Rear Anti-sway bar info, parts, design...

[nvrstuk]

Finally doing this...

Need design info for anti-sway bar kit. Need parts also. Don't want to be replacing arms or parts due to them flexing and not being able to stand up. I know guys who have twisted the arms...

I need design info since I am getting somewhat conflicting info from "retailers"...

Q's:
Length of arms- longer travel proportionate to length?
Torsion bar rating-
arm material drawbacks to alum other than bending?
Can I retain not just my full 16" of travel but articulation also and who can design a torsion bar properly to do both (roll and articulation)

For those that are relatively new, my rig isn't anything close to stock.

 

[Yeller]

Just got a moment…..

Steel arms, can be shaped, lengthened or repaired easily. Rate doesn’t need to be very high to accomplish your goals

 

[.94 OR]

Just out of curiosity, what part of your driving experience are you trying to enhance by adding a rear sway bar?

 

[nvrstuk]

Several...

- being able to lower my ORI pressure by a hundred pounds to get my soft, super smooth ride back

- having more predictable control & much less body roll and sway
between 30 miles an hour & hiway cruising speeds.

- regain off camber body roll w/o high pressures in my ORI's so I literally don't lift both wheels on the same side when off camber when following another Bronco who cruises right thru the obstacle w/o a concern.

- for collision avoidance.

I hear so many self proclaimed experts that say you can anticipate any & all scenarios- which means simply put, that they are clueless!

Ex: guy next to you on the freeway. Changes lanes without signaling next to you, not in front...

Ex: deer hops out from the windbreak 15ft from your lane on the 50mph county road at night... and is now in your lane

that kind of stuff- make it safer

The scenario where I was data logging the engine and I glanced down at my tach to make sure that my rev limiter wasn't going to hit (& screw up the data log) and I noticed the speedo was at 103 in 3rd and I let off the gas, and the front end must have dropped a foot... that kinda stuff too...

 

[Steve83]

Have you looked for a "stock" bar from a similar vehicle, like an old Econoline, or VW bus, or early Explorer? Something with similar track width, similar GVWR, similar height, & RWD?

 

[.94 OR]

That's exactly why I ended up putting one on the front of mine.
Old '90's vintage single rate springs and Rancho 5000 shocks (dual in the front) stabilized it pretty well.
New Progressive rate springs and Bilstein 5100's left me wanting more.
Too bad there wasn't a speed setting for torque application on the bar instead of all or nothing like the Heep disconnect.

 

[1969]

https://store.tk1racing.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=121-00

Give TK1 a call! They offer EB specific 3 piece bar kits.

 

[Yeller]

^^^^^ I’ve used their stuff, it’s nice.

 

[Broncobowsher]

I think you already know the answer, just want confirmation of it.
Since you have long travel, high articulation, the sway bar needs to have that as well.
This is going to be a sway bar with long arms. Then it comes down to torque and leverage. How much torque per degree of twist on the spring/sway bar. How long of an arm. Longer arms have more leverage, more travel for less twist of the bar. You will probably end up with a larger diameter bar than you expected, but not putting that much twist into it when articulating. But that will keep you from yielding the bar by per twisting it. Or going into crazy rates as short arms go into ugly angles as you over stroke it.

 

[Qumanchew]

I'll be following along as I'm in the market myself. I don't have the travel you do, but 4 link, soft coilovers, etc.

 

[Qumanchew]

https://store.tk1racing.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=121-00

Give TK1 a call! They offer EB specific 3 piece bar kits.

Thanks for posting this, I hadn't seen that kit before. Looks like a reasonable option, and I like to buy from places that have technical knowledge of what they're selling.

 

[rcmbronc]

I used parts from Rock Jock. Not sure on the specs. I will look.

 

[ntsqd]

It doesn't need to be so fancy unless you want it to. Remember the front sway-bars for late 60's to 70's GM cars (in particular)? A simple bar bent into a shallow 'U' shape works just fine. So can a tube, but tight radius bends are harder to do with tube.
Want replaceable arms? Can do that by welding flanges onto the bar or 4130 tube and bolting them on.

I sold the car before this got made completely, but this was the plan for the front of Valiant:

Round tube arms welded to side plates because I wanted it infinitely adjustable (I had no bloody clue what roll rate I wanted!).
The carrier "bearings" are simply 1x1 6061 bar stock cut to the same length and hole-sawed while clamped together. I hadn't yet decided on putting grease zerks in the front pair or not. The tube is Ø1.25" X .120 wall 4130 tube with 4130 flanges to be welded onto each end.

In all of my various forays into designing something in torsion the thing that most sticks in my head is that the middle 1/2 to 1/3 of a solid bar does nothing for the torsion rate, it's just mass riding along and contributing nothing.
The length of the piece in torsion matters. It's OD (&ID) matter. The length of the arms matters. The design is going to be driven by how much room there is for the vertical travel of the ends of the arms and where the part in torsion has to be placed on the chassis. Since there are links involved the sway-bar end links do not have to be attached to the axle housing, they can be attached to either pair of control links.

 

[nvrstuk]

I used parts from Rock Jock. Not sure on the specs. I will look.

Thanks... if you can't get specs on the bar maybe a part # so we can look up the specs?

 

[nvrstuk]

Bowsher... yup, appreciated.

 

[rcmbronc]

CE-99001B SWAY BAR - 36 INCH - 0.750 DIA.

CE-99003-18 18 INCH STEEL ARM - LEFT OR RIGHT

CE-99005 HARDWARE PACK - FOR ANTIROCK ARM

CE-9901D BUSHING - FOR UNIVERSAL ANTIROCK KIT - EACH

CE-9901H TUBE - 34 INCHES LONG - FOR 36 INCH UNIVERSAL KIT AND TJ/XJ FRONT KITS - EACH

 

[nvrstuk]

Thx.

I'm making a few calls today.

 

[Yeller]

The Heep in my garage with coil overs and anti rock’s front and rear drives like it’s on rails in the street. No disconnecting and wheel like a honey badger eats.

 

[nvrstuk]

That's a pretty good testimony!!

I have looked really hard at trying to package something up front along with the rear...
I talked to ORI about their leveler which it looks like would be as close as I could get to having "something" help up front

In theory, I could run a bar underneath the input shaft of my steering column across to the other side but the arm length would be about nine inches! lol

 

[Yeller]

If it was mine I would probably pull the front one off and see what it does, could I suppose since I store it lol. I always put them on the rear with coil overs, it just cleans up the handling a lot. It also helps with torque lean standing vertical in the dirt.