Rear anti-sway bar

[Tony Radford]

I would like to hear from folks who have added that rear anti sway bar after having driven without one first. Ever since I upsized by rear tires, I get rubbing on hard turns. How much of a difference does having the bar make? Do high speed turns seem more stable? Does the ride seem harder in general?

[ralphscott]

Tony -- It make a lot of difference. With a good 4 wheel alignment and front and rear sway bars it is like the car is on rails. I went 2 years without the rear sway bar then installed one.

Hope this helps

Ralph

PS no more rear tire rubbing either on hard turns

[eliminator]

Personally, I would not drive my car without a rear sway bar....period.

A front and rear sway bar are a must on these cars then the next thing is having both properly adjusted. If they are out of adjustment, it's just one step away from not having one.

[RJacobsen]

OK Rick, I'll be the one to ask, How do you adjust the sway bar?

[eliminator]

Rod,

I think you already know!!

1) Just like a lot of other things when it comes to the suspension and adjustments on these cars, the ride height has to be established. If your ride height has changed then the sway bar adjustment has probably changed.

2) Start on a good level surface, or if you are so lucky to have access to a lift, (they are set up level).

3) A properly adjusted sway bar is in a neutral mode, no load. This is true for the front and or rear sway bar. Each is independent of the other.

4) What this means if you take one of the bolts out of the eye of the sway bar that goes through a heim joint that is adjustable,(there are two joints on each end of the front and rear sway bars). The bolt should easily slide out and slide back in, everything is lined up in a neutral position.

5) Unless you have had the sway bar adjusted before this is probably not going to be the case. Before I even started I would jack the car up and break all of the bolts loose, reinstall and just snug the bolts down. Drive the car get everything settled again before you start adjusting. The reason for doing this is that you are going to have to make the adjustment with the car on the ground as driven. Can't make the adjustment by jacking up the car. And as we all know these cars are low to the ground.

6) Reach up under the car (pain in the rear without a lift) and take the bolt loose from one end of the sway bar what I call the eye and see if it will slide out, (dosen't matter which side you start on) you will probably have to force it out because the other end of the sway bar is attached to the oposite wheels suspension and end of the sway bar is putting a load on this particular joint (either pushing this end up or pulling it down). Once you get the bolt out and try to slide it back in it is not going to go because now the sway bar is in a neutral mode (no load) position. The 2 heim joints have locking nuts, break one or both loose and adjust the heim joints on the threaded steel rod to lengthen or shorten the overall length, whichever is needed. When you have it where the bolt will easily insert back in the eye of the sway bar it is in the correct adjustment (neutral, no load).

7) Do this front and rear with the car on the ground and now the sway bars are adjusted correctly. I like to have the adjustments made so that the end of the sway bar with the hole it are pretty close to being in a horizontal poition. To acheive this you will probably have to take both ends off (each side) and adjust accordingly. When you are adjusting the threaded rod that the heim joints are on be sure that there is plenty of threaded rod going into the heim joint (this rod has rigth hand and left hand threads in order to lengthen it or shorten the ajusters).

8) After the first time it will be a simple procedure (still a pain in the rear) to get to everything. Sure like my lift when it comes to sway bar adjustment.

After all of this is time for a cold one...

[Aggressor]

Rick is correct on the use of the rear bar.

Like the American Express commercial states - Never leave home without it!

The benefit is that it forms a link tying the side-to-side vertical movement of your rear suspension together. While the cornering ability is much enhanced, I also feel that it is a major factor in the great way that my car hooks up in straight line acceleration. Coupled with a Power-lock rear it becomes a bit harder to break the rear loose. When you get on it - Tail squats down -Headlights go skyward -Your future comes rushing at'cha. As they say in the old county - She just s$#s and gits.

Good call on the cold one. I'll have one also.
-Geary