Rear swaybar installed

Just installed the Hotchkis rear swaybar on my 95 RMW. Chose the SSM perf. lwr control arms, Super nice quality and they are a perfect bolt on fit.
Can´t wait to testdrive....

looks good!

If you guys are considering this job... my advise is GO FOR IT. Big difference in handling. Rock steady driving highway and even when doing those shaper curves at lower speeds.
Can't tell if it's only the swaybar, the new control arms or the combo. My bet is both are pretty important. The boxed SSM control arms with poly bushings is a massive upgrade over the stock open flexible ones with plain rubber bushings, and the Hotchkis swaybar is just impressive.
Will also do the front swaybar upgrade to Hotchkis as this result is just amazing without sacrificing comfort.

Klaus thanks for sharing
can you tell me the part numbers of what you used?
Swaybar:
Control Arms:

did you have to drill? or did you use holes in the control arms ?
Did you have to buy hardware?

Greetings from Victor NY ( 350 miles North of NYC! )

Following

Hi guys
The rear sway bar is Hotchkis # 2206R
The control arms are Southside machine Performance # B2LP. You can find them here:
https://southsidemachineperformance.com/shop/ols/products/b2lp-lower-control-arms-gm-b-body-1971-1977-with-poly-lower-bushings
Give them a call to verify you need stock replacement arms for wagon.
Only hardware needed is the 4 bolts to attach the sway bar to the arms. Can't recall the exact size, but you can get these from your local machine shop.
Takes a good hour to install, depending on how how willing your old control arm bolts will let go...:-)

As said...go for it, it really is a major improvement.
Klaus

and ps. No drilling, cutting or other modifications needed. BOLT ON....

Klaus 95RMW wrote:

Hi guys
The rear sway bar is Hotchkis # 2206R
The control arms are Southside machine Performance # B2LP. You can find them here:
https://southsidemachineperformance.com/shop/ols/products/b2lp-lower-control-arms-gm-b-body-1971-1977-with-poly-lower-bushings
Give them a call to verify you need stock replacement arms for wagon.
Only hardware needed is the 4 bolts to attach the sway bar to the arms. Can't recall the exact size, but you can get these from your local machine shop.
Takes a good hour to install, depending on how how willing your old control arm bolts will let go...:-)

As said...go for it, it really is a major improvement.
Klaus

I'm working on mine now. The bolts I'm using are Grade 8 1/2" x 3" with the Nylon capped nuts. I got them at Ace Hardware

I just discovered the shop that installed my LCAs did one backwards... Hey funny how nothing lines up right when the mount holes on one side are in the wrong spot... sooooo I'm gonna call them Monday to have the correct it.

Will update later

I have both front and rear Hotchkis bars in my 96 RMW but with stock arms that are boxed with a plate thick enough to bolt the bar directly to it with short bolts.

As easy as the rear bar is to put on, the front is quite difficult due to it's large 1 7/16" diameter.  That pushes the front holders for the urethane bushing out too far to be able to get the bolts to connect it to the frame.  I wound up slotting the holes all the way to the vertical section of the holders and then flatten on side of flat washers all the way to hole so the bolt would have adequate support.  Of course, then you can't get a socket on the bolt head and an open end has too little swing, so I had to find and buy metric allen head bolts to get a small enough head to be able to get them to go into the frame threaded holes.  I couldn't find reduced head stainless bolts or I would have used them, but the allen heads are just as strong if you get the good ones.  The bar is also slightly different shape so you might have some steering parts very close to it as I did.

In reality, I don't know if the Hotckkiss front bar will give you any more rate or not, depending on What bar your wagon has in it.  My wagon had a near 1 3/8" solid bar in it and the Hotckkis is 1 7/16" hollow so might be very close to the same.  Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to drive it with the rear in and front stock to get a good comparison. You don't want to have too much rear bar compared to front, especially in a rear drive, as they can get really tail happy when road conditions get a bit slick with water or sand.  Swapping ends is not a great experience  

Fizzix wrote:

Klaus 95RMW wrote:

Hi guys
The rear sway bar is Hotchkis # 2206R
The control arms are Southside machine Performance # B2LP. You can find them here:
https://southsidemachineperformance.com/shop/ols/products/b2lp-lower-control-arms-gm-b-body-1971-1977-with-poly-lower-bushings
Give them a call to verify you need stock replacement arms for wagon.
Only hardware needed is the 4 bolts to attach the sway bar to the arms. Can't recall the exact size, but you can get these from your local machine shop.
Takes a good hour to install, depending on how how willing your old control arm bolts will let go...:-)

As said...go for it, it really is a major improvement.
Klaus

I'm working on mine now. The bolts I'm using are Grade 8 1/2" x 3" with the Nylon capped nuts. I got them at Ace Hardware

I just discovered the shop that installed my LCAs did one backwards... Hey funny how nothing lines up right when the mount holes on one side are in the wrong spot... sooooo I'm gonna call them Monday to have the correct it.

Will update later

I got the rear in. I went to 3 1/2" length just to make them easier to get on since I have to don't have a lift.

Booster said "In reality, I don't know if the Hotckkiss front bar will give you any more rate or not, depending on What bar your wagon has in it. My wagon had a near 1 3/8" solid bar in it and the Hotckkis is 1 7/16" hollow so might be very close to the same. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to drive it with the rear in and front stock to get a good comparison. You don't want to have too much rear bar compared to front, especially in a rear drive, as they can get really tail happy when road conditions get a bit slick with water or sand. Swapping ends is not a great experience Rear swaybar installed"

For what is worth I had to wait about 18 months for my rear bar to show up but the front came right away so I replaced the stock front bar with the Hotckis bar and had nothing on the rear, there was a dramatic difference just swapping out the stock front bar. When the rear bar came I put that on and there was improvement but not as much as there was from replacing the stock from bar. As for bolts I used 90mm long M12 bolts.

It is possible that the big front bar improvement was from the urethane frame mounts and link rod ends. That can make a big difference. Did you use head bolts? If so they must have fixed the interference problem as my hex bolts were dear tight on the frame mount where it went up over the urethane so tight I couldn't even turn them.

No rear, big front bar is going to give big time understeer which will really only be noticed in high winds and such as it reduces steering response. Smooth road no winds wouldn't change much. Where you do notice it is in higher speed turns where the front will try to push out on you requiring more steering input. You are probably used to that because the stock ones do it badly too. Putting a big rear bar will take you more near neutral handling so you won't push the front or rear out first in a corner and it will not require much for steering input. The classic NASCAR "push" vs "loose" adjustment they make with wedge in most cases. Be aware that a fully neutral car on dry pavement will be horribly, and probably dangerously, loose on wet or slippery surfaces as it can be very tail happy and want to swap ends. With the Hotckiss bars and stock springs, Bisltein shocks, it feels very close to neutral now, which is what I would expect Hotchkiss to target for the racing guys. I don't drive it in the winter in Minnesota so snow not an issue, but I am very careful in the rain.

Installed just this combo on my 1996 Caprice wagon, as described way back when:  https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t12235-december-2015-wagon-of-the-month-dmg4-1996-rolling-cathouse-caprice

Hi, I am looking for a GM 10207649 rear stabilizer bar and the two GM 10191120 control arm brackets and bolt package for my 1996 RMW.
Does anyone have these?
Thanks,
Gary

[quote="Terpin"]Hi, I am looking for a GM 10207649 rear stabilizer bar and the two GM 10191120 control arm brackets and bolt package for my 1996 RMW.
Does anyone have these?
Thanks,
Gary[/quote/

Try asking in the parts wanted section.

Question for those who have installed front and rear sway bars on their wagons. Will a sedan front sway bar fit a wagon. I ask because I have a front bar which I bought for my SS but ended up going with QA1 coil over suspension on it so I have a sway bar not in use. I then started putting together a coil over suspension for my '95 wagon. Since I already had a front bar from the SS, I decided to put it on my wagon (already have a Hotchkis wagon specific bar for the rear). I installed the bar (a Hellwig from SpeedTech) on the wagon and found there is interference where the bar turns 90° towards the rear to the eyelets. My frame is 36" wide at that point and the bar is just 1/8 or so less than that.

Long story short, is there a specific bar for the front of a wagon as well as the rear?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

nudnac59 wrote:

Will a sedan front sway bar fit a wagon.

Yes they will fit. I have used a 9C1 front sway bar on several wagons.

Tom

silverfox103 wrote:

nudnac59 wrote:

Will a sedan front sway bar fit a wagon.

Yes they will fit.  I have used a 9C1 front sway bar on several wagons.

Tom

Thanks Tom,

Just me with a brain fart yesterday. They don't work so well when up side down!

Dave