Goodbye Axle Wrap Mod

I'm looking around locally (Toronto) for a place that has some ubolt kits but can't find any. If any of you know the size of the ubolts maybe I can locate those individually.

I'm dying to fix that axle wrap too!

Anyone in Canada pick up a leaf ubolt kit from any Canadian stores or have a part number for me?

 

Any spring shop will make them to your specs or Cap-it

 

Canadian tire sells u bolts,bar,and nuts at different lengths as hardware. Measure the length you need (height of spring stack) allowing for additional length for nuts and bar.

 

I was at CT today but they only had ubolts for trailers, which didn't come with any plates that would be needed for this install. I'll just have to wait until I visit the states and grab some then. Who knew it would be so difficult to find simple u bolts!

What about these? Would these work?
http://www.princessauto.com/pal/en/...o-3000-lb-Trailer-Axle-Mounting-Kit/2080076.p

 

In my experience this statement is wrong--at least the first part anyway. A traction bar has to resist the total rotational force the pinion gear is exerting on the ring gear (less whatever the springs assist with) until the tires break traction.

I had a '92 YJ with 16x35 Boggers on it. It had axle wrap so bad that in deep sand or mud, the pinion would twist up far enough to lock the yokes together and then it would literally twist the driveshaft in half like a wet paper towel. My solution (the wrong one, I've since learned) was to put a traction bar on it. The result with one traction bar was that it tore the rosette weld out of the axle tubing the bar was mounted on and allow the diff housing to rotate on the tube. I had the tube rewelded and put two bars on...and it started ripping the mounts off the tubing. That's a LOT of force twisting the axle housing to cause that sort of mayhem.

Having said that, the force at the forward end of the bar is an up and down force, not a push-pull or twisting force, on the end of a three or four foot lever so I would imagine that the crossmember is probably up to it, especially with those brutal spring packs on the truck in the picture. Which, btw, was the solution I should have used on my YJ...thicker, stouter springs that twisted less. Even a relatively cheap AAL probably would have solved 90% of the problem, but I was young and stupid then and just didn't know better.

FWIW, I definitely like the design of that traction bar though. It looks awesome.

 

Here is another benefit to the axle wrap mod, I went to one of the properties today, it is about a 5 mile dirt and gravel road once you get off the pavement with a lot of washout waves and uphill waves, dips and rocks and whatever, before the mod, it was totally annoying going through the wash wave crap, with the mod, the axle isn't dancing the axle wrap bounce with each hit and release, it actually was a really smooth ride, the rear end felt glued to the surface....side benefits are obvious, parts are going to last mucho longer....

 

exactly were i was coming from with my argument.

 

Right, but then you have to consider this was happening with 35 inch tall by 16 inch wide BOGGERS which generate some monstrous grip, well beyond anything a 32x11.50 or even a 33x12.50 BFG KM2 or Goodyear MT/R is capable of. And it didn't get any better when I put the 4.56 gears in it. I think the final tally by the time I traded the YJ in was 9 driveshafts, two sets of ring and pinions, a yoke, and countless u-joints. Although after I had the traction bars on, the damage slacked off since I used them as a warning sign. Once I tore one traction bar off, I knew it was time to shift from participant to spectator mode before any serious damage was done.

I still agree with JAndrews' conclusion though; your crossmember would be fine. Sure, there's a lot of force twisting the axle, but not only are your springs absorbing some of it, but the traction bar is, in effect, a 3 or 4 foot level attached to the axle. Think of it like a long breaker bar on a stubborn bolt. The amount of force you apply to the end of the bar is far less than what is being applied to the bolt. Now imagine the axle is the bolt and the traction bar is the breaker bar with the end that's attached to the crossmember being where your hand is on the breaker bar. There's a lot less force on the crossmember than there is on the mount on the axle.

If it was a front-to-back force, I might be a bit worried, but since it's a vertical up and down force, in the direction that the crossmember is the strongest, it should be fine. Especially since the mount looked like it had a fairly wide bearing surface on the crossmember, distributing the load over a wider area than just the width of the shackle.

FWIW, I never had the front connection on my traction bars fail. It was always on the axle-side that the carnage occurred.

Edit: Sorry for being off-topic. Just thought what I felt was erroneous information needed to be corrected.

 

Just did this today on my 08 and holy s*** its a new truck no more weird thumps or any odd noises from anywhere wish I would have found this site long ago. I'm sure it's just temporary but has stop the squeaking as well.

 

So I bought the kit yesterday, installed it yesterday, and test drove it to work today. It's been absolutely awesome in getting rid of that axle-wrap until I get new leaf-springs. Heck, it evens smoothens out my ride too as a added bonus. The BIG question I have is, I installed the U-bolt like SpeedoJosh did. While it may sound like a dumb question, do I need to worry about that bracket hitting the shock? Mine has about 1/3 of a centimeter gap between the bracket and the shock.

 

grinder action on end of flat plate, done..

oh, and yes, it will hit with suspension flex as it stands now...

 

Thanks! No grinder available so i'll get creative. I wasnt comfortable with it that close anyways.

 

Does this system work on two wheel drive as well.

 

Yep. Worked like a charm on my 2WD. Night and day difference!!!

 

Will this work if you have the rear shackle set up? I have an o1 regular cab Tacoma 4x4 and a 2.5" front leveling kit. I don't hear a clunk all the time but it is there at times.

Thanks

 

Not a bad idea but the way you installed the other end by using the U Bolt spacer under the leaf with no support between the upper top bolts isn't very good. I cut another metal shim and placed it between the top bolts with a piece of rubber on top which eliminated two problems.

#1 Vibration
#2 Making it impossible to over tighten the top bolts/squeeze the weak brackets inward.

 

Thought I would add to the thread. I was experiencing a lot of movement and clunking when taking off from a dead stop. I replaced my hanger bearing but it still felt as if the whole rearend was shifting around and acting squirrely.
One member directed me to this thread and I decided to go and purchase the Ubolt clamps from Autozone, well $16 later the clunk it gone! This is a good temporary fix to what I believe are sacked out leaf springs / shocks. I chased this problem for quite some time and truly can't believe this actually worked, the truck feels way better and solid to drive.

 

I have tried this with success (mostly) Still a bit of a noticeable thud but very muffled. Also notice better shifting from Park to Drive, it's not as jerky.

However, I have noticed that now my springs are creaking when I get in and out of the vehicle. Any thoughts on that?

Jeremy

 

I just replaced the rear springs on my 2000 PreRunner with the Dorman setup and it had zero affect on my axle wrap situation. I'm installing the u-bolts today and I will post my results. This truck has the worst case of clunk I've ever experienced and it's driving me (and my son, it's his truck) friggen nuts.

 

Well shit....that sucks. Try re torquing the springs to 73ft lbs. That is the exact thing I'm worried about when I replace my springs, no change!