Tweet
Well, yesterday my father and I installed the front and rear sway bars I ordered from Addco. I love the feeling, the ride is still comfortable but the wandering under hard acceleration is gone, it tracks corners much better and it definitely handles avoidance maneuvers more confidently. Those are the pluses, however, I have a warning for anyone wanting to do this on an A-Body: This is NOT a simple bolt on contrary to what Addco claims. Here are some things I noticed.
1. The rubber bushings for the front sway bar that came with the kit were too thick and needed to be shaved in order to fit and even then it was a pain in the a$$. Then we had to use a jack to push the bushings into place and hold the bar there. The aftermarket bar is probably close to twice the weight of the stock one.
2. The bushings for the U-brackets in the front were also to large and once you pushed them in the brackets they bent them out of shape just enough to not allow them to fit over the heavy duty bolts. So, this required some grinding with the Dremel on the bolt holes.
3. The mounting placement for the rear sway bar requires you to cut away about an inch to and inch and a half of the inner wheel well in order to gain enough room to access drilling through the frame. More fun with the Dremel and a reinforced cutting blade. Mind you that there are THREE layers of sheet metal to cut through
4. Make sure you connect the uplinks before tightening down the bracket to the frame for the rear since the curve of the frame can cause the bolt to be a bit angled thus not allowing you to tighten up the uplinks after tightening up the bracket.
5. Make sure you have someone help you. It took my dad and I a bit over 10 hours to do all of this. I can only imagine how long it would take and how frustrating it would be if I tried to do this myself.
6. The outboard ends of the rear bar by the bolt holes need some decent grinding. If they are not rounded the will rub against the control arms. Why these weren't made correctly is beyond me. I am not the only one who has run into this problem.
7. The bolts that are supplied with the kit to connect the brackets to the frames are too long by about 3/4 of and inch or so, so you will need to go a local hardware store and get a few shorter ones that you can try out to get the best fit.
8. Check the parts contained in the kit. Addco supplied with me with the right number of locking bolts but one was the incorrect size and they were missing two washers from the kit.
9. The instructions are atrocious and half-a$$ed at best. Go to A-Body.net and look for the instructions one of the members posted there. They were very, very helpful.
10. And last but not least, these are NOT direct replacement custom fit bolt ons. You will need to do some of your own customizing as you can see from above so patience and time is a must.
Hope this can help someone!!!!
1. The rubber bushings for the front sway bar that came with the kit were too thick and needed to be shaved in order to fit and even then it was a pain in the a$$. Then we had to use a jack to push the bushings into place and hold the bar there. The aftermarket bar is probably close to twice the weight of the stock one.
2. The bushings for the U-brackets in the front were also to large and once you pushed them in the brackets they bent them out of shape just enough to not allow them to fit over the heavy duty bolts. So, this required some grinding with the Dremel on the bolt holes.
3. The mounting placement for the rear sway bar requires you to cut away about an inch to and inch and a half of the inner wheel well in order to gain enough room to access drilling through the frame. More fun with the Dremel and a reinforced cutting blade. Mind you that there are THREE layers of sheet metal to cut through
4. Make sure you connect the uplinks before tightening down the bracket to the frame for the rear since the curve of the frame can cause the bolt to be a bit angled thus not allowing you to tighten up the uplinks after tightening up the bracket.
5. Make sure you have someone help you. It took my dad and I a bit over 10 hours to do all of this. I can only imagine how long it would take and how frustrating it would be if I tried to do this myself.
6. The outboard ends of the rear bar by the bolt holes need some decent grinding. If they are not rounded the will rub against the control arms. Why these weren't made correctly is beyond me. I am not the only one who has run into this problem.
7. The bolts that are supplied with the kit to connect the brackets to the frames are too long by about 3/4 of and inch or so, so you will need to go a local hardware store and get a few shorter ones that you can try out to get the best fit.
8. Check the parts contained in the kit. Addco supplied with me with the right number of locking bolts but one was the incorrect size and they were missing two washers from the kit.
9. The instructions are atrocious and half-a$$ed at best. Go to A-Body.net and look for the instructions one of the members posted there. They were very, very helpful.
10. And last but not least, these are NOT direct replacement custom fit bolt ons. You will need to do some of your own customizing as you can see from above so patience and time is a must.
Hope this can help someone!!!!
Some of the bolts are bit long, but it works.
Comment