DCSpecial
Mr. Sinister
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2006
- Messages
- 3,898
Finally had a chance to install the One Up Offroad Traction Bars on my stock height 07 F-350.
I would get some wrap backing heavy trailers on uneven terrain or uphill. I would also get some pretty good hop when snowplowing if it was icy underneath and the tires would break loose.
While there are many options for traction bars I opted to buy the One Up Offroad bars since IMO they perform and are built the best.
They also come extremely well packaged to help prevent shipping damage. They come in three separate boxes, one with the traction bars, the second with the axle brackets and the third with the frame brackets. All the hardware is sealed in 3 mil thick poly bags and then placed in small boxes that are placed in the box with the axle and frame brackets.
I ended up going with a 80" fixed bar with the bolt on axle mount. The 80" is a custom length for my long bed as I was having them custom powder coated in charcoal anyway. OUO offers the bars in either silver or black, but I wanted the charcoal as my wheels are charcoal. The custom lengths and colors are available at an extra charge.
The OUO adaptable/adjustable length bars are normally what is used on a long bed SD.
All the OUO mounting brackets come in black and are very well designed and built. Here's the bolt on axle mount (you can see the u-bolts next to it that secure it to the axle). The Bushings that go in the mount are included in a poly bag with the hardware.:
Here's a pic of the back side of the bracket. You can see the notch in the upper right corner, this hooks around the u-bolt and the bracket sits right up against the spring perch. It also has the tabs at the bottom that lock it laterally against the u-bolts at the bottom of the tube as well. The notch that locks the bracket to the u-bolt on the top goes towards the differential/inboard side, so you have a Left and Right bracket:
Here's a couple of pics of the frame mount bracket. It's a very nice 1/4" thick formed steel laser cut bracket:
On the bars themselves I opted for the "no gusset" option which has this small wedge welded to the bar and bracket for additional support. Also has the OUO logo laser cut into the bracket on the end:
One of the bars unwrapped next to the other bar still wrapped up. A whole lot of Styrofoam wrap and bubble wrap on the bars to protect the powder.
Of course before we started the install my buddy had to go turn this light on "to properly do the install" :hehe:
Installation of the axle mount is pretty straight forward. Hook the u-bolt with the bracket, push it against the spring perch and install the u-bolts. Once it's hooked you can't move it (pushing or pulling on it) even before the u-bolts are installed. I used a little bit of medium strength thread locker on the threads.
Once the axle brackets are in place you install the bushings, install the sleeve for the bolt into the bushings and install the the traction bar onto the axle mount.
With the bar attached to the axle mount you can assemble the upper mount to the bar and tighten the bolt securing the bar to the bracket to spec.
Now, raise the bar/bracket up the frame rail (using a clamp if needed) to mark the holes to drill the frame rail. We used a 3/8" transfer punch to accurately mark the holes in the side of the frame (4 bolts in the side). We lowered the bar, drilled the holes (smaller "pilot" bit first, then the 3/8" bit) and bolted the bracket to the side of the frame rail. With the bolts in place and the bracket secured to the frame rail we drilled the holes through the frame for the bottom holes (4 bolts on the bottom), on one side we drilled a smaller pilot hole and then the 3/8" hole, while on the other we opted just to to the 3/8" hole without the pilot. Note, you need a really good sharp bit to cut through the frame....if it's dull it's going to take a lot longer. A "Drill Doctor" is very nice to sharpen the bit prior to starting and a few times between drilling all the holes.
Once everything it tightened the final result is this:
And the entire final product:
Yes, the factory exhaust looks like azz compared to the T-304 cat-back.....I know.
Once installed I took them on a 20 mile drive to test them out. They perform very well, no harsh ride or binding that is associated with many of the single tube traction bars on the market today. I went through a lot of road construction and over some severely crowned intersections and rough railroad crossings. Couldn't even tell that they were there. I'd jump on the throttle at a few lights and it's very quick to put the power down and break the tires loose. I also mashed it on some hard packed snow where I would often get hop and the tires just spun through the snow....and continued to spin once they reached the pavement.
I'll have to get some daylight pics once I wash up the truck.
I would get some wrap backing heavy trailers on uneven terrain or uphill. I would also get some pretty good hop when snowplowing if it was icy underneath and the tires would break loose.
While there are many options for traction bars I opted to buy the One Up Offroad bars since IMO they perform and are built the best.
They also come extremely well packaged to help prevent shipping damage. They come in three separate boxes, one with the traction bars, the second with the axle brackets and the third with the frame brackets. All the hardware is sealed in 3 mil thick poly bags and then placed in small boxes that are placed in the box with the axle and frame brackets.
I ended up going with a 80" fixed bar with the bolt on axle mount. The 80" is a custom length for my long bed as I was having them custom powder coated in charcoal anyway. OUO offers the bars in either silver or black, but I wanted the charcoal as my wheels are charcoal. The custom lengths and colors are available at an extra charge.
The OUO adaptable/adjustable length bars are normally what is used on a long bed SD.
All the OUO mounting brackets come in black and are very well designed and built. Here's the bolt on axle mount (you can see the u-bolts next to it that secure it to the axle). The Bushings that go in the mount are included in a poly bag with the hardware.:
Here's a pic of the back side of the bracket. You can see the notch in the upper right corner, this hooks around the u-bolt and the bracket sits right up against the spring perch. It also has the tabs at the bottom that lock it laterally against the u-bolts at the bottom of the tube as well. The notch that locks the bracket to the u-bolt on the top goes towards the differential/inboard side, so you have a Left and Right bracket:
Here's a couple of pics of the frame mount bracket. It's a very nice 1/4" thick formed steel laser cut bracket:
On the bars themselves I opted for the "no gusset" option which has this small wedge welded to the bar and bracket for additional support. Also has the OUO logo laser cut into the bracket on the end:
One of the bars unwrapped next to the other bar still wrapped up. A whole lot of Styrofoam wrap and bubble wrap on the bars to protect the powder.
Of course before we started the install my buddy had to go turn this light on "to properly do the install" :hehe:
Installation of the axle mount is pretty straight forward. Hook the u-bolt with the bracket, push it against the spring perch and install the u-bolts. Once it's hooked you can't move it (pushing or pulling on it) even before the u-bolts are installed. I used a little bit of medium strength thread locker on the threads.
Once the axle brackets are in place you install the bushings, install the sleeve for the bolt into the bushings and install the the traction bar onto the axle mount.
With the bar attached to the axle mount you can assemble the upper mount to the bar and tighten the bolt securing the bar to the bracket to spec.
Now, raise the bar/bracket up the frame rail (using a clamp if needed) to mark the holes to drill the frame rail. We used a 3/8" transfer punch to accurately mark the holes in the side of the frame (4 bolts in the side). We lowered the bar, drilled the holes (smaller "pilot" bit first, then the 3/8" bit) and bolted the bracket to the side of the frame rail. With the bolts in place and the bracket secured to the frame rail we drilled the holes through the frame for the bottom holes (4 bolts on the bottom), on one side we drilled a smaller pilot hole and then the 3/8" hole, while on the other we opted just to to the 3/8" hole without the pilot. Note, you need a really good sharp bit to cut through the frame....if it's dull it's going to take a lot longer. A "Drill Doctor" is very nice to sharpen the bit prior to starting and a few times between drilling all the holes.
Once everything it tightened the final result is this:
And the entire final product:
Yes, the factory exhaust looks like azz compared to the T-304 cat-back.....I know.
Once installed I took them on a 20 mile drive to test them out. They perform very well, no harsh ride or binding that is associated with many of the single tube traction bars on the market today. I went through a lot of road construction and over some severely crowned intersections and rough railroad crossings. Couldn't even tell that they were there. I'd jump on the throttle at a few lights and it's very quick to put the power down and break the tires loose. I also mashed it on some hard packed snow where I would often get hop and the tires just spun through the snow....and continued to spin once they reached the pavement.
I'll have to get some daylight pics once I wash up the truck.
