Hotchkis Front sway bar and caliper interference

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my68barracuda

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Hello

ordered a Hotchkis 22385F front sway bar for the 68 Barracuda
I have the 73 and up front mounted brake calipers.

I have not received / installed it yet, but looking at the instructions,
since the sway bar mounting tabs weld to the upper control arm
inside of the front strut rods, it does not appear that the sway bar link could
interfere with the calipers,
is that correct?
 
Yeah all you have to do is swap the spindles but you'll need longer brake lines as well.
 
I was looking at changing to rear mounted calipers,
found the '80 F body calipers hard to find,,,
AZ said they are not available
NAPA said they can do a special order out of Philly (Cardon)

That got me thinking of staying with the front mounted calipers
and worrying over interference with the sway bar
 
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Use stock calipers facing rearward and use 1969 Camaro front brake hose. Problem solved.

20170704_220802.jpg
 
Use stock calipers facing rearward and use 1969 Camaro front brake hose. Problem solved.

View attachment 1715310969
When I hand held the regular calipers to duplicate swapping sides and moving to the rear it appeared to me that would put the brake line fitting higher than the bleeder valve,,,
And the 69 Camero brake hose that I looked at on line did not have a banjo fitting, it looked like it screwed directly into the caliper, is that the correct one?
 
With that Hotchkis sway bar and where the end links mount you shouldn’t have any issues mounting the calipers to the front.

The only caliper to sway bar clearance issue is running the 68-72 stock style sway bar with the stock 68-72 end link mounting locations with front mounted 73+ calipers. The Hotchkis end link mounts are not in the stock location for the 68-72 cars.
 
It wont. You can always rear mount the calipers if necessary.

If he’s running Hotchkis UCA’s they won’t rear mount with pin calipers. Been there.

Would need to check in slider 73-76 Calipers. IMHO, doubtful.

The Hotchkis UCA take a wide swing at the rear.
 
Hello

ordered a Hotchkis 22385F front sway bar for the 68 Barracuda
I have the 73 and up front mounted brake calipers.

I have not received / installed it yet, but looking at the instructions,
since the sway bar mounting tabs weld to the upper control arm
inside of the front strut rods, it does not appear that the sway bar link could
interfere with the calipers,
is that correct?

The Hotchkis front sway bar mount mounts to the lower control arm.
 
I’m a firm believer in using stock parts whenever possible. I took the bottom of my A-body big block k-frame off and welded on the bottom of 73 k-frame. That way I could run the 73 style sway bar thru the k-frame and 73 lowers. No need to swap spindles, no need to change brake hoses. Run with the design that was designed by Chrysler.
 
I haven't seen a stabilizer bar that had its end links attached to upper arms. Can't imagine length of end links or how it clears a front mounted caliper. Difficult to keep up with aftermarkets creations I guess. Please post pics if/when you get this installed.
 
Using standard 73 and up
upper control arms
And the stock 68 lower control arms, the lowers have been boxed on the bottom side. And my existing calipers are sliders.

All the A-body lower control arms are basically the same, the only real significant difference by year is the location of the sway bar tabs. Since you’re using the Hotchkis bar and sway bar tabs the year of the LCA doesn’t really matter, the Hotchkis tabs don’t mount in the stock 68-72 location.

I’m a firm believer in using stock parts whenever possible. I took the bottom of my A-body big block k-frame off and welded on the bottom of 73 k-frame. That way I could run the 73 style sway bar thru the k-frame and 73 lowers. No need to swap spindles, no need to change brake hoses. Run with the design that was designed by Chrysler.

The Hotchkis sway bars are light years better than anything ever made by the factory. In many cases the factory designs are outdated, they were never intended to be used with radial tires for example. And that's a big deal. Just because the factory did it a certain way 50 years ago doesn't mean it's still the best way to do it. Heck it doesn't always mean it was the best way to do it THEN, remember Chrysler was there to make money, not the absolute best product possible. Lots of designs were used because they were adequate and less expensive, not the best.

And I don't know why we're still talking about interference. There shouldn't be any with the Hotchkis bar and the sway bar tabs that go with it, the calipers should be able to be front mounted with that set up.

Heck, even the stock 68-72 sway bars with the stock 68-72 location sway bar tabs can be made to clear front mounted calipers. It takes some trial and error and shortening the end links, but it can and has been done.
 
I had interference is with my ADCO bar, and I figured he was having the same issues with the Hutchins bar. Can the OP post a picture of what they are talking about?
 
I had interference is with my ADCO bar, and I figured he was having the same issues with the Hutchins bar. Can the OP post a picture of what they are talking about?

The Addco bars use the stock sway bar tab location, which is the issue with the 67-72 sway bar interferening with the front mounted 73+ calipers. The Hotchkis sway bar useds a completely different sway bar tab location.

Remember, the stock location for the 73+ calipers was to the front, they cleared the 73+ sway bars because the 73+ tabs aren’t in the same place as the 67-72 sway bar tabs.
 
990D1630-1E69-420A-8038-1837BC98114C.png
It’s what they do. Everything interferes with everything. Knocked the Zerks off in just a few days. Need to be contortionist to remove oil filter now used to be easy. Don’t let the sticker be your guide ;). This bar could be mounted either way.
 
View attachment 1715311290 It’s what they do. Everything interferes with everything. Knocked the Zerks off in just a few days. Need to be contortionist to remove oil filter now used to be easy. Don’t let the sticker be your guide ;). This bar could be mounted either way.

Well zerks aren’t designed to be curb feelers.

What’s the part # on that bar? Because the current A-body design doesn’t look like that. It’s not the same bar as what the OP listed.
 
Sorry, it a B Body. Zerk should not the lowest point. Not a track car, real world drivability often compromised by upgrades.
Well zerks aren’t designed to be curb feelers.

What’s the part # on that bar? Because the current A-body design doesn’t look like that. It’s not the same bar as what the OP listed.
 
Sorry, it a B Body. Zerk should not the lowest point. Not a track car, real world drivability often compromised by upgrades.

B-body. So, nothing at all like the car or the sway bar we’re talking about.

As for the zerks, yeah, it would be helpful if they weren’t on the bottom of the mounts. But they only stick out like a 1/4”. They’re definitely not the lowest part of the car, just too low for a parking block. But like I said, you’re not supposed to use your sway bar mounts as curb feelers anyway. Bad habit and practice to get into.
 
Yep, should drive an A Body so don’t have to nose in an 18 1/2 foot car. But you’re right, I’m a lousy parker.
 
Hotchkis uppers are never on my suggestion list.
Finished up the Hotchkis sway bar install yesterday.
The only tricky part was getting the spacing right on the tabs that go on the lower control arms.
I used a magnet to hold the tabs to the control arms, built up the sway bar with the end mounting bolts,
then ran a plumb down the sway bar tab mount holes to the sway bar bolts to correctly locate the tabs.

As part of the same project I also installed a USCT core support.
It all went well. No interference with the front mounted calipers.


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