Track bar contacting frame mount

[rharr]

The RK track bar is a 1.5" solid steel bar. That little contact is not going to reduce strength. Pull it and either chamfer/bend the bracket or take a die grinder and grind a little relief in the bar it's self. If you grind the bar, make sure the grind is nice and radius, with no sharp corners, sharp corners/grooves could introduce cracks, however unlikely.

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[CrazyCooter]

As others have posted up, not a safety issue, but also not great in terms of manufacturing quality in the first place?

 

[Minty JL]

 

[Discmaniac]

I dropped the track bar and it does look like this could be the root of my shimmy issue. I am going to try and bend it first, but I think I’ll end up grinding.

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

Is the thought that there are thread marks on the inner bushing is the root of the shimmy?? I vote grind for contact- but more importantly ensure the bolts are torqued correctly- then paint pen to track movement/loosening.
Loose track bar bolts are super common cause to death wobble…. Mount hole wallows/oblongs and the fun begins.

 

[Vtur]

I would press the bushing over a little if you have access to a press. I had to do that with my Steersmart trackbar bushing at the axle end.

Edit: I don't think pressing the bushing over will work either. The bar diameter is wider than the bushing sleeve and at a bad angle too. Preferably grinding down the bar if it's a solid bar. Clayton fly cut their bars couple inches before it welded on to the bushing sleeve.

 

[Discmaniac]

Is the thought that there are thread marks on the inner bushing is the root of the shimmy?? I vote grind for contact- but more importantly ensure the bolts are torqued correctly- then paint pen to track movement/loosening.
Loose track bar bolts are super common cause to death wobble…. Mount hole wallows/oblongs and the fun begins.

That’s my thought. I was able to put the bolt back in and bend the tab out slightly. I touched up the finish on the bracket and will test it out in a bit.

-edit- I did keep a pretty close eye on the torque and even bumped it up as much as I dared. Replacing it with 9/16 grade 8 was on my list of options to try next but I haven’t been able to source them locally yet.

 

[Discmaniac]

Final update in case anyone stumbles into this thread in the future.

I put the bolt in without the track bar and used a big ass harbor freight adjustable wrench to bend the ear out. Reinstalled with sufficient clearance to tighten the track bar bracket without any contact. Results: the shimmy is gone.

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