How much does a Sway Bar actually help?
 

I just wanted to know I don't have a front sway bar or a rear sway bar I just wanted to no how much they help.

;) Makes All The Difference In The World. One Of The Best Upgrades You Can Do. ;) John

would you like to stay in your seat on a hard turn? Without feels like you could touch the ground outside the window. With feels like you can take the turn at full speed! I have the ECE front upgrade but I believe a C20 front sway bar is actually an 1/8 bigger! I felt the difference with just a front one, but I'm soon to put a rear one but a different setup. Hope this helps.

I was going to buy the one in this thread http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php3?t=139720 but got one off Ebay instead. The one TRUCKGUY is selling should be 1.25" being its off a 3/4 ton.

Adding the front swaybar really helps eliminating understeer. I would guess adding a rear one in addition would be a huge difference.

when i would take hard turns i would either end up in the door or sittin b!t#h if i didnt have my seat belt on, then i came acrossed a 3/4 ton 2wd that needed to be cut up and hauled off, so for doing that i got my V8 stands and front sway bar. sticks much better now

The old GMC felt like it was draggin the door handles on the pavement in corners, yet both of the Longhorns I've had (both much bigger/heaviey with a higher center of gravity) would go through the hardest of turns and remain flat.

I bet the Longhorns came with a heavier spring rate as well. I've also heard to not install a rear sway bar without having a front bar installed. I would like to install a rear bar on my '67. It has an aluminum fuel cell so I wonder if it will fit? Not to hijack the thread but have any of you guys know if it will fit?

Try a Camero bar it will fit.

on the rear i thought the track bar was a sway bar, is it not? and what camero bar works?
also can some one explain how a track bar or sway bar works? sswj

Huge difference with sway bars!!!

Track Bar
 

The track bar on the trucks w/coil springs really only centers the rearend. As the rear end goes up and down the track bar keeps it centered. Without the track bar the coils would sway and the rear axle could move side to side.

The sway bar should really be called an anti-sway bar. By tying both sides together it works on a torsion-bar theory. Compressing one side(outside in a turn) the anti-sway bar wants to make the inside compress also instead of rebounding(going up). That's the theory and the bigger the bar - the stiffer the anti-sway reaction.

Member back is school - for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.

I'm sure this is as clear as mud now but I don't know how to explain it better.

whitesswj,
The track bar and sway bar are two totally different things.
The track bar (panhard bar) keeps the axle housing from shifting from side to side on coils sprung trucks. The control arms that mount the housing to the truck only locate the axle from front to rear. Coil springs only hold the truck up, the don't do anything to "locate" the rearend. Unlike leaf springs which do both at the same time.

The sway bar (or anti-sway bar) tries to equalize the load of the truck's weight between both sides. So as you drive into a corner and the body tries to roll toward the outside of the turn, the sway bar is using the pulling power of the oppose side (as it tries to lift) to keep the outside from dropping. This works on leaf sping trucks as well as coils spring. It has some limitation to individual wheel travel but on a street driven vehicle you would never notice that. It's the off-roaders that would be concerned there.

A sway bar on the rear with out having one on the front would make for a very loose vehicle. The front would roll and plant the outside tire and the rear would essentually fight with itself trying to keep flat....thus not planting the outside tire and the rear end of the truck would spin out.

actually physics was my game in high school. and newtons therories were too easy for me and i under stand that. what are the contact points on a sway bar, maybe someone with pictures can help to help clear things up even moreso.

thanks moore


sswj

The sway bar mounts parallel to the axle housing with 90 degree bends on each end (purpendicular to the axle) these ends run parallel to the frame rails. Then there are links that reach up to the frame itself. The sway bar is mounted in bushings, so it can rotate, which allows the ends to travel up and down with the suspension. It is when the load is twisting the body to one side that the bar works. When the body rolls to one side the frame gets closer to the axle on that side and farther on the opposite side. The sway bar is cancelling this action (or at least trying to). The link on the low side is pushing that side of the bar down with it but the opposite side wants to go up.......it can't because it is tied to the side that is going down. maening the upward travel of the high side is stopped. This keeps the whole truck level as it turns.

I only put the front sway bars on my truck and it made a huge difference in cornering, I don't drive it all that hard and it is really noticable even at just normal driving, there is 2 90 (actuallymore like 85) degree curves you have to make to go to the gas station I normally use and before the sway it felt like you were riding a boat on the waves taking those corners now it really holds it steady, a really big difference. I would say without hesitation if I bought another old truck and it didn't have sway bars it'd be the first thing I'd do to it, assuming it was actually running already!

so whats the cost of one of these, and is installion tough?

Well I looked for one for several weeks both here and ebay and finally got tired of waiting and ordered one from I believe it was ECE for like $140 or so plus shipping, then since then I've seen no less than a dozen for sale here and on ebay for less than that. As for installation I took my truck in for a buttload of stuff and just had them do that too, new front springs/rear leafs/sway bar/intake/headers/alternator and some other stuff in one big old labor bill at the mechanic.

i picked a bar and brackets from a boneyard for 30 bucks .. bought new bushings, nuts and bolts and thats it ... any chevy or gmc from 67-87 will fit i believe .. only difference in the bars are the thickness ... mines a small 1 1/16

Is that correct-any sway bar from 67-87 will fit?

yep

What year Camaro for the rear anti-sway bar? Anybody know??

its like mid 80s and you have to fab some brackets. i will see if i can find the write up

I am selling one on the parts board off a '71 C-20. I thought it would be thicker since the rear had helper (leaf) springs but it's only 1 incher. LESSON for today:
Don't Assume anything... measure it 'cuz bigger is better :mp:

Gonebad,

Write to NeonLarry. He has a great write up with color pics and everything. I had all the information at one time, but have lost it, and the pics. It was a great write up. As a matter of fact, would like to see it again; how about it Neonlarry?

Check out this old post for more info on rear bar.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...hlight=swaybar

Here is the write up 70 longbed is refering to:
Parts List: IROC rear sway bar
Frame brackets
End links or Energy suspension end links(preferable see below) I got mine from Auto Zone or Pep Boys
sway bar bushings or E/S bushings( I got E/S grease able ones from http://www.suspension.com/)
all the above are available from the Camero unless you use the E/S stuff
You will need to buy/make
2-Heavy Duty 3” U-Bolts( I got these at NAPA)
A piece of flat stock to go on the U-Bolts for the sway bar bushing to mount on ( you’ll see what I mean when you take the Camero bar off their U-Bolt brackets are wider)
Spacers to mount the frame brackets ( the Camero frame is about 2” wider)
4-Grade 8 Bolts for the frame brackets


When putting the bar in I had to bend the brake line brackets out from the axle a little bit so I could get them to clear the U-Bolts. I also had to trim one side of the U-Bolt brackets to allow plenty of clearance between them and the brake lines. Just pop them in a vise and use an angle grinder. The hardest part of the whole install is drilling the hole in the frame for the frame brackets or rather figuring out where to drill them. The way I did this is to bolt the sway bar on the axle and put the Camero end links and frame brackets on the sway bar. With the Sway bar arms parallel with the ground you’ll notice the ends of the bar turn down and the end links angle back a little. You want to mount the frame bracket at that angle. What I did was to hold the spacers up to the frame and line them up with the frame brackets and then clamp them to the frame aand use the spacers themselves as a drill guide and drill the holes( you’ll notice I didn’t say line the holes up with the holes in the frame bracket just the angle) ( the reason for this is that the end links are not necessarily the right length) . Once you have the holes drilled take the frame brackets and the end links off the bar and bolt the frame brackets and spacers to the frame. Then assuming you had the truck jacked up let it down and set the sway bar arms parallel with the ground and measure the distance between the bar eyes and the frame bracket. Then depending on whether your going to use the Camero end links or get some E/S links either adjust the length of the center barrel on the Camero links to fit or go to your local Auto Zone and get a set of links that fit (note ignore the length stated on the package this has nothing or very little to do with the measurement you just took take your ruler with you and measure the actual distance between the mounting points). All that’s left is to bolt on the end links and enjoy.
It defiantly made a difference on mine but I also changed the rear springs and shocks. The PO put new heavy duty rear springs and shocks on the truck(it came with heavy duty springs) only trouble is he used heavy duty front springs. I put some heavy duty 4” drop springs in, they should actually be softer than what was in there but it still corners flatter than before.

Neonlarry,

This is still on my to do list. I need to pull the bed to finish the tank I put in and this would be a good time. Do you still have the spacers, grade 8 bolts and bushing perches you had from the earlier posts. Let me know what you want for them and how to get the money to you.