To sway or not to sway - bar

[dspur]

Sway bar question regarding my 1969 Super Bee I'm restoring; K member has the brackets, but no sway bar on car, did it likely come with a sway bar installed from factory? and if so what size, etc? If I need the sway bar, and I assume I do, I would like to keep something close to factory and basically bolt up without any modifications. Any direction on this would be appreciated including the best source to purchase, etc. TIA (pic for illustration, got a long way to go but making progress)

 

[Some Car Guy]

That car had a sway bar and you won’t like driving it without one. Should be plenty around used or pick one from any of a number of venders. It has to be the one that is curved up in the middle. The 70-up bar goes through the k member and is a completely different bar. It’s flat.

I use and recommend the ford ball joint end links. I got moog off rockauto, part numbers are floating around on here and elsewhere. I think it’s from a 2016 f150. Direct bolt in. Pretty cheap and no downsides unless you are doing a Concour correct car. I don’t know if they work miracles, but they sure seem to work good.

 

[WileE]

To sway, or not to sway. That is the question. Answer: Sway, baby, sway !

 

[71RRHI]

My 67 coronet was an ex bracket race car. The factory front sway bar was removed. I got it running and drove it for awhile. Not very good road manners. Decided to rebuild the front suspension, and put the sway bar back in. World of difference. There are several aftermarket companies that have kits that bolt right in if you don't have the original. Highly recommend it.

 

[Kern Dog]

I've driven Mopars with a variety of arrangements...Small torsion bars with no sway bar, with one, large torsion bars with one, without one ...
I have a '70 Charger with the small .88 bars and a huge 1 1/4" sway bar, another 70 Charger of mine has 1.15" bars with a 1 1/4" hollow sway bar.
The big TB, big sway bar car handles the best, of course.
The small TB, big sway bar corners well but feels soft due to the weak spring rate of the tiny .88 bars. I have a couple pair of 1.0" TBs to swap in, I just haven't made the swap yet.
A FBBO member here has a Coronet with .96 T bars and no sway bar. It seems to ride and handle fine, though when I drove it, I didn't push it like I do my own cars.
To utilize the sway bar, you need a manner to connect it to the lower control arms. If your car does not have the OEM style LCAs with the mounts, you can use links like these:

Both designs use ball joints to swivel around. I thought they'd rattle or make noise but I have a pair in the red car and they are silent. They actually came OEM on some Ford trucks from the mid to late 90s.
The ones on the right....the straight threaded part connects to the sway bar, the 90 degree angle section fits through a hole you drill in the lower control arm.

You can order them through RockAuto.com
Good luck.

 

[YY1]

Hellwig makes a real nice bar that mounts to the shock absorber stud.

...but a Super Bee should have factory sway bar tabs on the LCAs.

 

[71RRHI]

Hellwig make s a real nice bar that mounts to the shock absorber stud.

...but a Super Bee should have factory sway bar tabs on the LCAs.

The same kit can be bolted to the factory tabs if you got them.

 

[dspur]

This seems like a great deal. Confirmed fitment for 69 Bee. Any downside or experience with this?

 

[qkcuda]

My car is a 66 but I believe the front suspension is the same. I bought this Summit bar which appears to be a re-packaged Hellwig bar. It went on easily using their supplied brackets. It came with bolts and tabs to mount to the lower shock mount, but I used the stock sway bar tabs.

 

[Sixpactogo]

A real Bee would have had the front sway bar. Here is a pic of my 69 when it was new. So was the brownie camera that took the grainy pic back in my trailer trash days when it was 4 on the floor and a 5th under the seat.

 

[OneWheelPeel]

I've driven Mopars with a variety of arrangements...Small torsion bars with no sway bar, with one, large torsion bars with one, without one ...
I have a '70 Charger with the small .88 bars and a huge 1 1/4" sway bar, another 70 Charger of mine has 1.15" bars with a 1 1/4" hollow sway bar.
The big TB, big sway bar car handles the best, of course.
The small TB, big sway bar corners well but feels soft due to the weak spring rate of the tiny .88 bars. I have a couple pair of 1.0" TBs to swap in, I just haven't made the swap yet.
A FBBO member here has a Coronet with .96 T bars and no sway bar. It seems to ride and handle fine, though when I drove it, I didn't push it like I do my own cars.
To utilize the sway bar, you need a manner to connect it to the lower control arms. If your car does not have the OEM style LCAs with the mounts, you can use links like these:

View attachment 1811941

Both designs use ball joints to swivel around. I thought they'd rattle or make noise but I have a pair in the red car and they are silent. They actually came OEM on some Ford trucks from the mid to late 90s.
The ones on the right....the straight threaded part connects to the sway bar, the 90 degree angle section fits through a hole you drill in the lower control arm.

View attachment 1811942

You can order them through RockAuto.com
Good luck.

Well shoot, I think I’m placing an order tomorrow. I’ve been thinking there was a way without adding brackets or changing the lower arms and boom there it is.

 

[Kern Dog]

The 90 degree angled link needs a reinforced section where it attaches to the LCA. It could be a spacer, a small stack of washers or a nut one size larger but you need something. Mopar Action magazine did a quickie write up on doing this very thing....the article was in one of the last 6 or 7 issues. Their last issue was Feb 2024, released some time at the end of 2023. They were published every other month, 6 issues a year.

 

[Kern Dog]

Well shoot, I think I’m placing an order tomorrow. I’ve been thinking there was a way without adding brackets or changing the lower arms and boom there it is.

Here are the pictures/captions from the article. April 2023 issue:

 

[Kern Dog]

More....

Good luck.

 

[OneWheelPeel]

Thanks, a couple of weeks ago I came across these short heim joint links left over from a mustang trans brace kit I never used, and I looked at them thinking "hmmmm sway bar?" and then promptly forgot about it. Guess I was on the right track, but the parts from the article will be more isolated so I like that. The parts hoard grows!