anyone use this front sway bar on their 67-72 abody?

-

abodyjoe

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 22, 2004
Messages
24,271
Reaction score
13,486
Location
Berlin,N.J. 08009
any one using this freaking johnny holmes of sway bars here? if so hows the fit. i had called a while back and they claim it will work wit my lower arms that have the stock 70 style swaybar mount brackets (calipers mounter to the rear) but man i don't know. any real world feedback using this thing?

not sure this thing will look right on the car either. our dart is kinda bare bones looking and i'd like to keep it that way but i'd also like to stick a front bar on it.

if not this bar anyone (@GMachineDartGT ,@72bluNblu ) have a recommendation? car is a 70 dart with an iron head 360, 1" just suspension bars up front and 130 pound rear springs from eaton. **** shocks for now but that will change down the road.

thanks for the help guys.

IMG_20200415_092537__01.jpg


IMG_20200415_092527.jpg
 
I don’t have experience with it but I’ve seen one on a 68 dart. The bar was sticking out and hanging low for my liking. I have a picture but it’s not great. Just my opinion.

7FC30E2B-38BE-4C45-96F6-3E54A27C52B1.jpeg
 
You're going to see any front sway bar on a Dart. My goofy *** Addco bar tucks up more and you still see it hand down some, not as bad as the Hotchkis. Even the stock weenie bar hung down.

My Addco mounted to my factory arms. Its not a bad bar, the mounting is a bit goofy but it works. I upgraded the bar bushings to greaseable and used larger end links and bushings. I probably need to do some tuning on the end links to get it more parallel. Not sure how the new kits come as mine was from the late 90's...when they were the only option other than stock. If you want pics let me know.

Mount it up and see where it lands. You don't see the bar driving but you sure will feel the ride enhance.
 
Last edited:
oh i know you'll see them to a point but that picture above is unacceptable to me. no way would i live with that.
 
Stock 67 - 72 front A Body front sway bars work out real nice, with all the factory mount locations too.

Tucks up nice out of the way . . and you don't see it from the front view of the car.

67 front sway.jpg


67frontsway.jpg
 
i have one of those laying around but think i'm short a bushing bracket and how do those bushings go in? never had any luck getting them in..

Energy sells a kit that has brackets that uses their bushing mounts. Basically remove the stock bushing and bracket and use their stuff. I have a set I tried to use with the Addco bar but it pushed it too far back. Id's sell it if your interested. Its new other than my mock up. I don't recall the bushing ID that came with my kit as they sell the same kit with larger bushings for a B-Body. I'd have to look and measure.
 
Got to cut the 2 factory welds on the K Member mount brackets to get them to open up with a thin cut off wheel.

Can put the new rubber bushings in a bucket of boiling water, then push them over the end of the sway bar when hot. Some grease on the eyelet of the sway bar helps too.

New sway bar black rubber bushings are available on ebay.

Clamp the 2 mount brackets back together with your wire feed welder, like factory and quench them with cold water right away so as to not burn the rubber.

Paint it up and good to go.

Might have to fab up the missing steel 2 piece mount bracket, or rework one from a B Body or whatever . . .
20200415_105428.jpg

20200415_105249.jpg


20200415_105519.jpg
 
Stock A Body sway bar diameter is 7/8" when you are looking for right size replacement rubber bushings. (B bodies are closer to 15/16" diameter.)
 
but i already have the factory tabs on my arms.. think they will work?

ok. then i need to find one that will work with the factory 70 style tabs. i'm not cutting the tabs off and i sure as hell am not switching the lower arms out..lol

Do the Hotchkis tabs get welded onto the location where the factory tabs would be?

they look to be more in the 73-up location. placing them is in the directions.

The 67-72 Hotchkis sway bar will not work with the factory 67-72 sway bar tabs. The reason for that is the 67-72 sway bars get in the way of running wider front tires. So Hotchkis changed the shape of the bar, which moves the ends of the bar and the end links closer to the frame so it doesn’t interfere with tires that are 245 or wider in the front. That diameter sway bar is really intended to be used with wider modern tires like for a pro touring set up.

The 67-72 Hotchkis bar does work with the 73+ factory sway bar tabs. The location of those tabs is pretty close to the same spot as what Hotchkis describes for the location of their weld on sway bar tabs. Obviously if you weld them on yourself you can put them exactly where they need to be for your car. But really there isn’t that much room on the factory LCA in that location, you have to keep the end links out of the way of the strut rod on one side and away from the hole for the torsion bar adjuster plate on the other. So the factory 73+ sway bar tabs, the hotchkis described location and even the tab on the QA1 tubular lower control arms all end up in about the same place. Close enough to use any of them with the 67-72 hotchkis sway bar as long as you’re prepared to make adjustments to the length of the end links. Which you should be prepared to do with any aftermarket sway bar installation in my opinion.
 
ok. glad i got it cheap a few years ago. guess for ***** and giggles i'll hold it up to make sure its a no go but sounds like i'll just have to sell it down the road..

now i have to fine a proper fitting one that works with the 70 factory sway bar tabs.
 
The 67-72 Hotchkis sway bar will not work with the factory 67-72 sway bar tabs. The reason for that is the 67-72 sway bars get in the way of running wider front tires. So Hotchkis changed the shape of the bar, which moves the ends of the bar and the end links closer to the frame so it doesn’t interfere with tires that are 245 or wider in the front. That diameter sway bar is really intended to be used with wider modern tires like for a pro touring set up.

The 67-72 Hotchkis bar does work with the 73+ factory sway bar tabs. The location of those tabs is pretty close to the same spot as what Hotchkis describes for the location of their weld on sway bar tabs. Obviously if you weld them on yourself you can put them exactly where they need to be for your car. But really there isn’t that much room on the factory LCA in that location, you have to keep the end links out of the way of the strut rod on one side and away from the hole for the torsion bar adjuster plate on the other. So the factory 73+ sway bar tabs, the hotchkis described location and even the tab on the QA1 tubular lower control arms all end up in about the same place. Close enough to use any of them with the 67-72 hotchkis sway bar as long as you’re prepared to make adjustments to the length of the end links. Which you should be prepared to do with any aftermarket sway bar installation in my opinion.
Thanks for the explanation. .
 
ok. glad i got it cheap a few years ago. guess for ***** and giggles i'll hold it up to make sure its a no go but sounds like i'll just have to sell it down the road..

now i have to fine a proper fitting one that works with the 70 factory sway bar tabs.

Hellwig makes one that uses the stock 67-72 sway bar tabs, 5906

1972 DODGE DART Hellwig Anti-Sway Bars 5906

They also make a pro-touring one, 55917. But that one doesn’t use the factory mounts.

The factory mounts are fine if you’re staying with 15” rims, but if your plan is for 17’s or larger with anything wider than a 235 then the factory sway bar design limits your tire clearance.

The addco bar is another option for the factory 67-72 tab locations, but the hardware that those bars come with us trash. So while the bar is cheaper you end up spending more in hardware and mounts to do it right.
 
Last edited:
cool.. i'll look into the 55906. car has 15" wheels on it. if it ever goes to 17 or 18" it will get an alter-k-tion at the same time. :)
 
cool.. i'll look into the 55906. car has 15" wheels on it. if it ever goes to 17 or 18" it will get an alter-k-tion at the same time. :)
their directions show their bracket up where a 73 style bracket would be., you sure that would work with the lower 70 style bracket?

Sorry, I had a typo in my description, the number is 5906. The link is right.

I looked at the instructions, the picture shows the end links on the outside of the strut rods which should be correct for the 67-72 factory tab location. Hellwig provides bolt on tabs for that kit that use the lower shock mount hole, but you can see the angle on the end links that indicates the lower shock mount is too far inside. The factory tabs are further out and should work fine.

Screen Shot 2020-04-15 at 12.44.12 PM.png


https://static.summitracing.com/global/images/instructions/HEL-5906.pdf

Their 55917 "pro-touring" bar has the end links inside the strut rods, which is similar to the 73+.
 
-
Back
Top