I have noticed that all the Full Traction lifts, the two inch budget boost included, have at least a relocation bracket for the front track bar. The Teraflex 2.5 puck lift and the Skyjacker 2.5 spring lift do not. Why? Is the caster issue just not great enough to bother about under 3 inches? Is Full Traction just more demanding in their engineering?

 

I wouldn't say Full Traction is more demanding at all... since they do not have anything holding the coil in on the spacer for the rear of their spacer lifts. I wouldn't trust it under full flex, another dude on here had his rear coils slide off the spacer. If I went spacers, I'd go Tera-Flex since they have a cone thing in the middle of their rear spacer that helps keep the coil aligned.

Me personally, i'm waiting for my dealership to get their Rusty's 3 1/4 inch lifts in, then I'm gonna let them install it so I won't have to worry about warranty issues.

But back to your question about the track bar relocation, I am not sure, I have seen some with it some without and do not know the reason why.

 

Anytime you lift a vehicle, your axles will shift. The track bar relocation bracket Full Traction provides is designed to correct this shift and recenter your axles. Is it absolutely necessary to recenter your axles? Not exactly - especially not on something as small as a 2" lift.

Just to set the record straight, yes, the original batch of coil spacers were apparently made a little too soft and this did cause some issues with the rear coils. However, I've been told that the rear spacers have since been redesigned to address this problem and the kit now has the added bounus of being a little taller too.

 

Bottom line it is just the right way to do things. You lift it up the axle slides over and you end up driving like a dog runs. the reason mfg's do it on the bigger lifts is because it is more noticable and more of a issue. But if you lift your vehicle even 1" the axle will slide towards the drivers side. Adjustable ttack bar is the best and the bracket works great also as a solution.

David

 

So am I correct to surmise that some lift designers, perhaps for reasons of ecomony, choose not to address the track bar issue because on lesser lifts it's tolerable? I have a lifted KJ but the issues with an IFS are different.

 

Yes, I'm sure you could probably surmise that and most likely be right.

 

Thanks, all for the helpful responses.

 

I have the Full Traction kit and it is doing well. I was a little concerned about just a front track bar relocation bracket. Most of the short TJ kits used a rear bracket and I bought an adjustable track bar for the front. Well, the Full Traction kit is right on front and rear. And I would much rather use a bracket than an adjustable bar, just to keep it simple.

The other thing about the Full Traction kit that I like is the heavy duty bump stop spacers. The fronts are the aluminum cylinder type attached to the bottom. This is like the newer RE TJ type. They are very heavy duty, will not bind with the spring, and help keep the front spring in place if over flexed. The Teraflex kit looks like it replaces the upper snubber like the old RE TJ ones. Because of the added length of the upper assembly in the spring this type of spacer could bind with the front spring when flexed and did nothing to keep the lower part of the spring in place. The rear FT bump stop spacers are a very simple metal that should never be a problem. The Teraflex do not appear to be metal.

As far as the FT rear spring spacer goes, the FT has a ridge around the outside of it to keep the stock spring isolator in place where the Teraflex has the nub in the center. Neither the FT or the Teraflex attach to the rear spring perch so if you overflex they both could fall out anyway.

I'm glad I stayed with the stock shocks. I wouldn't want any more droop until I could do something about the brake lines and sensor wires mainly in the rear. They were very tight. The front seems to have plenty of play.

More later.

Chuck

 

Thanks for info, So it sounds that the FT kit isn't as bad as I thought, that is good, especially since it's the cheepest! Quadratec had them for like 119 or something. I had one orded, then they said it was drop shipped and then i heard about the rear having problems so i canceled the order... now i'm wishing i didn't. oh well. live and learn.

 

Note on the track bar bracket relocation question. On the JK the front track bar is long enough and at a flat angle where axle shift side to side is minimal with 2-3" of lift. When I say minimal I mean 3/8" to 1/2" max per side. For the best handling characteristics it is important to keep the track bar and steering drag link on the same angle and roughly the same length. The lengths are already determined from the factory so the angle is really the only variable. When the track bar is relocated up with a bracket at the axle the steering should be dropped with a new pitman arm to keep these angles in check. When these angles get too out of sync is when you will start to see things like death wobble and bump steer. The steering drag link and track bar need to travel in the same arch for an ideal setup.