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I have put 275 60 15s in the rear of my '81. I recently purchased a Van Steel 3/4 " rear sway bar. I can't install it because the bar hits the inside of both rear tires.
Is there another bar that someone may have used that worked with this combination without the interference?
Craig
Last edited by Street Rat; Nov 14, 2018 at 04:59 PM.
Have you contacted Van Steele and let them know what you have going on as a problem with it??? They might not be aware that they might have a problem in how it was made. it is worth a call.
Assuming your wheels have the correct backspacing...that can cause for a problem if your rim is wider than 8" also.
If I remember correctly you are running non stock wheels and so the stock clearances are out the window. I recently went through this with a custom spring from Van Steel, and it now fits, but is 1 1/2 inches shorter per side than a stock length spring.
Give them a call and see what they can do for you.
Have you contacted Van Steele and let them know what you have going on as a problem with it??? They might not be aware that they might have a problem in how it was made. it is worth a call.
Assuming your wheels have the correct backspacing...that can cause for a problem if your rim is wider than 8" also.
DUB
I have a 9" wheel with an effective back space of 5".
I called Van Steel and asked about the issue. They told me to just leave the bar off.
They offer a kit for this problem for models up to '79. Nothing for the '81.
If I remember correctly you are running non stock wheels and so the stock clearances are out the window. I recently went through this with a custom spring from Van Steel, and it now fits, but is 1 1/2 inches shorter per side than a stock length spring.
Give them a call and see what they can do for you.
Hello Money Pit,
I was hoping that you would respond.
I'm talking about the rear sway bar. I shortened the spring some time ago and got clearance for it. What are you using for the rear bar on your car?
Mine's still up in the air. I swapped the 4.11 gears in, then decided to drop the trans to install my custom converter.
The spring I had made is 440 lbs so I am hoping to just not run a rear bar now. If later I decide I need one,.....I still have the old bar I can try and do what Gkull suggested, or get a short bar. I was running a 360 lb spring with the bar before, so I'm really hoping the 440 lb will compensate enough.
BTW I ended up with aprox 4 3/4 inch wheel backset with my Weld 15x9s and 295 55 15 drag radials. Looks like it'll work, but be pretty close to the T arm pocket. I'll know when it's back down on all fours this spring. This pic shows what I did to move everything inboard 1 1/2 inches.
Last edited by The Money Pit; Nov 15, 2018 at 10:56 AM.
Just for demo purposes. cut a piece of 12 inch solid copper wire. Then mark it at 2 inches, 4 inches from each end. Now at the 2 inch point on each end bend it to a 45 degree angle. Now at each 4 inch point bend the wire back down to straight with a 45 degree bend. Now lay it on the table and measure the end to end length. With 4 bends depending on how far apart they are you can take an inch or two out of the total width. Very simple
Rear Sway Bar Interference
