Inexpensive Rear (anti)Swaybar

i'm in progress, so here it is as i go.

so after my roommate put high performance swaybars on his 93and4 camaro, we noticed his rear sway bar is almost perfect for the rear of an early jeep.
"almost" means ya need a press if you don't want the links connected to the brake backing plates, the camero bars widen out halfway between the frame and the axle mounts, these bends need streightened to simplyfy everything.
big note on the camaro the swaybar is on the axle, i'm looking at putting it on the frame (offset diff)
here is a mock up pic i'm concerned the shocks will contact the swaybar if the wheels bottom out and would like to know how much clearance is needed.


and should i worry about my driveshaft if the axle bottoms?

 

Re: Inexpensive Rear Swaybar

my 67 could really use a sway bar with the hard top and soft rear springs it can get pretty rocky sometimes. Just havnt got around to looking for the right size bar yet. Looks liek that one should work

 

Re: Inexpensive Rear Swaybar

Are you planning on going to coil springs?

I don't believe I have seen sway bars on leaf spring setups.

Ladder bars would probably work better.

 

Re: Inexpensive Rear Swaybar

Some CJ5's came with a front sway bar, stock and they have leaf springs.

 

Re: Inexpensive Rear Swaybar

When I bought a D30 with disks to replace the D25 on the front of my CJ2A, I took it off the front of a 69 CJ5 and it had the sway bar attached and I used it on my 2A with Holbruck springs. Maybe it was an odd one, but I thought I'd seen others with it too. That's why the front spring plates have two studs sticking out. One for the lower shock mount and one for the sway bar connect.

 

Re: Inexpensive Rear Swaybar

Sway bars work fine with leaf springs. Think about what it does. If both wheels are going over a bump equally, the sway bar simply moves up and down with the suspension. If one wheel goes up, while the other goes down or stays even, the sway bar is racked, in effect, trying to hold the vehicle flat. That is why as you corner and get body roll, the sway bar equipped vehicle stays flatter to the road. They work with coil or leaf springs equally. I made up a front and a rear for me CJ2A many years ago. It helped the body roll, but off road where I wanted the wheels to work independently, it was not helpful at all and actually hurt me in many situations. The reality is; if you want something that really handles on the road, go and buy something made to do that. A Jeep is made to handle off road situations, with slow on road drives in between. Accept it for what it is, and it does just fine.

 

Re: Inexpensive Rear Swaybar

Parts book says the first year for a front sway bar in an 80-90 is 1976 ... the intermediates definitely did not have them. Optional AFAIK ... may have become standard later on. The diameter of the bar increases in 1980. You should be able to fit one of these to an earlier model, with some minor fab.

 

Re: Inexpensive Rear Swaybar

The dana 30 was not stock on a 69 model jeep so the axle more than likely came from as Tim saida 76 or later jeep to start with.

As far as sway bars and leaf springs most all leaf sprung cars from the late
60's thru till whenever had swaybars on them or they were a factory option. Most all old Camaro's and Mustangs had them on the rear.

 

they were available factory on Commando models 1971 and prior
Hellwig supported the 1975 and earlier CJ models
we installed a few, mostly hard top equipped Jeeps
off road wasn't as "hard core" as some of it is today
not an issue back then

 

I had one on my 2A, came from a 60's something jeepster/commando put it on the rear and backwards. Worked OK (I raced it).

Bought one for the front, never installed, thought it came from a 70's something Cj5 with V8???

Dale

 

sorry for falling off the planet for a few days, went out of town for an interview and the daily driver has rear brake issues (it got VERY Very hot).mehh
anyway my hardtop weighs over 300lbs w/ doors and the roommate is just as much so any sort of left hand turn is from a stop.
the swaybar is 3/4" diameter and once adjusted is roughly 36" side to side. the bar can always be disconnected or removed for wheeling.
i'm not trying to run any races only stay on the wheels when the road turns.