Rear Swaybar On

Spurshot · October 4, 2009

It took several hrs, but I finished installing the Hellwig rear swaybar a couple hours ago. I took it for a drive and its definitely a big improvement at mid speed cornering. As soon as you turn a corner a little briskly, you'll notice it's cornering flatter. I haven't had it up to highway speeds yet.

I should tell you that the Hellwig bar is not the easiest installation, but not extremely difficult either. Theres a bit of triming on the edge of the shock mount on the crossmember. Not a big deal at all, just that my compressor is loaned out to my brother-in-law and I had to use a combination of a sawsall and hacksaw to make the trim cut. Just holding all the clamps, U-bolt, swaybar, saddle clamp and trying to put a nut on the U-bolt was a royal pain. A second set of hands would really make it go faster.

I recall that someone (Charlie?) had difficulty getting the swaybar centered on the axle. I didn't run into that problem. The installation went in as described. I did have to close the U-bolt width a little in a vise. Not a big deal.

This swaybar is 1 1/8" diameter and it is paired with their 1 1/2" bar in their catalog. I have a 36 mm (1.425") front factory swaybar that comes with the Vmax NHT Z85 suspension pkg. So, I didn't replace it. Comparing swaybar diameters is of only limited value anyway. The length of the arms and width of the bar, bends and other things all play into its effective stiffness.

Spurshot · October 4, 2009

Here's a picture of the installation. The spare comes close to the swaybar arms and rods. Still about an inch or so clearance from them though.

bigredmariner · October 4, 2009

Looks nice and clean Chuck, congrats.

oldschool327 · October 4, 2009

Do you think it would still allow room for a mag hytech diff cover?

dlstewart01 · October 4, 2009

Mine does but its on a GMT800. The 7800 comes up much farther on the diff. I guess it depends how much clearance is between the diff and the bar. You can't really tell by the picture.

oldschool327 · October 4, 2009

I gues it depends on how far the bar is from the cover now and how deep the Mag Hytec is? Thanks for the pics both mods are on my list.

Spurshot · October 4, 2009

There's more clearance than that picture would lead you to believe. I think you'd have to have the parts in hand to find out if a deeper cover will fit. I think it will.

dlewis1111 · October 4, 2009

There's more clearance than that picture would lead you to believe. I think you'd have to have the parts in hand to find out if a deeper cover will fit. I think it will.

Was considering the bar, but I have a 3" lift in the rear and dual pipes that run directly under the frame rails. Do you think it will fit based on looking at yourss?

Spurshot · October 4, 2009

I think just the 3" lift will require changes to make the bar work. I have no idea if it would hit your exhaust.

texx · October 4, 2009

Another happy Hellwig customer!

The factory bar is slightly larger and is not solid. The hellwig is solid but it isn't worth swapping out.

dlstewart01 · October 5, 2009

Another happy Hellwig customer!

The factory bar is slightly larger and is not solid. The hellwig is solid but it isn't worth swapping out.

Yeah, the factory front sway bar is hollow. I just added Energy suspension polyurethane bushings and end links to my front bar to tighten it up.

C. Charles Hahn · October 5, 2009

Looks good Chuck! Can you take a picture of the upper mounting shackles where the top portion of the end links attach? I'm curious to see what your fitment looks like there; I believe that to be where most of my centering problems are coming from.

Spurshot · October 5, 2009

Looks good Chuck! Can you take a picture of the upper mounting shackles where the top portion of the end links attach? I'm curious to see what your fitment looks like there; I believe that to be where most of my centering problems are coming from.

Charlie.

I took some pics.

The left link attach hangar has no room for any lateral positioning. It simply has to go right against the frame and against the shock mount bracket. That causes the link to have a slight angle. Not as much as the picture would lead you to believe. I used super wide angle 11 mm on my D300 Nikon. That causes some significant distortion.

The right link hangar has as much lateral positioning as you want. Mine ended up a little further to the inside of the frame than the left side.

What I was using for centering was the loop around the center diff cover.

After playing around with my installation, I'm almost sure my bar was not perfectly symetrical. I think you can try flipping your bar over to see if it improves your situation.

And one for whoever asked about clearance for a deep cover.

Spurshot · October 5, 2009

Another happy Hellwig customer!

The factory bar is slightly larger and is not solid. The hellwig is solid but it isn't worth swapping out.

Yeah, the factory front sway bar is hollow. I just added Energy suspension polyurethane bushings and end links to my front bar to tighten it up.

I'm not sure where this information originated, but I am highly doubtful that the front bar is hollow. Is there some evidence of this? Weighing one and calculating the volume and weight as a solid would tell the truth.

There a at least a few reasons I doubt this.

GM is motivated by saving money in manufacturing. Hollow seamless tubes are expensive. One with these dimensions would be a custom made tube.

Steel is cheap. The material saved would be nothing compared to the additional manufacturing costs of a hollow bar.

Bending a tube as much as one of these bars is sharply snaked around would probably collapse the tube.

Personnally, I have never seen or heard of a hollow swaybar.

dlstewart01 · October 5, 2009

Another happy Hellwig customer!

The factory bar is slightly larger and is not solid. The hellwig is solid but it isn't worth swapping out.

Yeah, the factory front sway bar is hollow. I just added Energy suspension polyurethane bushings and end links to my front bar to tighten it up.

I'm not sure where this information originated, but I am highly doubtful that the front bar is hollow. Is there some evidence of this? Weighing one and calculating the volume and weight as a solid would tell the truth.

There a at least a few reasons I doubt this.

GM is motivated by saving money in manufacturing. Hollow seamless tubes are expensive. One with these dimensions would be a custom made tube.

Steel is cheap. The material saved would be nothing compared to the additional manufacturing costs of a hollow bar.

Bending a tube as much as one of these bars is sharply snaked around would probably collapse the tube.

Personnally, I have never seen or heard of a hollow swaybar.

Hotchkiss bars are hollow. They advertise it.

Now why would I post that stock front bars were hollow if I had not seen one cut into.

I have and they are.......I try not to post BS. I may be wrong from time to time but I strive to be factual. I'm way too old to play games,

Thank you

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