The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Anti-sway bar info.

I installed a 1.25” bar from a C30 on my 1965 C10 about 3 years ago. It really holds steady in the corners. My 1963 C10 has a 1 + 1/16” bar and is less steady but still good. Here’s the info. LINK to Anti-sway bar info.

Now that is a great article Lugnutz, great details and photos!



I needed all of that information about this, 10 years ago.

I added it to my pile of stuff about sway bars: sway bar options for 1960-1966 Chevrolet/GMC trucks

-Woog

Great info and illustrations.

Thanks for sharing.

John

You have just added another thing to do to my truck.

Back in my sports car obsession days, we had an assortment of front and rear antiroll bars for the Datsun roadster we campaigned at various autocross and gymkhana competitions in central California. Depending on the layout of a particular course, we would swap bars to change the handling characteristics. Maybe it helped- - - -we won a lot of class trophies and a few "overall best time" on the short, twisty ones.
Jerry

Great How-To. I'm looking at the pictures and trying to visualize the suspension on my straight axled '51. Hummmm

RonR

Two friends local to me are coming over Saturday morning for an “anti-roll bar installation party”! Such fun!

Will this work for a 1960 with torsion bar suspension?

My Dad had a '63 Chevy truck. One end of the anti-roll bar broke loose on the Alaska highway - we were miles from anywhere. Dad took one of the muffler clamps off and used it to hold the bar in place. That rusty old clamp didn't last long, but it was enough to get us to a place where we could buy a new one.

There is a lot of force on an anti-roll bar.

I’d be interested to know where the anti-sway bar came loose. The anti-sway bar that I have installed is from a square body truck. It is not common for them to fail. Obviously the brackets and bushings must be kept in good shape and properly lubricated.

The lower control arms do not have pre-drilled holes from 1960—1964. Otherwise, they should bolt up the same as the 1965—1966 trucks.

It broke off where it attached to the driver side a-arm. This trip was before the highway was paved - it was pretty rough back then. We were carrying a heavy camper.

Jay,
That C30 bar you describe - what years would this bar be found? 63-6xx or 60-6xx?

I have only seen one 60-66 C10 with a swaybar. I bought a parts truck and it had a tiny 0.75” sway bar that looked original. Probably was a dealer option add on.

Look for a sway bar from a 73-87 square body truck. C10 will be 1+ 1/16” and C30 will be 1.25”. You will also find them on Suburbans too, same years.

The Suburban (62) - that is the application I am thinking. I will start a search this spring.

Your 1962 will not have pre-drilled holes in the lower control arm but it is not difficult to measure to find the proper location. Drilling the holes gets a little cramped, so a right angle drill is helpful.

An antiroll bar is spring steel- - - -basically a side to side torsion bar to resist body lean in turns. Going to a much larger diameter bar than original will result in a lot of ride roughness if only one wheel hits a bump or drops into a pothole. It will also transfer a lot of stress to the frame rails ahead of the front suspension crossmember. Handling in turns will also be radically different, so educate yourself on what to expect by pushing the envelope a little where it's safe to do so.
Jerry

You confirm what I told a friend. When you hit a pothole with only one tire, the suspension for that front wheel compresses. The anti-sway bar moves with the suspension but the opposite side suspension resists the movement. So it’s like hitting the pothole with stiffer front springs (like double springs) because both front springs are in play.
That being said, it stays rock solid around hairpin turns. I have a 1.25” C30 bar on my 1965 but the 1 + 1/16” bar on my 1963 is just fine too.

If the anti-roll bar is too big/stiff, the inside wheel might lift off the ground on hard cornering which could make handling worse. Not that you will be driving an old truck trough a slalom course ...

Anyway, I installed a bar on the '54. Big improvement in handling - who needs IFS!