need new style swaybar pics

[Daron]

I eat too much unfortunately...

Your experience is consistent with what I expected with the ADDCO and lowered leafs. While you may not lose sleep over it, I found that contact would occur under the most inopportune times, changing the spring rate and handling dramatically. As I stated earlier I think the ADDCO is a decent bar for a stock height truck, its experiences such as yours that convinces me it is the wrong tool for the job on a lowered leaf application.

Try crawling under keith's truck sometime and take a look if you are concerned about the sway bar hitting stuff, and thats the ST bar on a STOCK ride height truck.

Again it appears that finding the right product for these trucks becomes the typical nitemare with no real good solution.

I suspect there is something additional at play in Keiths application as the ST bar is known to work well at stock heights, as well as in lowered applications. I wonder if we could cajole Keith into taking some detailed pics, see if we can get to the bottom of it.

 

[Daron]

Those with the ADDCO and lowering springs...

Do us a favor as I would like to put this issue to bed and in the vault. I'd like some feedback from a couple more owners with a Lowered Ty and the ADDCO sway bar, maybe some pictures to boot. Are you seeing evidence of contact with the springs as shown earlier? I'd like to be able to show folks in the future who are considering purchasing a bar of this style the downsides, so they dont have to discover their bar rides on the springs after they purchased it.
Thanks,
Daron

 

[Typhoon #1133]

Ha, you want some pictures of mine? I can go take some for you. I need to do something with it this winter. Any time you go over a bump it hits the springs.

 

[Daron]

Ha, you want some pictures of mine? I can go take some for you. I need to do something with it this winter. Any time you go over a bump it hits the springs.

Sure! You have the ADDCO or the ST? Sounds like the ADDCO as the ST doesnt mount near the springs?

 

[Tydriver]

Ha, you want some pictures of mine? I can go take some for you. I need to do something with it this winter. Any time you go over a bump it hits the springs.

Sure! You have the ADDCO or the ST? Sounds like the ADDCO as the ST doesnt mount near the springs?

Now you are just trying to stir up the pot Daron, you obviously havent read the previous parts of this thread or are deliberately trying to cause more turmoil.

I have spoken about Keith's bar before and you know all to well that its an ST bar as my previous posts have indicated, it doesnt fit, it hits on his truck and it mounts to the axle, NOT like the ADDCO bar does on the frame.

I am half tempted to just lock this topic/ or move to trash and let it drop since it hasnt gone anywhere productive in a long time.


As per previous post :

I suspect there is something additional at play in Keiths application as the ST bar is known to work well at stock heights, as well as in lowered applications. I wonder if we could cajole Keith into taking some detailed pics, see if we can get to the bottom of it.

 

[GM TURBO]

I have the ST bar and 2" blocks. I have never noticed any problems with it hitting. I will look under it tonight and see if I find anything good. Unfortunately I don't have a working digi camera.

 

[Daron]

Ewww... not good.

Please mellow my brother.. I asked for more pics of an ADDCO bar on a lowered truck, Keith responded offering pics of his. This was confusing since I didnt call for ST pics... Additionally his description of it hitting the springs made me really confused since this is an ADDCO trait, not an ST.

Furthermore, I just can't fathom how an ST bar would contact the springs, since is is mounted to the axle, as you state, thus really making me wonder what kind of bar we are talking about...

After reading back to get a jist of where this may have gone wrong I see Keith was responding to my earlier request for pics of his bar setup... Whoops!

I havent made one comment one could read and consider justification for closing this thread.

Turmoil? Where does that come from? Stirring the pot? Huh? We have learned some valuable information about ADDCO sway bars here, this causes turmoil?

 

[Tydriver]

:roll:

Whatever, at this point I am going to speak my peace on the subject. My ADDCO fits great, mounts to the frame and doesnt hit a single thing.

My 2 experiences with the ST bar have been less than favorable at this point and I wanted to make my point, which I feel I have done. I am going to click the stop watching this topic and ignore the rest of this silly post since it hasnt gone anywhere productive

My view is you seem to be hell bent on destroying the credibility of the Newer design of the ADDCO bar when it clearly worked on a number of trucks. I will give you the fact that the old style didnt work (or atleast take your word for it since I have never installed or seen one myself).

You seem to be hung up on the fact that the addco bar has the chance of hitting on a lowered truck when the spring goes into a reverse arch situation. Well my experience with 4x4s has told me that anytime a leaf spring goes into a reverse arch situation you are bound to have problems, the least of which is a swaybar contacting something. The addco bar imho is an all around better bar than the ST due to the simple fact that it doesnt mount to the axle (atleast on Ty's since the jury is still out on the new Sy bar from addco). Any performance application will tell you that unsprung weight is crucial and adding more unpsrung weight = bad news.

Anyhow, I have said my peace, personally I couldnt be happier with the ADDCO bar on my Typhoon and would never recommend an ST bar to anyone based on my 2 experiences with it on both STOCK and Lowered trucks.

Have a nice day, again, NO HOSTILITY INTENDED OR IMPLIED.

 

[Daron]

My points were made earlier, you choose to make this issue personal, I have not.

Your ADDCO doesnt hit a single thing because your truck isnt equiped with lowered leaf springs.

I said nothing about reverse arch, or any other possible scenarios; barring lowered leafs. You are assuming that is what is causing the contact, it however isn't.

I am hung up on the fact the the ADDCO is a bad choice for those whom will be lowering their trucks via lowered leafs, nothing more nothing less.


We have shown ADDCO's hit on lowered leaf applications, not just my experience, and it isnt an old vs new design issue either. They do it on new designs as well as the old. The pictures posted earlier in this thread are of a new design bar, and it is contacting the springs..

The individual who posted this pic, didnt even know it was contacting until we delved into the issue here. In fact he reported he hadnt experienced a contact problem prior to getting under there and taking pics. He also stated that his bar was of the new design.

This information shouldnt be causing turmoil. This information should be available for folks to consider when they go to purchase a sway bar.

We can discuss unsprung weight for days, but the discussion is moot on a truck equiped with lowered springs since the bar hits the spring. This contact negates any possible benefits of the design.

My motivation for asking for more pictures of ADDCO installs on lowered leaf trucks is that it would help us as a community determine whether the ones that hit are a fluke, or whether a design issue is at hand.

 

[turbodog]

Yup, Daron is right, I was unaware of any contact before this exchange. I also agree it is a point worthy of consideration when selecting a sway bar. If I launched regularly when in the lowered state, I might even be concerned enough to make a change. But, since I over-ride the ELC and raise the rear to stock height (or above) before any pre-meditated launches, I'm not worried about it. The contact point is visible, because it rubs off road grime, but cannot be felt with the fingertips, either on the spring or swaybar.

I agree it is a good reason to avoid the Addco if one plans to run with lowered leafs. Nothing personal about it. There are plenty of folks running stock height or with lowering blocks, and the Addco is a perfectly good choice for them.

 

[InvisiBill]

That was not my ty, it was someones from NWSTP who installed it in accordance with the instructions you posted:

Daron posts this pic of the ADDCO bar on a Ty, showing how close it is to the leaf springs. Even moreso if they had been lowering springs...

Daron I think that I know why yours hits. Because the holes you used in the frame are NOT the same as I used. I mounted my bar so that the holes spacing over the rivets were ONE HOLE aft... I'm about 97.8% sure my bar mounts in a different location than the one pictured.

well I can confirm the other 2.2% that Todd is correct. Not only was I on the same Addco GP as him, but my bar is also mounted in the same location as his. The backing plate which bolts to the frame has a hole in the center of it for the purpose of going around the rivet in the frame. One hole drilled above and one below.

Todd and Morgan say that their bars are mounted one hole over. Their mount straddles the rivet in the frame, putting the bar mount closer to the center of the arch, giving more clearance.

Rick posts shots of his ADDCO install, including the tiny mark where the bar is contacting the lowered spring.

But Rick's bar is also mounted the same way as on the first truck Daron posted - not centered over the rivet. His endlinks seem to be angled too (indicating the bar is mounted too far away).

Rick's just barely seems to be hitting, as the mark seems to be quite small, even with lowered springs. I'd like to see how things would work out if he moved his bar mounts closer to the center of the arch, centered on that rivet. The link for the pic of the instructions doesn't work anymore, so I have no idea where the "right" place is to mount the bar, but centering it on the rivet like Todd and Morgan did seems to be right (more clearance, straighter endlinks).

Sorry to bring this up again, but I'm looking at swaybar stuff again, and the fact that Rick's is mounted "wrong" seems to have gone unnoticed. My Sy is stock height now, but I would like to get lowering springs eventually (I think). The ADDCO seems to be best for stock height, but may be downright crappy with lowering springs. I'd like to see how the ADDCO works for Rick with lowering springs, mounted "right" so that it straddles the rivet.

Also, does anyone out there have a frame-mounted swaybar (probably ADDCO) on a Syclone (not a Typhoon)? The gas tank was mentioned as possibly blocking a frame-mounted bar, so it may not even be possible.

 

[turbodog]

Hmmm, very interesting. I thought I'd followed the instruction sheet faithfully, but could be wrong. There is, of course a rivet at the leading edge of the crossmember as well, so the center hole in my mounting bracket is also straddling a rivet. Not sure when I will find time to correct this, but will post pics when I do.

 

[InvisiBill]

I haven't seen the instruction sheet, or even any swaybars yet, so I can't help you with that. But just going by what I've read in this thread, it seems as though it would be "more right" if it were mounted further back on the truck, closer to the center of the arch. Looking at the bottom part of the first Ty's endlink compared to the bottoms of the U-bolts, it looks like it's a lot more angled that it appeared to me initially even.

Just doing some mental rearranging on the first pic... If you move the end of the swaybar as much as the distance between the current mount and the other rivet, it looks like that would make the endlink pretty much parallel with the U-bolt there. That would put the end of the bar about where that little circle is on the backing plate there. Drawing a line from there down to the bottom endlink joint seems to make it look pretty much vertical.

Like this...

Thanks for at least considering what I had to say. =) This thread didn't really produce much other than Person A swears by Brand X and has had a billion problems with Brand Y, while Person B swears by Brand Y and has had a billion problems with Brand X. It would be great if simply moving the bar mounts a tad would fix your contact problem, and maybe some others' problems too. Perhaps the instructions don't specify which rivet, or specify the wrong one? I personally think it'd be quite cool if we found out this was the cause of a huge chunk of the ADDCO problems, especially since it's such a simple fix.

 

[turbodog]

Based on Tydriver and NJTY's input, I'll give it a try. I would've thought that doing so would cause interference between the endlink and the axle tube. IIRC, they are pretty close on mine as it is. But, it won't hurt to unbolt it and slide it back to the next rivet. If it looks like it will improve the geometry, then I'll drill the holes.

 

[canadian]

well, the preliminary fit is done and it looks like it's going to work just fine. the only problem is going to be drilling the holes to mount the upper dogbone mount. the only place i could see it fit properly was inside the upper shock mount.

after having the addco and seeing all the other designs out there, i have to say that this is probably one of the better ones. no more flimsy end links as the dogbones on the end are much beefier and don't look like they're going to bend any time soon.

first thing i've really accomplished on the truck in over 2 years. who'da thunk it?

 

[InvisiBill]

I need to get a swaybar sometime. Please take pics of your work and stuff, so that I can copy you once you get it all figured out. =)

 

[canadian]

install is nearly done. just need to mount the bar to the rear axle and tighten everything down once the sy is back on the ground. 100 times better setup than anything out there on the market now.

if i ever get the truck back on the road i'll let you know how it handles. pics to come later this weekend.

 

[turbodog]

BTW, just to follow up, I DID try to relocate the sway bar mounts on the frame as sketched by invisibill. I found this put the ends of the swaybar DIRECTLY above the axle tube. No way to connect up the endlinks. I put it back where I had it (also straddling a rivet, BTW). I did shorten the endlinks, and this improved the overall fit and reduced the interference a little. Looking forward to Canadian's pics.

 

[canadian]

done.

http://www.syty.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=276845#276845