Sky Adj. Track Bar Bushing Life Expectancy

[AZStang]

I have sold hundreds of Sky's adj track bars..they have sold thousands..NEVER have had a single call about a problem with the bushings..I've installed tons of these myself..never any issues..

I know! As far as I can tell, I'm the only one to have an issue and I can't explain it. I talked to Sky himself and he said he's got the exact same track bar on his personal truck that's had the original bushing's in it for over 5 years. The only real variable between trucks is tires, so maybe I've got an issue there that I don't know about.

Have you ever tried a stiffer bushing Cary? I'd be interested to have someone, who is not having issues, try to the stiffer bushings and see if they notice a difference.

Shawn

 

[Charles]

On my OBS trail truck I fought a tracbar induced death wobble for a while including most of the bs you're dealing with here.

I noticed the slightest amount of disturbance evidenced around the drop bracket plate where it bolted to the engine cradle. I made sure all the bolts were tight and nothing really changed. I then welded that bitch up to the cradle in a couple spots and never had even a hint of wobble ever again.

The truck has had 50 x 20" tires on it for years now without issue since welding the bracket to the cradle.


In my case the bracket was actually moving the smallest bit, no matter that the damn bolts were insanely tight. One welding rod was all it took for me.

Might be something to verify.

 

[AZStang]

I think I am going to see about the availabilty of the stock style bushings. Those in a in the factory track bar with a good drop track bar with a matching drop pitman arm is really the way I am leaning towards going. Are you 100% happy with how the truck steering is now? How much castor are you running and how does the truck track?

I didn't replace any steering components when I did the RSK a year and a half ago, so I just replaced all the tie rods and drag link and added the steering stabilizer. It still had a very very slight hint of death wobble before the stabilizer. I have a 4" drop pitman arm on it and it looks like the steering arms are rubbing very very slightly now that they're all new and tight and don't move around as much. I can't feel anything or tell they are rubbing other than the paint on the bar is a little scuffed in one area. But my track bar is parallel with the drag link using the 4" drop.

I have 6° of caster on both sides. The tech that did my alignment said the truck felt like it was wondering a little bit, but it was a very windy that day too and I have never really noticed it. I do have a slight drift to the left as well though I think some of this is due to the tires I have. (315/75/16 Kumho Road Venture) They are wearing very fast and I'll be lucky to get 25K out of them. The alignment tech said to come back after new tires if it still drifts.

I also have some noise coming from the front when going over bumps. I can't find anything suspension related, so assume it must be cab mounts or something else on the body making noise.

So am I 100% happy with it? Pretty much. It rides a lot better than it did. I still have the stock F350 rear leafs in it too. I have some F codes waiting (been waiting for 3 years now!) so assume that will help the ride as well.

I just realized this past weekend that this thing is now 16 years old. I've only got 145K on it but it's getting old. It got me thinking about how long one should expect to drive these old trucks.

Shawn

 

[AZStang]

On my OBS trail truck I fought a tracbar induced death wobble for a while including most of the bs you're dealing with here.

I noticed the slightest amount of disturbance evidenced around the drop bracket plate where it bolted to the engine cradle. I made sure all the bolts were tight and nothing really changed. I then welded that bitch up to the cradle in a couple spots and never had even a hint of wobble ever again.

The truck has had 50 x 20" tires on it for years now without issue since welding the bracket to the cradle.


In my case the bracket was actually moving the smallest bit, no matter that the damn bolts were insanely tight. One welding rod was all it took for me.

Might be something to verify.

That's good info.

Thanks,
Shawn

 

[Tom S]

That's a possibility, though I'm not sure what type of sleeve you'd use to join them back together. Probably have to make one I suppose. I still have my stock one too and it is about 1/4" longer than what I have the adjustable one set to. Not sure about the super duty track bars either. Aren't they much longer and mount in front of the axle, or did that start in 2005?

I can still tell the death wobble tendency is there when going 40mph over a bumpy road, though it is much improved with the new bushings. I looked up stock track bar bushings and the replacement ones look almost identical to what Sky uses.

http://www.amazon.com/Moog-K80034-Track-Bar-Bushing/dp/B000C57ZEC

I'm going to get a set to try the tighter fitting metal sleeves and see what else fits. Considering a steering stabilizer as well.

Shawn

I wonder if that right there might be where the issue was if the sleeve was not a good fit for the 14mm bolts. I was playing around online and noticed all the bushing kits I could find were standard size and 9/16 is going to be a bit loose.

 

[Tom S]

I didn't replace any steering components when I did the RSK a year and a half ago, so I just replaced all the tie rods and drag link and added the steering stabilizer. It still had a very very slight hint of death wobble before the stabilizer. I have a 4" drop pitman arm on it and it looks like the steering arms are rubbing very very slightly now that they're all new and tight and don't move around as much. I can't feel anything or tell they are rubbing other than the paint on the bar is a little scuffed in one area. But my track bar is parallel with the drag link using the 4" drop.

I have 6° of caster on both sides. The tech that did my alignment said the truck felt like it was wondering a little bit, but it was a very windy that day too and I have never really noticed it. I do have a slight drift to the left as well though I think some of this is due to the tires I have. (315/75/16 Kumho Road Venture) They are wearing very fast and I'll be lucky to get 25K out of them. The alignment tech said to come back after new tires if it still drifts.

I also have some noise coming from the front when going over bumps. I can't find anything suspension related, so assume it must be cab mounts or something else on the body making noise.

So am I 100% happy with it? Pretty much. It rides a lot better than it did. I still have the stock F350 rear leafs in it too. I have some F codes waiting (been waiting for 3 years now!) so assume that will help the ride as well.

I just realized this past weekend that this thing is now 16 years old. I've only got 145K on it but it's getting old. It got me thinking about how long one should expect to drive these old trucks.

Shawn

On my F250 front end the caster split make a big difference in how the truck drifts to a particular side.

 

[OBSWIZ]

Whats the toein?..equall on ea side?

 

[AZStang]

I wonder if that right there might be where the issue was if the sleeve was not a good fit for the 14mm bolts. I was playing around online and noticed all the bushing kits I could find were standard size and 9/16 is going to be a bit loose.

I'm sure it contributed to it. I originally purchased the Moog bushing kit intending to see if I could make their sleeves work with the Sky bushings. Once I found the Moog bushings fit in the Sky track bar and they were much stiffer, I just used all Moog.

Shawn

 

[AZStang]

Whats the toein?..equall on ea side?

I didn't ask that one, but could probably get it if you really need it.

Shawn

 

[Charles]

Speaking of toe-in, Dad has a TJ that was death wobbling very badly and after checking the track bar and such, I suggested that he make sure it wasn't toed in.

He took it to an alignment shop and told them to toe it out slightly and they said they did. A few months go by with it being basically undrivable, and he didn't know what to do, so I took a tape measure and measured the toe myself. It was toed in 1/2", NOT out as they said.

We toed it out an 1/8th to 1/4" and it was good to go.

 

[02POWERSTROKE7.3]

What is the proper way to adjust an adjustable track bar?

 

[Tom S]

For a while Ford was selling replacement press-in bushings for the OBS.

If you think we could mod your stocker to work call me. I know some people

It looks like you can still get them:

Are the original metal shell type bushings available for the trackbar on a 96 F350 4x4?

yeah still avail list $24.00 each sell $18.00 each
quote# 261122

 

[Tom S]

Just some follow up. It was very close to the stock track bar working on my RSK so I had the Raybestos poly style bushings on hand in case it would work but no such luck. The Raybestos ones are definately a heck of a lot harder then the Sky bushings are. The Sky bushing you can deform by hand and the others ones are basically too hard to deform with your hand. The steel bushing is sized a bit differently too. The Raybestos ones were a tighter fit to the metric factory bolts I used. The fit perfectly in the SkY track bar.

I had driven the truck around the neighborhood while waiting for the adjustable track bar so I got a feel for the ride without a track bar. I decided to try the hard bushing first and see if I could tell that they made it ride harsher. I was surprised that I noticed no deterioration in the ride. It did fix the springy feeling steering right up though. As I did not notice a downside to the harder bushings I left them in place. I will save the SKY ones in case I want to test those some day or as spares.

 

[rusty1161]

Just some follow up. It was very close to the stock track bar working on my RSK so I had the Raybestos poly style bushings on hand in case it would work but no such luck. The Raybestos ones are definately a heck of a lot harder then the Sky bushings are. The Sky bushing you can deform by hand and the others ones are basically too hard to deform with your hand. The steel bushing is sized a bit differently too. The Raybestos ones were a tighter fit to the metric factory bolts I used. The fit perfectly in the SkY track bar.

I had driven the truck around the neighborhood while waiting for the adjustable track bar so I got a feel for the ride without a track bar. I decided to try the hard bushing first and see if I could tell that they made it ride harsher. I was surprised that I noticed no deterioration in the ride. It did fix the springy feeling steering right up though. As I did not notice a downside to the harder bushings I left them in place. I will save the SKY ones in case I want to test those some day or as spares.

I just did some maintenance to my truck today, addressing some play in the front end. I have a Sky 3" RSK with V-code springs, Sky adjustable track bar with original bushings. I bought the Moog poly replacements and they are as hard as the Sky bushings. Also, I was reminded of one dilema that I had during my original install. I have a 1989 kingpin Dana 60 in my truck with the track bar mount from the 1989 F350. My track bar bushings would not fit into the truck side or the axle side mount without shaving down the faces since they were too wide to fit in the mounts. Anyone else run into a similar issue?

I reinstalled the original Sky bushings, since they were the same hardness as the new Moog ones and didn't require modification. I lubed them up and put them back in. So far so good.

Rusty

 

[Tom S]

Interesting as mine were definately a little softer.

 

[AZStang]

Interesting as mine were definately a little softer.

Mine too. Maybe they changed the recipe at some point?

I put Moog bushings on the front sway bar when I had mine apart and they didn't last long at all. I went with Energy Suspension bushings a couple weeks ago and they seem like a quality product. I may try them on the track bar when the time comes again.

Shawn

 

[rusty1161]

I drove the truck more today after reinstalling the bushings. I lubed them up really well with what I had on hand, disk brake silicone lube. Then tightened them with my impact wrench, much tighter than I had them originally by hand. The truck is much better with this combination.

In reference to having to modify my bushings, I also noticed that the bushings have a gap between them inside of the sleeve, about the same thickness that it is too wide for the mounts. I wonder if the track bar ends are too wide from Sky? I will measure in them morning and can someone compare it to the track bar on your truck, please? Thanks!

Rusty

 

[efracer85]

i have the sky jacker soft ride 4" lift with the dana 60 and im using the stock track bar with napa bushings and i have the skyjacker steering stabilizer the track bar bushings are still perfect after 20k or 2 yrs