Anyone using a Hellwig rear sway bar?

[Cuda54]

peterro
Do you have any pics of the old Hellwig swaybar? I have a rear sway bar that was on my car when I bought it. Not sure what make it is? It clamps to the axle housings on each side of the center section then connects under the body. I have no Idea of who made it. It was under my 72 Cuda in the rear when I bought it. It would slip and hold the pinion out of alinement so I removed it. And was thinking of a 4 link or ladder bar with the sliper on the springs.

[peterro]

It was never fully installed on my car. Here are a couple pictures I received from 422stroker.

[422STROKER]

Was a pita to install.  If I tried to use the full length endlinks, they would hit the frame so I improvised a bit.  I also had the frame connectors to deal with too.  Had those welded in at the exhaust shop.

Tom

[Cuda54]

That is what was on my car when I got it. But I could not get the U bolts tight enough. It would torque and slip just enough to the point that it would hold the pinion out of alinement. And it would take the u joints out. I thought about tack welding them in place when I put it back on. To hold them so they can not move when I get down on the old foot feed. If you know what I mean.

[422STROKER]

Maybe I should check mine?  I haven't noticed any movement. Then again, I haven't looked either.LOL  I shock the rear quite a bit too.  Have had the same u-joints for about 15K.

Tom

[Cuda54]

Best way to check is check the pinion angle. And look close and see if you can see if it is slipping back and forth. I have 525hp and a posi and had the u bolt as tight as I could without breaking them. And they slipped under full torque and did not slip back. Holding the pinion up to far and the u joints went out. So I took out the sway bar and put the big drive shaft in with Brute force joints. I think I might have to put in a set of ladder bars with spring floaters to get it to bite. Then put the sway bar back on and see how it handles. It is fun but hard on tires and I like to floor it off the line.

[PlumCraZRT]

I just pulled that old-design sway bar off my Challenger earlier today.  I'm going to replace it with a factory rear swaybar setup.

[Cuda54]

The one you just took of really helped on the cornering when I had it on. The only reason I remove mine is it slipped under heavy toque. But it help body roll when it was on.

[peterro]

So I'm clear, we're all talking about the one where the ends mounted solid to the frame rail yes? If that's the case, it sort of makes sense that the bar would slip on the rear-end housing since there's no play on the ends. The new design has end links that allow for some movement. I wouldn't think that design would slip. Any thoughts on that?

[PlumCraZRT]

So I'm clear, we're all talking about the one where the ends mounted solid to the frame rail yes? If that's the case, it sort of makes sense that the bar would slip on the rear-end housing since there's no play on the ends.

Agreed, when I took my swaybar out, the bushings were pretty torn up (clearly being loaded in an unexpected way) and some of the holes were elongated from rubbing on the bolts.

The new design has end links that allow for some movement. I wouldn't think that design would slip. Any thoughts on that?

Agreed.  The old design doesn't allow any forward or backward movement of the swaybar when designed (hence the elongated holes).  The design with endlinks will allow the endlink misalignment to take up any forward/backward movement instead of transmitting it directly to the bushings.  In short, the old swaybar was over-constrained.

[plumheil73]

I have the hellwig bar as well, but it is the new design.  I have not installed it yet.  After reading this post i called the company to talk about what was happening with the tearouts.  I talked directly to the engineer.  He mentioned that they had problems with the original design tearing the frame. But the new design has not had any issues.  He mentioned that the mounting for the challengers is similar to all the chevrolets out there as well and has not heard any complaints for either.  He did tell me that has seen the Addco style bars with the u-bolt frame mounts rip out.  He mentioned that rust sitting on the bottom of the subframe contribute to this.    Also i did some looking on hotchkis's website their rear bars mount very similar to the new hellwigs. 

[Chryco Psycho]

Chev bars mount on the trailing arms , , I guess he is talking about Camaro & Nova type