Question about SSM lift bars

[skiwesser]

I can get some southside machine lift bars for $50

I've heard they hook good but are tough on the tourqe boxes &

mine are not welded. Is this so? Will they hook better than the

stock lowers on the street W/street tires (mine does'nt hook at

all now with 3.73's & pepboy tires).

Thanks

[tireburner163]

1) they hook like crazy

2) they will destory your torque boxes


They're alright if you can deal with the clunking and the harsness due to them having no bushings.

I wouldn't even consider running them without first having Battle Boxes.

[RoadWarrior]

Ya ive heard the same thing. I know a friend whom is going to be running a set. Ill let you know how they work but i would DEFINATELY do something to upgrade your torque boxes.

[GhOsT6_9]

I'm running a set now. Haven't had any problems with torque boxes as of yet, but I do plan on welding them up this summer and over next winter install a pair up Battle Boxes (upper and lower). But as of right now there has been no visible damage done to the torque boxes.

[420nitro]

South side bars and battle boxes = old school suspention but still works GREAT!!!!!
I have yet been convinced to even remove mine...because da car still hooks hard!
My .02's

[skiwesser]

Those battle boxes look like a pain to install (especialy the

uppers) and I don't weld or really know anyone who does.

I read an article about the upper install and I bet a shop would

charge out the butt to do it, if I could find somone who could.

What if I just got the seams on the lower mounts welded?

[420nitro]

Originally posted by skiwesser
Those battle boxes look like a pain to install (especialy the

uppers) and I don't weld or really know anyone who does.

I read an article about the upper install and I bet a shop would

charge out the butt to do it, if I could find somone who could.

What if I just got the seams on the lower mounts welded?

As goes for the uppers....I would just put on like the motorsport heady duty ones or just get ones that don't have solid joints.
For the lowers....it took me no bull-shit 15 mins to install!!!!!! I only had to remove the nut for the lower control arm....that is in the front. The arm never came off. Then remove the seat ans drill the holes from the passenger carparment for the top plate. It's about as easy as it gets!!!!
The factory torque boxes are somewhat strong...ok to a point...but as soon as you start welding in there .....they only get weaker due to the heat from the welder!!!! I had mine welded 3x's. Everytime it just got worse. I was looking at getting a ladder bar set-up on my car until "Wild Rides" came out with thier "battle boxes". It was like a god sent. Just buy the battle boxes for the lowers and use soft type of bushing on the uppers like mentioned before. You can even use the ones from like Steeda, Holcomb,etc.
My.02's

[skiwesser]

Hey 420nitro thanks for your advice.
Did you weld the battle boxes in or just bolt 'em in?

[420nitro]

Originally posted by skiwesser
Hey 420nitro thanks for your advice.
Did you weld the battle boxes in or just bolt 'em in?

I bolted mine in. Then when I had the cage put in, I had them install an addtional bar to the top of each plate of the battle boxes. Never welded the battle boxes to nothing but the cage. So in an essence the control arm will need to now rip out the entire cage instead of just the battle boxes or torque box.
So you can say mine are fixed for now.

[skiwesser]

Do they help if you just bolt them in?

[420nitro]

Originally posted by skiwesser
Do they help if you just bolt them in?

yes

If this is for a street car...I highly suggest you go with a different lower control arm. As mentioned before, there are NO BUSHINGS in these lift bars. They are very rigid. Yes, they help you hook up very well. But they completely rip your torque boxes apart. And no the factory torque boxes are anything but strong. They look like they were made out of metal as thick as a tin can...no joke. And when you go to weld on them, depending on the type of welder you use...the metal is so thin that you can burn right through it very easily. Just welding up the lower seams in the boxes will not cut it. Mine ripped all over the place from driving around on the street...going over speed bumps...in & out of driveways...and worse of all..launching at the track at 6,000rpms on slicks. When I repaired my torque boxes years ago...there were no battle boxes around. MM&FF had an article on how to rebuild your torque boxes though...using three brackets on each box to help strengthen them up. I went a step further and made a 4th bracket for each side...and welded everything in. I ran the lift bars for another couple of weeks with no problems. But got rid of them asap. I reinstalled the stock lower control arms. Then bought some Lakewood traction bars. I've actually turned my best 60ft. time with my Lakewoods. I think it was a 1.64.

If you do end up welding the torque boxes, make sure you have another person inside the car with the bottom of the back seat removed...with a wet towel handy. You don't want to start a fire inside your car!

[420nitro]

Originally posted by Simi Stang
If this is for a street car...I highly suggest you go with a different lower control arm. As mentioned before, there are NO BUSHINGS in these lift bars. They are very rigid. Yes, they help you hook up very well. But they completely rip your torque boxes apart. And no the factory torque boxes are anything but strong. They look like they were made out of metal as thick as a tin can...no joke. And when you go to weld on them, depending on the type of welder you use...the metal is so thin that you can burn right through it very easily. Just welding up the lower seams in the boxes will not cut it. Mine ripped all over the place from driving around on the street...going over speed bumps...in & out of driveways...and worse of all..launching at the track at 6,000rpms on slicks. When I repaired my torque boxes years ago...there were no battle boxes around. MM&FF had an article on how to rebuild your torque boxes though...using three brackets on each box to help strengthen them up. I went a step further and made a 4th bracket for each side...and welded everything in. I ran the lift bars for another couple of weeks with no problems. But got rid of them asap. I reinstalled the stock lower control arms. Then bought some Lakewood traction bars. I've actually turned my best 60ft. time with my Lakewoods. I think it was a 1.64.

If you do end up welding the torque boxes, make sure you have another person inside the car with the bottom of the back seat removed...with a wet towel handy. You don't want to start a fire inside your car!

That's right! But once you put on the battle boxes and not just weld up some metal plates there shouldn't be any problems. I have mine on since '95 and I 60' in the 1.4x's on motor and expect to see 1.30x's on spray with the new motor. The SSB's do have bushings by the way...thery are just solid bushings.

"But once you put on the battle boxes and not just weld up some metal plates there shouldn't be any problems."

420nitro-
Well...my "metal plates" that I just welded up, completely reinforced the entire factory torque boxes from every side. And there were no problems after that. When I rebuilt my torque boxes...there were no such thing as battle boxes. I fabricated & welded my own custom boxes up...for free. No need to knock what I did when you have no idea what it looks like...or how much power my torque boxes can handle...so quit speculating my workmanship. My rebuilt boxes handled the...rigid bushings of the SSM bars just fine. But after discovering that Ford built the weakest, thinnest torque boxes on earth...and seeing how the SSM lift bars were ripping my car apart...I realized there is really no reason what so ever, to use them on a STREET DRIVEN Mustang such as mine. And I'm guessing skiwesser's Mustang is a street car as well. Just my opinion 420...cause I'm guessing your stang is a race car...and rarely sees street duty...if at all.

[420nitro]

Originally posted by Simi Stang
"But once you put on the battle boxes and not just weld up some metal plates there shouldn't be any problems."

420nitro-
Well...my "metal plates" that I just welded up, completely reinforced the entire factory torque boxes from every side. And there were no problems after that. When I rebuilt my torque boxes...there were no such thing as battle boxes. I fabricated & welded my own custom boxes up...for free. No need to knock what I did when you have no idea what it looks like...or how much power my torque boxes can handle...so quit speculating my workmanship. My rebuilt boxes handled the...rigid bushings of the SSM bars just fine. But after discovering that Ford built the weakest, thinnest torque boxes on earth...and seeing how the SSM lift bars were ripping my car apart...I realized there is really no reason what so ever, to use them on a STREET DRIVEN Mustang such as mine. And I'm guessing skiwesser's Mustang is a street car as well. Just my opinion 420...cause I'm guessing your stang is a race car...and rarely sees street duty...if at all.

Hold up! I DID NOT by any means rip on your car! I myself had welded up plates to the car at one time! And guess what...it broke too!! It was just welded up to another piece of shit thin metal. All I said was if you just put in the battle boxes and not weld up some plates you shouldn't have any problems. ....
Now did I say weld up some bullshit like simi stang and your car will be junk????NO!!!!
Now if you weld up a box (on a bench)... then bolt it in, under the car...it will be stronger....RIGHT? Of course you still need to install the top plate (under the seat) and you got your self a sound torque box. You can also take it a step further and then weld it to the cage and add a point. I myself had nothing to weld my battle box too!!!!!! My rear end almost fell out!!!!!!! Due to a ripped torque boxes with a strong plate welded to a thin piece of metal ALONG THE FLOOR PLAN!!!!!!!!!!!
As goes for my "RACE CAR" it's a real "STREET CAR" on P-U-M-P
G-A-S with a hyd cam shifting at 6,200 rpms!!! Maybe you were pissed off before or after reading my post but, my post was never intended on knocking your stuff. Some people will have great luck with something and some will not. It doesn't mean that it's no good...it just didn't work out for what ever reason. Shit it could have been user error, bad workmanship, etc. But I find it amusing when a car runs stronger then someone elses, it's automatically labaled as a "RACE CAR" or some other stupid excuse! How funny!
Oh yea by the way it 60't 1.58 with a broken sprag leaving at idle.
Yea. it's a race car...lol

Right on. I guess I misunderstood your post. Seemed like you were knocking what I did with my car. So you actually drive your car on the street?! There's not many street cars that pull 1.4 60ft. times! Guess I was the one assuming now, huh?! No worries 420nitro. I had such a bad experience with the SSM lift bars...that I just try to steer people away from them if their Mustang is driven on the street on a regular basis. But if someone is wanting to go through the work of beefing up their torque boxes...and don't mind the solid bushings on the street...then by all means go for the SSM bars. Cause they do hook damn well!

Peace-

[420nitro]

No problem....the sad part is...I am not even considered all that quick for my area.
Much faster cars roam the streets here! People take there stuff real serious here for some reason! I have seen the same thing in Detroit as well.

Wow...sounds like you have some fast ass cars rolling the streets of Rockford! There's a few fast cars here in my area. But you rarely see them on a street. Mainly just big block Chevelles or Novas that cruise around on Sundays. Of course there are a ton of Corvettes & '99 & up Mustangs running around. But it's difficult to get them to race...that's not why they bought there car. I don't drive my car much during the week...but I drive it alot on the weekends. I haven't gotten in a race on the street in my Mustang in about 6 months. I'm going through withdrawals! Guess it's time to go back to the track.