I think someone who still has a stock oem track bar should take a measurement from the center of the axle bolt to the center of the ball joint. Then we can check against Napa and the Moog one.

My steering wheel was always straight as an arrow. When the bar was replaced at about 85k with the napa piece it moved the wheel to about 9 or 10 oclock. I can't believe that the old bar wears out that much. There was a little movement up and down in it, not side to side. Also, the steering wheel had never moved either. The more I think about it the more I'm convinced that they are different lengths.

 

damn, i just replaced my last mopar track bar, i went with the $75 jobber. soon ill upgrade to a Thuren

 

thanks I didnt realise turning the steering would lengthen or shorten the distance but if I put in a track bar that is an inch longer than the one I took out then the steering going to be way off isnt it?

 

The trackbar is such a huge piece of the front suspension puzzle (and one that takes a ton of abuse) it pays to go BIG ... and adjustable.

edit: The steering will be "off" in that the wheel won't be centered ... you can compensate for that by adjusting the drag link.

 

But WHY is it 'off'? Like I said earlier, from the stock bar to the napa bar, it moved the steering wheel off center. But it wasn't off center before. From 0-85k miles, the wheel was always straight. Then the napa one took a crap in less than a year and the warranty napa one popped right in and didn't affect the wheel at all. So.... to be more clear:

Stock to Napa: wheel off center
Napa to napa: wheel still straight

 

I don't know what NAPA's thinking ... but if you have any lift in your truck, the trackbar needs to be longer to keep the axle centered ... the higher it is, the longer the bar needs to be. I don't know at what point it becomes noticeable (or a problem). I just put a heavy, adjustable bar in and didn't worry about it.

 

The purpose of the track bar is to keep the front axle centered under the chassis through the entire range of the suspension travel.

when you change to a different length track bar, you are physically moving the axle to the left or right of center of the trucks frame, (longer will push axle to the right making the steering wheel position more to the right, and a shorter bar will do the opposite).

Now Why does the steering wheel change?

Visuallize an overhead view of your front axle with tires, steering linkage and pitman arm. If the pitman arm points straight ahead, the wheels point straight ahead (for arguments sake). now since the pitman arm is mounted to the frame it isnt going to move, as soon as you slide the axle under it to the left or right, it will pull on one side of the steering linkage (the linkage wont move either because it is connected to the pitman arm),then end up pressuring the steering knuckles to pivot, turning the tires one way or the other (depending on which way the axle moves) to compensate you will have to physically turn the wheel to correct the position of the tires.

This is why the track bar is vital to steering performance, and why you can get the "death wobble" if it is worn out, without it there wouldnt be anything to keep the axle centered and every time you turn the steering wheel you would just push the axle sie to side, instead of the tierods into the steering knuckles

 

forgive my ignorance here ,but if I did install a longer or shorter track bar than the one in there now [which by the way isnt the origional ] and it offsets the front axle either left or right wouldnt this throw out the alignment between the front and rear axles ?

 

An inch or so either way isn't anything to loose sleep over. There's no alignment that I know of to set the front axle in relation to the rear. I'd bet a pile of cash that damned near every car and truck on the road has some variance from side to side and front to rear. The direction the tires are aimed is important ... not so much where the axle sits.

Every truck that is lifted/leveled has the axle moved to the left some. How much depends on how much lift. Two ways to fix it (if it's ever fixed) ... longer trackbar or adjustable trackbar.

 

ARGGGHHH!!! I know what the track bar does people!

What I'm wondering is when I replaced my stock bar with a new stock bar, it moved the steering wheel. The point I'm trying to get at is the replacement bars from Napa must not be the same length. But I want to know for sure.