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Unfortunate design flaw

7K views 78 replies 28 participants last post by  Second Wind 
#1 ·
I just recently learned about this unfortunate design flaw. It makes the axles shift left to right when the jeep goes up and down. It is stupid.

The problem is even worse when you lift the damn thing. Some really good lift kits MUST address this issue by dropping the trackbar to compensate for the increased angle from the lift. I don't know. It looks too weird.

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#64 ·
nycdude777- It's not a design flaw at all - it's functioning 100% completely correct according to the design!

Now in your opinion it’s a flawed design - that's debatable...
 
#65 ·
It is no more a design flaw then any other item you have to replace with a lift. The sway bar links are not adjustable from the factory and has to be replaced with a lift. So are shocks and brake line. The track bar is set just right for factory settings. If you change factory setting with a lift, then you need to adjust the other parts to match with either extension brackets or buy adjustable links and track bars.
 
#66 ·
rics1997 said:
It is no more a design flaw then any other item you have to replace with a lift. The sway bar links are not adjustable from the factory and has to be replaced with a lift. So are shocks and brake line. The track bar is set just right for factory settings. If you change factory setting with a lift, then you need to adjust the other parts to match with either extension brackets or buy adjustable links and track bars.
While your point is valid. He is pointing out that on any suspenion with a track bar the axle moves side to side from one end of the travel to the other.
 
#67 ·
Well he specifically mentioned a lift compounding the problem in his original post. As far as normal driving condition, worrying about the track bar shifting the axle during normal driving is like worrying about toe on a independent suspension when the vehicle rises and lowers over driving conditions.
 
#73 ·
#72 ·
Ahh, this is so much fun. Simple geometry. I haven't measured, but let's talk geometry. Let's say the track bar is 24" long, and is mounted to the axle such that the angle between the axle centerline and the track bar is 15 degrees. A point directly below the upper mounting point is 6.2 inches below the mounting point. That point is 23.18" from the lower point, measured along the axle center line. Now, we compress the suspension 4 inches. The point directly beneath the upper mounting point is now 23.88" from the lower mounting point, and the front end of your Wrangler has been violently jerked 0.7" one way or the other, depending on whether you are talking about the axle or the body. Not bad for a 4-inch compression.
Aside from that, has anyone seen what the tire rod ends do when you compress the suspension?
 
#77 ·
Things are WAYYYY to serious around here.:popcorn: Give the guy a break, he's entitled to his opinion. By the way, a serious design flaw is resulting in more than my share of splattered bugs being deposited on my windscreen. The windscreen on a Wrangler is too vertical! What the hell are they thinking? :hide:
 
#79 ·
Any engineer who has designed anything for any length of time knows that there are, and must be reasonable limitations to the performance which can be expected from the design. Everything is designed to some price point, and it is the engineer's job to provide economical solutions.

In a former life I was a guru of roadside design - all the stuff you crash into when you exit the roadway in your jeep. If an 18 wheeler loses control and strikes a typical traffic barrier or crash cushion, do you suppose it can be contained and redirected by that barrier? Hell no. The passenger car or light pickup truck is designed for, because statistically, the most "bang for the buck" can be obtained by addressing this larger percentage of vehicles. Sorry truckers, but we can't economically contain a 105,000 lb vehicle. Is this a design flaw? Again, Hell no. But the barrier, widget, (substitute any other item here) is designed to a standard of performance. If it does not perform to that standard, then we would refer to it as a design flaw. If the final product performs according to the standard, even though you'd like it to do something else, well, it seems you obviously weren't part of the design team, are not part of any governing body or standards establishing entity, and are left, well, making a lot of noise that few want to pay much attention to.

Any other engineers here that want to otherwise define a "design flaw" - have at it...
 
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