Well from a mechanical stand point, solid bar would be a waste. You wont gain much strength over a tube, in a bending form like that. It would also weight a LOT. Not needed. I think most use 1.5" DOM .125" wall tubing, but I can look around a little more.

Cal-tracs are some of the best out there, and a lot of drag racers use them. There's a thread started by karls03 in the aftermarket section up above asking about them too, hopefully he'll just buy a set and tell us all about them!

Whatever you do for ladder bars/traction bars, make sure it's something that will still allow the suspension to articulate. I hate seeing a nice truck with cheap home made junk traction bars that bind suspension travel.

 

Ya after reading about some custom ones people have made no body uses solid. I just said that cause ive got it laying around at the shop. Ive also seen a lot of people say make sure it can articulate at the frame mount? Is that correct or is it both joints? Main reason I want to build my own is because im a welder by trade and I trust my welds over many others, but none of that matters if its not built correctly. I also hate to say it but most off road this truck will see is the beach, dirt roads, and some farm fields. As for using stainless vs carbon I know its going to weigh more. That's not a major issue to me. As I said before I have solid stock and open pipe at work or I can order it at cost. One more question about the length of them. Ive seen people say 7'7" and others say they found the center of balance on the truck with a jack and jack stands and measured to that point from the axle, but keep the same angle as drive shaft. Whats your take on that?

 

Yeah you probably know more on it than I do now. I really want to research this out and build my own too.

I can't believe there would be one length that works for each truck, so I would rule that out. Finding the center point sounds about right, but not sure. I would think the length would depend a lot on the truck configuration (bed and cab size) and possibly how big the lift is, if any.

It should ideally have a solid mount on one end (always the axle end in this case) and one floating end. Look at a leaf spring setup, notice one end is attached at the frame solid, the other end is on a hanger. It needs to be able to move forward and back when the axle is going up or down, this is what they mean by allowing it to articulate.

 

With those mods and big tires you will be amazed how much a Low Stall Torque Converter can improve 0-60 times, lower transmission temps and get you into lock up faster. By far my favorite modification.

Other Mods I would look at..

-Extruded Tube Intercooler
-Regulated Return Line Kit
-Intake Manifold - (Blow Out Price Sale)

Free Shipping Fathers Day

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I second that comment! I NEVER got those highway numbers with mine. The most I've ever seen on the highway is 18ish. I'm happy if I had calculate 14 in town, too. A good friend of mine had 38s on his 03 and gave up on mileage tracking it was so bad. I took a 1.5 mpg shot in town going to 35s, my highway varies.

Back to the original question here, the next thing I would do would be a set of 4.30 gears. I've been considering 4.11s for mine with 35s. My friend's truck gave up low end umph with 38s and 3.73s. When we took his lift down and put 35s back on he saw an increase in mpg and low end throttle response.

 

I was just saying thats what my truck said I didn't know it was way off. But I go about about 300+-50 miles a week with work and around town. That usually burns up around half a tank. I only fill up once ever 2 weeks or week in half if I do more driving. And BDPowerDave ill look into those. Im looking at ladder bars at the moment.

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I agree I think it should vary on for each truck if its not stock. You would think the correct angle would be different. Im still researching It before I go in on it. Better to do it right the first time.

 

Let me know if you have any questions in the mean time!