Qa1 k frame with firm feel sway bar- hotchkis strut rods

[illrad91]

Hello i was wondering if I installed this properly. Is the hump supposed to be facing down or up because I got it facing upwards and it hits the k frame. I cant find any posts of people installing the firm feel on the k frame. I got a 67 dart. Are these parts that came with the sway bar supposed to go onto the k frame as well and what is the small piece supposed to go?. The part where it says firm feel doesnt fit onto the k frame. The nut is to big it hits the end. to Also the is the strut rods supposed to be with the big washer first or the small washers first? Thank you for the feedback I just want to makw sure before I button it all up

 

[Professor Fate]

Are these parts that came with the sway bar supposed to go onto the k frame as well and what is the small piece supposed to go?

These go here.

They space the bar down so it doesn't hit the K frame.

These little doohickeys

attach at the shock mount bolt on the lower control arm, to provide anchoring points for the sway bar ends.
I see you also have aftermarket LCAs, but can't tell from your pictures if you ordered them with sway bar tabs or not. If you did, you can throw these into the spare parts drawer. If you didn't, you'll have to use them on your LCAs.

 

[illrad91]

These go here.
View attachment 1716462987
They space the bar down so it doesn't hit the K frame.

These little doohickeys
View attachment 1716462988
attach at the shock mount bolt on the lower control arm, to provide anchoring points for the sway bar ends.
I see you also have aftermarket LCAs, but can't tell from your pictures if you ordered them with sway bar tabs or not. If you did, you can throw these into the spare parts drawer. If you didn't, you'll have to use them on your LCAs.

Sweet thank you but my problem is the spacer will dig into the frame well atleast the bolts will. I could still bolt it on but its gonna be touching and it will scrape metal off for the top bolt. I have qa1 lower control arms. Would you install it how it is now or use the extra piece for the shock mount bolt? I can't find anyone with the qa1 k frame and firm feel sway bar

 

[Professor Fate]

Sweet thank you but my problem is the spacer will dig into the frame well atleast the bolts will. I could still bolt it on but its gonna be touching and it will scrape metal off for the top bolt. I have qa1 lower control arms. Would you install it how it is now or use the extra piece for the shock mount bolt? I can't find anyone with the qa1 k frame and firm feel sway bar

Well, any time you combine aftermarket parts from different manufacturers, there's bound to be little glitches. If you need to shave the Firm Feel spacers a little to get them to play nice on the QA1 K frame, that's not out of the ordinary.
I have no idea what you mean by "scrape metal off for the top bolt".

Would you install it how it is now or use the extra piece for the shock mount bolt?

Can't answer that, since you still didn't say whether you got LCAs with sway bar tabs or without.
If you don't have the tabs on your LCAs, then you need to use the supplied brackets. Without one or the other there is nothing to attach the sway bar ends to, rendering the sway bar totally useless.

 

[illrad91]

Well, any time you combine aftermarket parts from different manufacturers, there's bound to be little glitches. If you need to shave the Firm Feel spacers a little to get them to play nice on the QA1 K frame, that's not out of the ordinary.
I have no idea what you mean by "scrape metal off for the top bolt".

Can't answer that, since you still didn't say whether you got LCAs with sway bar tabs or without.
If you don't have the tabs on your LCAs, then you need to use the supplied brackets. Without one or the other there is nothing to attach the sway bar ends to, rendering the sway bar totally useless.

Yea you answered my question I think I will shave a bit for but yea the lower control arms comes with tabs. What about the tie rods is the washer supposed to be that way?

 

[illrad91]

Also do you know what way the spacers supposed to go? Firm feel never came with instructions and thank you soon much for the help

 

[72bluNblu]

Sweet thank you but my problem is the spacer will dig into the frame well atleast the bolts will. I could still bolt it on but its gonna be touching and it will scrape metal off for the top bolt. I have qa1 lower control arms. Would you install it how it is now or use the extra piece for the shock mount bolt? I can't find anyone with the qa1 k frame and firm feel sway bar

You're probably not going to find anyone with the FirmFeel sway bar and a QA1 K frame, because QA1 makes it's own sway bar specifically for that K frame and tells everyone that nothing else will fit with it. You will likely have to modify the mounting hardware to make the '73+ Firm Feel sway bar fit with the K frame, if it will work at all.

The QA1 LCA's have sway bar tabs, you don't need the ones that bolt on.

Well, any time you combine aftermarket parts from different manufacturers, there's bound to be little glitches. If you need to shave the Firm Feel spacers a little to get them to play nice on the QA1 K frame, that's not out of the ordinary.
I have no idea what you mean by "scrape metal off for the top bolt".

Can't answer that, since you still didn't say whether you got LCAs with sway bar tabs or without.
If you don't have the tabs on your LCAs, then you need to use the supplied brackets. Without one or the other there is nothing to attach the sway bar ends to, rendering the sway bar totally useless.

All of the QA1 tubular LCA's come with sway bar tabs on them. They're located in approximately the same location as the 73+ factory sway bar tabs, and those tubular LCA's can be used with other 73+ sway bars that use the factory end link location. I have the QA1 tubular LCA's on my Duster with a Hellwig sway bar. No clue if any those sway bars will work with the QA1 K frame though.

Also do you know what way the spacers supposed to go? Firm feel never came with instructions and thank you soon much for the help

You're probably on your own on that one, the spacers were designed for the stock K frame, not the QA1 tubular K frame. So even if you had instructions they wouldn't work for what you're using the parts for. With the QA1 tubular K frame it would probably have been best to use the QA1 sway bar and strut rods.

 

[illrad91]

You're probably not going to find anyone with the FirmFeel sway bar and a QA1 K frame, because QA1 makes it's own sway bar specifically for that K frame and tells everyone that nothing else will fit with it. You will likely have to modify the mounting hardware to make the '73+ Firm Feel sway bar fit with the K frame, if it will work at all.

The QA1 LCA's have sway bar tabs, you don't need the ones that bolt on.

All of the QA1 tubular LCA's come with sway bar tabs on them. They're located in approximately the same location as the 73+ factory sway bar tabs, and those tubular LCA's can be used with other 73+ sway bars that use the factory end link location. I have the QA1 tubular LCA's on my Duster with a Hellwig sway bar. No clue if any those sway bars will work with the QA1 K frame though.

You're probably on your own on that one, the spacers were designed for the stock K frame, not the QA1 tubular K frame. So even if you had instructions they wouldn't work for what you're using the parts for. With the QA1 tubular K frame it would probably have been best to use the QA1 sway bar and strut rods.

You never cease to amaze me with your knowledge thank you so much i appreciate it. Yea im gonna have to figure this out tomorrow. It will work but I will just have to tweak it a bit. Thanks alot professor also you guys really helped alot

 

[72bluNblu]

You never cease to amaze me with your knowledge thank you so much i appreciate it. Yea im gonna have to figure this out tomorrow. It will work but I will just have to tweak it a bit. Thanks alot professor also you guys really helped alot

The strut rod spacer set up was probably intended for the stock K frame. Based on the pictures, I'd say none of them are correct. The smaller spacer is likely meant to fit into the K frame and go between the two larger spacers to keep the strut rod mount centered. But based on your pictures it looks like the small spacer is still too large to fit into the hole in the tubular K. So you're probably stuck just using the two larger spacers.

The only possible problem I see with that is that if the inner mounting block doesn't have a shoulder on it that fits into hole the K frame. If that's the case, it might be possible for the strut rod mount to not be centered in the K frame mount, or to move later so it isn't. But I don't know which strut rods you have there or what the other side of the strut rod mount looks like. You might need to have that smaller spacer turned down so it fits into the hole in the K frame and between the strut rod mount and the outer spacer.