help addco sway bar

[dohcfiend]

i am finally getting around to installing this thing and needed a little info.

can any1 tell me if this is the revised edition or not?

next any1 have the installation instructions?

where do those little brackets go?

any installation tips that were not in the instructions will be very helpful as well.

any help will be appreciated.

[PCGUY112887]

Heh... i'll explain my experience with that bar.

I don't know if you have the revisted one or not... but mine came painted black. You should paint that before you put it in or it will turn to rust in no time.

For me and my GP, the only useful part of that kit was the bar it's self. The end link brackets did not work at all (the ones that attach right behind your wheels). The holes were spaced out way too much for any of the brackets I got. I coulden't drill them either, since the ammount of drilling needed would send the bolts straight through where the bushing would be. It was so off I think I may have got the wrong brackets... but who knows.

I ended up going to Autozone and buying 22mm Energy Suspension bushings with the whole bracket with them. Those would not fit either! However they were very close, I just had to enlarge the bolt holes in the new brackets a bit to fit.

The instructions (which I have around here somewhere) basically want you to take very similar brackets and use them as center hangers like the stock bar is set up. If you have a stock bar and you will be using center hangers, DO NOT DO THIS! You can, mine lasted about a week till the old hanger you have to bolt it to snapped from the force.

I went to GM and bought totally new stock hangers (which are 10x stronger than the stock ones) and some bushings that fit in the ends of them to go around the bar, and put them in.

All of the part numbers and pictures for this is somewhere between here and the w-body forums. I can pull it up later...

I also ran into an issue with the bar sliding around, I will show what I did for that as well (i'll post pics later).

[dohcfiend]

you think i can use the brackets with the busings i have? and yes my car does have the stock sway bar and hangers.

[PCGUY112887]

You mean for the ends? Just take your wheel off and see if the bracket will go over the 2 bolts, if so then you should be set. You could also just crawl under your car and check, but it's easier to see/get to with the wheel off.

[pwmin]

bracket: 10259660
bushing: 10270253

those are the ones you want (used them on my 96). you can use the stock brackets, though. i put the old bar i had (not revised) on my 91 and took the poly bushings with the kit and ground them on a bench grinder till they fit. looks pretty ghetto, but it works. ill probably get the correct bushings later, but its good to just get the bar in there. here are two comparo pics of the old vs. revised (revised on top)


HTH
Paul

[dohcfiend]

i guess i have the old one judging from that pic.

i have mocked it up in place and it looks like i just have to drill a little bit to get the brackets to work so np for the ends.

about the hangers, do they have to be splayed out?? what if i put the brackets closer to the center, would that work?

example: i was looking at the setup and it seems all i would need to do is use a couple pieces of plate steel, drill it and mount the brackets off of the 2 center bolts that the outer lateral arms use.

p.s. i seen how aweb80 done his rear swaybar in his page. it looks like he cut the original hanger in 1/2, took a piece of steel plate, mounted it to the remnants of the original hanger and mounted the poly bushings to the the steel plate. is that how you guys mounted yours????

[dohcfiend]

bump

also aside from the mounting above, can the bar be mounted solidly to the frame like the front sway bar or does it have to be on a hanger so it can move around some?

i can with some ease construct a bracket to mount the bar solidly to the frame if the hangers are not necessary.

[PCGUY112887]

Oh jeez I just had a huge post made... and I lost it.

Long story short, just get 2 of the bushings mentioned above from GM and stick them in your stock hangers in place of where the tiny bushings are (where the bar goes through). It is a much better solution than what the instructions want you to do (cut the bottom "loop" off of your hanger, and hang one of the bolts through like in awebb's pic).

I had mine just like awebb's and my actual hanger snapped from the stress.

If you want stronger, order 2 of the bracket mentioned above as well, they are much stronger than stock.

You can mount it to the frame... that is what all of the other crap that came with the bar is for, however I do not believe it would be worth it.

[pwmin]

i just lost my schpeel, too, lol.

just get the 7/8 monte bushings. mine also broke when set up like adam's. im not sure if it would be wise or not to secure the bar like youre saying. yeah, just ream out the holes a little on the ES outers.

where did you get your bar?

[dohcfiend]

i got it as part of a package deal from a guy on w-body index. got the rear sway bar, rear stb and front stb for a decent discount for buying all of them at once.

[pwmin]

ok. i hope mine doesnt hit after i lower the rear. didnt wanna order it from where you got it if you ordered it from somewhere so i would get the revised one (im not sure that sentence makes sense, lol).

[blackbombshell95]

The ADDCO bushings won't work. The bar will slide from side to side and you will still have major leaning issues if you use them.

Energy Suspension Bushings #95158G. Order quantity X 1. And you will receive 2 brackets and 2 outer swaybar bushings.

The brackets have 2 holes in them which goes around the lower strut bolts. The holes in the brackets aren't large enough to go over the bolts so you will have to take a drill and elongate the bracket holes. Which is no biggie.

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=ENE&MfrPartNumber=95158Gcom

Don't use ADDCO's instructions for the inner brackets. Which is what Aweb80 did in his photos. You keep your stock centerlink brackets. There is the possibility that they might snap. If that is the case order some new ones from the factory and they should be thicker than stock. Lastly you will to need to get some 22mm centerlink bushings. GM part # 10270253. Order quantity X 2. It is cheaper to buy them at a local dealer than paying like $12 for shipping through gmpartsdirect.com. The item is listed as in INSULATOR.

If you have the OLD bar you might have issues with the bar coming into contact with the center of the rear alignment arms (The arms which adjust your car's rear TOE). If that is the case you can remove a little bit of metal from the CENTER of the alignment arms so that you don't get a loud clunking noise when you go over bumps. That is what I did. If your car does make some noise let me know and I can take some pictures of what I did. I have the OLD bar and currently makes NO NOISE and does NOT SHIFT from one to the other.

These instructions apply to the revised bar as well as the old bar.

[dohcfiend]

hey thanx alot. i am at least 1/2 way on the right track then. i am using the energy suspension poly bushings in the pic in the 1st page and have successfully completed the end mounts.

so you are saying as long as i have the energy suspension bushings, i will not have to worry about the bar going side to side?

i have talked to 2 suspension guys and they have confirmed that it is cool what i want to do for mounting the center bushings. i am going to load the suspension up and after what i have heard from you compress it as well to find an optimal mounting point and i am actually going to buy some metal plates and build a frame extension and bolt the center bushings solidly to it instead of using hangers.

[PCGUY112887]

Hangers are still much easier... but it's whatever you want to do.

My bar still slid around with Energy Suspension bushings. Here is my solution to that... the stock bar has them, I don't know why the addco bar doesn't.

[dohcfiend]

damn it!