The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Do anti sway bars help much?

I have a 51 chevy 1/2 ton that I switched out the old drivetrain to a 350 v8, and put in power steering, and disc brakes on the front. I left the old straight axle on. It still bounces around like it used to, but I drive slow and I don't mind that at all. But when I hit a big dip or bump in the road, the truck will lurch a little to the side (usually to the left). Would sway bars help stop this? Is there any downside to sway bars?

Shoe,

When I added a sway bar to my '49, it was like night and day how much better the truck drove. It still rides like an old truck but no more fighting to keep it in the lane on rough roads.

Ditto. What a difference. No more body lean and the cab mounts don't squeak as much.

Anybody tried one on a '40?
Dennis

Thanks for the help, I'll order one from Chevy Duty today. Sounds like 150 bucks well spent to me!

You will love them. Order one for the back too.My 62 corners better than cars 40yrs newer

DennisM - I'm not sure they make one for a 40. You are in the same boat I am with my 46. I would like to put one on my truck but as yet I haven't found one that is made for our age trucks.

If anyone knows on one that will fit, let us know.

Thanks
George

Thanks again.
Gazim, do you use the same one for the front and back, or are they different? Also, are they fairly easy to put on (without having the truck on a lift)?

The sway bar on my 46 came off a wrecked suburban in an old wrecking yard 20 years ago. All the older truck frames had the mounting holes for sway bars, so this was just a bolt-in.

shoe, you might also consider
Patrick\'s

they also offer a lowering kit, I have it installed on my 52 and with the single leaf spring you do not need the sway bar.. they do offer the sway bar for $139.50

Front sway bar is different from the rear one.

Both are bolt on's and as the long as the cross memeber and frame width is about the same between the 40 and 47-53, I would guess that it would work out of the box or with slight modification for the frame mount points.

For the rear you can get one from CPP, they've got a website. Or, you could look at their website and decide whether you could just pull a rear sway bar from the rear of a caprice (or similar car) buy the axel clamp/bushings and rodend/bushing kits from a FLAPS and make the frame mounts yourself.

Joker makes a good point, lowering your front end will make a big difference on the steering. Patrick's sells lowered springs and there are some threads here about lowering by removing a few leafs.

A swap bar should have no effect on straight ahead driving. You have bump-steer and sounds like a lot of bouncing. I would question the condition of the shocks and then check for loose steering linkage.

Thanks, Richard. I had never heard of "bump steer" before. I did a couple of Google searches, and found some good info on what causes it and what you can do to minimalize it.
I talked with the guy who did the work on the truck today, and I think we will be able to rework the steering linkage to cut most of it out.
Without this forum I would never had known! Thanks again.

Hey Gazim, Are you talking about a 62 truck? If so, where did you get the sway bars?

Bigmacdaddy. Yup I am talking a 62 but neglected to mention the torsion bars are gone and a 74 front end installed. they were easy to install with just a floor jack, electric drill and hand tools.

Of course your answers lead to more questions. Is that 74 front end on your 62 frame? If so, how involved is that?

I don't know which you should buy first, I would only guess that the front is more important. Friends following me are amazed the way it corners. I also have gone to airbags on all 4 corners. My 74 front end was from a donor that was cut almost by the drivers seat. was easier to splice to the 62 rear there and has performed well for 4 yrs.

Install for 47-53 front sway for people doing an installation search..........
http://www.classicperform.com/tech_articles/SwayBarChevyTruck/SwayBarChevyTruck.htm