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slider_buck
Dodge Dakota
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5/11/2002
00:02:12
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 Subject: slide-a-link bars
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i just ordered a set of comp. engineering slide-a-link traction bars from mancini racing. does anyone else have these? anyone have any problems or suggestions for installation? any help would be greatly appreciated.
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DaveR
Dodge Dakota
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5/11/2002
09:34:42
| RE: slide-a-link bars
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I have them... installation problems, hehe. Don't get me wrong, I love them and don't know what i ever did without them but they were an absolute bitch to install. It took almost 3 days to get them in. Of course i didn't know about this board so I had noone to ask questions of.
First off, get a freind to help you. There are some parts to this that it is just too hard to do alone. This was a project that made me go buy a compressor and some air tools. Basicly the tools that make this easier would be an impact gun, rotory grinder, air hammer, saw-zal, and an enerpack or a big gear puller.
Since my old U-bolts were rusted and new ones were supplyed I cut mine off. Much faster then trying to unfreeze a nut. The saw-zal was used to get into the tight place between the shackle and the spring eye becuase that bolt/nut was frozen. Just replaced the bolt with a grade 8 from the hardware store. You have to somehow get the rubber bushings out of the eyelets t put in the new aluminum ones. For this I used a rented gear puller, a scrap of round aluminum, and an impact gun to push the guts out of it. It left the sleave so the supplied bushings wouldn't fit. Good thing I have some machine tools at home, so I turned the bushing down a few thousanths and it fit great. For this an enerpack would have probobly been a lot easier.So, the last really hard part is bending the forward hanger to fit the spring eye with the new bracket on it. You will need to get about an 1/8" more room out of that hanger and it isn't easy by any means. This makes it really hard to line up the holes because of how tight it is.
Now that is not all of the install, just tha major hangups I can recall. If you wnat to know anymore ask here or email. I can also put some pics up of it completed if you want.
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slider_buck
Dodge Dakota
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5/11/2002
21:04:57
| RE: slide-a-link bars
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thanks alot for the info. i figured it was going to be a tough job, hopefully i have everything to get it done. i already have a compressor and many air tools.
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DaveR
Dodge Dakota
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5/12/2002
14:23:02
| RE: slide-a-link bars
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When you tear into the suspension, if you run into any snags just post them and I will probobly see them, or hit me with an email. This is one of those projects that I think hovers in the relm of a professional shop.
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slider_buck
Dodge Dakota
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5/20/2002
23:58:21
| RE: slide-a-link bars
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just finished my traction bars. boy was that a job. i think the toughest part had to be getting the stock bushings out, man them things are strong. i finally ended up drilling the heck out of the bushing until i had enough slack in it to beat the heck out of it with a hammer an get it out. the bolts on the front of each leaf was frozen up with rust also, had to beat them out with a hammer and then replace them with others. the only other problem was the metal sleeve left behind after i beat out the bushing, just used my reciprocating saw to take care of that. a guy at a local machine shop pressed the aluminum ones in for me, that went very easy and only charged me $5 to do it. after getting them done i figured i would have no problem with full throttle launches now, boy was i wrong. these things did nothing for me. i mashed it from a dead stop and had smoke coming from the tires in first and then into second. i am very disappointed in these. maybe my problem isn't needing tracion bars but better tires. ohh well if nothing else they at least look sweet under there.
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DaveR
Dodge Dakota
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5/21/2002
07:00:51
| RE: slide-a-link bars
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Do you have an open diff? I can't spin the tires when I launch unless it's wet out. Try playing with the adjustment to get about a 1/4" between the bushing and pad on either side with you in the truck. Have to account for the weight being off balance and you do this by backing out the drivers side bar a bit. Good luck. Once you get it hooked up it makes for a good ride. If it's a Gen III dak I wouldn't mind seeing pics to see what they look like on those.
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slider_buck
Dodge Dakota
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5/24/2002
16:29:33
| RE: slide-a-link bars
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i have about 1/4 inch in between each one and it has a differential in the rear end. i don't have any pics of them installed yet but you can check my truck out at www.geocities.com/slider_buck
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DaveR
Dodge Dakota
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5/24/2002
16:55:36
| RE: slide-a-link bars
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You got me side tracked by the T-Max. Have you done anything to it other than stock? I put minuture servos in mine for throttle and forward/reverse change. I also made up a brass brake disc. The max is hands down the best running R/C I have come across. Oh yeah, your dak looks good too :)
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Hersbird
Dodge Dakota
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5/24/2002
20:41:05
| RE: slide-a-link bars
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I've got a really nicely painted black and white Mopar Performance Dodge Ram T-maxx. I can't find my scanned pics for the life of me though, and my scanner no longer works with XP. I thought there were still some pics of it over at MaxxTraxx but they have changed all that stuff around in the last year. It's pretty baet up now but still runs good! I need to dump all the plastic stuff and get stronger metal stuff. I put in the lower gears as my only mod on the t-max, and I gutted the muffler. It needs work now on the shift point now. My brother also has one and that's were the fun is, racing each other. We've hit each other head on at top speed and the trucks lived to tell about it. My ankle didn't fair as good!
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slider_buck
Dodge Dakota
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5/24/2002
22:13:27
| RE: slide-a-link bars
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i haven't done anything to the tmaxx other than remove the baffle. the tmaxx definately takes a beating and keeps on going. i added 80wt gear oil to the shock resevoirs to help with high air. bout ready to get a new body, my dog likes to play with it alittle bit too hard.
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DaveR
Dodge Dakota
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5/24/2002
23:57:48
| RE: slide-a-link bars
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I've got a CVEC on mine as well that I yanked off my GT. If you saw some yahoo on MaxxTraxx talking about a deisel conversion a few months ago, that was me. Got side tracked from it and rediscovered the new head on my bench today. Just need to get it to run.
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