Rear Sway Bar Opinions

[70 Challenger Lover]

I made it easy on myself and ordered the Hotchkis front and rear sway bar kit along with the Hotchkis leaf spring set up. I think it will do what I'm looking for pretty well. The best thing is I won't be using heavy duty metal leaf springs. Before posting here, that was my plan.

Unfortunately, it will be a while before I can post my impressions of these items as my car is still a shell and a long ways away from road ready. I need them now for all the fitting as I finish up metal work. Looking forward to trying them out though someday.

Thanks for all the great advice!

[Scooter]

Nice.. from what I hear it's hard to go wrong with the Hotchkis stuff. Hoping my leafs will get here this week.. planning on doing headers, exhaust and leafs next weekend. I'll let you know results if I get to the leafs.... best laid plans and all that. 

[dodj]

It's a good idea to go with a company's "package". Sets things up pretty good for most with the engineering of matching parts done for you. Probably no good for Mitch. Lol.

Just to get Challenger Lover to spend more money...... I have mopar xhd springs. I've read the spring rate is somewhere around 165-175lbs. With regular parts store shocks, the rear end would dance around on road irregularities. In corners sometimes stepping out dramatically. When I put on the qa1 shocks, that no longer happens. I wasn't  crazy about spending $800 on shocks at the time, but I'm glad I did. Good shocks make a big difference.

[70 Challenger Lover]

It's a good idea to go with a company's "package". Sets things up pretty good for most with the engineering of matching parts done for you. Probably no good for Mitch. Lol.

Just to get Challenger Lover to spend more money...... I have mopar xhd springs. I've read the spring rate is somewhere around 165-175lbs. With regular parts store shocks, the rear end would dance around on road irregularities. In corners sometimes stepping out dramatically. When I put on the qa1 shocks, that no longer happens. I wasn't  crazy about spending $800 on shocks at the time, but I'm glad I did. Good shocks make a big difference.

Actually, when I get to that point, I'm going to do it right and get some great shocks. I've had $50 shocks and been happy but I really want to do this car nice and I'm dying to see the difference between a $50 and a $200 shock. I just blew $1600 on the sway bat set, rear leafs and new roof skin. When my credit card stops smoking, I still need to spring for a $1500 AC kit and another $600 for a hydraulic clutch. I need those things next just so I can finish drilling into the metal and start getting the car ready for epoxy. And of course I'll need a $1200 rotisserie for that step unless I fabricate the wooden design I saw on here once.

Whoever thought the classic car restoration hobby could be so expensive?

[dodj]

Whoever thought the classic car restoration hobby could be so expensive?

I remember going to scrap yards back in the early 80's to get parts out of Challengers and Barracudas. Looking back I can't believe the value of a lot of the stuff I passed on.
.

[70 Challenger Lover]

Whoever thought the classic car restoration hobby could be so expensive?

I remember going to scrap yards back in the early 80's to get parts out of Challengers and Barracudas. Looking back I can't believe the value of a lot of the stuff I passed on.
.

Or the stuff I threw away thinking it was worthless. When year one was the only game in town, I'd buy new repop things for my Bee and then toss really nice driver quality stuff because it wasn't perfect. Back then, I had no concept on restoring a part beyond repainting it so much of it went into the trash can.

[Mrbill426]

I have found a few listings for a rear bar kit made by a company named ADDCO that says it is a direct replacement for a stock rear bar assembly.  I can't find a photo of it though; has anyone seen/purchased this particular kit??

[70 Challenger Lover]

I don't recall where I saw it but I do recall seeing the Addco one somewhere. For my purposes, it just didn't fit the bill but the price was right.

[Mrbill426]

Understood.  Do you recall if it indeed is a direct to the frame bolt-on though?  I know the bushing straps will quite likely be a bit different since the stock ones are "welded" together.
Thanks!

I don't recall where I saw it but I do recall seeing the Addco one somewhere. For my purposes, it just didn't fit the bill but the price was right.

[70 Challenger Lover]

Understood.  Do you recall if it indeed is a direct to the frame bolt-on though?  I know the bushing straps will quite likely be a bit different since the stock ones are "welded" together.
Thanks!

I don't recall where I saw it but I do recall seeing the Addco one somewhere. For my purposes, it just didn't fit the bill but the price was right.

Someone more knowledgeable would have to weigh in. Once I saw that it required the original sway bar brackets, I moved one since I don't own a set of the original brackets.

[Mrbill426]

Ok.  That is a odd requirement though  since the original brackets that bolt to the frame have the bar bushings permanently "captured" by welded straps, basically making the bar, bushings and brackets a single component. 

Understood.  Do you recall if it indeed is a direct to the frame bolt-on though?  I know the bushing straps will quite likely be a bit different since the stock ones are "welded" together.
Thanks!

I don't recall where I saw it but I do recall seeing the Addco one somewhere. For my purposes, it just didn't fit the bill but the price was right.

Someone more knowledgeable would have to weigh in. Once I saw that it required the original sway bar brackets, I moved one since I don't own a set of the original brackets.

[70 Challenger Lover]

https://www.jegs.com/i/ADDCO/020/261/10002/-1?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5_Pss9K06QIVQ77ACh2IEAc8EAQYASABEgKh1PD_BwE

Here it is at Jegs. I looked it up just now and I recall now why I didn't want this one. It's the frame rail mounted U bolts I didn't care for. On this one, you slide the u bolt into the frame and the threaded parts protrude out. What I was looking for was something that had a separate solid bracket welded to the frame rails.

I had a set up like this once on another car and I at the time, it just seemed a little cheesy in the way it mounted up.

[7212Mopar]

Unless you need it to be factory correct, the factory straps do not need to stay welded with the mounting brackets. You can cut off the existing straps and then weld a plate to the bracket. Locate and drill mounting holes and tap threads for a stud or bolt with hex cutoff. Weld the studs at the back side and then grind down flat. You can then use aftermarket bushing and strap to mount up the sway bar. They usually comes with grease fittings and make future replacement really simple to do.

[70 Challenger Lover]

This is the Hotchkis set up. While more work, it just seems more solid.

[dodj]

Yes, don't go with the thru the frame u-bolt. I have one of those and I ripped the u-bolt through the frame.