I know people have nothing positive to say about lakewood Traction Action bars.
But I want to know if this setup can allow me to remove the torque arm altogether. It seems by looking at the setup that the bars can support the rear-end in every way that the torque arm does, I just want to know what others think.

 

Tech support from Lakewood just e-mailed me back. I asked about the problems with the Traction Action brackets breaking. They said they had a problem with steel suppliers a while back, but they've gone to another supplier now.

Also, he said that they suggest that the torque arm be removed.

Seriously. They said the bars take care of it.

Any thoughts?

 

They do, if you use traction bars there is no need for a torque arm.

 

Thats good news. that will greatly help with the 3" dual project for clearance.

 

I have heard that you could weld the brackets to the housing and it would be stronger.

Any drawbacks in using this setup without the Torque arm?

 

Not that I can see. other than wanting to run my exhaust where the torque arm currently is. the traction bars really lock the rear end in place.

 

Tried removing torq arm once for ladder bars........Not a good move for launching off line. Went back to torq arm.

 

No, the removal was in addition to the Traction Action bars.
There setup allows for torque arm removal. i left mine on though for good measure.

 

Don't try to hit an autocross or road course using that setup, you'll wheel hop your *** off most likely.

All the mustang guys switch to torque arm setup for road courses because Ford stuck with the 4-link setup. Only took them until '05 to realize what GM realized in '82

 

Why would it wheel hop?

1- In most cases the mustang designs are true torque arm designs unlike our sliding link torque arms.
2- There’s nothing really wrong with the 4 link setup, besides the soft factory bushings that most suspension setups are saddled with.
3- GM originally designed the torque arm setup that was used in the f-bodies for use in an economy car in the early/mid 70’s, it was used in the Vega
4- not sure what you mean by ford realizing what gm did in 82… if you mean the TA setup… well, GM was using it well before that AND ford isn’t using a TA in the ’05, it’s a 3 link, essentially works the same as a 4 link but the 2 upper/middle links are replaced with a single one to give a little more articulation to the suspension. Without the 2 angled upper links they had to add a panhard rod to locate the axle side to side. Both of these mods were also changes that were made by assorted road racers in the fox and SN95 mustangs…

 

I don't know what setup your thinking of, but the car handles twisties awesome now.
It would take some road race tires to keep the traction on the ground, but I could rip it around a road course no problem, with no wheel hop.

 

From what I understand, you lose all the anti-dive when you remove the TA.

1 - OK
2 - Why do most Mustang road racers switch to a 3-link setup if their class allows it then? Why not just build arms with heim joints that will locate the suspension better? I don't even mention poly because it would just bind up anyway.
3 - I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the info.
4 - I was talking about a 3-link setup.

 

and suspension bind... the Traction Action bars alter the geometry of the rear suspension, leaving the torque arm on, you effectively have 2 suspension systems under your car. remove one or the other, and i bet it handles 10x better.

 

I bought a set of these Lakewood traction bars. I might be mistaken, and I will have to read over them again, but I do not recall the instructions calling for removal of the TQ arm. But like I said I haven't read them in like 6 months and will have to reveiw them.

I have not installed mine yet as the car is in the shop for the body work, and this project is taking for ever. But this is somthing for me to look into, because I am NOT removing the TQ arm at all.

I will sell these lakewoods and build my own shorter adjustable TQ arm setup before I get rid of the TQ arm setup.

Cruz'N Bruz'R, did you see a drastic improvement in off the line traction with the Lakewoods?