I don't know much about suspension... will a rear bar alone w/o a front bar be a good idea? I found a rear bar, that appears to be stock on a car and was pondering getting it. I have no immediate intention of putting a front bar on so I'd like to know if thats a good idea. The car it came off of, a 74 Gold Duster, doesn't have a front bar either.

Also, the car has a 7 1/4" rear, but I assume mounting it to my current 8 3/4" shouldn't be a problem? Will I need to do any welding, or are the brackets that hold it to the frame held down by screws?

I've always heard do not use a rear bar without a front bar and that when you use a rear bar, it has to be thinner than the front. Something to do with under/oversteer

Don't do this unless you want to try and drive like you're trapped in an episode of "Initial D." Too much rear roll stiffness will make a car oversteer. Unless you're running stock rear springs and 1" front torsion bars or something, this is likely to be trouble.

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

Fair enough.... just wonder why the factory would put it on the car though. Perhaps it wasn't original, but it sure looked like it was.

The factory would balance out the handling charaistics of a front and rear sway bar. A rear only bar, could put the car into dangerous oversteer. A front only bar could make the car understeer. An understeer condition is more appropiate for the average driver.

In the case of the factory installed front and rear sway bars, the t-bars and the rear springs where matched to make the car handle in a netural fashion.

Can someone post some pics of a factory A-body rear sway bar installed. I've never seen one. In fact I've never seen a pic of an aftermarket rear sway bar installed either.

Thanks-Dart68

I think the factory rear sway bar only showed up on '76 models and was rare then. Chances are what you are looking at didn't leave the factory that way, although it may have been put together with factory parts.

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

I've got a 7/8 front sway bar with .99 torsion bars, all around Monroe shocks, and a 7/8 rear sway bar. Mostly it feels neutral, but when pushed I believe it leans on the side of oversteer(the front 7/8 is a stock sway bar so it's probably lost some of it's strength over the years). This gives you an idea of what having a stock front end with a sway bar in the rear would do. I think if I upgrade to a one inch front sway bar I'd be set.

The front end of that car, the LCA's didn't even have sway bar tabs on them. Or else I woulda grabbed the front bar w/o question, heck probably the whole front end because it had discs too.

They have aftermarket front sway bars that attach to the struts of cars that don't have factory front sway bars, expect to pay $150ish.

Even if you don't use it, grab it as they are pretty rare for A bodies. Get an aftermarket front bar and go to town...

My cars have ended up pretty neutral (front/rear balance) with HD rear springs and no rear bar.

Lou

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