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Max Suspension \  H-D sway bars

H-D sway bars

Max Suspension Max Tech
views 1598
replies 5
following 3
 
fool on the hill   +1y
Who makes a heavy duty front sway bar for the first gens?

I'm just looking for something more substantial than the wimpy factory sway bar. (I'm running a 360 Chrysler V8 for power).
mr mitsu   +1y
This were you can find the swaybar
capev86   +1y
just remember that the daimeter of the bar is the chief aspect of stiffness so if the bar is the same diameter as stock you won't see much improvement. a solid bar in place of a hollow one really just adds weight and does little to increase strength. addco has a couple nice products for some vehicles, but i find hellwig and other sources make bigger bars for many models.
fool on the hill   +1y
Now that's the kind of answers I'm looking for; thanks!
Yes, I've got some experience with suspension mods, just not on this little truck.
I've got a 360 Chrysler V8 in it, and think a stout sway bar would be nice, although I don't intend to do any road racing with it, particularly after seeing how small those ball joinits are.
I was looking for anyone who had 1st gen applications and wasn't finding them, but knew if I sent one of the companies my bar they'd either custom bend or find a close enough replacement.
capev86   +1y
i drove an 89 lesabre (fwd) for several years before putting my grandfather's 87 ram 50 on the road. i put a factory gm strut brace, lesabre t type sway bars and 205-70-15's in place of the wobbly 205-75-14's to improve handling (same dia/shorter sidewall). the front bar went from 1-1/16 ionch to 1-/4 and the rear went from 1/2 inch to 3/4. the rear may have been a bigger percent increase than the front but it still had a lot of understeer ( fwd and u/s is easier to recover from). i think a bigger bar would have been nice, but i did like the balance of big rear bar on with the stock front bar. i did enjoy the "cop package" like performance with cushy "old man car" ride combination!

obviously with a pickup there is less rear body roll so you want to plan accordingly in bar size selection. a balanced setup is key. a bigger front bar may help but also increase understeer which actually may be a good thing with our mini trucks. on my 72 suburban 3/4 ton 2wd, i'm going from no sway bars (1-1/8" front bar was an option that my truck didn't get) to a matched 1-1/4" front and 1-1/8" rear from CPP complete with poly bushings. the big front bar is on and i can't wait to get the rear on too. it handles well for a big truck, but there is a lot of body roll as you'd expect. i like a daily driver to sit and ride comfy like a stock vehicle but have some handling prowess when pushed.
fool on the hill   +1y
Right. I've got a '86 Longbed Dodge pickup we've spent about three years working on the suspension. I've made my own control arms, have custom wound coils up front, nitrogen shocks, and Dodge Viper sway bar up front. I moved the front spring hangers up on the chassis and put new spring pads on the rear housing to get my pinion angle correct. Currently the rear has a sway bar on it as well, but I will be removing that in lieu of running dual shocks on each side, whch the guys who SCCA race their trucks tells me is a better option than a sway bar.
When I'm done with it, my goal is to be able to take an average new Corvette, with an average driver, and be able to humiliate the 'Vette on a twisty country road. I've gotten the truck to where on a specific corner, where it would almost scare you to go through it at 45 mph, you can take it flat out at over 85 mph, and I'm not done yet. When finished, it wil have a 408 stroker with a supercharger.
The little Arrow pickup; however, simply doesn't have the structure to push the suspension that hard, and I'm not interested in re-engineering it. I want a decent sway bar up front, with beefier coils, and probably go dual shocks in the rear, and that's it. I just want it to ride nice with the V-8 while I make some 5.0 owners go home talking to themselves.
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