Rear Sway Bar Question

[dagnabbitt]

Originally Posted by leegreen

what 2wd solid axle trucks came from factory with a rear sway bar? I don't believe that is very common

They were factory with SRW trucks in and around 1973-74 (and maybe later) with the Z81 Camper Special option. I believe that I also have seen them on CUCV trucks, maybe the 1.25 ton ones.

I agree that part of improving a truck is to test it and add one thing at a time. There are so many configurations, though, that I wondered if a rear sway bar was always a positive (even a minimal positive), or if it could sometimes be harmful to your ride. That's why I phrased my question as an "if you didn't care about the cost or effort" way.

Since rear sway bars are on everything from Camaros to Camper Specials I would assume that they are for vehicles with uneven weight distribution, an odd center of gravity, which may carry a payload, or which do a lot of hard cornering. I have trucks that do some or all of that but none of which have a swaybar. I was wondering if they would benefit. I will do some more driving (and reading!) and see.

Also: still wondering if the leaf or spring rear end makes any difference at all to a rear swaybar.