Sway bar

-

wheelsport

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2019
Messages
292
Reaction score
201
Location
Vancouver, Washington
My Barracuda tends to be blown around at highway speeds in a good breeze. I believe it is because the car has no front sway bar. Did these cars ever come with one?
 
My Barracuda tends to be blown around at highway speeds in a good breeze. I believe it is because the car has no front sway bar. Did these cars ever come with one?
Yes they did. I was able to buy a stock factory sway bar for my 67 Barracuda from a member on this site a few years ago. It is on my car and does a great job.
The aftermarket is plentiful in front and rear sway bars as well.
 
DR, His is earlier than the your 67. But Yes, I believe it was standard on formula S cars these years. From 64-66.
 
Yes some early A bodies came with a factory front sway. I added an addco one on my 65 Dart, if I were to pick again I’d choose hellwig or hotchkis. Dustin.
 
Sway bars help control your car leaning in corners, won’t help much controlling your car in a breeze. These cars are light.
 
before going to the sway bar, I would investigate the setting of the front end alignment....these cars were and often aligned to the very factory specs for bias tires an are not applicable SHOULD YOU have radial tires on that car. The neutral to even a light negative caster will float you all over the highway. Investigate if your suspension tuner has allowed for radials with the incorporation of positive caster for handling...
 
Take a good look at your shocks too. My wagon did the same thing until I replaced the shocks recently. The car passed the "bounce" test, but 3 of the 4 shocks (Gabriel and Monroe cheapies) were obviously junk when I pulled them. Put Sachs shocks all around and man, what a difference!
 
Take a good look at your shocks too. My wagon did the same thing until I replaced the shocks recently. The car passed the "bounce" test, but 3 of the 4 shocks (Gabriel and Monroe cheapies) were obviously junk when I pulled them. Put Sachs shocks all around and man, what a difference!
I replaced the shocks and lower ball joints. The tie rod may be old but aren't worn out. The control arm bushings are good. I haven't checked the upper B joints yet. Of course a sway bar reduces leans a lot in turns but a sway bar will also help stability in the wind.
 
This early pre 73 design was a long "limber timber" of a bar with end links about 5 inches long. Even so, its makes a huge difference in handling. If big trucks are blowing you around on the highway, alignment and/or lost motion between steering wheel and pitman arm can be factors.
 
before going to the sway bar, I would investigate the setting of the front end alignment....these cars were and often aligned to the very factory specs for bias tires an are not applicable SHOULD YOU have radial tires on that car. The neutral to even a light negative caster will float you all over the highway. Investigate if your suspension tuner has allowed for radials with the incorporation of positive caster for handling...

I use Moog offset bushings in my UCA's installed so additional caster can be set. With or without sway bars, my cars track like trains, hands off, and do not wander in cross winds at all. (Radial tires, bias ply not good)
2 degree positive caster, .5 neg camber and 1/16-1/8 toe-in works for me.
 
With 2 degrees of positive caster...it should...sounds like you got that one dialed in. Most all the earlier cars listed in this are 66 and earlier...they did not have much in positive caster except if you had power steering...manual was more neutral with a call for negative caster for ease of steering....this is a trade off for momma getting groceries and hauling the crib crawlers around. By the time your car was built, more and more units were coming from the factory with power steering and thus the added caster is more the norm.
 
-
Back
Top