Pro Form Fab traction bars installed on a lifted diesel pickup

September 9, 2026 Powerhouse Diesel

Pro Form Fab: Why These Suspension Parts Matter on a Diesel Truck

Big power is easy to buy. Putting it to the ground is the hard part.

Every diesel owner learns this the same way. You add a tuner, a turbo, injectors, maybe a set of stacks. Then you hook up to a trailer, roll into the throttle, and the rear axle starts fighting you. The leaf springs wrap up, the tires hop, the driveshaft angle changes under load, and all that torque you paid for turns into wasted motion and worn out parts.

That is the exact problem Pro Form Fab builds around. Their whole catalog exists to control what the suspension does when a 1,000 lb ft truck actually works for a living.

Axle wrap is not cosmetic

When you get on the throttle in a leaf sprung truck, the axle housing tries to rotate against the springs. The springs flex into an S shape, the axle pitches, then it snaps back. That cycle is what you feel as wheel hop.

It costs you more than comfort. Axle wrap chews up leaf packs, kills u joints, loads the driveshaft with shock it was never designed to take, and puts the pinion angle in a different place every time you accelerate. On a tuned truck it happens under normal driving, not just at the track.

Pro Form Fab traction bars and ladder bars stop the housing from rotating in the first place. Their bars are longer than most of what is on the market for a reason. From an engineering standpoint the bar needs to be as close to driveshaft length as possible so the arc it travels matches the arc of the driveshaft. Get that wrong and you bind the suspension. Get it right and the truck stays planted through the whole travel range.

Find your truck:

One fitment note on the 2014 to 2022 Ram: these fit the 3500 with rear leaf springs only. They will not fit the 2500 with rear coils. Bars are cut to match your cab and bed combination, so a Crew Cab Short Bed runs 59 inches and a Crew Cab Long Bed runs 80 inches. On the Chevy and GMC side the lengths run from 65 inches on a Standard Cab Long Bed up to 90 inches on a Crew Cab Long Bed. Fixed length and adjustable versions are both available.

Most kits use the factory u bolts or clamp style brackets at the axle and require drilling the frame brackets. No cutting the frame, no fabrication shop required.

The 4 link upgrade for Super Duty owners

Ford put a radius arm setup under the Super Duty. It works fine at stock height. Once you lift it, the single axis pivot becomes a problem, because the axle cannot travel straight up and down. It twists as it cycles, which is why lifted Super Duty trucks so often ride rough and wander over uneven pavement.

Pro Form Fab 4 link kits replace those radius arms with a two axis pivot at the frame. The axle is free to move vertically instead of fighting the arm. The result is a truck that rides better than it did with the lift alone and steers like it should.

These kits work on stock trucks all the way up to 12 inches of lift and bolt into the existing radius arm frame brackets using the brackets included in the kit. Average install time is 45 to 60 minutes.

The mini cradle version for 2023 and newer trucks is fully bolt on with no welding or cutting, and the cradles are CNC cut so the setup looks as good as it drives.

Long arm kits for lifted Ram

Ram owners hit their own version of the same wall. Once you go past about 4 inches of lift, the factory control arm angles get steep. The axle pitches forward and back as the suspension cycles, the ride gets harsh, and the handling gets strange in a way that is hard to tune out.

The Pro Form Fab long arm upgrade relocates the arms below the frame and rearward to the transmission crossmember. That resets the geometry close to stock angles even at 4 inches of lift, and the lower arms are bent for tire clearance. These bolt on once the OEM control arm brackets come off, using 5/8 inch bolts included in the kit.

Control arms: the part most lifted trucks are missing

If you put a lift or leveling kit on a Ram and left the factory control arms in place, your axle is pulled back in the wheel well and your caster angle is off. That shows up as wandering steering, uneven tire wear, and the forward or rearward axle look that never sits right.

The 2003 to 2009 Ram 2500 and 3500 control arms come as a complete set of four, two upper and two lower, and they also fit 2006 to 2009 Megacab. You size them to your lift: stock height, 2 to 3 inches, 4 to 5 inches, or 6 to 7 inches. They install with your stock hardware in about 60 to 90 minutes. Replace all four together, because mixing new and worn arms puts the geometry back out.

Here is the detail that separates them from cheaper arms. Pro Form Fab uses DOM tubing for the arm and for the sleeve the bolt passes through. A lot of competitors use thin wall rolled pipe for that sleeve, which leaves a seam. Under braking and acceleration that seam pulls apart, creates a sharp edge inside the bushing, and shreds the bushing from the inside out. Seamless heavy wall DOM does not do that. Worn arm bushings are also one of the most common sources of death wobble complaints on these trucks, so this is a fix and a prevention at the same time.

Leveling kits and lift blocks

Not every build needs a full lift. The leveling kits raise the front 1 to 3 inches without touching alignment or ride quality, and the mild height gain means you do not need aftermarket shocks. They are laser cut from quarter inch plate and jig welded to heavy wall tubing.

On the rear, the Super Duty rear lift blocks with integrated bump stop are CNC cut and jig welded, available with or without pinion angle correction, in half inch increments from 2 to 10 inches. Three top holes let you shift the axle forward or rearward in the wheel well, which fixes the forward wheel look a lot of lifted trucks have.

How they are built

The build quality is the reason we stock the line.

Components are computer designed and laser cut from high grade quarter inch steel plate, then jig welded to heavy wall load bearing tubing. Jig welding matters more than most buyers realize. It means every unit comes out of the fixture in the same place, so the bracket holes actually line up with your frame on install day.

The bars use heavy wall DOM tubing instead of heim joints. Heims are noisy, they seize, and they wear out fast. Pro Form Fab runs high density polyurethane bushings, the same ones used in their control arms, and those bushings carry a lifetime warranty against failure.

Every kit ships with detailed step by step install instructions. These are bolt on parts meant to be installed in a home garage with hand tools.

Worth knowing before you order: kits are built to order, and lead times vary by product and finish. Raw ships faster than powder coat. Check the lead time note on the product page before you plan the install weekend.

Who actually needs this

You are a candidate for Pro Form Fab if any of these sound familiar:

You added power and now you get wheel hop when you launch or pull a trailer
You are on your second set of u joints in two years
You lifted a Super Duty and the ride went downhill
Your Ram has more than 4 inches of lift and handles like it is thinking about it
You tow heavy and want the rear end to stay put under load
You are building a truck you plan to keep

Suspension is the piece people skip because it does not show up on a dyno sheet. It is also the piece that decides whether all the other money you spent makes it to the tires.

Shop Pro Form Fab at Powerhouse Diesel

We carry the full lineup: traction bars, ladder bars, 4 link upgrades, long arm kits, tubular control arms, leveling kits, lift blocks and brackets. Ford, Ram and Chevy coverage across a wide range of model years.

If you are not sure which kit fits your year, cab configuration or lift height, call the shop. We work on these trucks every day, so you get an answer from someone who has installed the part instead of someone reading a catalog.

Shop the full Pro Form Fab collection

Filed in: 4 Link, Cummins, Duramax, Lift Kits, Long Arm, Powerstroke, Pro Form Fab, Suspension, Towing, Traction Bars

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