home brew sway bars

Chassis, suspension, tires, etc
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pointsnorth
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home brew sway bars

Post by pointsnorth »

looking at building my own sway bar set up anyone got ideas or pictures of ideas on your phones per say

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Provience
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Re: home brew sway bars

Post by Provience »

i've thought about it, but i'm really hoping i can keep my up high weight down enough to not particularly need them. rubber bushings, junkyard torsion bars and then some very adjustable arms to play with strength would be the way to go :)
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Re: home brew sway bars

Post by Scoobienorth »

Kinda out there idea, and in all fairness not sure it could be done but my thought would be to use a gm torsion bar, use probably the lower links frame side mounts to run the torsion bar through, ideally with a hub on one side and use the control arm as the sway bar arm

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pointsnorth
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Re: home brew sway bars

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Provience wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:30 am i've thought about it, but i'm really hoping i can keep my up high weight down enough to not particularly need them. rubber bushings, junkyard torsion bars and then some very adjustable arms to play with strength would be the way to go :)
I have the mounting tube in the frame in case I need it but I'm also hoping I dont need it.

I had the same idea as far as design just have to find one the right size.

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Re: home brew sway bars

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Scoobienorth wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 12:19 pm Kinda out there idea, and in all fairness not sure it could be done but my thought would be to use a gm torsion bar, use probably the lower links frame side mounts to run the torsion bar through, ideally with a hub on one side and use the control arm as the sway bar arm
Western Canadian Rockwell makes a kit that uses a gm torsion bar

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Re: home brew sway bars

Post by Provience »

pointsnorth wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 2:04 pm
Scoobienorth wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 12:19 pm Kinda out there idea, and in all fairness not sure it could be done but my thought would be to use a gm torsion bar, use probably the lower links frame side mounts to run the torsion bar through, ideally with a hub on one side and use the control arm as the sway bar arm
Western Canadian Rockwell makes a kit that uses a gm torsion bar
yeah that makes sense. really convinient because they are already splined/keyed on the ends so it's simple to work around. playing around with the leverage is pretty simple, just a matter of adjusting the link arm length. for a super quick and dirty, lock the torsion bar onto a work bench, grab a 2' or 4' bar or whatever and measure how much it deflects using your body weight. backwards the math to get the deflection pounds per inch or foot or whatever number is easy to work with.

guesstimate how much resistance you want from the truck, probably don't need much and start there. too soft is probably an easier starting point than too firm. the truck should want to roll over at the same point, but with too firm of a sway bar, it will be very level and under tension until it hits that point, then everything will get to unload and help out with the roll :laughing:

at least with too soft you get a bit more warning/feel for when it is getting tippy :rasta:
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Re: home brew sway bars

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You got leafs in the rear, let them do the work. I have never had a roll/lean issue even at speed. Your build is low and I feel it will be a non issue. The Welfare and Fordanado have the same setup and no sway bar.
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Re: home brew sway bars

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HillBilt wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 9:09 am You got leafs in the rear, let them do the work. I have never had a roll/lean issue even at speed. Your build is low and I feel it will be a non issue. The Welfare and Fordanado have the same setup and no sway bar.
this. build it, wheel it, tune it and then think about adding a sway bar if needed. when i first built my rig i had a bit of body roll as my coil overs are sprung lite, revalved them kept the same spring rate, body roll is almost gone and feels good in the corners when hauling ass. im not saying sway bars are not needed but they are the steering stabilizer of the suspension system as they can be a band aid of a poor set up

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Re: home brew sway bars

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Snowracer wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 11:00 am
HillBilt wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 9:09 am You got leafs in the rear, let them do the work. I have never had a roll/lean issue even at speed. Your build is low and I feel it will be a non issue. The Welfare and Fordanado have the same setup and no sway bar.
this. build it, wheel it, tune it and then think about adding a sway bar if needed. when i first built my rig i had a bit of body roll as my coil overs are sprung lite, revalved them kept the same spring rate, body roll is almost gone and feels good in the corners when hauling ass. im not saying sway bars are not needed but they are the steering stabilizer of the suspension system as they can be a band aid of a poor set up
this I know just kind thinking the what if factor. good to have a half ass plan in mind. my frame rails are relatively narrow compared to a full size as the center to on my rear springs is maybe 32ish. but my build is super low and relatively light

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Re: home brew sway bars

Post by HillBilt »

Definitely a good idea to plan to have a location to install, but your rig will be fast as fawk and I don't think you'll need it honestly.
For conversation sake, were you planning on the front or the rear?
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Re: home brew sway bars

Post by pointsnorth »

Behind the rear axle that’s why I drilled the frame and used 1.75 tube as the rear crossmember


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Re: home brew sway bars

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Nice. I seen TMR now offers a kit, I haven't looked at it but assuming its a pretty pricey unit
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Re: home brew sway bars

Post by Scoobienorth »

If you have leafs in the rear I suspect the sway bar won’t be an issue. I was thinking coils at north ends. I would tend to favor stiffer coils over stiffer shocks up front but both will work fine as speed but off camber the coils hold the rig flatter.

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