Posted by Clint Dixon [108.162.216.103] on Saturday, March 18, 2017 at 09:27:02 :
In Reply to: 1950 Powerwagon rear spring question posted by Peter Ippolito [108.162.238.56] on Friday, March 17, 2017 at 10:27:45 :
Below is a link for some more folks talking about the Truxmore suspension. First, let me say I think you have a very rare aftermarket kit that is worth keeping and restoring. I have never seen a Power-Wagon outfitted with one of these.
Just some observations that are somewhat speculative since I am looking only at your images and those at the link below:
I agree with the general consensus of others that these are not torsion bars. From the images, it appears that the "adjustments" at either end are very close in design to the ends of drag links found on our trucks. It appears that the ends of the Truxmore bars fit over some sort of balls similar to those on the steering arms of our trucks and the "adjustments" are only designed as a means to clamp the bars to these balls. These adjustable clamp ends over balls appear to be providing a slight pivoting effect at either end of the bars - again just like our stock drag links.
I would really like to see this setup in person to get a better feel for the details. From the shackle arrangement, it looks like these bars are not really "traction bars" either. Having built custom traction bars back in my younger days to stop pinion snapping axle wrap during hard four-wheeling with 40-inch tall mudder tires, I can say that traction bars with pivots at either end will only arrest axle wrap if the leading end of your leaf springs are hard mounted as they came on the Power-wagon when it left the factory. But, traction bars applied as I described can drastically restrict axle articulation and suspension travel and will actually force a sort of "reverse axle wrap" situation under full suspension compression.
I tend to agree with the discussion in the link below that what the Truxmore kit adds to the truck is actually "trailing arms". This would explain the addition of the second set of shackles at the leading end of the leaf springs. These additional shackles will now allow the leaf springs to function more like coil springs.
The fact that they positioned the leading shackles "upside down" if you will from those at the trailing end of the leaf springs, supports the theory of trailing arms. If they had positioned them right-side-up (like those at the trailing end), the whole spring pack and shackle rectangular arrangement could rack and form a trapezoid with the application of added payload. Basically you would get suspension "travel" with no spring compression - not a good thing. So the opposing orientations of the shackles makes perfect sense to me. I think it really has nothing to do with ride height, but rather working geometry.
This whole arrangement may prove to provide better off-road axle articulation while still allowing the transport of heavy payloads.
Junior
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