Quote:


Hotchkis 67-72 A body front sway bar: 1.5" hollow
Hotchkis 73-76 A Body front sway bar: 1.25" hollow (with a lower motion ratio on top)

The root of the issue is the motion ratios for the front sway bar mounts on the LCA's between the 67-72 and 73-76 are different (73-76 is lower), and the 73-76 sway bar goes through the K member (limiting diameter and bends).

When Hotchkis first released the 73-76 A Body sway bars, they were listed as 1.5" hollow. I called and spoke with one of the Hotchkis guys, who confirmed it was a 1.5" bar and gave me the listed wheel rates. When it arrived at my house, it was a 1.25" bar. We're talking a significant difference in wheel rate, like 700 lb vs 385 lb wheel rate. When I called to discuss with Hotchkis, I explained the issue with the motion ratio. I was told it was 'good enough', and that's all that would fit through the k member anyway. I was also told that the R&D had been done on the 67-72 K member only. I asked about bending a one off bar in 1.5" diameter hollow or doing something to get a custom bar for the 73-76 at the same wheel rate as the 67-72 chassis, and the answer was a resounding no. Needless to say, I returned it, and called Hellwig to get a custom bar bent. That's why I praise Dave at Hellwig every chance I get for helping me.

Full disclosure: I had to grind on the k member in a couple places to get my current custom Hellwig front bar to go through. A splined bar would be the perfect 'fix' to get room for a larger front sway bar.



Good talking to you on the phone today!

For everyone else- the sway bar had to be reduced to fit through the K frame, on a lot of the cars I do, I end up "upgrading" to the 67-72 bar and welding on all the tabs. It makes for some lower hanging fruit, so it's not as clean as routing through the K but it works if someone feels they need a bit more bar up front.

Custom bars are not something easy for us to do. We have a large machine and make a lot of bars for a lot of folks and the system works on a first come, first serve basis. For an example, if I want to make a bar to try out, it's usually a 2 week to 2 month wait depending on what is going on that month. Not making excuses for what happened, just explaining the process.

All that said, that is why I'm here these days and most tricky Mopar stuff gets sent to me, so that you don't end up taking to a Mustang guy who knows the basics, but not the details.

I gotta get back to these headers on this 74 Duster...