Rear sway bar: Is it a must-have item?

[bull]

Or does it fall into the rear disc brake 'nice to have but not necessary' category?

[Plumcrazy]

I don't have one.

[XXSpiralXX]

   I sure wouldnt mind having one. I guess it depends on how you drive.....

[NHCharger]

Neither one of my Chargers have a rear sway bar, just have to remember I'm not driving my Stealth RT/TT and there's no problem.

[8WHEELER]

I would put one on a modified car myself, I put one on my red car in 1980 that I took off a 78 Dodge Diplomat police car, the junk yard said it would never fit but the rear frame rails are the same and the sway bar has been on there for 25yrs and it does make an improvement for sure. On my anal stock cars I will not run one.

Dan

[bull]

"Anal stock cars."  Does that mean the cars you're trying to keep bone stock?

Seems like a rear sway bar would be nice to have, but then so would a lot of other things that they never offered in '68.

[8WHEELER]

Yes two of my cars that will stay in the stock class, I will keep them as correct
as possible I have gone through over 20yrs of modified both are fun to do and
I will always have my modified red car.

Dan

[bull]

Dan, did you get the PM I sent you about the '68 for sale down here?

[8WHEELER]

Thanks Bull
No I did not call yet, is it in Oregon as it looks like??
It came to me in my email I don't use often but I read it once a day.
I was looking for it at the top of the screen as a PM and I see now I
have 3 of them ooops never got one before on this new format.

Dan

[hemihead]

If you go with a Rear Bar you must also have a front bar.Never go with a Rear Bar only.

[HeavyFuel]

If you go with a Rear Bar you must also have a front bar.Never go with a Rear Bar only.

Didn't they all come with front anti-sways?  Just asking.  Mine has a factory front bar, but my car is an R/t.

[8WHEELER]

I was not going to say anything, but as far as I know all Chargers came with
front sway bars. Cars like standard Satellites and Coronets usually did not have them.

Dan

[bull]

I was wondering about that too but hey, what do I know? I ask more questions than I answer. 

[8WHEELER]

I was wondering about that too but hey, what do I know? I ask more questions than I answer.  

Well no kidding     but if you don't ask question you will never learn anything      

Dan

[bull]

My problem is with retention. If I could remember everything I've "learned" I'd be doing pretty good. 

[8WHEELER]

Are you saying you need to run your backup more often 

Dan

[bull]

If I could remember where I put it I'd run it. 

[hemihead]

No, not all Chargers came with front Bars.I would speculate that maybe 25% had Front Bars.Fewer 1st and 2nd Gen and more on 3rd Gen .Remember that handling wasn't a priority on these cars.This was the days before Ricers.

[Troy]

I can't speak for *ALL* Chargers but every '68 that I've seen has had a front sway bar. I'm positive that I haven't seen them all though.

Troy

[8WHEELER]

I can't speak for *ALL* Chargers but every '68 that I've seen has had a front sway bar. I'm positive that I haven't seen them all though.

Troy

  OK I will say maybe not all first gens have them, but in 27yrs and almost 20 Charger's
I have owned and other mopar's 68-70 B-Bodys. And also every friends car I have worked on I
have never seen a second gen that did not come with a front sway bar, and I am talking about
a lot of base model 318 cars as well. Yes I know they were not built to be the best cornering
machines but just never seen or heard of a second gen that did not come with one, heck evan
my friends 68 slant six charger came with one that was years ago, I bet someone put a 440 in
it by now 

Dan

[Ghoste]

I can't think of any I've come in contact with either that did not have a front bar.  I admittedly haven't had near the number of cars some of you have, but I have had a few.
If you think the Mopars from that era are bad for handling, jump in some of the competition from back then.  Chevelles with coil springs and no front sway bars are just plain dangerous.

[Kern Dog]

There are a few schools of thought on this. Some guys like to run stiffer T bars and leaf springs with a moderate-sized front bar. I prefer to go with moderate t-bar and spring rates and large sway bars. This gives a nicer ride AND flatter cornering when I need it. I see it as "Cornering power in reserve."
I took a 1.25 sway bar from a 1 ton 73-87 GM 2wd truck and modified it to work in my 70 Charger. Yeah, I could have bought a 1 1/4" sway bar from Firm Feel or another vendor, but mine cost me $60 to buy and modify. Rear bar is a 7/8" Addco unit. I love how the car feels, but theres more to it than just the sway bars.  Frame connectors, torque boxes, fast ratio Idler and Pitman, Stage 3 steering box, 18" Nitto tires....Its just like building a great engine: The components must compliment each other.

[Mike DC]

                        
The front & rear swaybars need to be reasonably balanced. (Or, more accurately, the total amount of spring force at the front & rear ends of the car need to be in balance.  Wheel rate + swaybar rate.)  Adding just a big rear swaybar will make the car tail-happy.  That can be fun but it's not very fast or safe.  It's the same effect on cornering that you get with the corner springs set up for drag racing, super soft in front and super hard in back.  


Bigger swaybars fight body lean better than bigger wheel springs, up to a point.  Bigger wheel springs become increasingly necessary as the cruising speed gets faster.  


If you wanna REALLY do things right, then you set the car's roll center pretty close to the center of gravity so there isn't much inherent body lean to deal with at all.  That works better if the CG is pretty low in relation to the track width.  But by that point we are designing the whole car around handling.
             

[Fred]

What a difference the rear sway bar made after I installed it. Now she handles perfectly.

[kab69440]

I have never seen a second gen without a front sway bar.

[Ghoste]

What about those base model 70's with a slant six, would they have one?

[tan top]

What about those base model 70's with a slant six, would they have one?

talking of  70 chargers ,  wernt there a turn pike option with a 2.50 rear gear  reduced spring rates & no front sway bar     

[Kern Dog]

I thought that with 68-70 Chargers, the front sway bar was standard. Option code S-17 (Fuzzy memory on the code #) gave softer rate torsion bars and leaf springs.

[Mike DC]

 
Every V8 Charger definitely came built with a front swaybar in '68 and '69.  Even a no-option 318/auto.  I think the slant-6 cars got them too but I'm not sure.


They offered some kind of "soft ride" option on 1970 Chargers and it meant a deleted front swaybar.  I'm not sure if they also took the T-bars down a notch too.  (The standard B-body torsion bar size was 0.88, the standard Charger size was 0.90, and the RT/Hemi size was 0.92.)