Installing Rear Sway Bar. Frame/Drill

Jwawhite

Jwawhite

Well-known member
The Frankenwagon needs a rear anti-sway bar, left front of vehicle rises a bit too much under brisk acceleration and too much sway upon turning.

Here's the help I need: the angled bar ends mount forward of the the rear axle area and are bolted to the frame with angle mounts. I need to drill horizontal parallel holes through the boxed frame. How is this done? Lining up bolt holes?

Also, I'm concerned about the bolt deforming the frame...lack of a support tube inside frame, important? ( I noticed depressions in the frame at the steering box location when installing missing washers with the proper Torque. There may be no support here from factory...)

Thinking of purchasing 7/8 bar from Quickor.

Suggestions?

Happy Thanksgiving!
 
IMO-

You need to decide on and purchase the bar you will be going with. See if they offer an instruction sheet before buying. Then the details can be figured out.
 
Talk to the manufacturer about the front bar, too, and know the size if you have one. Mismatching the bars can be dangerous. I did one one time and really over did the rear bar.

Felt great in the dry, first time it rained (which wasn’t long in Seattle), I spun the car in an intersection at a fairly low speed. Got lucky, but learned that lesson.

I’ve usually had a friend with a welder, and welded the brackets rather than drilling the frame. The other option would be to drill and tap the frame, then you won’t worry about crushing it. I’m not sure that would happen, but getting a straight pair of holes thru the frame might be a pita from under the car. I know that from experience, and don’t have a solution.
 
Jwawhite said:
. . . Also, I'm concerned about the bolt deforming the frame...lack of a support tube inside frame, important? ( I noticed depressions in the frame at the steering box location when installing missing washers with the proper Torque. There may be no support here from factory...)
Click to expand...
Just because you mentioned it, and I have a photo...
On this '55 Bird there is support structure inside the frame where the idler arm bolts go thru.
I would assume the same for the steering box mounting holes. It's a strip of steel the same width as the inside of the frame with a loop bent into each end, for each of the two holes.
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I installed a hitch on a Taurus one time that involved using a piece of fishing line tied to the threaded back up plate and pulling it up through the frame to the holes drilled in the unit body frame. Would something like that be possible?
 
Just a few questions: Are you sure that if rear anti-sway bar is installed that the ends of the bar won't interfere with the operation of the rear shock absorbers?
Are both of the rear leaf springs identical? maybe one or both swapped from a different year/model car, different lengths, different number of leafs, etc????
Wouldn't it be easier to just add overload coil springs on to your rear shock absorbers instead of adding an anti-sway bar. With the overload springs, you can correct the sag of old leaf springs loosing their arch, and you can adjust the height as you see fit. I've had them on my '55 Fairlane for may decades. Back in the '70's, the back bumper was nearly dragging the pavement. The overload springs made it like brand new again.
 
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