Rear Trac Rod Relocation Bracket...Enlighten me

[Mudlight]

I have the Ford Performance 2" Lift aka Bilstein 6100s.

Without the trac bar relocation bracket I was getting rear bump steer.

After the bracket, it drove much better.

Then two days later, aka TODAY, I installed the rear sway bar and with both of those, the driving dynamics are night and day different. No more rear bump steer, no more pogo stick, no more uneasy rear end feeling, way less body roll, less nose dive under braking.

I highly recommend doing both. A rear sway bar is still good for offroad in case you are worried. It can actually help the front end flex out more (Front sway bar disconnected).

Which rear track bar bracket is this?

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[Aonarch]

Which rear track bar bracket is this?

Rock Jock.

Love them. I have the Antirock front sway bar as well.

 

[Beach_Bum]

I ended up with a Boss4x4 bracket. Putting it on next month.

Curious why you opted for the Boss4x4 one over the RockJock? They are near identical but the RJ includes a brake line bracket whereas the Boss4x4 does not.

 

[Tricky Mike]

Curious why you opted for the Boss4x4 one over the RockJock? They are near identical but the RJ includes a brake line bracket whereas the Boss4x4 does not.

Only because they had an introductory sale.

 

[smelly]

I went with the Fabetch bracket and I am generally happy with it. It's super heavy duty and the rear end feels very planted and minimal body roll in the turns. Only thing to note is that the welds on mine were pretty sloppy and uneven. Aside from having weld spatter everywhere, the welds actually prevented the bracket from fitting/seating in the stock trackbar mounting location. Decided it wasn't worth the trouble to return and I just ground it down and sprayed it with some black paint.

 

[SROC3]

So - If I already have an ICON rear track bar....I can add this later on and it is as easy as just bolting it on WITHOUT having to any re-alingment correct?

 

[telenerd]

Firing up old thread. What are people’s thoughts on durability of track bar relocation brackets? It seems you’re transferring the breaking point and the brake lines are awful close to the bolt on the bracket even with the brake line shim to move it up. See videos of broken brackets on Bronco and Jeeps.

 

[PWillette]

If I were doing a lot of rock crawling or high speed whoops I'd definitely be inspecting the bracket every trip. No real rock climbing or whooping opportunities in Maine, most everything I do is slow speed so I'm not as concerned but I do crawl underneath and inspect everything on a regular basis. Haven't seen any issues with the Rockjock bracket but the locknut on my Metalclaok adjustable bar did loosen a couple thousand miles after install so regular inspection is certainly a must.

 

[GI_Jo_Nathan]

Firing up old thread. What are people’s thoughts on durability of track bar relocation brackets? It seems you’re transferring the breaking point and the brake lines are awful close to the bolt on the bracket even with the brake line shim to move it up. See videos of broken brackets on Bronco and Jeeps.

Well the Bronco one was a Rough Country bracket so....

And not sure what the jeep video had to do with anything.

Also like has been mentioned before, the bracket and adjustable track bar solve different issues. The bracket isn't just a "cheap fix" .

 

[BigMeatsBronco]

The relocation bracket is definitly the way to go for the best handeling. OME has one that I believe is less height. Reach out to them and see if it is closer to that 2" number.


Honestly the 2.375 would likely be totally fine. That means you are only .375" off from stock compared to 2" off.

I'm curious why there isn't a bracket that lowers the frame side mount of the Panhard bar, instead of raising the axle side? Seems to me the attachment points should be BELOW that axle Centerline for best geometry? (at normal ride height)... I mean, OEM Ford mounted it UNDER the axle Centerline for a good reason, Or did they?

Any engineers want to explain this?

 

[Badsquatchman]

I'm curious why there isn't a bracket that lowers the frame side mount of the Panhard bar, instead of raising the axle side? Seems to me the attachment points should be BELOW that axle Centerline for best geometry? (at normal ride height)... I mean, OEM Ford mounted it UNDER the axle Centerline for a good reason, Or did they?

Any engineers want to explain this?

I’ve also been curious about this. Is it possible that the panhard bar/trackbar could make contact with the differential cover? I would think the better solution would be to lower the passenger side mounting point but I haven’t seen that anyone makes them.

 

[BigMeatsBronco]

here's a good link to get an education

https://www.bedfordspeedway.com/toolbox_panhard.htm

I'm gonna lower the frame side mount instead.

 

[Tricky Mike]

Firing up old thread. What are people’s thoughts on durability of track bar relocation brackets? It seems you’re transferring the breaking point and the brake lines are awful close to the bolt on the bracket even with the brake line shim to move it up. See videos of broken brackets on Bronco and Jeeps.

Every other vehicle model people have figured out that trackbar relocation brackets have to be very heavy duty and welded in place if you want them to hold up to real abuse. The forces on them are tremendous. I expect 6G ones will keep evolving over time to be stronger.

 

[GI_Jo_Nathan]

Every other vehicle model people have figured out that trackbar relocation brackets have to be very heavy duty and welded in place if you want them to hold up to real abuse. The forces on them are tremendous. I expect 6G ones will keep evolving over time to be stronger.

Agreed. That's why I went with the Fabtech bracket. I feel like it's the strongest currently.

 

[87-Z28]

here's a good link to get an education

https://www.bedfordspeedway.com/toolbox_panhard.htm

I'm gonna lower the frame side mount instead.

Nice reference on how Panhard affects handling. A good read.

Some thoughts on location of Panhard bar and roll center, for those that are interested. The Oem Panhard is long and symmetrically mounted (both frame and axle mount locations are same distance from vehicle centerline).

For static condition at ride height only (a simplified case). The vehicle roll (rotations about the for-aft axis) occur about the roll axis. A line connecting the rear axle roll center and the front axle roll center.

Lateral forces acting on vehicle produce a torque about the roll axis with momentum arm as the vertical distance between applied lateral force and roll axis. Lateral forces, such as a change in lateral velocity that occurs during cornering, occur at vehicle CG. The roll moment can be defined as the vertical distance between CG an roll axis (for a given constant lateral force).

Considering rear axle only (a simplification), the lateral forces acting at CG are transferred to axle and then produce vertical and lateral (friction) forces at tire/ground contact patch. the load path for the lateral forces from body to axle occur through upper and lower links, struts, and Panhard bar. A simple assumption is that all of the suspension links have pinned ends and can only take axial loading.

For case with 4 link suspension (no Panhard), the only way to transfer lateral load from body to axle is for the links to be triangulated somewhat, having some angle in lateral direction. Based on the link angles, the intersections of their line of actions with the vertical/lateral plane through the axle dictates the roll center.

For the case with Panhard bar, the panhard dominates the lateral load transfer to the axle since it is oriented in the lateral plane. The roll center then simply has to fall along the Panhard line of action somewhere. For symmetrically mounted oem Panhard this is the intersection with the vehicle central plane (for-aft and vertical axes).

Some numbers based on CAD data for OEM SAS ride height. CG is 15.5” in vertical direction from rear axle centerline. Roll center with Panhard is about 1” vertically below axle centerline. So roll moment is then about 14” (CG above roll center).

Lifting 2” via struts, produces a 2” rise in sprung CG. Leveling panhard with a 2” axle mount bracket also raises roll center by 2”, so roll moment remains same as oem. Leveling panhard via frame mount bracket drops roll center back to oem location but increase roll moment by 2” (since CG increases by 2”). A 14% increase in roll moment (2/14), not a whole lot.

Probably the most important thing is to level panhard at ride height so to minimize lateral axle motion during suspension travel. It would be interesting to see what real world handling differences occur with either frame or axle mount height adjustments. A small increase in roll moment may be a fair sacrifice to keep roll center at axle level (tighter corner handling).

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