I don't know if this is an inherent design flaw, incorrect installation by the previous owner, or bad luck but take the info and do with it what you will. For the record, ive had nothing but good experiences with blox in the past. I already ordered a new trac bar so im not fishing for a free part either. just thought that this was worth sharing if for no other reason than to let others see it.

This broke over a low speed pot hole. good thing the car wasn't going fast!



First, the bracket on the pass side broke in half by the top bolt. Then, the lower two bolts took a shock load and stripped out the holes in the frame they mount to and let go. The bar dropped to the ground on that side of the car. I'm having to drill through the frame and run long bolts and new welded on nuts in the place of the short m10 bolts, since the stock nuts on the inside the frame are obliterated and the welds torn off.



This caused the bar to twist, which snapped the tube steel center section completely off the driver side mount! Then that side hit the ground too.

 

That didnt all happen at once bud. The deformed metal is rusted on the tow hook holes, thats been like that a long time.

 

That's not a tow hook hole. thats were the bar is welded to the bracket

 

a small sliver of the bar is still on there, it is twisted and torn off of the rest of the bar.\


EDIT: of course, it COULD have happend in a couple of stages. I obviously wasn't under the hood watching it come apart.

 

I just get the feeling that most these new school model traction bars are poorly designed. What happened to the old school design of jim fab? Glad this wasn't more catastrophic

 

How old is that thing? It's all rusty!

 

No idea. Bought the car with it on there. Weird because the rest of the car has zero rust.

 

I thought Blox only made them for the eg/dc?

Either way, ouch.

 

Maybe it was ghetto rigged to fit and that's why is looks like this?

 

I have had a Place Racing one fail similarly - I just took it off and rewelded every seam and it was good to go for thousands of miles. I bought the car with it already installed as well but I think the issue is the bolts loosen up and allow motion to help with shearing the welds. The reason I come to this conclusion is that the other sides bolts were tight while the side that broke was loose. My stock nuts didn't strip like yours though. Makes you wonder if your bolts were over tightened.

 

Well this time when i reinstalled the new one, not only did i bolt it, i welded the damn bracket to the frame of the car in a couple spots per side. If i need to change it later it's no biggie to grind the weld off. Extra peace of mind.