“Traction Satisfaction”
By Eric Bewley
Installing a Sky Manufacturing Traction Bar
After months and months of struggling with various spring combinations trying to get my SPOA, Spring Over Axle, lifted Samurai to work right, I gave up and started looking for a traction bar that would work for me.
The answer came from hours of ‘surfing the net’ looking at many different methods of controlling spring wrap as well as talking with experience wheelers who have been here before me. I was wanting a traction bar that would eliminate the axle wrap that was plaguing me but that wouldn’t diminish the amount of travel my suspension had.
I approached Sky at Sky Manufacturing about building this ‘wonder bar’ for me and he was ready for the challenge. After a day of collaborating and building, the traction bar was installed and I went home. It wasn’t until the next weekend when I took it out for a trail ride did I realize what a success this was. Now, I could stand on the throttle with no worry of bent springs, unpredictable starts, or forced wheelies while climbing obstacles. Happy was an understatement. I would suggest a traction bar of this type for anyone who has a SPOA configuration. Heck, maybe even spring under! 
Installation of the Traction bar went extremely smooth, all except for my large turbo-style muffler which had to be sacrificed
In this picture one can see all the pieces on the vehicle. The crossmember was bolt on while the axle mount needed to be welded. By having the shackle mount on the front of the bar, movement for the springs collapsing and expanding is taken care of while the triangulated bar itself eliminates the possibility of angular movement when torque is applied.
Contact Sky at skymfg1@aol.com
