Sand car sway bars

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Loganhawkins418

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What’s up guys. Gonna be doing some repairs to my chassis and also wanting to add a rear sway bar. Looking for some input on what to run for a sway bar, thinking 1-1/4” diameter but not sure if I should run a solid sway bar, .188” wall, or .250” wall? Anyone able to steer me in the right direction? 
 

it’s a light car 2700ish, with a twin turbo stroked ls3 around 700whp and it’s a handful to drive with no rear sway bar. Will be mounted similar to this one that’s on another s&s car.IMG_7925.jpeg

 
Loganhawkins418 said:
What’s up guys. Gonna be doing some repairs to my chassis and also wanting to add a rear sway bar. Looking for some input on what to run for a sway bar, thinking 1-1/4” diameter but not sure if I should run a solid sway bar, .188” wall, or .250” wall? Anyone able to steer me in the right direction? 
 

it’s a light car 2700ish, with a twin turbo stroked ls3 around 700whp and it’s a handful to drive with no rear sway bar. Will be mounted similar to this one that’s on another s&s car.View attachment 89123
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Have a link to the kit? Bar length, arm length, motion ratio, all of it go into bar selection. 

Also, with as short as it is, you might not have enough twist in it with the travel you see in a buggy. 

 
Rockwood said:
Have a link to the kit? Bar length, arm length, motion ratio, all of it go into bar selection. 

Also, with as short as it is, you might not have enough twist in it with the travel you see in a buggy. 
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I haven’t found an actual kit. Was just gonna piece one together from kartek, 41-42” will line up with my sway bar mounts on my trailing arms and the arms they sell can be machined down to length (they’re sold without mounting holes for the sway bar links) I can measure for what arm length will roughly be tomorrow and Atleast get that figured out though. 

 
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Run a hollow sway bar, they need to twist.

Solid doesn't allow twist like hollow.

Every sand car I have looked at with a sway bar has a hollow one.

Adding a sway bar to my car was a game changer.  No more body roll.

 
I can send some pics of mine when I get home so you have an idea. It's not an S&S but I do have one on my Monster Manx.

 
Here are pics of the 3 installs I have done. All made huge differences on the cars handling.

IMG_4503.jpeg

1858.jpeg

1857.jpeg

IMG_2291.jpeg

IMG_2292.jpeg

 
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Rockwood said:
Have a link to the kit? Bar length, arm length, motion ratio, all of it go into bar selection. 

Also, with as short as it is, you might not have enough twist in it with the travel you see in a buggy. 
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I;m with @Rockwood on this I think there needs to be some math. Hopefully he will explain it. My trailing arm is 46" long so I went with a solid bar. Also try and get the trailing arm pivot and sway bar pivot to be in line as much as possible so the 2 arms travel the same arch

SmartSelect_20231211_141136_Gallery.jpg

 
Greg Rakes said:
First pic with the blue frame, looks like the sway bar mount is bolted to the frame?  Any benefit of doing it that way or was it just to save the powdercoat from welding?
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The cars powder coat is pristine and the swaybar is a bear to paint after it's welded in the chassis without ripping the rear half of the car apart. My thought was if it starts to show signs of fatigue or moving I will weld it in. 

 
Tony at  TK1 racing has some kits, mostly for rock crawlers. I purchased a kit made some modifications to it ( shortened the arms). Haven realty ran it that long seams to stiff and rigid, need to go to a diffident bar set up based on arm length.  Also interested in others input on the topic, my Tatum San Demon has a lot of body roll. 

Tony 

TK 1 Racing

Tony@tk1racing.com 
(916) 806-8575


Summer brothers Racing  make custom bars as well. 

sales@summersbrothersracing.com 

 
Rockwood said:
Any rubbing on the components around the sway bar?  They tend to distort off center a little when they twist.
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I don’t see any signs of rubbing on the nearby components. I will def keep an eye when I put some miles on her. 

 
Banshee380 said:
I don’t see any signs of rubbing on the nearby components. I will def keep an eye when I put some miles on her. 
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Looked at the pics again. First pic makes it look REALLY close, picture of the arm clamped on the sway bar shows decent clearance. Something to look for, but not as bad as I thought when I first saw. Gotta love 2D pictures. :biggrin:

 
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One of the best upgrades I ever did on my DD car. 1 1/4" solid. Thanks to Dustin AG sand cars.

IMG_20221026_121934520.jpg

 
I always ran speedway swaybars with a .187 wall.  My manxs were on the lighter side at 1800 to 2000 lbs. messing with the arm length and the mount points make a big difference as well. We moved them 2 or 3 times before we got the geometry right. I would also recommend using a complete tube around the swaybar, that way if it snaps, it wont take anything out with it.

new mid 001 (Large).jpg

new wide mid with v8 012 (Medium).jpg

 
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