Sway Bar

[cah2873]

Another question about my 1984 Chevrolet K20 with 4" lift and 35" tires. Just replaced the steering gear box, everything on the front end, ball joints, brace for the gear box to the frame from off road design and the truck drives much better. Everything else checked out good as the raised steering arm, rag joint, and etc. We live down farm market roads with barely enough room for 2 vehicles to pass and I was driving it this morning and when the pavement would shift- due to lack of road maintenance- the truck would walk a little. No big deal for me as I am an experienced driver but my teenage son will be driving it also. Will a front sway help prevent this front happening?

 

[theblindchicken]

I've got the ORD sway bar correction on my truck: 4-5" suspension & 35's as well. My truck has a tendency to follow all the grooves in the road due to the more aggressive tread of the tires. But i'll admit that I do have a fair amount of play in the steering (10-15 degrees in both directions of no input), so I do kinda sway back and forth in the lane.

I didn't have as much issue with this when I was running 32x10.5R15 Yokohama Geolandar AT/S versus my 35x12.5R15 BFG TA/KO2's.

I'd assume the wider tires doesn't help any either.

The sway bar should help some, but may not the cure-all you're looking for. Probably just gonna have to teach your son to learn how to control all the quirks that come with having a heavy truck on modified suspension.

 

[cah2873]

Any difference in the brands? or recommendations?

 

[theblindchicken]

I would assume a sway bar is a sway bar is a sway bar.

I've got the factory sway bar on my truck using the factory mounts to the top spring plates for the front. It's gonna need a correction links for it though since it's too short to even begin to reach the spring plates with out one.

The quick disconnect pins for the ORD one are quite a tight fit. Definitely helps to have a hammer or wrench hanging around to knock it in and out.

 

[Camar068]

During troubleshooting steering issues like yours, I didn't notice a difference between the following except a little bit of push/roll going through turns:

-what it had (old and worn out bushing)
-with removed from the vehicle
-new bushings

After I put the new bushings in and it didn't fix it, I moved on to other components. Yet to find why the steering isn't tight. I will say the next time I put a steering box on it, it will be AC Delco.....maybe that's why I've got the walk and the same 10-15*° play.

(degree symbol in windows is ALT 0176) lol tip of the day.

 

[theblindchicken]

During troubleshooting steering issues like yours, I didn't notice a difference between the following except a little bit of push/roll going through turns:

-what it had (old and worn out bushing)
-with removed from the vehicle
-new bushings

After I put the new bushings in and it didn't fix it, I moved on to other components. Yet to find why the steering isn't tight. I will say the next time I put a steering box on it, it will be AC Delco.....maybe that's why I've got the walk and the same 10-15*° play.

(degree symbol in windows is ALT 0176) lol tip of the day.

Yeah, gonna eventually replace all the balljoints and bushings. Still need to actually measure the swaybar diameter to get the right bushing for it too...

Was pretty tight before the lift, my guess is something was starting to want to be replaced and the lift + big tires just made it wanna get replaced a little bit earlier.

 

[cah2873]

I purchased a FSB141 Front Sway Bar from Classic Industries and received it yesterday. Got it installed last night and the truck handles much better. Definitely worth the money for this item.

 

[theblindchicken]

I purchased a FSB141 Front Sway Bar from Classic Industries and received it yesterday. Got it installed last night and the truck handles much better. Definitely worth the money for this item.

Glad to hear you got it all in pretty quick and easy. It definitely helps limit the body roll through turns.