Traction Bars

never seen bars bent that severely. Maybe the bars were too long & bent purposely in order to fit brackets that were already in place.

Z. Ray

 

i think this Shelby use to go offroading..hahaha, the front floor frame supports are totally smashed in..I mean really bad to a point of them being replaced. So yes the rear traction bars are badly bent, because of that they have been removed . This Shelby has been sitting since 1980. I was told they were dealer installed. Who knows...not that it matters since they have been removed. If the same traction bars are still available I will be reinstalling a new set. I left the front welded plated on the car just for that reason.

Jim

 

The first picture you see the assembly line Traction Master lower plate.It has the distinct shape and what looks like 3 legs. The color is copper.The angle iron is the extra reinforement used on 66 Shelby's .If it doesn't have the reinforcement a red flag should go up. Shelby stop using traction bars at the end of the 66 model year. The 67-70 style looks similiar to the picture but the 66 uses narrower U bolts.So the 67-70 unit has a wider spacing on the brkt. The assemblyline traction bars have a M-1 cast in the end.

 

Bob,
Does the rear plate for 67 Traction Masters have 3 bolt
attachment holes like the 66 type?
Can't look at my 67 now as it is in sweden.
Thanks,
Texas Swede

 

Shelby traction bars that get bent like the ones in the picture; is generally
the result of "side stepping" the clutch with a lot of R's. Don't ask me how
I know.
shlby66

 

Bo, the 67 style TM bottom plate will look exactly like my posted picture of the 66 plate with the exception that the bolt pattern is wider for the 67 style U bolts.

 

Tommy, can you please post a pic or two of your rear brackets? When I bought 6S1757 in 1987 it had the same rear brackets welded directly to the spring plate and had the same very rough edges you describe. I figured the original brackets broke while racing in the early 70's so when I restored it I replaced the welded brackets with a set of NOS original bolt-on ones.

I find it very interesting that two cars so close together appear to have the same setup. Is it possible there was a shortage of rear brackets during this time and Shelby American's quick fix was to weld on some rear brackets so production wouldn't be interrupted? Any other 66 owners with cars in the 1700's that can add to this??

 

1966 Shelby underride bars are supposed to be straight.

 

do you mean the tubes are bent, or are they mounted at an angle relative to the ground?

Z. Ray

 

I believe hard driving & racing would cause the bars to bend. And after all, these cars were meant to be driven hard and many were raced.

I have some pics of my car taken by the third owner after he bought it in 1972. In the early pics both bars are straight. He soon started autocrossing it then converted it to a full spec B/P race car in 1973 and after that you can see one of the bars is bent. It was that way when I bought it. I'll try to post some pics if I can find them.

 

you would have to think the rear end/axle location goes to hell when the bars are bent.

Z. Ray

 

Thanks for the pics Tommy, those look like a later style TM bracket. Dave

 

When i bought my 67 GT500, it had brackets for the bars but no bars.
The strange thing is that the brackets are installed opposite from how TM brackets are-I'm assuming they were some cheese ball aftermarket bars. The rear bracket clamps parallel with the leaf spring and has a piece bent 90 degrees off it with a hole. The front was attached with 4 bolts into the floor pan next to the frame rail. It looks like there may have been a rubber snubber attached there.

Has anyone seen anything like this before?
I'll try to post some pics of them in the next couple days.

 

almost sounds like the owner didnt have a torch to weld the front mount plates to the car so he improvized and bolted it to the body and stuck rubber wedges between them to cut back on vibration and noise.
jim

 

glad I found this thread..tell you what ..our car 1902 has two brackets welded to the spring plate that our bars are bolted to..we thought the shop who worked on our car did it..realy slopping welding of these "ear tabs"

Jimmy

 

My car 6S1431, has the "cast iron" brackets. What color are they supposed to be? Are the actual traction bars black? Bronze? Rust? (At least on my car they were, but them of course everything on my car seemed to be some variation of rust)