Rear Track Bar snapped? Or was it cut?

[jtstj]

My Daughter has a 2011 Ram 1500 and it has a 6" lift on it. She wasnt 4 wheeling or anything, just driving around town, parks her truck in her work parking lot, then gets goes out with her friends for a hike ( trails near by). When she gets back she jumps in her truck and starts driving home. Suddenly she gets a very bad death wobble only at around 45MPH. She brings the truck by and I hop in it to help her figure out whats wrong. To make a long story short, we discovered her rear track bar is broken but it is such a clean break it almost appears that it was cut. Take a look at the attached pic and please let me know your thoughts. Was this thing cut or is this how a track bar snaps? She just purchased this truck used and has only had it about a month. She has never taken it 4 wheeling. Its hard to tell what brand of lift it has but I would have thought a lift of this size would need an adjustable track bar. This bar is solid with no adjustment.

Thanks all I appreciate your opinions!

 

[OC455]

Looks like it snapped...

 

[ThunderMug95]

Think it snapped. Looks like oem. There may be a relo bracket from the lift instead of the adj track bar. Just go on Amazon and get a Freedom Offroad adj bar for like $160.

 

[Lyle Longboat]

Snapped, only the end links are extended with lift. Track bar stays the same. Grab a hellwig adjustable.

 

[Jeepwalker]

IDK ...can you see any saw marks? To me, the joint looks way too squared off and perfect to 'snapped'. You think it'd be cracked too. Or somewhat torn at least in one spot. Hard to say in the pics. I guess it's academic at this point.

Either way, looks like a super-easy weld job, which would get her back on the road tomorrow. If it's the original one, you might need to add in a bit of length to accomodate for the lift. Maybe the modifier or a worker intended to cut and weld in a short segment (to acomodate for the lift), and/or they decided to buy one for a 6" lift, but then forgot to come back to it. I could see that happening.

Ultimately you should evaluate if it's a stock link, or aftermarket? And if it's too short or too steep of an angle. Is it the right piece for a 6" lift? Did the installer of the lift make a shortcut on the track bar/Panhard rod? Ideally they should be as parallel with the ground as possible.

If it wasn't done 'right' you might want to get the right hardware or S-shaped rod, so it's as parallel as possible. Good luck.

.

 

[GTyankee]

my thinking is, if it snapped or tore, the cut would not be that even

It also looks like it was done weeks or months ago
It was not cut all the way through, so the break was delayed

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

To me it looked like it was cut, not all the way through then it severed.

 

[jws123]

To me it looked like it was cut, not all the way through then it severed.

This because part of it is shiny like it just broke off the other half looks like it was cut a while back and rusted a little my opinion for sure had to be some cutting involved either way I dont see how it could just snap clean like that.

 

[Wild one]

They've been known to break,especially if you lift the truck and throw big tires on it.The leverage points are amplified with a lift. Looks like it started to break awhile ago,and was flexing at the break point,as that would explain the flattened part of the break.

 

[gofishn]

Snapped. Due to Lift.
Started, awhile ago, then finally gave up the Ghost.

 

[Socalramfan]

I can see the teeth marks from the cut from here. Too clean of a line to simply ‘snap’.

Granted, it may have been weakend from a cut, and then snapped from stress,

 

[Docwagon1776]

Snapped. Look at the texture in the cut. It's been cracked for awhile, note the lip at the bottom where it's deformed from the two surfaces hammering in to each other as it flexed. It finally flexed one too many flexes and let go the rest of the way.

Cut would be smoother on the face of the cut if a grinder or saw was used, and you'd see more regular tool marks, but the hammered edge is the main giveaway.

 

[indept]

^^^^THIS^^^^
It would be smoother if it was cut and shinier too. If it was cut before it would've taken a while to rust and you think she'd have had death wobble before this.

 

[G-Ride990]

Get us a closer, better focused picture of the part where it broke, like an end on shot. Looks like maybe there are teeth marks in the thing from a saw. Not quite sure though.

I don't see any evidence of a stress induced failure of the parent material, leads me to believe that it was cut.

I did swap my OEM bar for a Core 4x4 bar and once I did the swap, it was obvious my OEM bar was bent. I would think that a factory bar failure would look different though.

 

[danielmid]

Looks like a break to me, but not sure it matters in the end, needs a new bar and here's your chance to jump to a better bar. Core 4x4, Freedom Offroad, Clayton all make bolt in better bars.

 

[jtstj]

Thank you for all the advice, opinions and suggestions! Much appreciated! Im leaning on the side of a break or snap. We got it off of the truck and took a closer look at it. If anything it may have been cut half way then the stress of it finished off later. There is rust on half of the circle and a clean material break on the other half. Very Odd. She just purchased this truck so I think the break in the rusted part happened a while ago and it was just a matter of time before the whole thing went. The shiny half in the pics is a material break, you can see that upon close inspection. If someone cut the rusted half I would think it would all be uneven on the other side due to blade thickness. Im going with snap, but it really doesnt matter now I guess, What matters now is getting a replacement. Thank you all again! Oh and BTW she texted me tonight that she ordered the Core 4x4 adjustable bar.

John

 

[Dusty]

I have never seen tubular steel "snap" so straight and cleanly in my life!

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33-gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build Date: 3 June 2018. Now at 88137 miles.

 

[greg mayrhofer]

looking close that is a cut you can see the saw teeth marks wow

 

[Danny Phillips]

Looks cut to me.

 

[2Tallguy]

My Daughter has a 2011 Ram 1500 and it has a 6" lift on it. She wasnt 4 wheeling or anything, just driving around town, parks her truck in her work parking lot, then gets goes out with her friends for a hike ( trails near by). When she gets back she jumps in her truck and starts driving home. Suddenly she gets a very bad death wobble only at around 45MPH. She brings the truck by and I hop in it to help her figure out whats wrong. To make a long story short, we discovered her rear track bar is broken but it is such a clean break it almost appears that it was cut. Take a look at the attached pic and please let me know your thoughts. Was this thing cut or is this how a track bar snaps? She just purchased this truck used and has only had it about a month. She has never taken it 4 wheeling. Its hard to tell what brand of lift it has but I would have thought a lift of this size would need an adjustable track bar. This bar is solid with no adjustment. View attachment 519291View attachment 519292

Thanks all I appreciate your opinions!

The 6" lift exerted stress that the engineers didn't design it for. It'll happen again.