be better, but with the limited wheel travel an RV has and for what you are trying to accomplish by adding a rear track bar, the shorter track bar does fine. Also most passenger cars using the track bar design are typically coil over and are a multi-link design. RV's are leaf spring and the track bar is being used to stabilize the springs from swaying side to side as the only support the rear end has is the spring bushings. Especially on the WH chassis as the sway bar (Lame design IMO) is tied to the springs and is not a traditional sway bar which can slightly help side to side spring movement.

I cant remember my measurements, but I think my bar is around 24" long. When I measured at ride height the compression wheel travel was round 4 inches, and that was having to compress the jounce bumpers 75%. With the rear on the jacks the full suspension cycle was around 8 inches. You actually get more compression and extension from side to side rocking like when going through a driveway or turning a corner then when just traveling down the road. And at that slow speed a little "Rear Steer" is really not going to be felt, vs the benefit of having the track bar for freeway speeds.

I too was concerned about the track bar actually pushing the rear axle over as the suspension cycled causing a rear steer issue. So after installing my track bar set up, I measured the axle location at ride height and when at full droop on the jacks, and I did not see any measurable difference.

On my RV I never had any serious "Tail Wag" as others have mentioned. The main reason I built one was I tow either a buggy or boat trailer 90% of the time we use the RV. And because we travel through the desert to go to the desert or river I see allot of cross winds. So much so that is is not uncommon for me to have to turn the steering wheel to 10 or 2 o'clock to keep the RV going strait. I wanted the track bar to help me in those situations when pulling the trailer in the cross winds.

[JonBrazel]

I like the color you chose