CPP front swaybar install

[dieselarmy13]

Alright, I know CPP doesn't have the best rep around here, and I've even ranted about them myself. With that being said, here's the deal- was surfing the Bay and ran across THIS. I figured a hundred bucks was worth it. Being the tightwad that I am, and knowing that my truck handles like wet poop, I thought I'd give it a shot. Well, $124 ($99+$25 shipping) and a few days later, the brown santa visited while I was at work. It was packaged very well and arrived in a timely manner. CPP must be listening, because this is not like them. I'm sure something will give me hell during the install.
Well, that brings me to today. Beautiful spring weather, a long weekend, and the wife at work.

First, I pulled my front bumper just to get a little more room to work with. You know how to do that. No pic necesary.

Next, you have to grind out the factory rivets that hold the front crossmember in. This is where the back bolt for the bracket goes. I lucked out, and only had to do one side, as someone had already put a bolt in one side for me. A cross-threaded fine thread nut on a coarse thread bolt. How nice of them. Right on par.




That's the hardest part, I swear. After that, bolt your brackets on. The front holes should already be there for you. CPP says in their ad that tehy include brackets for non-lowered trucks, and you have to buy brackets for lowered trucks, but I thought I would give these a try.

I had to scrape a little 'patina' off this side to get the bolt through


Next, I bolted up the swaybar to the swaybar brackets. DO NOT do it like I did. If you do it this way, it will hit the bottom of the A-arm and will make you feel like a donkey. Make sure the ends of the swaybar are resting on the A-arm. Leave everything nice and loose, you'll tighten it up in the end.


Next, install the end links. Again, leave em loose. You might have to fight them a bit, but they'll go, trust me.




Now, just tighten all of it up, and there you have it.

And since you don't want to look like no jive turkey, clean her up a bit and shoot some fresh Rustoleum down there while your at it.


Overall the install went good, and only took about an hour. My truck handles light years better. Well maybe not that much, but you can tell a difference. It by no means is ready for Nastruck, but I wish I would have done this a long time ago.

[thirdstreettito]

Nice writeup, this should go into the FAQ. Cant wait til I finally get a drivable 63-72 to be able to install on it.

[OARNGESI]

Nice write up been thinking about getting one too

[big_al_71]

I installed the front and rear swaybars from CPP also when I rebuilt my truck they are night and day difference......They are great...

[Kayotic]

Likewise - and thanks for taking the time to take some pictures of your installation.

[FOREVER71]

i bought the brackets for lowerd trucks@#$%^&$# couldnt get them to work...the brackets they send with the kit have sloted holes where they bolt to the frame, and the lower ones are just a hole...after about a hour i said screw it and put the standard ones on. im still going to mess with it again to see if i can make them work.i also bought the rear bar and havent installed it yet.we will see how that goes ....rear leaf truck....good lokking stuff though...ill post some pics of the bracket differences.

[dieselarmy13]

Originally Posted by FOREVER71

i bought the brackets for lowerd trucks@#$%^&$# couldnt get them to work...the brackets they send with the kit have sloted holes where they bolt to the frame, and the lower ones are just a hole...after about a hour i said screw it and put the standard ones on. im still going to mess with it again to see if i can make them work.i also bought the rear bar and havent installed it yet.we will see how that goes ....rear leaf truck....good lokking stuff though...ill post some pics of the bracket differences.

I thought about buying the lowered brackets, but I didn't see why these wouldn't work. Glad I didn't. I only took mine on a short test drive, but nothing seemed to bind. The streets in the hell-on-earth town that I currently (not by choice) reside are no joke, either. Like I said before, I had virtually no problems.

[FOREVER71]

mine is dropped4.5" in the front so its a little closer to the ground...i guess it could always be bolted directly to the frame without the stands...or i may mod the shorter ones to work...

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by FOREVER71

mine is dropped4.5" in the front so its a little closer to the ground...i guess it could always be bolted directly to the frame without the stands...or i may mod the shorter ones to work...

You can run the taller stands, just put the bushing bracket on the top instead of the bottom. Basically the sway bar will run through the taller brackets. Hopefully this makes sense, .

[dieselarmy13]

Originally Posted by FOREVER71

mine is dropped4.5" in the front so its a little closer to the ground...i guess it could always be bolted directly to the frame without the stands...or i may mod the shorter ones to work...

Mines lowered at least 5 in the front, so I don't think you'll have a problem. What Rob said was a good idea, though.

[FOREVER71]

that was another thought i had, ill figure it out soon.....

[FOREVER71]

hmmmmmm... went and looked at mine took some pics. i didnt use the spacer on mine because it would have pushed the sway bar up into my steering adjusters. i see you have the newer style. but how still did you use the spacer?seems the bar would be better off more level.anyway maybe mine is done way wrong...heres my pics....

[FOREVER71]

oh and i had to use shorter bolts....

[LUV2XCLR8]

Dug this thread up looking for this very type of picture,
but there are 2 different ways it was mounted here? If
your using the lowered front brackets would Forever's
be the better way to go? (Hope to have mine on soon)

[big_al_71]

here are picts of the brackets on mine also from CPP