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with Brent May
GRIZZLEY FAB TRAC-BAR INSTALL
After experiencing a few slightly tweaked rear springs, and deciding to go with a softer CJ spring set up on my 88.5 Samurai, I decided that a trac-bar would probably be a good addition to my rear suspension. I began by looking at a few that are out on the market. Then I placed a call to Nick Sipes, owner and fabricator of Grizzley Fab off-road products to talk to him about his trac-bar. After telling him what I was after and discussing the price and install, I decided to give his trac-bar a go. We agreed to meet at his place and do the spring swap and trac-bar install in the same day so that everything could be measured correctly, and for ease of install.
After a rather easy spring swap, we got the little Samurai back on all fours and took some measurements to get the angle of the new trac-bar just right. The Grizzley Fab trac-bar kit comes pre-assembled, pre-painted, or in the case of mine, unfinished because I wanted to paint it to mach my Samurai. It does require some welding to attach it to the rear axel housing, but the rest of the install just uses basic hand tools and is pretty straight forward. And it comes with all of the necessary mounting hardware.
After placing the trac-bar in the location where we wanted to mount it, we marked the rear cross member where the upper mount will be located. This requires drilling four mounting holes in the cross member and is attached using the supplied hardware.
We then drilled the holes and place the upper portion of the trac-bar on the cross member of the rig. Next, we cleaned a spot off of the axel housing to weld the lower portion onto the truck. Hooking the trac-bar up to the already mounted upper portion insures that when you start welding, everything will be properly aligned. We then welded the rear mounting plates to the axel housing. You can use what ever method you prefer here, but we kept the bar and mounting plates attached just to make sure everything stayed lined up correctly. Next step is to pack everything with grease (this can be done while the rear mounting plate is cooling back down) and bolt everything back up to the rig. The total install only took a few hours and is pretty simple and straightforward.
I must say that I have noticed a big difference in traction to the rear wheels, and spring wrap is now a thing of the past! The trac-bar does not hinder flex in any way, and in some cases has helped the flex of some rigs by keeping the rear wheels in better contact with the ground.
For more information on this and other great products from Grizzley Fab, please feel free to contact Nick Sipes at www.grizzley-fab.com or call at (812) 275-6105
08/11/10 15:24:15
