Traction Bars

sootie · Jun 10, 2019

curtis270 said:
wasn't a personal attack you said "Ive run PMF and OUO as well as made my own. All i will ever run in the future is OUO if that says anything." and I answered. that was the point of the whole thread here research and the differences and what you could take from all the kits and make the best of all worlds but as can be seen from some of the other post in this thread its gone to people bashing me because Im not buying ouo or pmf bars but trying to build my own. Im also not saying that either company makes bad bars but you can look up the price of DOM tubing and heims and 1/4 steel for brackets and know that $500+ is ridiculous its over 100% profit.

I guess I just learned how to count:

-cost of raw materials
-shipping of raw materials
-cost of fabrication consumables
-cost of finishing
-cost of shipping to/from finishing
(If you finish yourself, cost of finishing materials)

Then throw in your fabrication time plus any other jockeying around you need to do....doesn't leave much on the table imo

No one is telling you to buy bars, I even said make your own. We just don't want to hear about your failures as we went down the road you are starting on, what, 10-12 years ago?

Instead of being butt-hurt that people aren't slapping your back for you, take it as constructive critism from people who learned the hard way-like myself!

curtis270 · Jun 10, 2019

lol now I cant count.
-cost of raw materials $150
-cost of welding gas $10
-1lb of powder coat $20
-building your own truck $Priceless$

Forums were built on failures you dont see many posts of people ranting about how great their factory vehicle is and how they dont want to change anything. Im not butt hurt lol and I dont want any slaps on the back.

jcain · Jun 10, 2019

Hollar back when you're done.

Jonnydime · Jun 10, 2019

curtis270 said:
lol now I cant count.
-cost of raw materials $150
-cost of welding gas $10
-1lb of powder coat $20
-building your own truck $Priceless$

Forums were built on failures you dont see many posts of people ranting about how great their factory vehicle is and how they dont want to change anything. Im not butt hurt lol and I dont want any slaps on the back.

I just broke down what it would cost me to build a set of pmf's traction bars and it was just short of $400 in parts and material alone and considering Trevor is charging $575 for a set of weld on bars I don't see your point.

lincolnlocker · Jun 10, 2019

Jonnydime said:
I just broke down what it would cost me to build a set of pmf's traction bars and it was just short of $400 in parts and material alone and considering Trevor is charging $575 for a set of weld on bars I don't see your point.

I used to like building my own stuff along with building some for others too so i can see the OP's point. But after hours of fabricating and painting and trying to get angles right or close to it and then buying OUOs, i realized i wasted lots of time and money to not get it right, i wont build another set and i tell whoever askes about them to just get OUOs.

live life full throttle

sootie · Jun 10, 2019

lincolnlocker said:
I used to like building my own stuff along with building some for others too so i can see the OP's point. But after hours of fabricating and painting and trying to get angles right or close to it and then buying OUOs, i realized i wasted lots of time and money to not get it right, i wont build another set and i tell whoever askes about them to just get OUOs.

live life full throttle

Please be quiet. Your logic makes sense.

lincolnlocker · Jun 10, 2019

sootie said:
Please be quiet. Your logic makes sense.

Lol

live life full throttle

curtis270 · Jun 11, 2019

lol you guys are hilarious and I see your point I will build mine and you can laugh when I complain about something. But my time is worth so little I mow my own grass so even if I lived in your area Jonnydime I would build my own because 175 bucks is a good bit of money to me but I understand some people are better off then I and dont care to spend the extra money.

Jonnydime · Jun 11, 2019

curtis270 said:
lol you guys are hilarious and I see your point I will build mine and you can laugh when I complain about something. But my time is worth so little I mow my own grass so even if I lived in your area Jonnydime I would build my own because 175 bucks is a good bit of money to me but I understand some people are better off then I and dont care to spend the extra money.

I have to keep a lawn guy and pool guy on the payroll to keep the woman happy. LOL LOL

jcain · Jun 11, 2019

curtis270 said:
lol you guys are hilarious and I see your point I will build mine and you can laugh when I complain about something. But my time is worth so little I mow my own grass so even if I lived in your area Jonnydime I would build my own because 175 bucks is a good bit of money to me but I understand some people are better off then I and dont care to spend the extra money.

I'm not better off than the next guy but I can also appreciate NOT having to do it twice to get it right.

kleake · Jun 11, 2019

I was in the same boat, I looked at prices and wondered why the heck they are so expensive. Thought about building my own, as I don't mind some fabrication, it's kinda fun. HOWEVER, I use my truck, and it tows a lot and usually has the camper and boat behind it while heading to the lake. The last thing i need is for problems on the side of the highway with the family headed to the lake. I also don't have time to spend days building components. So I broke down and bought PMF bars. When I got them I was VERY surprised at their weight. Build quality was excellent, they look great, and the best part, they bolted right on. A little fine tuning on the adjustments and I had it dialed in. I have had them about 3 years, put about 30k miles on them and have not had to do a thing to them.

For me, I will fabricate and build my own stuff when I can, but time is money, and sometimes my time is better spent elsewhere. Price of materials, and the price of your time and labor cutting, grinding, calculating, etc,,,,,, sometimes just isn't worth it. I could see why they are so expensive once I had them in my hands. To make it simple, I bolted them on, solved the problems I was having, and I moved on to other things I needed to get done and didn't look back.

Don't you hate spending hours building something and constantly having to adjust or tweak it, or worse yet, repair it. Yea, me either.

EPA · Jun 11, 2019

So instead of talking about all these traction bars you all have build for the super duty trucks why not post some pictures and specs... Tell the guy what you did and what happened, this way he can at least avoid some mistakes... He might be building a copy of a set someone else has built that didnt work... He is set on building so instead of saying not post up your work lets see what you have had and your issues... And lets not say its too much effort to post.. Some of you have invested a bit of time in this thread already. Heck maybe after seeing some pics/specs and complaints he may decide not to build.

lincolnlocker · Jun 11, 2019

EPA said:
So instead of talking about all these traction bars you all have build for the super duty trucks why not post some pictures and specs... Tell the guy what you did and what happened, this way he can at least avoid some mistakes... He might be building a copy of a set someone else has built that didnt work... He is set on building so instead of saying not post up your work lets see what you have had and your issues... And lets not say its too much effort to post.. Some of you have invested a bit of time in this thread already. Heck maybe after seeing some pics/specs and complaints he may decide not to build.

Very good point. Mine where never worth taking pictures of. My problem was always placement on the axle and how low or high or how long they need to be and where to mount them on the frame. Not necessarily on super dutys but on a few brands and sizes over the year.

Whatever is used, just make sure it has rubber or the like bushings on both ends.

live life full throttle

EPA · Jun 11, 2019

I have recently come to like these joints
https://metalcloak.com/forged-durof...h-x-2-5-8-housing-x-1-1-4-straight-shank.html

justinlogue5_0 · Jun 11, 2019

EPA said:
So instead of talking about all these traction bars you all have build for the super duty trucks why not post some pictures and specs... Tell the guy what you did and what happened, this way he can at least avoid some mistakes... He might be building a copy of a set someone else has built that didnt work... He is set on building so instead of saying not post up your work lets see what you have had and your issues... And lets not say its too much effort to post.. Some of you have invested a bit of time in this thread already. Heck maybe after seeing some pics/specs and complaints he may decide not to build.

:whs:

curtis270 · Jun 11, 2019

EPA said:
So instead of talking about all these traction bars you all have build for the super duty trucks why not post some pictures and specs... Tell the guy what you did and what happened, this way he can at least avoid some mistakes... He might be building a copy of a set someone else has built that didnt work... He is set on building so instead of saying not post up your work lets see what you have had and your issues... And lets not say its too much effort to post.. Some of you have invested a bit of time in this thread already. Heck maybe after seeing some pics/specs and complaints he may decide not to build.

Thank you