The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop panard bar shortened when lowering truck? 65 short

i herd ya have to shorten the oanard bar in the rear when ya lower truck,,,,,if so how much should i shorten?

If you need to shorten it, it would just depend on how much you lower it and how far off center your rear axle ends up. I don't think I have ever had to shorten one because of lowering. I have lowered several 67-72 pickups without shortening the bar. It basically just ended up a similar angle in the opposite direction to where the rear end stayed centered. I lowered the rear about 6" on all the trucks I did and ran very little tire clearance, so if it wasn't centered, I would have known it.

I've seen adjustable Panhard bars...one end threaded with a jam nut.
From a strictly geometry standpoint, the length difference will be very small, and as stated above, maybe negligible.
What's the truck and how much do you want to lower it?

Hi Steve, I am from central Mi. also. I have a lowered truck,air bags and notched frame. I found it necessary to lengthen the Pannard bar about 4 inches to keep the rear end close to alignment. With the shorter bar it would shift about 2"
side to side,comparing the lowest reading to the fully raised position.

thanks all its a 65 shorty i purchased it is already lowered ,,i was following it the other day and it looked to be off some,,looked like dog tracking slightly,,ill check into the adjustable ones thanks

At ride height the panhard bar should be parallel to the ground with the rear axle centered under the truck from side to side. As the suspension jounces and rebounds, the end of the rod attached to the truck will swing through an arc, effectively changing the length of the panhard bar and moving the rear axle to the left or right of the truck centerline. If tire clearance is tight, use the longest bar possible to minimize this side to side movement. This would require fabrication of new mounting points. In your case I would try removing one end of the bar, and then center your axle under the truck from side to side. Hold the bar back up into position, this will tell you whether you need to lengthen or shorten your bar to recenter your axle. Then shorten or lengthen accordingly.

John

Good advice, but as I said earlier, Longer is better. It won't move so much.

thanks john