Thread: 53 Is back from the Body Shop

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I don't see why it wouldn't work. As long as the mounts on the housing don't bend, it should be fine I'd think.

My front sway bar on the Jeep has the transverse part of the bar mounted atop the frame rails to the front, in front of the grille and the two extension bars then point back towards the axle and connect via sway bar links that are about 6" to 8" long. My links are after market, easy to disconnect from the pin that comes off of the coil spring mounting pad, for off-road runs for more articulation. My point here is that I think it's more common for the bar to be fixed at the frame, with the "ears" connected to the axle, which acts more like a torsion bar, twisting the sway bar across it's length. If you fix the bar to the axle, the motion of your axle is going to tend to bend the ear vs twisting the bar, especially on speed bumps or dips in the highway where both wheels move together, seems to me.

I checked out what you were saying Roger and all my vehicles are set up the same way. The front sway bar it attached to the frame like you described in the front, and the rear's are all attached to the rear end axle tubes including the donor vehicle I took it from. I'm no suspension expert, I wonder why they do that. I'm slowly learning at this thing, and learned not to weld then ask questions. I have everything tacked up and I'm waiting for final approval before welding it all up this time

I'm going to have to disagree. All the old trucks I've ever worked on have the front sway bar bar, mounted to the frame and the ends affixed to a mount on the spring or control arm, and the rear is the opposite. Why? Probably due to packaging. The engine cross member, steering, and or front drive shaft make it pretty hard to mount the bar on the front. Unless you are talking about ford 4x4s. They have the front sway bar bar, mounted to the axle housing on the rear of the axle housing and the ends attach via a link to the frame. They do work and work well. I've had several ford trucks and the heavy diesels don't drive as nice without those front sway bars.

All of the leaf spring rear wheel trucks and even cars I've been around have the bar attached to the axle housing and attach the ends to the frame. The only one I can think of that has the bar attached to the frame on the rear are Corvettes. Jags are probably that way too.

Now that I think about it a bit more it makes no difference. The bar isn't fixed, it slips in the rubber mounts so either way if both ends move up and down together the bar simply rotates in the mounts. When one end moves up or down, the bar twists end to end, whether it's mounted on the axle or on the frame. Sorry for the diverting thoughts....

Originally Posted by rspears

Now that I think about it a bit more it makes no difference. The bar isn't fixed, it slips in the rubber mounts so either way if both ends move up and down together the bar simply rotates in the mounts. When one end moves up or down, the bar twists end to end, whether it's mounted on the axle or on the frame. Sorry for the diverting thoughts....

Roger, other's thoughts sure help to figure out unknown or untraveled avenues in these situations and helps us all IMO. I know I really lean on you guys to make sure I'm not going to have to redo something I'm not sure of.

I went with a different sway bar than the one off the Firebird. I took the one off of our 05 parts Trailblazer and it fits perfect and it's also thicker than the Firebird one which will be better. I can mount the bushings right on my 4 link brackets and the geometry for the links is more of a 90 deg angle which seems to be better in my mind. I ordered new bushings from speedway because the Trailblazer ones are mounted goofy, other than that I think it's a direct fit.

I pulled the fuel tank down to put a sump in for my fuel pump, when it got low it would catch a bit of air going up hills or turning. Turns out my wife had a small bread loaf pan that will work perfect. On a side note, when you check your fuel level before you pull the tank, make sure your kill switch for the fuel pump which is tied to the sending unit is turned on otherwise the tank surprises you on how heavy it is when your not ready for it.

I also clipped of my crappy secret antenna that had terrible reception and got 10x worse when I started the pickup. I mounted the donor antenna under the running board and I got awesome reception in a metal building and no static when I started Rita either.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

Turns out my wife had a small bread loaf pan that will work perfect.

Does she know her bread pan is missing???

Good job on the anti-roll bar. And the antenna too.


( I actually had to go look up the spelling. No matter how many times I thought about it, it just didn't feel like I was spelling it right.) LOL..

Originally Posted by 34_40

Good job on the anti-roll bar. And the antenna too.


( I actually had to go look up the spelling. No matter how many times I thought about it, it just didn't feel like I was spelling it right.) LOL..

"Sway bar" would have been easier....

I suppose you say soda instead of pop also I messed up "antenna" 3x so bad spell check couldn't figure out what I was trying to say.

My wife handed me the pan so I'm safe

Who knew the antenna would work under the vehicle like that??!! Hmmmm

Was that you who mentioned that? I got the idea from someone, but couldn't remember who. Thanks !