I installed a Teraflex front and rear track bar a few months ago, along with their 2.5" BB kit.

I have since put 3" springs on my Jeep, so I thought I would check my tracking again, and come to find out it was off by another .125". I proceeded to drop my Track Bar to make an adjustment when to my suprise I found the mounting bracket on the differential to be very worn from the small bushing on the Tera track bar.

If you look at the Teraflex bushing the Outside Diameter is very small compared to the stock bushing, meaning - the wall thickness is much smaller. With this small wall thickness the 'pinch load' is very small on the differential bracket. Basically the Teraflex bushing is wearing through my differential bracket.

Before anyone asks - I did have the bolt torqued to the proper 125 ft.lbs.

I contacted Teraflex about this, but have not heard back yet.

If you have a Teraflex Track Bar, you might want to take a look at your diff bracket......

Here are a few pics that describe what I'm talking about.

The first picture shows a CAD model of the stock end with a "thick" bushing wall thickness:



This picture shows a CAD model of the Teraflex "thin" bushing wall thickness:



This is the actual Teraflex Track bar showing the "thin" wall bushing:



This shows 'Wayoflifes' Full Traction Bar which has a "WIDE" wall bushing to distribute the pinch load more evenly across the differential bracket"



Hopefully Teraflex will help me out. I will keep you posted. If not, it looks like I'll be buying a Full Traction Bar and fighting to get my money back for the Tera bar.

Husky~

 

Is this a front or rear bar? I'll check mine tomorrow and report back.

Bill

 

Well I have both front and back track bars on order and I would also like to know if these track bars are going to cause problems!

Could someone else check theirs TeraFlex Track Bars and chime in on your find!

Thanks,

 

I've only checked the front, but I need to check the rear. The mount on the frame looked fine, but the axle mount is wearing badly. I'm thinking the mount on the axle is more of a mild steel as it bends easily...... I think the mount on the frame is tempered (hardened).

I've only put 3000 miles on my Jeep since installing these Track Bars.......wheeling it 4 or 5 times within those miles. I could see the bracket on the axle wearing through within 20,000 miles. Then, I think the bracket would have to be welded and repaired.

Again, if Tera doesn't do anything about this problem I will definitely change my Track Bars to Full Traction or Black Diamond (Superlift). Does anyone have pictures of the Black Diamond Track Bar ends?

~

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I had a TeraFlex front track bar sitting in my garage ready to install, but I sent it back to Northridge4x4 (thanks Dave for your customer support) because the pictures you provided made sense to me. I'd rather err on the side of caution rather than install the track bar and have to repair the bracket later down the road.

 

100% off Topic, but you have a Ford GT!


Take some pics!

 

Bad news guys; my rear track bar is rubbing the axle bracket too. I only have 400 miles on the new track bracket, so it is not wearing yet. But I can see that if I leave it on the vehicle it will be a problem.

Since I bought my brackets from Quadratrac, do I call them?

I wonder why Teraflex didn't check this out before selling them? It would have been simple to make them right if they would have realized they had a problem.

Here are some pics of the Ford GT and the C6 Z06. http://www.ffcobra.com/magazine/article20060807.htm

- Bill

 

That sucks! But, at least you haven't had yours on for too long. I've had mine on for some time now and don't know how I'm going to go about getting my money back....?

Quadratec is awesome, so you're lucky you bought yours from them, I'm sure they'll take it back no problem.

I bought mine from 'Central 4WD' who really isn't great about returns.

I ordered a Superlift Track Bar today from Quadratec to replace my front bar. The design looks the same as Full Traction, but it's 'black' as it should be.... Problem is, their Rear Bar won't be out for about a month.

I emailed Teraflex the pictures in this post and they still haven't got back to me.

When I replace my front bar I will be sure to take pictures of my worn bracket and post them here for more evidence.

FFCobra, did you happen to take a picture of your bracket?

Huskynox~

 

No I didn't, but I can do it tomorrow and post a picture of the bracket. You can clearly see that the bar is rubbing the axle bracket because the bar is too wide.

- Bill

 

I just put the TeraFlex front & rear adjustable trackbars on mine. I tend to overmaintain things, so i am sure i will notice if anything is going on there with them. I did not see any ill fit at all when i installed them.


Edit: anyone got a shot of the factory rod ends for comparison to the TFlex one above? The drawings are cool, but i would rather see the real thing posted here.