Panhard Bar Mount Extension

[Lauron]

With Mark's 3" lift, 2" on the back I chose to extend the mount rather the use an adjustable bar. This mount extension keeps the bar near horizontal and the wheel movement as vertical as practical. This is a prototype to be tested but so far so good.

I measured up the frame mount and found 3" x 4" 3/16" wall rectangular tubing would fit snug on the 3" side.

To restrain rotation of the mount, a top hole and 16 mm bolt was added. A hole must of course be drilled into the frame. I used an 11/16" bit. All hardware is 16 mm.

The frame mount is angled inside which I measured was approximately 1/2" over the 2" suspension drop(lift) Therefore the hole for the bar is 1/2" farther outside from the original mount hole on the angled extension. Not parallel to the tube edge.

I had heavy wall aluminium tube available so I made a spacer for the stock bolt location. A smaller diameter solid spacer would be more appropriate.

The washers are added to take up the space between the bar end and the extension.

Interest?

Ron

[06MidnightBlue]

Genius. Sheer genius. Have you aligned with this setup?

[fishsticks]

Nice Bilsteins...


I guess my only concern would be the first time you side load the rear axle. That bracket seems like it might try to bend up near the top bolt without being fully welded in.

It may be that you never have a problem though. Looks good.

[TangoBravo]

Nice job. Keep us posted on any negative effects, but from what I can see you shouldn't have many. How hard do you wheel? Im very hard on my TB and so my only concern would be overall strength and durability of the relocation hardware, it seems like it would do fine. What's your opinion on this holding up to heavy wheelin?

Not sent from a Iphone.

[navigator]

Sounds like Lauron needs to try this part out on a couple of crash dummies er I mean beta testers

[Lauron]

Jeff, thanks for the complement but these type of extensions are pretty common. But, the concerns are valid with any new product, it does take some testing and design improvements should they be necessary.

The upper bolt is backed up with a large washer so it will take a lot to pull through but everything can break!

To your question of alignment, the wheel offset is very close, not the 3/4" offset without an adjustable.

I am not a hard core offroader yet but I will have to keep up with my son and his lifted Rubicon. We will see who pulls who out!

Ron

[hobbstisdaman]

Locked Rubicon is hard to beat... Especially with running boards

[Lauron]

Running boards are gone now. Yes the locker is a big advantage.

Ron

[fishsticks]

Running boards are gone now. Yes the locker is a big advantage.

Ron

Lock the front. I've made a few Rubi owners think twice.

[Lauron]

That's my objective. Even thinking about a remote front sway bar disconnect!

[HARDTRAILZ]

Nice execution.

[fishsticks]

That's my objective. Even thinking about a remote front sway bar disconnect!

If you lock the front, I'd leave the swaybar. What you gain from disconnecting it is minor, and you will still lift front tires all over the place. With 35s and a locker I'd rather have less front flex and protect the outer CV angle (which will happily explode). That's why I put mine back on and removed some lift.

I hope you can benefit from the expensive lessons I've learned over the past few years.

[Lauron]

I know I am at the limit of the CV's now and you guys have said anything above 33's and things break. OK, hold off on the disconnect. Lots to be done any ways.

I haven't really done the research on the front locker. What is the recommendation?

Ron

[JCrayton99]

I have gone back to having my front sway bar connected. We dont have a ton of down travel and I wanted to limit mine a bit (for now at least) so I dont rub so bad. And its less scary on the highway.

[HARDTRAILZ]

Fish is only one running a front locker that has shared feedback. Reading his experiences led me to avoid a front locker after him breaking cv's and needing to limit steering. He still advises to do it but the potential negatives outweighed the advantages for me.

Prolly best to do some reading on his adventures and decide for yourself.

[fishsticks]

The Lockright 1935 is the only locker available for the front of our rigs. As far as I know these guys still have the best price: http://www.rocky-road.com/lockright.html.

It will get you far, but if you throttle jockey the truck on 35s it will break things. Amazingly, the front ring and pinion and locker have never broken on me. It's usually the aforementioned outer CV joints or tie rods.

Even though we don't have lockout hubs, the Lockright isn't noticeable when the truck is in 2wd on pavement.

Read my past adventures and carry spares if you decide to do it.

[Lauron]

Wow - Lockrite fits and not that bad a price.

Tie rod strength, there are lots of ways to fix it but CV's that is going to take some work. Anybody found some reasonably priced and strong CV's? RCV seems to have a possible solution but very pricey.

Ron

[fishsticks]

Wow - Lockrite fits and not that bad a price.

Tie rod strength, there are lots of ways to fix it but CV's that is going to take some work. Anybody found some reasonably priced and strong CV's? RCV seems to have a possible solution but very pricey.

Ron

Best way to preserve the CVs is to limit their max angle... Keep the truck as low as possible and weld some nuts onto the LCAs as steering stops.

3/4 ton tie rods are bolt on to the rack side but the knuckles need reamed. I believe v7guy has a reamer he might sell.

The splined disconnect becomes a weak point as well. I replaced the guts with an AWD sleeve which held for awhile, but I eventually blew that up and split the housing in half (the wrong way). I bought a Toyota after that.

[v7guy]

Some guys were saying the reamer was unnecessary and when I measured the tapers between stock, aftermarket stock replacement, and the 2500 taper they were all in the ballpark. I believe the reamer thread has all the pertinent info.