Sometimes when going around a corner I hear a clunk and feel it in steering wheel. I can go down highway and steering is fine, can even let go of steering and it goes straight and solid.

Crawl underneath and grasp the bend in track bar by the joint and can pull toward me and push back about 1/4 inch and hear a clunk. Jack it up with tires off the ground and the weight on the track bar doesn't allow any movement, only when tires on the ground. Ball joints don't allow movement or tie rods, the only thing I don't think is right, is that movement of track bar with the weight of tires on ground.

Now I had a front end shop change the track bar in Nov 2013. Took it to them,and of course he said that movement is just fine, normal for track bar. This use to be a trustworthy shop, but because of a death in the family, the owner is hardly ever there anymore and been hearing things from other mechanics that used that shop for their business that isn't good.

Wonder what you guys think about this movement?

Thanks Jerry

 

You shouldn't have any play in the track bar. Grab the service manual off the website, there is a diagnostic procedure in there for how much movement is allowed. I'm looking at the 98 manual, at it says you should replace the track bar if greater then 0.080 inches of movement...using dial indicator plunger to measure.

Seems like these trucks eat them up though, so I wouldn't say that it is uncommon that a year later you have some play. Do you know what brand was installed? Do a search on the forum, as I know there has been extensive talk on which brands last the longest.

 

I think they got the bar from O'Reillys.

 

I am thinking the pulling it forward and backward isn't a problem, it is just rotating on the ball joint. Just like a tie rod end, you can rotate it. Wouldn't it only be bad if I could move it up and down?

 

It keeps your axle centered under the frame. The wear your concerned with would be across the truck. On ours,while someone turns the steering wheel back and forth (with the engine running), the steering box would pull the frame and the track bar would pull away from the frame. You could also put a pry bar between the frame and track bar, but if it's pulled tight instead of pushed tight to the frame, that wouldn't work.

 

Crawl under it and have someone start it and turn wheel back and forth while the engine is running. See what moves that shouldn't.

 

What he said^^^^^

Look for up/down movement at the ball joint end (driver side) and left/right movement at axle end (passenger). ANY MOVEMENT MEANS REPLACEMENT. If you can rotate the bar on the ball joint, then you are Superman because the BJ is to allow the passenger side of the axle to droop when flexing. That joint is a lateral eye bolt with bushing. Thus the bar can only twist as much as the bushing allows, which is little to none.

There really is no point in my explaining this as the stock T-bar is so poorly designed, it should just be replaced with an aftermarket unit. If you must get stock, the only store bought track bar that may be worth the replacement is the Moog bar. Otherwise, go get a 3rd gen replacement and bracket and never look back.

 

I upgraded the track bar on my truck to the later model style using a conversion bracket. Several companies sell them. An example can be seen here:


http://www.solidsteel.biz/tbk.htm


This gets rid of the ball joint style track bar, which is prone to failure. Once I installed the bracket, I replaced my old track bar with this adjustable track bar:


http://www.solidsteel.biz/datb.htm

 

If you dont feel like spending 500 dollars on conversion brackets and the such. Just get a 150 dollar moog replacement track.

if your track bar is indeed bad.

However, if you want to lift your truck and put big tires on it you will need to drop the cash on something worthwhile if you want your truck to not suck.

 

HamBone, I found the conversion bracket for less than $150. This allows the use of the later model track bar, which no longer uses the failure-prone ball joint style end. If someone is planning to keep their truck a while, I feel its money well spent.