After a long process of swapping axles and getting wheels and tires to fit on my 72 Dart, I was finally able to drive home. On the way home however, I could here the rear wheel on the passenger side rubbing on the fender (there is only about 1/2 an inch of space) when I was making right turns. Do ya'll think a rear sway bar will keep it from rubbing?
Rear tires are rubbing on fender!
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roccodart440
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1/2" is tight. Mine rub sometimes.
Have you rolled or trimmed the lip at all? Or do they rub on the inside?
Have you rolled or trimmed the lip at all? Or do they rub on the inside?
On the inside. Has the rubbing messed up your tires at all?
roccodart440
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Put a small spacer in there to push them out slightly if you have more room to the outside.
It hasn't really messed up the tires. It rubs a little in tight corners.
69_340_GTS
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I can't see how a sway bar would help at all.
roccodart440
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Tires often rub when the body articulates.
What size tires? More than likely its your tire flex doing it.
a sway would help reduce the body roll which would limit the movement some.
69_340_GTS
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That would seem to indicate the springs are too soft. So yes, in that case a sway bar might help.
Pics of the car would help.
69_340_GTS
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Not sure, then, why you told the OP to get some wheel spacers. All he wanted to know was if a sway bar would fix it.
roccodart440
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Because spacers are cheaper than a sway bar and regardless of whether he run sway bar or not the wheels should be centered in the wheel well anyhow and currently they aren't
doogievlg
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My slicks rub pretty bad on my car no matter what I do. My fix was a new set of tires 
My Convertible Dart, 273 2bbl, 7 1/4 rear, 6 leaf springs ( stock but saggy rally suspension pkg), stock 14" wheels, has rub marks in the inner fender well. Currently it has 205/70R14 Michillen (sp?) tires on it. There is about 1 inch between fender well / lip and tire, inside and outside. My guess is when body leans is when it is making contact.
I'm sorry, they are rubbing on the inside of the fender, the face of the tire. Does that make sense?
It's been raining here in Houston since I got the wheels put on but I'll get some up asap.
I thought sway bars kept the cars body from leaning over too much.
Mine are really tight too. (outside sidewall to the wheel opening lip.) You can grind off a bit and bend the lip too but just a bit without damaging the paint. Those lips are spot welded to the inner fender so you can't do too much. Better springs, a different rim, or different tires is the fix. I can't get my finger tips between the tire and lip on one side. The other side is fine. No rub though. I have stock 5 leaf springs with a extra leaf added. (done by the previous owner)
That's saggin ***. You need some new springs.
that's way less than 1/2 inch of clearance.. that looks to be less than a quarter inch. Tire flex and that tight of clearance is more likely that just worn springs as your cause. You'll need to roll that lip or trim it back. cause even though replacing the springs will help, in hard cornering, those tires will likely still rub.
69_340_GTS
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Yeah but it won't add any clearance. You do need to stiffen up the rear end, and at the same time correct the ride height (up). Most easily done with new springs. Also, it looks like the wheels should have more backspacing (which of course the only way to correct is with new wheels). Or use a smaller tire.
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Hang on OP, you need to understand whats going on in the turns.
Go find 4 friends. A couple of them robust, and a couple of them with strong backs. Now go find a heavy duty anchor point like a brick building and snuggle up to it about 3 ft away. Bring a flash light. and something to lie down on. Now get the robust buddies to sit on the back corner, and the strong ones to jack the car over until the fender hits the tire in question, by wedging themselves between the car and the building. Now, you will be laying under the car with the flashlight, watching what is going on.
You will see that the body is restrained by the rubber bushings in the front eye and by the flexi-shackle at the rear,and by nothing else, Watch your shackle, as the boys alternately apply and release wedge. Get one of the robust helpers to jump off and then retest.
Now go home and replace all the rubber bits with straight Poly.
Then retest.
Do not use any shackle that uses loose thru bolts, unless it is a welded assembly.
Loose axle U-bolts will allow some jacking, so torque them up.
The closer to flat your rear spring is, the less torque it can apply to the bushings and shackle, and the less side-shift you will have. The more tire pressure you run, the quicker the body will side-shift. Sometime reducing the tire pressure helps. but do not reduce so far as to induce other phenomena like rear-steer in the turns, or premature wear out.
If you have an 8.75, and if you have a more generous clearance on the passenger side, I have found that swapping the right-side axle with the adjuster on it, over to the driver's side will sometimes get me what I need. If there is room in the adjuster, I have on one occasion, ground some spline off the end of the axle.
An anti-sway bar is to reduce body roll. It will do as good as nothing for side-shift.
Go find 4 friends. A couple of them robust, and a couple of them with strong backs. Now go find a heavy duty anchor point like a brick building and snuggle up to it about 3 ft away. Bring a flash light. and something to lie down on. Now get the robust buddies to sit on the back corner, and the strong ones to jack the car over until the fender hits the tire in question, by wedging themselves between the car and the building. Now, you will be laying under the car with the flashlight, watching what is going on.
You will see that the body is restrained by the rubber bushings in the front eye and by the flexi-shackle at the rear,and by nothing else, Watch your shackle, as the boys alternately apply and release wedge. Get one of the robust helpers to jump off and then retest.
Now go home and replace all the rubber bits with straight Poly.
Then retest.
Do not use any shackle that uses loose thru bolts, unless it is a welded assembly.
Loose axle U-bolts will allow some jacking, so torque them up.
The closer to flat your rear spring is, the less torque it can apply to the bushings and shackle, and the less side-shift you will have. The more tire pressure you run, the quicker the body will side-shift. Sometime reducing the tire pressure helps. but do not reduce so far as to induce other phenomena like rear-steer in the turns, or premature wear out.
If you have an 8.75, and if you have a more generous clearance on the passenger side, I have found that swapping the right-side axle with the adjuster on it, over to the driver's side will sometimes get me what I need. If there is room in the adjuster, I have on one occasion, ground some spline off the end of the axle.
An anti-sway bar is to reduce body roll. It will do as good as nothing for side-shift.
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