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Panhard bar replacement

dovehunter79

dovehunter79

New Member
I was curious to know if anyone has ever replaced the rear panhard bar with a shock similar to the suspension in a jeep... If so, does it work well... I had a buddy helping put my fram back together and he asked me that question. I wasnt sure it could even be done so I figured I would ask the experts!
 
I would think if a shock would work it would be called a pan soft bar. HE HE
The use of this is to keep your front or rear axel from any side to side movement but can move up and down in the same plain without shifting the rearend side to side. But let the experts weigh in you know how small a chickens brain is!!!!!!!!!
 
Is it possible he is thinking of the steering stabilizer shock on the front? I only ask because it is the only place on a jeep that I ever saw a shock in that position.
 
Your right Todd, a jeep does have the shock on the steering... or steering stabilizer...

I personally cant think of a way to make it happen on the rear or even if you could how it would even be beneficial.
 
dovehunter79 said:
I personally cant think of a way to make it happen on the rear or even if you could how it would even be beneficial.
Click to expand...

Me either, because it would allow side to side movement. And that is what the panhard bar is trying to eliminate. Now, one way to get a bit of absorbsion in the panhard bar is to use 4 bar bushings.
 
Ok, I haven't posted inna while so I mise well still up this pot.......LOL

If the front end is "Properly" set up...(???) you don't need to hang all those shock absorbing stabilizers and bars on the axle.
There, hows that ? :eek: "BH":lol:
 
Welcome back thought you left us.But when you do come back your:rofl::welcome: really full of knowledge on this subject.
 
You are asking about the rear panhard bar. No, a shock would not do the trick as it would extend out too easily to keep the rear centered. Actually, a watts linkage is a little better (that is the one with two short bars terminating in a bellcrank in the middle) but they are a little hard to fit to the traditional T and not as pretty as a simple panhard bar, so most of us just go with the panhard.

A shock actually works pretty well as a dampener though on the front tie rod and has cured many a car that had death wobble.

Don
 
i had a steering stabilizer on my old blazer.. it had 35inch mud tires on it.. the steering stabilizer, basicly absorbs the steering deflection.. With the big tires on my blazer without the stabilizer shock, i would get a bad steering wobble, its like your tires were out of balance, but it could and did jerk the steering wheel out of my hand when it would do it, so it was coming from the steering... i added the stabilizer shock on the steering and it fixed it completely..


on a panhard bar/rod you cant have it acting like a shock. a panhard bar locates or centers the rearend in the chasis, if the rear floats or moves it would actualy make the car steer to the left or right..

now there is a system for the rearend called a wishbone locator and ive seen small shocks used on those.. and there is another setup sprintcars use that resembles a panhard bar but its something totaly different, i forget the name of it..
 
Sprints and Midgets use a lateral locator system on the rear called a Jacobs Ladder or just a Jacobs.

Its really only to take thrust one way, in a turn to the left, and the true usefulness is that you can vary the height at which it exerts side force on the chassis irrespective of where the back axle is at.

At the front, though, is our old friend the Panhard bar, tried and true.
 
So I was showing a buddy pics of my T... I have 3/8" metal that's about 3" wide and about 5 1/2" tall with a 5/8" hole welded to the rear end.. Its welded vertical like most that I have seen, he is telling me that I should brace that piece similar to how the rear shock mount is mounted. He said that it isnt safe because it will twist on me and I should at least double it up...

Is that true or ???? Am I making sense or do I need to find pics?
 
dovehunter79 said:
So I was showing a buddy pics of my T... I have 3/8" metal that's about 3" wide and about 5 1/2" tall with a 5/8" hole welded to the rear end.. Its welded vertical like most that I have seen, he is telling me that I should brace that piece similar to how the rear shock mount is mounted. He said that it isnt safe because it will twist on me and I should at least double it up...

Is that true or ???? Am I making sense or do I need to find pics?[/quote

dovehunter79,

If I'm reading this right, you have a single bracket standing up on the axle tube. This puts the bolt in a bending load versus two brackets and a double shear load. I know that a lot of people do run single brackets and it is OK as long as you have it gusseted and a big enough bolt. A 5/8 dia. bolt should be fine. Panhard bars take a lot of load when turning. They need to have good articulation in all axis at one end to prevent binding. I just got through going through this with a friend in Little Rock today. He has a'40 Ford coupe and broke the panhard last Thursday. They got it rewelded and added a gusset and sent me the repair pictures. I just sent him the bad news that it is binding so bad that it will break again right at the end of the gusset. I think he'll get a new system rather then chance a crash. I am attaching several pictures of a 4 bar I did prior leaving Texas several years ago. Notice that I used a poly bushing at the drivers side. Due to packaging restraints, I bent it and tucked it in next to the drivers side rear shock. As I bent it, I used 1.25" OD 4130 tube with a .125 wall thickness to resist flexing in the bend plane. The other end is a rodend bearing that allows complete freedom in articulation. And yes, I did add a second bracket at the rodend so as to put it in double shear. Poly type bushings are usually very stiff and really only work when rotating around their center axis. They actually dampen road vibration very little and if that's what you are after then you are better served using rubber. Although this is a truck suspension,I just wanted to give you an example to think about. If you have room then you should always make the bars as long as possible and put it low. Hope this will help you out.

George

P5290166_0041.jpg


P5280162_0040.jpg


P5280161_0039.jpg
Click to expand...
 
LumenAl,

Thanks for the comments. I did need to add one more thought. When using single brackets that take high loading I have always worried ablout the bolt hole elongating due to bolt flex. If I have to use a single bracket then I weld a bushing to that bracket. This thickens the material around the bolt and better resist any hole wear. You'll see that I like bushings and such as time goes on.

George
 
Well I see a big no no there with the way you mounted that rear Panhard Rod... Both mounting bolts need to be square with each other, as things will for sure, be in a bind, with that one angled mount... Plus, now that also puts side pressure on a Heim Joint, another No No, so if both ends were square with other, there would not be any real amount of side stress... Something to think about.... to test it, just unhook one end (Heim end) and see how it really works...
 
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