Since moving to a new area earlier in the year, I've been taking different routes to work. I've finally found one that has been working out well, however I get horrible wheel hop on a couple of the roads. I have wanted to get the traction bars for a while, so I figured this was as good a reason as any.

I haven't taken the truck out to those roads yet, but I did get to take it on the local trails. I went down the bumpiest trail I could think of which had a crap load of washboards and other bumps at 25 to 35mph. The truck did great, although I still lost the back end a quite a few times, it was incredibly easy to gain control again. When I tried to purposefully slide the rear out to the side, it didn't go out on me nearly as far as it used to. Under hard acceleration in the sand, the truck seemed to dig in less, which definitely helps.

Onto the pics:



Overall shot installed


Rear is mounted to the U-bolts


Front is mounted to the front spring support by a mounting plate and three bolts


Unnecessary trail shot.

 

Nice, I was looking at traction bars yesterday that might be a good investment for the future.

 

Cant beat those James Duff's there still the best bang for the buck.

 

glad you like em, im sure i would have wrecked my truck a few times by now if i didn't have em.

 

i been lookin into them for a while now, tryin to find a set of used ones, is JD currently selling them?

 

I do really like mine now. Didn't like em at first....but now with dry pavement...I REALLLY notice the difference. Plus I have them set up tension pushing towards the rear.

JD might be selling them still. Youll have to give them a call. it was like $114 shipped with both style axle mounts....31spline & 28spline.

 

do they limit articulation? i really notice bad wheelhop in my truck... probably has something to do with that 2" factory block...

not that i'm overly concerned about flex, but i don't want to kill the only flex it has!

 

They're apparently still making them, I called up and placed the order without a problem. It came out to be $116 shipped for me.

As for articulation, it didn't kill my ability to flex. Though its hard to tell, I'm flexing in that last pic without a problem.

After taking the truck down the nasty road I bought these for, I have to admit, they work great and really do eliminate the wheel hop.

 

well i got a used set on the way, should be on the truck before long

 

i love mine... i had pretty bad wheel hop after lifting and installing the 33's so these were a big help

 

installed mine last night, took about 5.5 hours, not bad, happy with em so far, they actually seemed to help with trailer towing today, tomorrow is the first real test though

 

Mine did great while we were in Wharton! No problems at all, the Ranger did just fine.



How'd they work for you Pete?

 

I have the perfect road to test them on, i get wheel hop like crazy every time I go down them. Now just to get the money haha.

 

Sell your grille, it should be worth half a million now that I am retired.

 

Haha I wish, I would have to get a ton of money for it, it adds so much to the truck I'm not getting rid of it.

 

Good to hear that. It does look so much better on your black truck than my gray truck.

 

I just installed mine this past weekend and love them.

 

mine worked perfect in wharton, couldn't get wheel hop anywhere no matter how hard i tried, truck seems way more stable on the bumpy roads around here, i was dragging some really heavy logs today (im guessing 500-800 pounds) ad the rear tires stayed planted the whole time, also helps with trailer towing, truck doesn't seem to get shaken around every time the trailer hits a bump, overall im very happy with them

 

I saw the JD post a few weeks ago and decided that for the price it was a good deal.

I ordered them and had them in 4 days. Parts were missing so I called. They said they would call back. They did'nt and so two days later I called them back. Well.. they *did* get the missing parts sent out that day... just did'nt return my call to let me know. No biggie since they did get the parts out asap.

I put them on yesterday and (having left my instructions at the office) I guessed at the front plates mounting. I put them on the front side thinking that the bolts would not be under tension when accelerating. And I've noticed that when you put weight in the bed the bars push fwd. I'll just need to play with preloads to figure out what I like. How do you guys preload yours?

Here are some pics at my WEB PAGE

 

i dont know if it makes a difference, but your front plates on the leaf spring hangers are on the wrong side

 

nice Rich!

 

yea....so mine might be on the wrong side too. oh well....still works the same, not like it rocket science. Looks good man. I sure do enjoy mine.

 

had mine in for 3 or 4 weeks now, they do a lot more than i expected, no wheel hop, truck stays straight over bumpy rough terrain, truck is more stable when towing a trailer, and it handles turns better now

 

do they effect articulation at all?
i would like to minimize wheel hop but not at the expense of articulation lol

 

i love mine, one of the best mods for the price.