Concerns of 3" lift on stock trackbar

I understand that trackbar threads are common. I'm wondering what exactly is the concern with running a stock-style trackbar on a slightly lifted XJ.

I have a year-old trackbar and 3" OME springs. No problems really so far. Light-to-no wheeling. Some shimmy on left-hand turns at highway speed, but I know my alignment is a little off and the front tires are worn unevenly from the previous owner- so I've just been attributing that to the shimmy. (new tires and alignment very soon)

What should I be looking for? Play in the TRE? Wallowed out hole on the axle mount?

I might go to the IRO double-shear, but can't justify the cost right now.

just relocate the stock mounting hole and align the damn thing... all you need is a tape measure

The initial concern is that the stock bar is to short once you lift the suspension and it will pull the axle out of alignment to the drivers side. The cheap fix is to redrill the axle mount hole offset to correct for this.

Beyond that you can run into problems with bump steer or death wobble since the angle the bar is at has increased. It more of a concern if you don't keep the track bar parallel with the steering linkage. If the are not fairly close with the steering angles they will move in 2 different arcs as the suspension cycles causing a shimmy to start (death wobble)which can destroy parts.

You mention the IRO track bar. If that has a lower mounting point for the frame end you may want to also look into a drop pitman arm to keep the angles close.



I'm running the 3" OME kit that DPG sells and using a JKS adjustable track bar with good results so far. I've got about 40k on it now and other than some grease and checking the bolt torque I've never had to mess with it.

Is there a reason your looking to go to the double shear setup in the future?

wheeling365 said:

You mention the IRO track bar. If that has a lower mounting point for the frame end you may want to also look into a drop pitman arm to keep the angles close.

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I'm running OME(around 3") as well and I also have the IRO double shear track bar and my track bar and drag link are pretty damn parallel without a drop pitman Arm, those aren't really needed on such a low lift height.

i have the stocker on my 5" lift because i have been to lazy to install the rough country one sitting in my backseat. you can either move the stocker over or shop around and get a cheap used adjustable one. mine was only $75 and came with a rear hitch and a couple other parts. not a bad deal. even with an incorrectly sized tracbar you should still track down the road correctly if its aligned.

I did the tape measure alignment before I took it cross country. I got it within 1/8" inch and it's treated me ok. I assumed a shop would have some fancy tools that could do a better job of it. Is that not true?

I'll check to see if there is any weird wear on the trackbar mount/TRE. Mostly I get this little pulsing on left turns going 55+. Straight and right turns are very smooth. Also, I can do 70 no problem- it actually feels smoother up there, but I don't have the courage to do it for long.

Any ideas there? I know my front tires are worn unevenly- might that cause the weird pulsing?

To the member who asked: I would like to go with the double-shear style just for peace of mind. My old trackbar TRE was popping/worn badly. I didn't know how bad that could be until someone pointed out how easily they can fail. Double shear just makes sense to me. The TRE doesn't. A single shear would be fine with a bushing instead of the tie rod end.

I ran a stock trackbar, in the stock hole for close to 2-3 years at 3".

everyone acts like its gonna pull the axle all the way to the right and its gonna drive all weird.... nope. couldnt even tell the axle wasnt centered.

the only problem is, at that angle, it wears out the TRE's in the stock trackbar faster than it would at stock height.

I agree that at a lower height it doesn't seem to be a big deal. I know I had to turn the wheel to get the t-bar hole lined up after the new springs, but it isn't off by that much.

It is, however, not ideal and I will be keeping my eyes open for an adjustable one- preferably without the tie rod end.

Can anyone comment about alignments? If I do the best I can with a tape measure, can a real shop do better?

it is good practice to understand how to align the vehicle yourself anyways to save time and cost down the road... off road jolts and such can bump the steering out and by being able to to it yourself it is just nice to fix it right after a ride, etc...

do the chalk test and play with the drag link to get the steering wheel straight... after 30 minutes or so with a friend you can get it almost dead on... i have a lifetime with Firestone i think because they have the computer system that gets the wheels right and also they can print out all the measurements, caster, etc... i think it was 100 $ for the lifetime... i have used it more than 10 times so i have definitely gotten my $ worth...

i would just move the track bar over 3/4 inches and drill a hole with 3 inches of lift and keep the stock TB... adjustable is nice becasue you can get it dialed in perfectly but with 3 inches that is just enough lift to bump the axle out a tad so cheap route is drill and relocate... next is get the 25 dollar bracket and then the last would be an adjustable 75-150 depending on brand... RE makes a good one i had with 4.5 lift a while back

shops have lazers and jigs..... hard to compare to 2 guys, a paint pen, and a tape measure....

but 2 guys and a tape measure WORKS.

An alignment at a decent shop, will get you correct toe and caster. Camber can only be changed by ball joints. Toe is easy enough to adjust by yourself/with a friend.

xcm said:

I ran a stock trackbar, in the stock hole for close to 2-3 years at 3".

everyone acts like its gonna pull the axle all the way to the right and its gonna drive all weird.... nope. couldnt even tell the axle wasnt centered.

the only problem is, at that angle, it wears out the TRE's in the stock trackbar faster than it would at stock height.

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i did the same thing for the same amount of time, never felt anything weird from driving it and i could not tell the axle was off center unless i was looking at it.

i was always planning to redrill to center it, but i never got around to it. now i am at 4.5" with an adj trackbar.

IMO there is no advantage to going to a shop for an alignment, i have always aligned mine myself it drives straight with no weird tire wear. had it checked once for kicks and it was dead on. as said, camber is a no go unless you have adj ball joints. caster can be adjusted as well but it is not as important as toe(IMO), and setting the toe is dead easy on an xj. i did adjust the caster on mine by making my own shims for the stock LCA bracket, i used http://jeep-xj.info/HowtoAlignment.htm as a guide. i didn't really notice all that much difference at 2.5". now i have adj control arms.

I have a set of Rubicon Express adjustable LCA's. Problem is they are rusted / seized at 17" eye-to-eye. I need 16". Once the liquid wrench finally breaks through, I'll have caster squared away too (and new bushings/tire clearance!).

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that I'm not missing anything by doing my own alignment. Like I said, I lifted it 3", took my time getting my tires parallel (full time 4wd specs say no toe-in), and then I drove it 1k mi on interstates with no funny tire wear or driving issues.

So if my home alignment isn't giving me a shimmy on left turns at highway speed, something else is. I'll go through the track bar mounts and bracket again and hope that new tires help too.

Thanks for the input everyone!