Stuka

If you still have your stock bar, you could put it on to drive with. The axle wont be straight, and you will have to adjust your steering wheel center, but it will get you by in a crunch.

pkess3

Thanks guys. Fortunately I've been out of town a lot and haven't needed the jeep during the week. We just use my wife's car on the weekends but once the baby is born in a few weeks she will need hers and I'll definitely need my Jeep rolling by then to go to work. It would be nice to drive the thing every once in a while too. I no longer have my stock track bars.

pkess3

Ok with the help of Randy and Roger I've installed the replacement track bar. It looks as though it's redesigned now to provide increased clearance from hitting the front diff cover which is what Steve at Full Traction said caused the track bar to fail after two years of driving.

First off Steve said they would send me a replacement track bar which is redesigned with a different curve and a new bushing on the frame end but they sent me my old heim joint instead of a new one. You can see the dirt and scratches showing that this part has had a wrench applied to it before.




The joint is no longer stiff and probably should have been replaced with a new one. Hell if you're replacing my old track bar with a new one couldn't you have included a new heim joint?


We lifted the front end with a hi lift jack on both the passenger and driver sides and the track bar doesn't even come close to touching the diff cover or anything else for that matter. The further it flexes the further away the track bar moves from the diff cover.






You could say that this is not full flex but the further and further it flexes, the further away the track bar is from hitting anything.

Full-Traction Suspension

As an act of good customer service, we replaced the Track Bar (two years old) free of charge that you broke due to your misapplication of the part in conjunction with other items such as; larger diff cover, longer control arms, etc. We inspected the Heim, and it is in perfect working order.
The Heim is not defective in any way. When it wears out, we sell a replacement.

look at the last photo, you can clearly see where the fin on the diff cover is flattened out from rubbing the back of the Track Bar, The trackbar also has damage. Preston , didn’t you us that it wasn’t hitting it at all?

pkess3

When I cycled the original track bar there was no observed touching. This doesn't mean it wasn't touching but if it was then it would be on very rare instances. It's hard for me to understand that during these rare instances the metal on the opposite side of the track bar would fatigue enough for it to completely break at the edge of a weld.

I purchased this track bar because it was recommended by the JK-forum. I also purchased and installed the Solid Differential Cover because it too was also a recommended item on the JK-forum. With the Full Traction Track Bar being sold individually and knowing that an adjustable track bar is usually needed in conjunction with other aftermarket modifications, the makers should take into consideration the compatability of at least some of the other modifications that may be done to the vehicle that it is being applied. The newer version that was sent to me reflects that this has been recognized as a common issue with people who have purchased the original Full Traction track bar and have modified their Jeeps with aftermarket diff covers. That being said I appreciate that a replacement was sent to me free of charge but am a bit erked that it wasn't a complete replacement as the heim joint was reused from my old track bar. This was not explained to me and it was my understanding that a complete replacement was being sent. I'm also glad that I noticed the steering wheel had slack in it and that I acted fast to diagnose the problem before the track bar would have completely failed and could have damaged a number of other parts or even compromised safety of those riding in the vehicle.

I believe Full Traction should stand behind their work and if an issue between their aftermarket part and another is known to be occuring they should not hesitate to provide the customer with a proper replacement that resolves the issue. Instead it felt like they were trying to place the blame on me for installing it with other after market parts. Like I have stated before I drove with this setup for two years without having the track bar fail and having cycled the suspension many times with no observed touching or rubbing. Those who know how I wheel know that the suspension on my Jeep gets a full workout. There were no noises and no observed touching after flexing the suspension. The only noise issues I had were with the vecton bushings that were supplied with the old design. So far the newer design seems much better and with much less maintenance and and noise. If the track bar was designed like this in the first place then we wouldn't be having this conversation.

My advice to those considering to buy an adjustable track bar from Full Traction would be that the kinks in the original design have been addressed and so far appears to be a high quality product. I still think it's a little shady that when they said I was getting a replacement that they did not provide a COMPLETE replacement and reused some of the old track bar's parts that appeared to be quite worn. A joint expert will most likely tell you that a heim joint with that much free play in it shoudl be replaced. But then again for the application of this joint the free play might be ok. Only time will tell how my current heim joint will hold up. If it prematurely fails I will be one unhappy customer since it was explained above that the joint was in "perfect working order". And if the failure of this joint compromises the safety of me, my family, or anyone else riding in the jeep at the time then Full Traction will have a huge lawsuit on their hands.

mkjeep

Issue resolved, thread closed