1" Sway Bar

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ir3333

ir3333

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How much will a 1" sway bar stiffen the front suspension over the stock 7/8"?
Is it worthwhile?
 
Can't say from experience but probably not much, I'd replace all the sway bar bushings and end links with polyurethane first so the stock bar is actually working the way it's supposed to. I did that to an '88 5th Ave M-body and it made a big difference with the stock sway bar. Some aftermarket bars also have different mounting/connection points so even if the diameter is similar it still may reduce sway more than a stock piece.
 
I replaced the .867" torsion bars with the 1.03" bars. BIG difference in cornering. My Duster has the factory front anti-sway bar on it. .75" diameter or so.
 
340fourspeedDuster said:
I replaced the .867" torsion bars with the 1.03" bars. BIG difference in cornering. My Duster has the factory front anti-sway bar on it. .75" diameter or so.
Click to expand...
I concur. I had a Plymouth super coupe with the 1"bars front and rear and it cornered like a dream.
 
Doesn't stiffen it. Only reduces body lean in turns. Stiff comes in the way of torsion bars, rear springs, and shocks.
 
tx Jim...if you hit a bump on one wheel only will the deflection of the a-arms be restricted some by the sway bar?
 
ir3333 said:
tx Jim...if you hit a bump on one wheel only will the deflection of the a-arms be restricted some by the sway bar?
Click to expand...
yes, one side flexing against the others static position will become a support part. Thats how the Diplomat front suspension works, with its torsion bar setup. In essence, it is detecting a body roll that its designed to minimize.
 
ir3333 said:
How much will a 1" sway bar stiffen the front suspension over the stock 7/8"?
Is it worthwhile?
Click to expand...

It’s a 14% increase in the diameter of the sway bar, so actually that’s fairly significant. Like torsion bars it doesn’t take a huge increase in diameter to change the spring rate significantly.

As Jim pointed out it doesn’t really stiffen the whole suspension all the time, only situations that would mimic body roll.
 
I was hoping you'd chime in 72blu**
I just measured and it's 1 1/8" and about 44 1/2"" between the end link holes.
So adding this is going to be noticeable! I have .920 bars in a '69 340 dart with 21570R14 tires,
In your opinion would this be a poor choice?
 
I wouldn’t say a poor choice. The bars are smallish and so the sway bar will still have work to do.

When I was running my Duster with 225/60/15’s and 1” torsion bars I still had a decent amount of body roll. So a sway bar would still have been an improvement. You’ll be tire limited pretty quick though with anything you’ll find in a 215/70/14. An 1 1/8” bar would likely be overkill, but I’d still say it’d probably be better than not having one.
 
There are racers (road course, oval) who love light spring/heavy sway bar while others like heavy spring/light sway bar. I kinda like heavy on both, but my Barracuda is getting set up the same way my son's Dart is. 383 torsion bars and 383 sway bar. While this doesn't make a corner carver, it handles well enough. I'd like to be a little heavier on the torsion bars, but there's no money in the budget for that right now. The last big block A-body we built had stock 340 suspension and was heavy (all iron 383 WITH AC and power steering). It was a fine driver.
 
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