Front and rear sway bars

[torqueaddict]

That aspect of my ride seems ok but I havent really driven alot but I realized almost instantly how bad my handling was how hard are sway bars to put on anyway?

[ChallengerHK]

Front bars are easy. Took me about 15 minutes or so (car already in the air, wheels already off).

Rear sway bars are more problematic. The factory frame-hung style requires some kind of reinforcement at the mount to keep from tearing the frame rails. The aftermarket style requires some reinforcement at the end link mounting point for the same reason.

[torqueaddict]

What front sway bars did you go with and did you already have them. How was your ride afterwards

[Bullitt-]

. The factory frame-hung style requires some kind of reinforcement at the mount to keep from tearing the frame rails.

Not the case...factory sway bar mounts with 8-sheet metal bolts straight into the frame..

[ChallengerHK]

Not the case...factory sway bar mounts with 8-sheet metal bolts straight into the frame..

Hey, Wade, thanks for correcting me. What I should have said was "You can mount the rear by bolting it to the frame rails, but if you're a spirited driver it will stress those mounting points too much, and the safe thing to do is to reinforce the mounts."

[Bullitt-]

Hey, Wade, thanks for correcting me. What I should have said was "You can mount the rear by bolting it to the frame rails, but if you're a spirited driver it will stress those mounting points too much, and the safe thing to do is to reinforce the mounts."

Guess all the krazy driving I did as a teenager wasn't spirited enough, all I managed to do was bend the sway bar link bolts. 

[Talkwrench]

Well I bit the bullet and have ordered swaybars. I got the ADDCO ones front and rear, Would have loved the firmfeel rear but the ADDCO ones and the freight was half the price, that means a lot when its got to come to the other side of the world. CAn anyone suggest a better way to mount the ADDCO rear, or modify the mounting anyone done it???
 

[dodj]

CAn anyone suggest a better way to mount the ADDCO rear, or modify the mounting anyone done it???
 

I'm working on a new bracket for my axle mount bar. Sort of a cross between factory and addco. Will post pics if I come up with something workable. Don't bother with the 'through the frame u-bolts', you will tear them out of the frame, at least I did.

[ChallengerHK]

Guess all the krazy driving I did as a teenager wasn't spirited enough, all I managed to do was bend the sway bar link bolts. 

My car never had sway bars until a couple of years ago, but two of my parts cars had the mounting holes for the rear bars oblonged 

[Talkwrench]

What the hell are you doing to tear them out of the chassis    From what I have seen its really not the best solution, it'll be interesting when they get here....

ON the up side my car past inspection today and is now licensed ....

[ChallengerHK]

What the hell are you doing to tear them out of the chassis   

With the stock mount, it's just bolts into sheet metal, so it won't stand up to a lot of stress. At a bare minimum, I'd look at backing those bolts with nuts on the inside of the rails.

[wiging19]

I'm working on a new bracket for my axle mount bar. Sort of a cross between factory and addco. Will post pics if I come up with something workable. Don't bother with the 'through the frame u-bolts', you will tear them out of the frame, at least I did.

Dido for me....

[brads70]

What about welding tubes through the rail , so you could use nuts and bolts instead of metal screws?

[ChallengerHK]

What about welding tubes through the rail , so you could use nuts and bolts instead of metal screws?

The issue I see there is that the frame rails taper. If the tubes were cut to the same taper then the bolt heads and nuts wouldn't be gripping across their entire surface areas. If the tubes extended beyond the frame rails, then that might work. If the tubes are small enough to support the bolts adequately, then it might not provide significantly more surface area to spread the force around at the mounts, though.

Keep in mind, this just represents my thought experiments.

[brads70]

The issue I see there is that the frame rails taper. If the tubes were cut to the same taper then the bolt heads and nuts wouldn't be gripping across their entire surface areas. If the tubes extended beyond the frame rails, then that might work. If the tubes are small enough to support the bolts adequately, then it might not provide significantly more surface area to spread the force around at the mounts, though.

Keep in mind, this just represents my thought experiments.

Hummm? Beveled washers? failing that weld a beefy bracket to the rail? With nuts welded to the inside so you can unbolt it using same style bushing brackets as the front?