RE Track bar play, is it normal?

[Teufel Hunden]

I bought an adjustable Rubicon Express Trackbar about a year ago to stop my jeep from crab walking on a 3.5" lift. And now I'm getting some noises and weird feelings in the steering wheel. I've been under the jeep while the wifey turns the wheel back and forth trying to find what is making noise and if anything is moving... all I could find was the trackbar moving up and down on the joint. I uploaded a vid of it on youtube.... http://youtu.be/bxtz_JFFFfg

Any ideas if thats normal or not?

 

[VAhasnoWAVES]

your heim looks like it may be worn out, kind of hard to tell with the angle. usually people have problems with the bushing in the stock axle sound mount. does that look alright? ruff stuff replacements for the heim are cheap, and actually better quality. all the information, and even some ideas for you can be found here:

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1065192

go strait to post #10 if you dont want to make yours double sheer.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

looks like it's just pivoting on the ball to me :dunno:

 

[Hellbent]

is the track bar one of the "newer" ones? the heims they are including with them now are very low quality, i've seen them worn out after just a couple months.
it's hard to say from the video, but it does look like it's moving up & down more than it should.
check the track bar bracket at the body, i fought a creaking noise and popping feeling for almost a year and had condemned the steering box. even though i could see no movement in the track bar bracket, i tightened the hell out of all the bolts in the front end-the bracket bolts each turned about a half-rotation. the noise completely disappeared and the front end feels great now.

 

[CaliXJ]

looks like it's just pivoting on the ball to me :dunno:

X2. looks like the internals of the heim are shot. (axial play) Hit up RuffStuff for a new one or if you need it now! Your local 4x4 shop will have one.

Keep it for a trail spare. Could come in handy one day!

 

[Teufel Hunden]

Thanks for the responses... I think I'm going to go through RuffStuff. I contacted Rubicon Express via email, and they said it would cost $25 for a replacement heim. And yes, this is a newer trackbar... Bought it less than a year ago.

After looking for a bit, just wondering if I could put a 2.5" Johnny Joint in the RE trackbar and get a double sheer bracket? Pros/Cons? (Pricey considering its like $80 for the bracket, and $40 for the Johnny Joint)
Or do you think a descent heim is strong enough for a 3.5" lift?

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Before I got a good deal on a 1660HD trackbar/accessories. I was running a RE1600, with a modified stock bracket in double shear. So there is always that option. You could also use an aftermarket bracket with the heim/spacers in double shear.