What would you say the max distance the rear end could move upward towards the body would be with leaf spring suspension? The reason for the question is that I'm considering an anti-roll bar setup. Any thoughts?
Rear suspension travel
- Thread starter MD68
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What ever the distance between the bump stop and the axle tube.
Not sure why that would have an effect on adding an anti-roll bar?
(edited... to add anti in front of roll, anti-roll was intended)
Not sure why that would have an effect on adding an anti-roll bar?
(edited... to add anti in front of roll, anti-roll was intended)
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famous bob
mopar misfit
ANTI ROLL BAR --------------- Unless ur springs are weak as h---, u carry humongous loads, or jump the car, u aint likely to hit the upper bumpers. I never run them myself and never had a problem--------
New springs, just the kids, no Dukes of Hazard stuff here! I'm just trying to keep my 325/50-15's moving straight up and down to avoid any inner wheel well rubbing. I need to make sure there is enough room for the ANTI ROLL BAR linkage to move freely up and down.
famous bob
mopar misfit
was referring to the bumpers, the one poster said 'roll bar"
trial and error, location-location-location and lastly shape of the sway bar.
Keep in mind that a sway bar is not going to stop or really even reduce the roll unless it is HUGE and I mean HUGE like huge enough to pick the other wheel off the ground huge.
There is always going to be roll, consider going diagonal up a slopped driveway from a flat street.
sounds like you have a tire width / offset / need tubs issue not an anti-roll issue
Just my 2 cents and with inflation, taxes and old age its only worth about a nickle!
If you want to fully limit that side to side movement, you're gonna need to go with a 4 link with a panhard or watts link. Or even a triangulated one. Other wise, you're gonna have that side to side play. and anti-roll bar aka sway bar, is not going to help with that very much if any.
The kit I have in mind is an anti-roll bar, like you would see on a 4 link. I’m not convinced the issue is side to side movement but more of a body roll. How much can our leaf spring suspensions move side to side?
1/2- 3/4 in is about normal.
Got a link to this kit? There’s a difference between what a panhard does and a sway bar does.
LateralG forum has a real good animation to show what’s going on with the rear during cornering.
nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
Dukeboy has it right... the leaf suspension is going to move sideways quite a bit during cornering. That is at least half of the problem, if not most of it. How much clearance is there between the tire and body now, when sitting still? Push repeatedly sideways on the rear bumper at a frequency that matches the natural sideways frequency of the rear (like pushing a swing higher and higher) and you will get some idea of how much it moves. An anti-sway bar is not going to fix ANY of this movement.
Attacking this with just a heavy rear anti-sway bar does effect the relative roll resistance of the rear versus the front, and in extreme cases, then the rear will want to break loose sooner (oversteer); on a slick surface, like after a light rainshower, it might 'catch you out'. So beware.....
Sideways movement for a leaf suspension is attacked typically with panhard/watts links or mono-leafs. The advantage of a panhard is that you can make the link connection point variable and thus raise or lower the rear roll center, which is an advantage in adjusting handling. That is what the circle track boys are doing when they 'adjust the track bar'. (You DO have to be aware of this factor when installing a panhard rod, and make sure you do not mess up the rear roll center!)
A rear sway bar will reduce roll and reduce tire clearance issues. And the rear bar doesn't have to be "HUGE" to do it either.
Before I added a rear sway bar on my Duster I would frequently get some rubbing on the inner wheel tubs when I cross axled through a dip or over a speed bump - the body roll was causing the interference. I added a 7/8" Hellwig sway bar and no more rubbing in those situations. Obviously if I manage to get the body to roll that much again the tires will rub, but the rear bar eliminated all the rubbing during normal driving conditions.
You don't want to go too stiff with the rear bar, as you'll end up in oversteer mode. I prefer a little bit of oversteer, but you can definitely have too much of a good thing. And you want your car matched fairly well from back to front. In my case, my rear leaf springs are quite a bit softer than the front suspension, so the rear bar was needed to match things up and balance the car too.
And a rear sway bar will not stop the axle from shifting side to side under the car. Depending on how it's mounted it might add a small amount of resistance, but we're talking a very small amount, just what the bushings are giving you when you're pulling the end links sideways. Definitely not the reason you'd want to add one.
famous bob
mopar misfit
Agree on the size, my 2014 ram pick up has the smallest diameter sway bar I`ve ever seen , and its surprisingly good---
nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
And looking at the sway bar kit the OP is considering, it won't stop any sideways movement since the vertical links have heim joints at the ends. It'll just reduce the body roll.
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