I got a spreader bar and opened the package, and no instructions! I'm just wondering what to torque the bolts to and what to do after that as far as installing it and adjusting it go, thanks in advance!

 

I put the brackets on and just tightened down the nuts real tight. As far as installing the bar I just turned the bar out until I felt a decent amount of load on the bar. You do not want to go to far as this will change the alignment but you want it tight enough to preload so there is no movement. I know this is kind of vague but this is how mine is in and it tightened up the front end quite a bit.

The factory torque on the upper control arms is 55 ft/lbs. That would be a good torque to use.

 

Is it possible for you to take a measurement for me on your spreader bar. I just need to know the length of the rod end sleeve. I am planning on building a spreader bar and need to know what length sleeve to order.

Thanks

 

Spreader Bar Installation

The Tech Tip that I wrote while installing my spreader bar.

 

To give you an idea of just how much flex there is in the front crossmember, after I installed my spreader bar, I was able to twist the bar quite easily around the heim joints. Later I lifted the front of my car with a floor jack under the front crossmember. I then grabbed the spreader bar and atempted to twist it. It would barely move. These bars do significantly stiffen up the front suspension. Try it, you will be impressed.

By the way, I purchased the one that had to have the ears welded on because I chose to use my stock fan. It is so close in there, that you must weld the tabs on after you position the plates on the upper control arm mounting points and take some measurements. It was worth all of the trouble.

GUSTO

 

Hi

Yes, I installed it with the front end lifted up in the center of the crossmount. Installed the bar as slip fit and when the car was back on the floor, I had to turn 4 full tuns on the bar ( left and right threadded Heim joints ) , before it was loose again. So I went 1/2 way that, tightened back up 2 turns.
That's how much the crossmember flexes on a BB car just by weight.
No wonder, this areas are cracking. This bar is a must .

Günther

 

That's not ~quite~ fair. I'm not arguing the merits of the bar. I've got one myself. However, the suspension is always bearing the weight of the car even under rebound. If you jack the car, the unsprung weight (substantial on these old beasts) not normally bearing on the frame pulls down. I would venture to guess that the actual deflection of this area is something in the neighborhood of half (or less) what you discovered using the jack.

I installed mine so that is applying just a little pressure to the mounts with the tires on the ground. It's just locking everything in it's "natural" position.

 

??? I have to disagree. When the car is on the suspension the spring carries the vehicle load, however the spring sits in the pocket on the frame and tihs will put stress on the front crossmember and try to bend the 2 sides in, there's not a lot of stiffness in the front crossmember. When you jack up the car this loading is lost, the unsprung weight pulling down is not a real big factor, the removal of the car weight from the springs is. Imagine hard cornering where vehicle weights shift and this is even more exaggerated. The actual deflection is substrantial..more than substancial and completely unsatisfactory if you ask me. I did a test, I bolted a large beam across the front frame horns and stood on it to test deflection..it was terrible. Same for the rear kickup area, with the frame on stands I could bend the rear by just putting body weight on it and bend it so much that you could actually see it move quite a lot. These frames are not stiff at all, they're just a ladder frame and offer very little torsional stiffness.

I would install the bar with the car on jacks, turn the bar until there's some tension on the bar and then lower it. That way you won't have any deflection of the front frame, at least as little as the setup would allow. Having the weight bend in the whole frame and then adjusting the bar to snug against that is meaningless, the frame remains stressed that way, you must pre stress it in the opposite direction. I'm not using a spreader bar however, I have a bunch of extra metal in the front frame area (a subframe in the engine compartment and big beams connecting left to right, all triangled)

 

I've got a question on these bars.
What function do heim joints serve in this situation?
I thought the idea was to lock or frame or whatever the 2 sides of the car. Why put in swiveling joints? There are eyes that look like heim joints but without the pressed in ball bearing thing. More meat and less stress, since there isn't a bushing or moving part.

 

I'm making mine out of a panhard rod I had surplus. On my BB, if I mount it right in front of the lower half of the stock water puimp pulley, it's a straight shot to the front stud of the upper control arm. Only thing I have to change is the stock fan for an electric setup, which I wanted to do anyway. So I'm making brackets that mount to the front stud.

Hans

 

It makes the thing easier to make, the upper arm shafts are not dead parallel to each other so using a bar w/ rod eyes instead of rod ends means you have to supply brackets w/ the holes drilled so that the bolt slides easily through, with the rod end you can have a bit of misalignment and not worry about this. A 5/8th rod end has plenty of meat, rod ends don't break from compression but from bottoming out.

 

I keep forgetting chevy jigged these on playdough.

 

Thank you Gordon!

16 5/8" for the sleeve.

Nice instructions thanks!

 

Thanks!

 

Remeber this car, take a look at his bar.