1972 Swinger - 1 1/8" Sway Bar?

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vames

vames

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Long Beach, CA
My 1972 Swinger Special 318 sway bar appears to be original and it's 1 1/8" in diameter. Most of what I read shows stock having 7/8", so perhaps it is aftermarket. Does anybody know whether the 1 1/8" was a stock item?

I'm going to be replacing bushings and links -- any brand suggestions? Is it worth going for the Energy Suspension poly stuff, or will the basic stuff on RockAuto (moog?) suffice. This is a daily driver, not a performance/race car.
 
Welcome! first rule of FABO....Lets see some pics Brah! Thats not a stock sway bar IMHO. Love Long Beach!
 
It’s an aftermarket sway bar.

let’s see a pic of how it’s attached to the k-member.

is it connected to factory sway bar lower control arms or an aftermarket plate off the shock bolt?

go with Energy or Prothane poly bushings. Need to see K-member mount to determine what kind of bushing
 
Thanks for the welcome! My Dart has been sitting idle in the garage for the past 10 years -- just dropped a rebuilt 318 in it and a new gas tank (don't ask me what the old one looked like after sitting with ethanol gas for 10 years), I'm bringing it to a shop next week to button up all the leaks in the 904, and then it's my driver.

I thought that bar looked freakishly thick! I do think it hooks to the factory tabs on the control arm. I've always assumed that everything on this is stock, but live and learn....I'll post some pictures after work tonight.
 
autoxcuda said:
You might have something that looks like this:

Sway Bar Install !!!!

but older more common Addco front sway bars are setup like this:

Addco front sway bar problems
Click to expand...

Yep, Addco bars have been around a long time, mine are from 1996 when they were the only bar you could get and you can connect them to factory tabs although the geometry gets funky. It difficult to get the bar parallel to the ground.
 
dano said:
Yep, Addco bars have been around a long time, mine are from 1996 when they were the only bar you could get and you can connect them to factory tabs although the geometry gets funky. It difficult to get the bar parallel to the ground.
Click to expand...

I'll take a picture tonight and hopefully you guys can help me determine what I've got. From my novice view, the K-member mountings and connection to the LCA always looked stock so I never gave it a thought -- until now, when I want to replace the soft bits.
 
OK so I was definitely way off with my assessment that this sway bar is stock. The control arm bracket is thick steel bolt on piece and the bushings seem to clamp to the K frame. The arm itself is 1 1/8".

Sorry my pix are crap because the sun was beaming down behind the car and I couldn't back up far enough to get a picture of the whole thing. From this little bit of photographic information, can anyone identify the setup and point me toward the right bushings?

And yes, this car will certainly be getting a thorough undercarriage cleaning after I conquer the transmission leaks.

IMG_8677.jpg


IMG_8669.jpg


IMG_8667.jpg


IMG_8666.jpg


IMG_8665.jpg
 
Your leaky power steering fluid is taking out the drivers k-frame bushing.

you just need the common 1 1/8” bushing if that’s what it measures.

the lower control arms mounts look like something made up. If it works, probably not worth the expense of cleaning up.

the strut rod bushing washer should be flipped around. There a hole in the rod that get a safety roll pin. The thicker than stock bushing and thicker than stock nut is not allowing the roll pin hole to be exposed.

Those are aftermarket poly strut rod bushing btw.
 
autoxcuda said:
Your leaky power steering fluid is taking out the drivers k-frame bushing.

you just need the common 1 1/8” bushing if that’s what it measures.

the lower control arms mounts look like something made up. If it works, probably not worth the expense of cleaning up.

the strut rod bushing washer should be flipped around. There a hole in the rod that get a safety roll pin. The thicker than stock bushing and thicker than stock nut is not allowing the roll pin hole to be exposed.

Those are aftermarket poly strut rod bushing btw.
Click to expand...

Many thanks. Pardon the stupid question, but are you using "K-Frame bushing" and "strut rod bushing (k-frame end)" to describe the same thing? I understand what you're saying about turning the washer on the strut rod bushing and getting the bolt far enough to put a pin in there. But I'm not sure what you mean by k-frame bushing.
 
Steven Vames said:
Many thanks. Pardon the stupid question, but are you using "K-Frame bushing" and "strut rod bushing (k-frame end)" to describe the same thing? I understand what you're saying about turning the washer on the strut rod bushing and getting the bolt far enough to put a pin in there. But I'm not sure what you mean by k-frame bushing.
Click to expand...

I meant the sway bar bushing in the k-frame
 
All of the sway bar mounting is non-stock except for the location of the bolts on the k-member...
 
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