68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ?

Posted By: Pool Fixer

68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/09/12 04:08 PM

Car came with factory front sway bar. The control arm brackets interfered with the calipers when I installed A body spindles/disc brakes many years ago. I trimmed the factory brackets and redrilled the holes in what was left of them for the end links on my factory bar. The whole set up ended up putting the end link bolt closer to the control arm. It was a rig job at best...not alot of meat left and over the years the hole I drilled got hogged out....fast forward to a few years ago, I had an accident and had to replace the drivers side arm. I got one with a factory sway bar tab. despite me telling the body shop that they would have to do something with it...they just installed as is. I didn't know this till yesterday when I was putting the new hellwig bar on. I don't even know how the car has been steering..the caliper slams into the tab with the wheels almost straight.

So here I am with one boogered up tab and one factory tab that's hitting the caliper. I decided to start fresh since the hellwig bar comes with it's own bolt on brackets so I cut off my death race cob job brackets.

I bolted the brackets to the shock bolt as per the instructions...Even though this bracket is different from the factory tab, it hits just as bad....

Here is how the instructions say to install it:

Attached picture 7371366-resizedhellwiginstructionpicofcontrolarmbracket.jpg

Attached picture 7371366-resizedhellwiginstructionpicofcontrolarmbracket.jpg

Posted By: Pool Fixer

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/09/12 04:18 PM

I flipped the bracket upside down and shortened the spacer on the end link.

2 questions:

1. does end link length effect fuction of the bar? The end of the bar is at the same spot it would have been had I done it their way. The anchoring point on the arm didn't move in or out.

2. I'm getting the slightest contact between the strut rod and the bushing/washer on the end link due to the angle. If the link was straight up and down, It would be fine. I was thinking of trying to push the front brackets back. They are two piece and I think I could get it to push the whole bar back, this would make the links straight.. any thoughts on that?

I really want to keep the calipers where they are.
plan b is a friend of mine who welds is going to be installing LCA reinforcing plates on my arms so he can fabricate something...

Here is what I did.

Attached picture 7371380-resizedhellwigmylowercontrolarmbracket.jpg

Attached picture 7371380-resizedhellwigmylowercontrolarmbracket.jpg

Posted By: autoxcuda

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/09/12 04:20 PM

Move the calipers to the rear by switching spindles side to side. I believe 66-69 Bendix 4 piston calipers were rear mounted originally.

You will need new brake hoses though.

Posted By: Pool Fixer

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/09/12 04:36 PM

Quote:

Move the calipers to the rear by switching spindles side to side. I believe 66-69 Bendix 4 piston calipers were rear mounted originally.

You will need new brake hoses though.

something in me just doesn't want to do it lol...

I will have it all apart soon anyway to take arms off, install new tbars and UCA's... does anyone know of a factory hose that will work for this?

Posted By: autoxcuda

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/09/12 04:50 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Move the calipers to the rear by switching spindles side to side. I believe 66-69 Bendix 4 piston calipers were rear mounted originally.

You will need new brake hoses though.

something in me just doesn't want to do it lol...

I will have it all apart soon anyway to take arms off, install new tbars and UCA's... does anyone know of a factory hose that will work for this?

Pain to do just for an sway bar install project. But not a big deal when you are doing all that other stuff.

Edit: You've got pin caliper I looks from that pictures.

Edit: You're brake hard line is behind the UCA from that picture.

You need a banjo type end brake line. One without a metal tubed extention. Do some research, but IIRC, it is from a Cordoba. I got one out of the junk yard 18 years ago and can't remember. I've upgraded to braided line since.

Posted By: feets

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/09/12 05:12 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Move the calipers to the rear by switching spindles side to side. I believe 66-69 Bendix 4 piston calipers were rear mounted originally.

You will need new brake hoses though.

something in me just doesn't want to do it lol...

I will have it all apart soon anyway to take arms off, install new tbars and UCA's... does anyone know of a factory hose that will work for this?

Why do you insist on hacking something that could fail when all you need to do is put the calipers on the back of the spindle?
Just swap them side to side and be done with it. You're going through a lot of needless work for no good reason.
In the time it took you to make this post would could have been half way done with it already.

Posted By: AndyF

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/09/12 05:29 PM

I showed how to hang the calipers to the rear in my B-body book. I'm sure you have a copy of the book since your car was featured in it.

Posted By: Kern Dog

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/10/12 01:28 AM

Quote:

I flipped the bracket upside down and shortened the spacer on the end link.

1. does end link length effect fuction of the bar?

I personally dont think that it does, but that is just an opinion. If you are talking about an inch or two. Obviously, if you extend it out, the rate of deflection will increase. This will result in a less effective sway bar.

Posted By: Pool Fixer

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/10/12 02:38 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Move the calipers to the rear by switching spindles side to side. I believe 66-69 Bendix 4 piston calipers were rear mounted originally.

You will need new brake hoses though.

something in me just doesn't want to do it lol...

I will have it all apart soon anyway to take arms off, install new tbars and UCA's... does anyone know of a factory hose that will work for this?

Why do you insist on hacking something that could fail when all you need to do is put the calipers on the back of the spindle?
Just swap them side to side and be done with it. You're going through a lot of needless work for no good reason.
In the time it took you to make this post would could have been half way done with it already.

lol means ha ha ha ha I know I'm being a baby but I see you're point

does anyone know of a factory hose that will work for this? means that I'm asking if anyone knows of a brake hose that will work for swapping the spindles from side to side.

Not sure what I did to earn the dressing down but whatever it was, sorry to have bothered you. I didnt even make fun of you when you traded your testicles in for a smart car...no good deed goes unpunished I guess

Posted By: Pool Fixer

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/10/12 02:44 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Move the calipers to the rear by switching spindles side to side. I believe 66-69 Bendix 4 piston calipers were rear mounted originally.

You will need new brake hoses though.

something in me just doesn't want to do it lol...

I will have it all apart soon anyway to take arms off, install new tbars and UCA's... does anyone know of a factory hose that will work for this?

Pain to do just for an sway bar install project. But not a big deal when you are doing all that other stuff.

Edit: You've got pin caliper I looks from that pictures.

Edit: You're brake hard line is behind the UCA from that picture.

You need a banjo type end brake line. One without a metal tubed extention. Do some research, but IIRC, it is from a Cordoba. I got one out of the junk yard 18 years ago and can't remember. I've upgraded to braided line since.

exactly! bracket is on frame behind control arm and moving caliper to the back results in way to much hose flopping in the breeze...plus what you pointed out about the hose going dead straight into the caliper. Most of my stuff should be coming in a week or so. At that point I'll have it all apart anyway so I'll deal with it then.

Posted By: DAYCLONA

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/10/12 02:33 PM

Either move the calipers to the rear by swapping the spindles L to R, or run a Hellwig 70 B body bar and 70-2 B body or 70-4 E body lower control arms to run the calipers up front

Posted By: roadrunninMark

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/10/12 07:33 PM

I did the disc brake swap from the moparts action archive (calipers in front)to my 71 e body. I didn't have tabs on the lca stock but will be adding the sway bar and tabs. Can I just order the bar that will fit the e body and tabs and not have to worry about them hitting the bar or will I need to order something else?
Thanks.

Posted By: autoxcuda

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/10/12 08:08 PM

Quote:

exactly! bracket is on frame behind control arm and moving caliper to the back results in way to much hose flopping in the breeze...plus what you pointed out about the hose going dead straight into the caliper. Most of my stuff should be coming in a week or so. At that point I'll have it all apart anyway so I'll deal with it then.

In a week or so you'll have it all apart to swap the spindle to the rear. All that stuff will be coming off anyways.

*Might be interesting to test the car now. Then you get an idea of the incremental changes and improvements done to the car.*

Here's a banjo braided line setup that will work for you with your slider calipers.

Attached picture 7373315-HellwigFrontSwayBarInstallSm12a.JPG

Posted By: autoxcuda

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/10/12 08:18 PM

Quote:

I did the disc brake swap from the moparts action archive (calipers in front)to my 71 e body. I didn't have tabs on the lca stock but will be adding the sway bar and tabs. Can I just order the bar that will fit the e body and tabs and not have to worry about them hitting the bar or will I need to order something else?
Thanks.

70-74 E-bodies, 70-72 B-bodies, and 73-76 A-bodies (or cars using those K-frames) with factory sway bar are easy. They all have a narrow type sway bar that will allow your brakes to be mounted in the front or rear. Your choice, no sway bar interference.

Posted By: roadrunninMark

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/10/12 08:37 PM

Thanks Steve

Posted By: feets

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/10/12 09:32 PM

Quote:

I didnt even make fun of you when you traded your testicles in for a smart car...

Don't worry. I still have my testicles. I'd prove it to you but the mods would get upset and you might feel insufficient afterwards.

I still have the Imperial and D250 diesel in the driveway.

Posted By: Pool Fixer

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/11/12 01:19 AM

Quote:

Quote:

I didnt even make fun of you when you traded your testicles in for a smart car...

Don't worry. I still have my testicles. I'd prove it to you but the mods would get upset and you might feel insufficient afterwards.

I still have the Imperial and D250 diesel in the driveway.

even if the mods let it go, i think the laws of physics preclude a man and his testicles from occupying the same space at the same time in there LLLL....OOOO...LLLL even if you could, it would look darn peculiar as you drove down the street with the twins riding shotgun.

2 movie references in there for those who are paying attention

Posted By: Kern Dog

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/11/12 01:21 AM

This is going nowhere.
This is Moparts, not MoBalls.

Posted By: Pool Fixer

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/11/12 01:28 AM

Quote:

[

.......*Might be interesting to test the car now. Then you get an idea of the incremental changes and improvements done to the car.*......

i like the idea but how would i go about that in a measurable way? btw im referring to the cars performance

not the proposed texas testicle measuring contest

Posted By: Pool Fixer

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/11/12 01:31 AM

Quote:

This is going nowhere.
This is Moparts, not MoBalls.

i get them mixed up... i just got a PM from one of my buddies over at moballs asking what i meant by sway bar.

Posted By: feets

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/11/12 01:59 AM

They sit on the floor in front of the seat. I try my best to avoid stepping on them.

Posted By: Pool Fixer

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/11/12 03:43 AM

what do you think about swapping the spindles side to side and rear mounting the calipers?

Posted By: sparcy

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/11/12 04:00 AM

1970 newport pin calipers came rear hung from the factory !!!! The set up in my 1969 charger, rear hung pin calipers HOTCHKISS sway bar and tuff guy cop car rotors !! SLIDER calipers ARE JUNK !!!

Posted By: Pool Fixer

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/11/12 04:25 AM

Quote:

Thanks Tom... I looked on Rock Auto and found a raybestos BH36828 front brake hose actually listed with a measurement of 15" for a 78 cordoba. it has the same hard line connection mine does but has banjo bolt. It seems longer but your's looks like 13 from the pic and your tape isn't going the entire length. I think it's close.

Posted By: autoxcuda

Re: 68 Charger Hellwig 5903 swaybar: control arm bracket ? - 09/11/12 05:31 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Thanks Tom... I looked on Rock Auto and found a raybestos BH36828 front brake hose actually listed with a measurement of 15" for a 78 cordoba. it has the same hard line connection mine does but has banjo bolt. It seems longer but your's looks like 13 from the pic and your tape isn't going the entire length. I think it's close.

Those will work fine.

I guess my memory from 18 years ago wasn't so bad after all

....

Quote:

You need a banjo type end brake line. One without a metal tubed extention. Do some research, but IIRC, it is from a Cordoba. I got one out of the junk yard 18 years ago and can't remember. I've upgraded to braided line since.

-Steve