The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Big rear sway bars??

Anyone making a big rear sway bar for the 60-72 trucks? I'm looking for one for mainly drag strip purpose. Wanting to keep the rear suspension from twisting under launch.

I'm seeing bars in the .875" range but nothing bigger.

Super73,

I thought a sway bar helped control body roll. What kind of help would it be at the starting line. I could envision the rear end trying to 'wrap up', but this doesn't seem to be the same as roll, which a sway bar would address.

Stuart

Whether it is thefront wheels pulling off the ground or engergy lost in body roll/twist, there is still engergy lost there rather than put to use moving the vehicle forward. If you look at a lot of all out drag race setups, they have nice big rear sway bars.

But, too stiff a rear spring coupled with a big sway bar = more issues.

There is a lot more to it than this such as instant center of gravity, weight balance ect..

BTW, I found a 1 1/8 on summit from Hellwig unpainted for $122.xx They have a front the same size for the same price.

Super73,

Thanks for the info..I guess there is a lot of technical stuff involved in "moving the vehicle forward".


Stuart

No problem.. Your not going to see a huge gain from a bigger sway bar maybe .03-.05 in the 60 foot, but typically .1 in the 60' is about .15 on the big end.

I want the truck to leave straight and level mainly and get the 60' down as far as I can with out major mods like hacking up the frame. If I can cut a high 1.6x 60' on the motor I'll be very happy.

My buddy w/a blown 400/th400 in a '69 C10 found a rear sway bar made the rear too stiff, the wheelhop was horrible. Pulled it back off, all was good. Handled great, but wouldn't launch. Brian

64fleet,

Do you know what spring / shock combo he is/or was running? I would be interested to know spring rates, if they were an adjustable valve shock and what sway bar he went with.

The plan as of right now for suspension:
3" drop spindle in the front
1" drop spring in the front (Not sure what rates are out there yet)
HAL adjustable shock in the stock front location
HAL rear adjustable coil overs with adjustable valving in the stock location (6" shorter 130-250 lbs./in. progressive)
1 1/8 front sway bar with quick disconnect for the track
1 1/8 rear sway bar
Adjustable Panhard bar

I dunno about the spring rates, just some new 4" lowered springs from Early Classic Ent. & garden variety big fat HD gas shocks. Front lowered 2 1/2" using spindles from ECE. 60 ft times were better w/front stabilizer removed. We disconnected the driver's side first, then removed it altogether & got another .010 or so. Even better w/left front shock removed. Small amount of iron(maybe 100lbs) bolted to frame above the rear axle. The long trailing arm on the rear seems to make them launch pretty good, much better than a leaf sprung truck. If you are going w/coilovers it should launch even better. Brian

Just to throw out another idea for the rear; the rear suspension on the '60-'72 is the same as what the Nascar boys are running. You could possibly use a similar type rear spring setup for adjustability with the weight screws/trackbar adjustment and still keep the basic suspension stock. I realize that you want to go straight, but this setup will allow for adjustment for distrubuting the wieght/spring rates the same as coilovers. Just a thought.

Longbox,

If I had an interest in going around corners fast in the truck I might consider the fully adjustable rear suspension. But the truck is being built mainly as my tow vehicle for this:

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=434819

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=550812

The Camaro will never go straight real well with the M6 at speeds less than 80 or so mph. That PT91 solid roller set up should make some serious power. Some day I might swap in a ladder bar and stick an auto in it to try and get it to go 8's, but for now turning on the silver state will be fun and I'll try to get the truck to go 12.5x NA and low 11's on the hose.

Camaro IROC-Z (88-89) uses a 1' swaybar that is 39" between control link centers. Flip the Camaro mount from bottom to top of your diff and you should be able to use the stock control links. However, if you're going to run a panhard bar this may present an issue. Don't know if this will reflect on your grip problem but it will eliminate any body roll. Need to make sure you've got a bar on the front as you may experience some "unusual" handling characteristics. Hope this helps.

Aahhh, I see said the mute man! Cool car. I was just throwing out some ideas. In theory, it would seem that that system could be made to work for going straight.

FLA54, I agree in turning a corner fast with no front sway bar could be bad, but, on my 01 SS I logged a good 20k miles with no front sway bar. It was my DD and driving back and forth to work 110 miles a day with a big cam during the winter.. Wish I would have tracked the car after the cam. With out cam laid down 335rwhp and went 12.44 with a crapy 2.01 60' (Tires and stock 3.42 gears were the main problem). After the cam it laid down 402rwhp on stock heads and 510rw on the hose.

Longbox, Thanks for the compliment on the car. I agree it would be a little more tunable. Might have to run some different spring rates though.