Which Rear Sway Bar Is The Best

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71DodgeDemon340

71DodgeDemon340

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I have a 1971 dodge demon 340. got a factory 7/8's front sway bar off of a 68 dart gts on the front, weld in sub frame connectors. looking at a rear sway bar now.

Ive heard the addco's are junk and that the hellwig are the way to go.
also for anyone who's got the hellwig does the hellwig brackets fit properly?
and will a 1'' rear sway bar match up with the 7/8'' Front sway bar or is 1'' to big for the rear?

Thanks guys.
 
Ok. So id be better off upgrading the front to the 1 1\8" bar in the front to match a 1" bar in the back?.

Also I've heard you don't want a rear sway bar if your doing auto cross. But if I just drive mine on the street and take her to the drag strip every now and then. Will a rear sway bar even make a difference?

Thanks.
 
Hellwig makes an adjustable rear bar, which would give you some chassis tuning ability, depending on what you want for handling. A rear bar is always a good idea, but as mentioned, too stiff is bad because it can cause your car to oversteer. We have the Hellwig solid front bar kit on my son's '68 Dart and it works well. Eventually we plan to install the adjustable rear bar to really flatten out the handling, as autocross is likely in its future. Maybe AutoXCuda will chime in.......
 
Not really sure , I have a front bar only and the car handles fine , no lean at all around sweeping turns (new compact sports cars can't keep up with me ) , so I will not be adding a rear bar . If you're not happy with how the car handles then maybe new front rear bars will help . If your car leans a lot in turns look into it . Oh I also have poly bushings all around , that helped a bit as well , tightened up the chassis a bit . At the strip don't think it will help much , drag shocks would , but then street handling suffers , maybe adjustable shocks ?
 
Well my handling is awesome. Just was mainly wondering if adding a rear sway bar would increase handling even more. I have a factory 7/8" sway bar up front with welded in sub frame connectors so she's pretty stiff.
 
What are your alignment settings? If you're not running a little negative camber up front, going a little negative would reduce understeer for less than the cost of a rear bar. Addition of a rear will reduce body roll even further and trend the car toward oversteer, depending on its stiffness.
 
Ok. My main question is will it help on the street. Not doing road courses or auto cross just around town and some mountain driving here in tn
 
If you like to drive at 7/10ths or better on the mountain roads, it'll help. If you just want to cruise below the point where the groceries start to slide across the seat, save your money......

just my .02
 
If the front bar is only 7/8 then no rear, I would up grade to 1 1/8 front and 3/4 rear also around 1" torsion bar with good shocks.
 
oK I gotcha. Now how bout if I just upgrade the front seat bar to the 1 1/8" will that make a difference between the 7/8" bar.

Thanks guys, sorry for so many questions just weighing my options.
 
My son's Dart has the Hellwig 5906 front bar and it fits like a glove. Can't tell you before/after because we didn't dirve the car before we installed it (had other suspension issues). The car has slight body roll in the turns, but very benign. Hangs low in front of the K-member, but that's its design. Just don't pull up close to any curbs..... ask how I know....

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HEL-5906/?rtype=10
 
71DodgeDemon340 said:
oK I gotcha. Now how bout if I just upgrade the front seat bar to the 1 1/8" will that make a difference between the 7/8" bar.

Thanks guys, sorry for so many questions just weighing my options.
Click to expand...

Yes, that will make a difference too. Probably more noticable than just buying a rear.

Right now, when your car is pushed to the limits the front end probably will slide out (push, understeer) due to the front end leaning over so much and the outer tire leaning over and tire rolling under. Depends on the tires and shocks you have on it. Adding a front bar can reduce the front lean and give you more tire grip. It WILL still understeer, just not as much. Unless you give it gas in the middle of the corner and break the rear tires loose.

Adding a rear sway bar can balance out the front to rear roll and the car will not understeer so much. And it might oversteer some. That's why an adjustable rear sway bar is so helpful and neat. You have three positions that can help you get the car where you like it.

With everything stock suspension and runing some BFG T/A's or something like that for tires, front and rear sway bars will allow the car to react quicker in corners and grip the most.

You are not going to die if you just add an adjustable rear sway bar. And you can change the adjustments on it. If you like the increased performance, you will like changing to bigger front sway bar too.
 
Start with the front bar something like 1 1/8 test her out to see if it under/over steers then you can figure if you need a rear bar or more spring rate to balance it out.
 
Ok I gotcha thanks everyone for the info. Also I've heard that the hellwig front bars for 68-72 a bodies will work with factory end link mounts on the lower control arm can anyone confirm this.
 
firm feel makes the best rear bar and front as far as i'm concerned. i ran both of thiers before i went RMS. rear bar mounts like a t/a challenger and works great. no mounts pulling out of the frame! i ran mine hard and loved them.
 
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