Jim Lusk
Well-Known Member
Spindles/calipers can be swapped side to side in an hour...If you're like me you've spent than that time on here in the last couple of days...
Help with Addco Sway Bar
- Thread starter Valkman
- Start date
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robertob
Well-Known Member
That addco bar works great IF you make your own brackets as others have suggested, The lower shock mounts are crappy, and the k-frame mounts are not very good either. Oh and you have to run the calipers to the rear...
With the right tools it can be done fairly easily. Without those tools, he'll probably ruin ball joint boots, etc...
There are other methods but they are more time consuming.
First time I put 73 disc brakes under a 67 fish was 1981 or 2, somewhere along there. Wasn't an internet to ask back then. I figured it out.
When I took it for alignment the guy there says "You don't have any of this put together right". I said, "If you look at it long enough you'll find it wont go together any other way. Don't worry about the mule , just load the wagon".
I think he was quite surprised that the alignment did come in to specs but he had nothing more to say to me.
As it is right now the bar is hitting the lower ball joint nut so I don't think swapping the spindles will change this. I'll mess with it when I have time and re-think what I have!
Thanks for everyone's help!
Thanks for everyone's help!
If you ever do put the sway bar together right it wont hit the ball joint nut anymore.
It will hit the caliper. Then you will be forced to swap the spindles.
What else can you do ? Grind away that nut ? LOL
Again, good luck with it.
It will hit the caliper. Then you will be forced to swap the spindles.
What else can you do ? Grind away that nut ? LOL
Again, good luck with it.
64ragtop
Well-Known Member
SO, why not use someone else's swaybar if those ADDCO ones mean you have to redesign the suspension?
BC
BC
LOL There isn't a redesign the suspension anywhere in any of this.
The brakes are the issue.
Every bar that goes around the early K ( cant go through like later A ) will be pretty much the same and will work just fine with the OEM brakes
The problem here is the brakes were changed to late A before attempting to install the early A sway bar.
The late A sway bar would bolt right on too no matter what brand but only with a late a K that allows the bar to pass through.
64ragtop
Well-Known Member
Thanks, Redfish. The suspension redesign wisecrack was just a figure of speech, and perhaps not helpful. Your explanation pretty well answered the questions I had. I wasn't aware of the K-member changes, but had read of sway bars going through the K. That seems like it would be best for ground clearance, but can't be done on my 64ragtop or any pre-'67 A body.
The challenge, as I (think) I understand it is to find anchor points for the end links that clear the brake parts, ball joints, whatever is in that area. The links and hardware also must clear with the wheels at full lock in both directions and at all conditions of vertical wheel travel. Seems like that last point would be hard to test. Perhaps by removing the wheel and the torsion bar???
Fabrication WILL be required whichever brand of swaybar I purchase.
DRAT!!!
BC
The challenge, as I (think) I understand it is to find anchor points for the end links that clear the brake parts, ball joints, whatever is in that area. The links and hardware also must clear with the wheels at full lock in both directions and at all conditions of vertical wheel travel. Seems like that last point would be hard to test. Perhaps by removing the wheel and the torsion bar???
Fabrication WILL be required whichever brand of swaybar I purchase.
DRAT!!!
BC
No fabrication is required.
When a owner has a pre 73 A-body with pre 73 brakes and a a sway bar ( either OEM or aftermarket ) they are fine and dandy. That is until they try to install 73 up spindles and rotors exactly as they were pulled from the donor.
When they notice the late model calipers position is going to hit their sway bar they see a simple and possible solution. Moments later they realize that moving the caliper and its bracket will require switching the spindles.
They now have 1 critical question to find an answer to... Are these spindles left and right specific in regards to suspension and alignment ? The answer is No. The ball joint bores are plumb. The tie rod attach point isn't cast as part of the spindle either so the spindle itself will work on either side. Happy moparing.
We owe Ma Mopar much thanks for the part in bold even if the story doesn't go as told here for everyone.
When a owner has a pre 73 A-body with pre 73 brakes and a a sway bar ( either OEM or aftermarket ) they are fine and dandy. That is until they try to install 73 up spindles and rotors exactly as they were pulled from the donor.
When they notice the late model calipers position is going to hit their sway bar they see a simple and possible solution. Moments later they realize that moving the caliper and its bracket will require switching the spindles.
They now have 1 critical question to find an answer to... Are these spindles left and right specific in regards to suspension and alignment ? The answer is No. The ball joint bores are plumb. The tie rod attach point isn't cast as part of the spindle either so the spindle itself will work on either side. Happy moparing.
We owe Ma Mopar much thanks for the part in bold even if the story doesn't go as told here for everyone.
robertob
Well-Known Member
Well in the case of the Addco bar for the early A the mounts are not a very good design, regardless of the caliper clearance issue.
But they are cheap, and I had one already which is why I proceeded with it.
here are some pictures of the end link brackets I made. I used longer end links (the short ones that come with it are bad for geometry) and I moved the bar up and in front of the K-frame. That way I could make the ends parallel with the strut rods (also important for geometry). And get rid of the crappy Addco brackets.
But they are cheap, and I had one already which is why I proceeded with it.
here are some pictures of the end link brackets I made. I used longer end links (the short ones that come with it are bad for geometry) and I moved the bar up and in front of the K-frame. That way I could make the ends parallel with the strut rods (also important for geometry). And get rid of the crappy Addco brackets.
robertob
Well-Known Member
Oh, and I ran the calipers to the rear as you have to do. It makes the hose run a little more difficult but can be done.
Apparently you didn't need to move the calipers to the rear.
Yours may not be hitting a ball joint nut but still... It looks just as wrong as the one that does to me. Or maybe it will work just any way you hang it under there. I don't know everything. Nobody else does either.
I don't believe the stabilizer bar needs to be parallel with the strut rods. Nor do I believe their relation effects geometry in any way. ( Yall are welcome to prove this point, in a different thread though ).
I think the folks at Addco are getting a kick out of all this. LOL
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