If you don't have a sway bar... GET ONE!

[chevymotocross]

I just installed a Belltech front sway bar on my 87 2wd swb chevy. The truck came with no sway bar from factory. I have had the truck for almost 2 years. Taking the simplest corners would make me, anything or anyone in my truck lean and having that feeling of almost flying out the window!

Install went easy. I bought the frame brackets from LMC. Fitment of both the LMC brackets and Belltech sway bar was perfect.

Just pulling out of my driveway I noticed a difference. This truck is like a go cart now, takes the turns with ease. Seems also when I brake, the front doesn't dive as much. If I hit uneven roads, the truck doesn't wallow as much.

The truck is still at stock height, and the tires are somewhat large Kelly 265/75/15. I plan on lowering the truck 2/4 and adding 255/60/15 tires this spring. I'm sure when I do the drop and tire change, it should handle even better.

The only bad thing I can say is it makes me want to drive faster.... hopefully that wears off before I get into trouble lol

I had no idea a truck of this size could handle as well as it does now. If you don't have one, get one!

[87Lowrider]

Let's see some pics of it!

[Mr79C10]

Originally Posted by 87Lowrider

Let's see some pics of it!

I got me one. And WHOAAA,, YES what a difference!


[IMG][/IMG]

[joe231]

I got me one a couple weeks back....what a difference!!


oh and Kenny....looks like i need to recruit you to join the picture police

[87Lowrider]

Funny thing is, there's one on the lowrider and I didn't put it there!

I just thought it was factory!.



Kenny

[spr85gmc]

mine has a sway bar... but where can i get one for the rear

[Stitch]

I thought some of the trucks came with them from the factory...

Chuck.

[79gmcsierragrande]

I got front and rear Addco sway bars from Summit a while back but I haven't put them on yet. House has to come first right now.

[454HO]

Originally Posted by spr85gmc

mine has a sway bar... but where can i get one for the rear

I have a Belltech rear bar ordered from Summit.

[spr85gmc]

Originally Posted by 454HO

I have a Belltech rear bar ordered from Summit.

how much and does it make that much of a difference

[454HO]

Originally Posted by spr85gmc

how much and does it make that much of a difference

Sorry, I don't remember the price I paid cause it was a couple years ago. You should be able to look it up on the Summit website though.

Does it help? That's hard to say because I went from no sway bars at stock height and worn out shocks, to front 1-1/4" bar and this rear 1-1/8" bar with a 3/5 drop and all new HD shocks. I can say that the whole combination made a huge difference.

[chevymotocross]

Originally Posted by 454HO

Sorry, I don't remember the price I paid cause it was a couple years ago. You should be able to look it up on the Summit website though.

Does it help? That's hard to say because I went from no sway bars at stock height and worn out shocks, to front 1-1/4" bar and this rear 1-1/8" bar with a 3/5 drop and all new HD shocks. I can say that the whole combination made a huge difference.

I was also debating on getting a rear sway bar. I like the way the truck handles so much now, I think I'm not going to do a rear bar. With the front sway bar, plus my suspension drop I plan on doing, it should be plenty. Also, the leaf spring/solid rear axle and the light weight at the rear of a pickup, may make it too stiff for normal street driving. That's what I have heard from some who just use their trucks as daily cruisers. Probably a must if you are autocrossing or something.

[Justins76]

I ordered my rear bar. I'll let everyone know how much a difference it makes when I put it on. Summit has it backordered right now. $215.

[82stepside]

Hey, My stepside is belltech 3" drop spindles, and 1" dropped coils in the front and a 4" shackle/hanger drop in the rear. I also have their 1 3/8" front sway bar and 1 1/8" rear sway bar.

I put the front sway bar on at the time of the drop and what a difference it made verses the factory one that i yarded not long after i bought the truck! It was pretty nutty. Last month i finally put the rear one on cause i was tired of tripping on it in my garage, Let me tell you after getting the sway bar geometry correct, modifying the end links, if you like driving your square body like i do, back country road bashing to some classic rock or 80's hair metal, and high speed lane changes while taking the local freeway cloverleaf off ramps, save your green and get the rear sway bar. The thing is a fricken carver man. locking the rear leafs together like it does totally changes the front handleing and makes it plant so much harder in the corners, its ridiculous. Truly is a rally truck. It smooths the ride out too, my step used to kinda kick in the rear when i hit a hard bump and i think the sway bar slows the leafs down enough to help control that... Its way more stable... Truck geometry is so much different, but this set up seems to be alot closer to that of my 75 Firebird... But its got "RTS" haha! Radial Tuned Suspension... what a concept LOL!

Those belltech instructions are worthless to me though, tech line was not helpfull, you would think they could have given a dimension to drill the end link hole in the rear frame rail from some common fixed point. Seriously how many of those have they sold?

Some one commented on the possibility of there being a factory rear bar? Dont quote me but i think they were offered as some form of tow package on the trailer specials and 1 tons, but im not certain, i have only seen a few lurking under duallys that i have followed in my day...

Sorry for the ramble and long winded post, but im really bored at work, and though they dont have anything to do, the shop guys wont build my rear Caddy rear disk brake conversion brackets!!!!

[454HO]

Originally Posted by 82stepside

Last month i finally put the rear one on cause i was tired of tripping on it in my garage, Let me tell you after getting the sway bar geometry correct, modifying the end links,

Hey 82stepside, I'm curious how your endlinks came out. I had to ditch the spacer tube completely and just run it bushing to bushing. Is your's the same? Mine is lowered 5" with a flip kit in the rear.

Originally Posted by 82stepside

Those belltech instructions are worthless to me though, tech line was not helpfull, you would think they could have given a dimension to drill the end link hole in the rear frame rail from some common fixed point. Seriously how many of those have they sold?

I agree on the instructions. And it looks like they've sold at least 2.

[gafiredog]

Originally Posted by spr85gmc

mine has a sway bar... but where can i get one for the rear

I got one off a chassis that was used for an ambulance, 85 model, in a junkyard. it cost $ 25.00. was a factory unit, fit right on my crewcab no problems.

art

[Thumpin455]

Rear bar will make a difference too. Doesnt matter what vehicle it is, or type of suspension. The difference between my 70 GTO that has a factory bar, and the 72 LeMans that didnt is huge, even with a bigger front bar under the LeMans. Add both bars to your truck and you will think its a Trans Am or Corvette eater.

Drive an old Camaro then hop in a 79 Trans Am with WS6 and you will see a HUGE difference, the bars have a serious impact on how the car handles at all speeds, it can only improve a truck.

The ol 76 is getting both bars from the C20 that donated the 454, just as soon as I can swing the flip kit, drop spindles, and front springs. going to do it all at once. First need to get the heat squared away in the shop, and get some other projects out of it.

[Justins76]

Originally Posted by 82stepside

I put the front sway bar on at the time of the drop and what a difference it made verses the factory one that i yarded not long after i bought the truck!

I had the factory 1 1/16" bar with poly bushings and when I put the beltech 1 3/8" I did notice a difference too.

[82stepside]

Hey 454HO!Its raining here in Oregon and i dont have my cam, blah blah im gonna pic jack you if you dont mind.

The space tube supplied with the kit is like 3 or 4 inches long if i remember right, and for the stock crowd that might work fine but after i got the axle mounts centered i was sure that it wouldn't work... So after trying the tech line to no avail i went down to my hardware store and got pairs of various pairs of grade 8 bolts at different lengths (and some more flat washers cause mine was short a few...) and had at it.

From what i read, and observed from my 75 firebird's factory set up the end link mount tab on the swaybar and the straight portion before the kick up seem to be pretty much parallel with each other. And i read somewhere, and i think it says this in the instructions that the goal is to get that mounting tab parallel with the frame rail as it kicks up. So if you check out the your pic i edited, i think your trying to get the center line of the swaybar mounting hole (YELLOW line) to be "theoretically" parallel with the frame rail (RED line).
So thats what i did i kinda held it up there eyeballed and clamped it, checked measurements with a tape and found that a 1 inch spacer would get me in the ball park alot better than the one supplied. So i took some 1 Inch masking tape and wrapped it around both ends of the supplied tube and rough cut it in my vise and filed, and deburred it to a 1" length. I dont remember how long the bolt was, but after the whole assembly i think i had maybe 1/4" or 1/2" of threads sticking out of the lock nut...

The other thing i tried to do was get that end link assembly to be perpindicular (90 degrees) as shown by the GREEN line, to the frame rail and swaybar mounting hole. it just occurred to me that keeping things square wouldn't make anything pull from funny angles when the suspension travels. And the only thing that would happen would be a potential for the grade 8 bolt to break, and that would be annoying!

Now Keep in mind that i did all this mock up at sitting at ride height with the wheels on. I think the instructions said pull them off...

Now 454HO, yours looks pretty good to me, none of this is you know set in stone or anything... And they are "adjustable endlinks" however thats supposed to work, and why changing a preload or something would make a difference. I know its an off angle pic and it might not quite the be the parallel i was trying to achieve, but if your not having problems breaking stuff or it doing something wierd i wouldnt change anything. You could probably stuff 4 or 5 washers between the bushings where the spacer would go and level it out a bit, but im not sure if you would notice a difference or not.

The only thing that i would change, if its true, is that i dont know if its a shadow of somthing else lurking in that slot, but it looks like you may have the suppled spacer on top of the frame rail and are still using that 9" bolt? You may consider swapping it out for a bolt that is closer in length to the the overall end link, but it will probaby work just as well if you left it that way too... My brake lines were sort of tucked up there so i couldnt of if i wanted to...

Im gonna take a look at my front bar too, cause i read a forum on here about a dropped mount for the front? or even mounting the swaybar between the frame and the bracke to get a little more ground clearance? Really i just want to have it tucked up higher under the front bumper a bit...


Let me know what you guys think? Ill explain more if needed and ill give you my magic hole dimension, and bolt length if anyone wants. Just let me know...

Im a structural detailer and designer by day and i just approched this like i would one of the crazy vent linkages with multipled cantilevered arms... and that crap... K.I.S.S.

The other thing i have wondered is this: I use my truck, cause thats what it is - a truck. Whats gonna happen when i put a yard of 3/4 - rock in there? Now firstly i need to get some sort of bump stop back in there... (a factory 59 chevy tuck rear one looks like a good donor) so i dont bash the axle tube, as i have cut my whole mount out of there like shown in the pic. But is the suspension and sway bar going to bind up at those end links and over stress them or something? Or would i want to detach them if i was going to haul something? Maybe detachable endlinks like the Used on street/trail trucks in the 4wd world?

What do you guys think?

[Justins76]

When installing your sway bar, its important that it be mounted with the arms parallel to the ground, with the suspension loaded.

I found this on http://www.sporttruck.com/techarticl...ics/index.html

[Justins76]

I started a thread on the rear one here if interested.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=321657

[Ds86C10]

you guys make me spend money lol i was reading this and went and ordered a addco front sway bar from summit.. it'll be here next week

[DB Smith]

Originally Posted by chevymotocross

I just installed a Belltech front sway bar on my 87 2wd swb chevy. The truck came with no sway bar from factory.

Just pulling out of my driveway I noticed a difference.

I had no idea a truck of this size could handle as well as it does now. If you don't have one, get one!

+1..... I installed an Addco 1 1/8 bar this week. What a difference. The Addco wasn't a super easy installation (I had to fab up a couple frame brackets) but it wasn't too bad, and the handling is WAY better.

I have to second this ... "If you don't have one, get one!"

Originally Posted by Ds86C10

you guys make me spend money lol i was reading this and went and ordered a addco front sway bar from summit.. it'll be here next week

You won't regret it Ds86 !!!

[Pyrotechnic]

Originally Posted by 82stepside

The other thing i have wondered is this: I use my truck, cause thats what it is - a truck. Whats gonna happen when i put a yard of 3/4 - rock in there? Now firstly i need to get some sort of bump stop back in there... (a factory 59 chevy tuck rear one looks like a good donor) so i dont bash the axle tube, as i have cut my whole mount out of there like shown in the pic. But is the suspension and sway bar going to bind up at those end links and over stress them or something? Or would i want to detach them if i was going to haul something? Maybe detachable endlinks like the Used on street/trail trucks in the 4wd world?

What do you guys think?

I've looked at some Ford F250's, and they way the execute this is rather than having the holes on the sway bar facing up and bolting to the frame, the holes face to the side. They use a bar with one end bolted to the sway bar and the other bolted to the frame to link it up. With having the holes face to the side, this allows the sway bar to move up and down freely as it needs to, versus having it linked to the frame with a long bolt. I hope I'm making sense here.

Seems like it wouldn't be too hard to make a similar setup ? Make angle brackets for the ends of the sway bar that move the holes to the side, and then make link bars to the frame.

I've never done it but it's an idea.

[Ds86C10]

Originally Posted by Pyrotechnic

I've looked at some Ford F250's, and they way the execute this is rather than having the holes on the sway bar facing up and bolting to the frame, the holes face to the side. They use a bar with one end bolted to the sway bar and the other bolted to the frame to link it up. With having the holes face to the side, this allows the sway bar to move up and down freely as it needs to, versus having it linked to the frame with a long bolt. I hope I'm making sense here.

Seems like it wouldn't be too hard to make a similar setup ? Make angle brackets for the ends of the sway bar that move the holes to the side, and then make link bars to the frame.

I've never done it but it's an idea.

i know what you're talking about... alot of ford cars and trucks run that style of endlinks BUT i know for the crown vic crowd i run with, we all throw them away and get the standard strait up endlinks... they seem to work better than the stock knuckle style.