removing the rear track bar

removing the rear track bar on a yj good idea or bad idea....What are your thoughts ?

Reply to
DeerSkull
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I think that you'll never notice it's gone. We've got 2 YJ's, both daily driven, both with the rear track bars gone. Never had a problem.

-- Old Crow "Yol Bolsun!" '82 FLTC-P "Miss Pearl" '95 YJ Rio Grande BS#133, SENS, TOMKAT, MAMBM

Reply to
Old Crow

It depends on a lot of things....

When everything is brand new and the springs are as still stiff as a Yuppie Jeeps springs get, then you might get away with the vehicle tracking in a straight line down the road.

When bushings get worn and the springs go flat, then you can get a nice 'puppy walk' or 'crab walk' down the road when you give it gas.

It also can overcenter as the springs bend to the side around a corner if you have a load on.

Basically it is a major safety feature on the vehicle, just like an anti-sway bar. If you remove this and get into an accident where the vehicle gets inspected (any injury accident), you can be royally screwed because you intentionally disabled a major safety item.

That can turn an 'accident' with a death, into vehicular homicide. I was told this by police and insurance and was told they 'do' check this, especially on 4x4's.

Even companies that sell lifts, have trackbar relocation brackets....

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06
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Reply to
Mike Romain

Reply to
RoyJ

Is he talking about the rear "panhard rod"? That's what I call it, anyway. Spdloader

Reply to
Spdloader

The track bar is the one that holds the axle from going side to side and is a major player in preventing death wobble among the other things mentioned.

The CJ7 with it's shorter shackles and really stiff leafs doesn't have this leaning and tracking issue like the softer YJ has.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Romain

That's what I thought, we old timers call that a panhard rod. NOT good to unhook it, at all.

Spdloader

Reply to
Spdloader

Thanks man that clears up a lot

Reply to
DeerSkull

On a coil spring vehicle, I'll buy this. On a leaf spring vehicle I don't. Take a look at various pickups and even older passenger cars. Leaf springs in the rear and no "track bar". Both our Jeeps are approaching the 250k mile mark and neither one of them have any handling problems. My '95 actually had the track bar on it when I bought it. I took it off when it broke and started to rattle against the bottom of the body. Never saw a difference in handling and I was driving 135 miles a day back then. Several months later I bought my wife's '94 and while crawling around underneath noticed that her's was already gone. Couldn't tell by the way it drove, then or now.

-- Old Crow "Yol Bolsun!" '82 FLTC-P "Miss Pearl" '95 YJ Rio Grande BS#133, SENS, TOMKAT, MAMBM

Reply to
Old Crow

Well for some 'strange' reason, when the engineers designed the soft sprung 'Yuppie Jeep', they decided it needed track bars to be safe on the road.

This 'might' have something to do with the tendency of the short wheelbase Jeep to roll over in sharp maneuvers so they want to keep the weight centered over the axle rather than allowing the weight to shift the vehicle sideways as you go into a corner.

Have you ever driven your YJ with it's full legal load on it? I drive my CJ7 that way all the time when going camping and I really notice the extra lean that happens.

I also have been in an accident where the person that hit me might up and die and was told point blank if any of my 'safety' features like the track bar or anti-sway bar were disconnected, instead of 'me' being hit in an unfortunate accident, I would be charged as the 'at fault' driver and maybe face homicide charges because I 'maybe' could have avoided him had my Jeep been 100% up to spec. Thankfully I keep my Jeep 100% up to spec and was found not at fault.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06
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Reply to
Mike Romain

Reply to
RoyJ

You guys got me thinking so I decided to check this out. I've got a fairly steep bank behind my shop where they graded the pad for the building. This past weekend I put both Jeeps sideways on this bank and looked for any sign that the rear axle was shifting from side to side. Measured tire sidewall distance from the outside of the body on both the uphill and downhill sides, then turned the jeep around and measured again. NO appreciable difference in any of the measurements on either Jeep. My '61 Ford F-100 has leafs in the rear(and the front for that matter)and not a track bar to be found. I'm officially gonna quit worrying about it.

-- Old Crow "Yol Bolsun!" '82 FLTC-P "Miss Pearl" '95 YJ Rio Grande BS#133, SENS, TOMKAT, MAMBM

Reply to
Old Crow

It probably has to do with how worn the bushings are. But this is something that needs to be maintained anyway.

Reply to
nrs

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