Which way do the rear brackets go? The plate that mounts to the rear has ears to hold the bars, the ears are offset on the bracket,does the offset face the wheel or the center of the car.

 

The second picture has them the right way.

 

The first picture used a LFP bracket kit and the second picture used a JDM bracket kit.

Notice the "twist" of the bar in the second pic. Those front brackets in the second pic were designed by Rancho for use on GenI lightnings.

I have seen both sets of bars in person at the JDM day at Englishtown and the first picture's brackets are way better.

Just my .02

G

 

JDM bracket:

 

The brackets in the first picture are on backwards. The bar ears should be towards the inside of the truck, not towards the wheel. Any brand of front bracket (JDM, LFP, JLP) still locates the bar the same distance away from the frame, and for the bar to be straight in line with the front and rear brackets, the rear of the bar needs tp be under the inside most U bolt on the rear end. Hope this helps.

 

That is my truck in the second pic.I took care of that this week with these


And of course must have these

 

Not too sure about that.

The bars in the first picture are straight inline with the front bracket and located on the frame properly. There was a white lightning at the JDM day with the chrome bars and these brackets that I took a really good look at, and out of all the brackets available, the ones he had were the best quality and fit.

The problem with the Rancho style brackets is that they were intended for GenI use and they have a curve to them which makes the bars twist, with the LFP brackets this twist doesnt happen and the bars are located straight to the frame. I have talked to Mark@LFP about these bars and his updated and improved bracket kits and he told me that he had the front brackets made to contact the frame better than the Rancho front GenI brackets.

I would worry more about dragging them on speedbumps.

G

 

This is the kind of clearance you don't want...

 

Here's Mine LFP Bars:

 

Yep, I'm well aware of all that. I've gotten bars and brackets from both LFP and JLP, and have used the Rancho brackets as well. They all require the rear bar mount to be on the inside of the U bolt assy. You can install them wrong, as evident of that first picture, and not really see any side effects. But the proper geometry requires them to be inboard.

 

The bars and brackets in the second pic (which is Vinnie's truck) are the exact bars and brackets that I sold to Vinnie. I had bought them from JDM and installed them myself on my Lightning. I know the rear brackets were mounted correctly because I tried to mount them the other way and they didn't line up with the front bracket in a straight line.

Tim

 

Not to thread hijack but how well do traction bars work on the street?

 

in my experience with the ranchos,, they merely help keep me from getting sideways, and are a tad better as far as wheel hop is concerned.

~Toast