Sway bar Kit

hiball3985 · 2014-01-24 00:33

Thanks Lorne, I was just curious how you did it. I'm sure the bar will help you and a panard would be nice, I know it made a difference on my Mustang.

LAUDY57 · 2014-01-27 19:15

Finally got to go for a ride today with both bars on and it does feel better for sure. After adding rect tube pieces to the end of the frame rails to add bracing (mock-up on pg5) for my tilt hinges on the front and removing the rad support, I spread the bar ends about 3/8 on each side to clear the frame more and then covered all the things with a sheet metal piece. Like Jim, moving the bar up about 1 ½ has made it less prominent and gives more ground/curb clearance.

LAUDY57 · 2014-01-27 19:20

For the rear bar I angled the mounts on a more forward angle so the bar is about ½ away from the brake hose, I didn't want to make a raising bracket for the brake line junction and I just bent the brake line clips out more so the line clears the new u-bolt. This puts the front end of the bar 1 1/8 from the leaf spring bump bracket and for info there is 1 ¾ between the bar u-bolt and the axle u-bolt. It looks like my inner fender well lip has been trimmed so it was easy to mount the linkage bracket with the one bolt and, like Jim, I tacked the bracket to the frame to eliminate rotation. Until I can come up with something better I used an acorn nut made into a wing nut so I can reach around and release the side that might need to be jacked in case of a flat. I put a locking tab on the bolt head and a safety clip for the nut. I used the spacer from the front bar linkage to give length I can use to adjust the rubber compression as time goes on, the wing nut thread bottoms out when the safety clip holes line up and puts enough force on the rubbers.

RICH MUISE · 2014-01-27 19:34

Outstanding job Lorne...obviously alot of thought went into the projects. You're front end is lower than I had thought..see why you had a problem with speed bumps and the like.

hiball3985 · 2014-01-27 21:21

Looks good Lorne. I'd love to have a press like that. I can see why you need the skid plate that isn't much clearance. I like the idea of making the link removable, I'll try something like that. My rear frame bracket mounts a little further back since I put the bar on the top of the axle while yours is a little forward. I tacked mine vertically thinking that would be the direction of load. I started to take pictures when I did mine but only got one and the camera battery went dead, I hate battery powered anything

While I was under there doing my bar I saw that the damn Chinese repo bushing I put in the spring front eye have the rubber collapsed already, I've only put 500-600 miles on them

. Now I'm searching for a polyurethane one I can use..

LAUDY57 · 2014-01-27 23:06

Thanks, it is low although the gravel is humped up a bit in the pic to make it look worse. That's not good news with your spring bushing Jim, I only have about 100 mi on mine, I hope they don't go the same way.

hiball3985 · 2014-01-28 15:18

Quote from: LAUDY57 on 2014-01-27 23:06
Thanks, it is low although the gravel is humped up a bit in the pic to make it look worse. That's not good news with your spring bushing Jim, I only have about 100 mi on mine, I hope they don't go the same way.

I managed to get some what of picture, hope it doesn't happen to you too.

LAUDY57 · 2014-01-28 15:59

Sorry to see that, those are really lunched.

hiball3985 · 2014-01-28 17:45

Quote from: LAUDY57 on 2014-01-28 15:59
Sorry to see that, those are really lunched.

It's a sad state of affairs with this repo stuff. I've seen OEM ones with over 100,000 miles that look better then these, in fact the ones I took out looked better.
I ordered some polyurethane ones that I'm going to experiment with, probably have to do a little modifying..

Ecode70D · 2014-01-29 18:08

Quote from: hiball3985 on 2014-01-28 17:45
It's a sad state of affairs with this repo stuff. I've seen OEM ones with over 100,000 miles that look better then these, in fact the ones I took out looked better.
I ordered some polyurethane ones that I'm going to experiment with, probably have to do a little modifying..

Jim
I have used some polyurethane spring bushings on a few of my other cars and found that some of them tend to bind up after a few years of use making for a very stiff ride. I have tried grease and anti seize and they also dried out after a period of time. It could be a matter of who makes them. But they never wore out like the ones in your picture. That's horrible. Jay

hiball3985 · 2014-01-29 18:15

Jay,
The ones I plan on using have a metal inner sleeve and it should pivot on that and the bolt hopefully. I can't imagine the front of the rear spring pivots that much anyways, it should just be a small amount. Time will tell I guess.

robhaerr · 2014-01-29 20:52

So...does it drive like a slot car?

RICH MUISE · 2014-01-29 21:07

Jim..where did you get those bushings from? Want to make sure I order from someplace else.

hiball3985 · 2014-01-29 21:36

Quote from: robhaerr on 2014-01-29 20:52
So...does it drive like a slot car?

I don't know that I would call it a slot car. The handling is a large improvement but pushing it through the corners, lets say a right hand curve, and powering out from the apex I can pull the right rear off the ground and it breaks loose, I haven spun it out yet. That's how I test it on a posted 35 mph curve I take at 65 mph up in the canyon. Wider tires might help I'm only running 215's.

hiball3985 · 2014-01-29 21:40

Quote from: RICH MUISE on 2014-01-29 21:07
Jim..where did you get those bushings from? Want to make sure I order from someplace else.

Rich, I really don't recall if I got them from Mac's or some auto parts store, it was last year and I don't keep records of small parts and my memory is like Swiss cheese at times. I'll bet there aren't many companies that make them, so they probably all come out of the same wok..

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Sway bar Kit