What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

(OK Picture) PanHard Bar

1

1fastchevy

Registered Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2007
Posts
49
Reaction score
0
Location
Houston
I built a burb with 12 " of lift and it was a death trap, I built a panhard bar and What a difference, beyond night and day, If anyone else has a truck with horrible driving I suggest it, It even took care of braking issues I was having, it used to take off for the ditch when I would hit the brakes, now it 's all good, Hell I would let my wife drive it now, before I wouldn't even let a buddy drive it around the block, Dave here's a pic on its way up, it was 2wd and my other truck,no thats not my pathfinder
DSC00106.jpg

DSC00099.jpg


DSC00079.jpg

DSC001.jpg
 
Last edited:
It looks like it is all leaf springs. If so, what made you decide to do a panhard bar on it? I always thought the springs pretty much keep the axle located (with a little movement in the bushings).
 
i'd imagine if the springs were soft as anything you could use one(YJ jeeps have one) but from the looks of your springs, they're not too soft. cool that it helped...any pics of it and how you fabb'd it up???
 
Hey Bulldog, It made a huge difference, I bet your k5 would drive like a vette, I think the only disadvantage is in my design I may not have 100% of my original flex, but this is not a rock crawler, I did go out this weekend to the trails and it was great, this truck is to camp, cruise, tow and maybe to work and back when I want, it's really that nice , and now it drives that way, If I was to say want to go way out and put a quick diconnect on it and you wouldn't have a thing to worry about, I also think the wieght of the burban made a big difference it would just push the front springs all over the place when turning , you could feel it , it wasn't nice, Dave
 
Last edited:
My K5 is currently as scary or worse than what you're describing. All due to super soft Alcan springs and longer front shackles. I get a lot of lateral movement front and rear making it very spooky to drive. I've been planning on swapping them out for some stiffer springs, but had also thought a panhard would make a world of difference. In my case I also have a stupid amount of body lean and brake dive though...which a panhard isn't going to help with.

I can see the extra weight of a 'burb causing some lateral 'give' in the springs.

Rene
 
Panhard without crossover????? And you've got no bump steer?????
I think you should have a long hard look at that steering geometry, especially that angle of panhard. I've got a panhard with crossover so that the drag link and panhard run at the same angle and move in unison which works well on the road but your axle will be moving on a different plain to your drag link.
I'm not knocking your work, I'm just a bit concerned.
 
I think his steering would get better with the panhard because his axle would at least stay centered under the truck rather than swaying from side to side. It also looks like he has some longer shackles and some kind of homebrew shackle mounts... do you have any pics of them, 1fastchevy?

That's an awesome lookin' Burb, btw.



.
 
1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 said:
I think his steering would get better with the panhard because his axle would at least stay centered under the truck rather than swaying from side to side. It also looks like he has some longer shackles and some kind of homebrew shackle mounts... do you have any pics of them, 1fastchevy?

That's an awesome lookin' Burb, btw.



.
Click to expand...
The axle will now move in a transverse arc as well as backwards with suspension compression. That's why panhard and leafspring binds with anything more than road use.
It's also fighting against the swaybar which will already be binding at that angle.
 
A controled transverse arc is still better than the axle moving wherever it want's to. I would have made the bar a bit longer, mounting one end of it outside the frame rail and the other end on the outside of the spring pack, and maybe a little more level. The flex is affected a little on the passenger side, but not as much as some may think because of the amount of "free play" in the shackles and bushings. The crazy steering seems to be a problem on trucks with big lift springs because of the extra side-to-side leverage they have. Most of these trucks aren't built for flexing anyway. I have no idea why the sway bar is still on there.

Two of my friends have SAS'ed trucks - one is an '03 2500HD and the other is a '96 K1500. Both noticed a huge improvement in on-road control after adding a trac bar.
 
1fastchevy said:
I built a burb with 12 " of lift and it was a death trap, I built a panhard bar and What a difference, beyond night and day, If anyone else has a truck with horrible driving I suggest it, It even took care of braking issues I was having, it used to take off for the ditch when I would hit the brakes, now it 's all good, Hell I would let my wife drive it now, before I wouldn't even let a buddy drive it around the block, Dave here's a pic on its way up, it was 2wd and my other truck,no thats not my pathfinder
DSC00106.jpg
Click to expand...


Good info!

I'd always suspected that a panhard bar (even on a leafsprung suspension) could improve handling and probably cure deathwobble also.... one of these days, I'm planning to do a panhard bar on mine with a removeable pin for when I wheel it.

Now that you validated the idea, I think it's worth taking some time to consider a "Rev 2" of your design to improve it a bit. The first thing (that was already mentioned) is that the panhard you've got pictured there is pretty short. Longer would be better....less side to side motion of the axle as the suspension cycles. The second item is to significantly "beef up" those mounts where the heims connect. That upper one in particular could be much stronger if the sides of the tabs were angled up towards the crossmember instead of running in a pure vertical path. The mount on the lower side looks like a bolt-on to the upper spring plate retainer, which at the very least should probably use all 4 bolt holes to strengthen it.

The dynamics loads on the steering system are enormous, and if you take a look at other panhard bar setups out there you will see that people spend a lot of time designing really beefy bracketry to hold them....

Now that you know for sure that the solution works well, it's worth investing extra time to build a setup that will work even better, and more importantly....that will be strong and safe for a long time. :waytogo:



:usaflag:
 
how rough is the ride with all the extra crap, panhard, sway bar?

and no x-over on 12" lift? i bet it doesn't flex enough to need it.
 
Hey guys, well theres no stiffer ride, the angle of the bar is more due to I have it jacked up about 5 " ( thats why the jack and wood is there and nuts are loose) This was a 2wd, I bought some way back hangers and welded them under the frame and boxed it in, I'm shorting the shakles from 4.5 to 3" I think this will even improve the ride more, I'm telling you guys this bar made a huge improvement, I just got the truck on the road and haven't attempted crossover yet , but as far as I can tell I don't need it, no bump steer , Like I said my wife could drive this thing it's that sweet, I do have 4 steering components to help with steering, and again this is no hardcore trial rig, just for camping, towing, taking my boys to the trails and to work if I want, the lift is 8" spings 4" square tubing up front 3'4 ton outers, 6" springs ,shakle flip and 4" blocks in back with 14 bolt FF,Dave
 
1fastchevy said:
I'm shorting the shakles from 4.5 to 3" I think this will even improve the ride more,
Click to expand...
I'm thinkin the longer shackles would ride smoother.
 
Greg72

You mentioned angling the upper mount towards the crossmember. Which way? Looking at the pic towards the right or towards the left? How much of an angle?
 
tRustyK5 said:
My K5 is currently as scary or worse than what you're describing. All due to super soft Alcan springs and longer front shackles. I get a lot of lateral movement front and rear making it very spooky to drive. I've been planning on swapping them out for some stiffer springs, but had also thought a panhard would make a world of difference. In my case I also have a stupid amount of body lean and brake dive though...which a panhard isn't going to help with.

I can see the extra weight of a 'burb causing some lateral 'give' in the springs.

Rene
Click to expand...
Rene, do you think your Alcans are softer than 52s? I'm just curious because I don't have any issues with body lean or diving. Matter of fact it's better now than it was before the 52s. What I'm driving at is I wonder if the difference is the shock setup? :dunno:

Plus I'd like to go to Alcans eventually, and I want a better idea of what to have them build.
 
BKinzey said:
Greg72

You mentioned angling the upper mount towards the crossmember. Which way? Looking at the pic towards the right or towards the left? How much of an angle?
Click to expand...

If you look at the photo, the upper mount looks kind of like an upside-down tombstone, right?

My suggestion was to modify that shape so that there was a more diagonal shape on the left side....so that there was more material holding that heim.

Bascially extend the bracket maybe 4" further left on the crossmember, then run create the diagonal down to where the existing mounting hole is.....in effect creating a larger triangular upper mount, which will be more capable of resisting the loads of that bar when he's turning.


:usaflag:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom