making sway bar mounts

[william]

I have a swaybar from crawford performance engineering and am making some mounts. I just have the links, and cleanup to finish it.

made frome some 1" aluminum angle

[Rob #28]

That came out pretty good!

[william]

Thanks, here it is all ready to go, oh man it's pouring rain out I have to wait...










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[Steve]

Nice job, let us know how it works out.

[william]

Well finally had some time, and a nice day so out with the Slash and front and rear swaybars thanks to Brett at www.CrawfordPerformanceEngineering.com :tmb

High speeds with the VXL running 9.6 volts the Slash was rock steady and not floating and bouncing like it used to. However the mid throttle corners were a flop, or should I say barrel roll?

So since I only had 1 pack charged I burned it off and will retest Thursday with just the front.

I think the terrain, grass and little dirt, with as rough as it is 2 thick swaybars is too much. The CPE swaybar is twice the thickness as the New Era.

I'd bet on a groomed dirt track the setup with be awesome, but I have nothing like that here. A single area to try and it blasted through it but not really a good dirt track test.

So anyway, here is the swaybar, not hard to install and no metal cutting other than the 3mm threaded link stud.

Click to see it bigger and count the molecules



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Anybody have some helpfull tunning tips I'm open to suggestions

[rocketrob40]

Aug 12, 2008 12:13:35 GMT -5 william said:

Anybody have some helpfull tunning tips I'm open to suggestions

I'm not too hip on the rear mounts, the tie-wraps while great for emergency fixs aren't really very cool for permanent mounts -- and I don't see much in the way of adjustment room either.

As far as tuning goes, the further you adjust the knuckle toward the pivot point of the bar the tighter the bar gets and thus the more reactive the suspension will behave. Generally speaking you want to start out with the uprights (or adjuster links) set straight up and down (90-degree angle) and adjust from there to your own taste.

And to explain how swaybars affect handling --- generally-speaking (and opposite to most people's initial thoughts) a front sway bar doesn't affect the steering ability of the truck as much as it affects the rear of the truck and the rear traction - so a front sway bar should be used to get the rear planted better; consequently a rear sway bar doesn't affect rear traction as much as it retains roll stiffness of the rear of the truck and thus makes the truck's front steering more responsive.
So in the greater scheme of things - if you're looking to gain rear traction add a front sway bar, and if you're looking for more turning ability add a rear bar (not the other way around).

As a result it's always been my practice to add swaybars in response to a vehicle, more often onroad than with off-road, doing something or not doing something - as well as depending on the particular track I'm running. If the track is really smooth with few obstacles and jumps, I reach for bars - whereas if it's really rough and the traction is skate-ey, I'll take them off. Or say I'm running a track that has good traction but I can get the truck to turn (it just plows, like many 2wd's do), I'll just add a rear one - or if the traction is terrible and I'm spinning out all over, I'll just add a front one.

So don't just add both for the sake of adding them - unless of course it's just for the look at me bling factor (which is OK I guess, to each his own).



~ hope this helps ;D

[chiefmasterbeast]

wow, i didnt know that about sway bars. your are quite the well of knowledge. im serious. ive learned quite a bit fomr your posts.

[rocketrob40]

happy to help

[william]

Thank you very much.
I'm just used to adding to 1:1 muscle cars the thicker the better since IF they came with them they were too thin.

[rocketrob40]

Aug 18, 2008 12:15:36 GMT -5 william said:

Thank you very much.
I'm just used to adding to 1:1 muscle cars the thicker the better since IF they came with them they were too thin.

Well, that's another thing to keep in mind - you are used to dealing with relatively heavy cars that run on the street, and you're wanting to eliminate excess sway...so of course you add them. But in this case you're dealing with relatively light trucks that run on the dirt and go over bumps and jumps, and the stiffer you make them the more mis-handling issues you create ... so you want a certain amount of sway.
If we were running these trucks only on the street I'd say "absolutely, go bigger" - but we're still on the dirt... and catch the CORR races next time they're on TV, those trucks squat, roll, and sway like mad.