More Sway bar drama...

As I mentioned before Ive had some recent updates done to my 91 OCC. One of those being adding Metcos rear trailing arms and a nice fat Beltech sway bar,or at least thats what was supposed to happen....insert curse words of your choosing here! First mistake,wrong lower trailing arms. I got the sedan instead of the wagon. Shop I got them from said they are the same,alas theyre not . Second mistake,because of first mistake said sway bar will not fit...however with correct parts in place it will fit according to all parties involved....BUTTTTTTTTT and its a big babys got back kinda but,when installed properly it will be too low to the ground. WTH? That doesnt sound like installed properly,does it? Rant over. Jump in here with any advice you got.... For what its worth I thought I had seen an old post on our sister sight showing this very install,dont remember it being a ground scrapper. Stickman,Sprocket,I know you guys were in the post,any thoughts???

I looked up the rear lower trailing arm part numbers for the sedan and the wagon. The part numbers were the same. I don't know about the 9c1.
I think they were the same also. This was on the GM parts listing. I thought the rear lower arms were different. According to GM they are the same.
GM dose not list a rear sway bar for the wagon. But, Hotchkiss makes one for the wagon. Must be the way it is bent. It bolts up to the lower trailing arms. I will find out when I start to install mine. I could be in for some real fun!

Post some pics of the difference in trailing arms,.and the bar,.

It used to be the old herb adams bars that were road kill catchers,..

The lower and upper control arms are the same length for the wagon and sedan.

The difference is the Wagon Axle is wider than the sedan. There are some other differences such as the bearing size.

This has been documented in many places.

There are Wagon Sway bars out there you can find most of them by searching the suspension section of this forum.

I have a set of hotchkis front and rear sway bars on my SSWAGON. They do improve the handling a bit.

Did the Hotchkis sway bar bolt right up to the GM rear lower control arms?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stationwagonforums.com%2Fforums%2Farchive%2Findex.php%2Ft-4654.html&ei=-3hSVafQJZL_yQTPwoHoDQ&bvm=bv.92885102,d.aWw&psig=AFQjCNH-sgzxdbFnr_n3mMWAEOJl-mP1DA&ust=1431554649396012 The wagon trailing arms have 3 holes,the sedan has 2.

https://2img.net/h/i114.photobucket.com/albums/n251/xxThe_Stickmanxx/The%20Olds%20Kids/100_4110.jpg Trying to post picture again!

You don't post the link, you copy the one with the IMG tags, and paste that in.

Link:

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4654

Photo:

Not sure what the confusion is, given that:

Sedan bars can only bolt up to wagons if they are slid forward and spaced down.

Wagon-specific aftermarket bars, or the '71-'76 B-body bars, are the only ones that can bolt up to control arms with the sedan mounting hole locations.

(Yes, there were some '77-up wagons equipped with bars that would also fit, assuming you could actually find one.)

There are several wagons running around with the sedan bar and up to this point, nobody has complained about ground clearance:

https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t2213-how-a-stock-sedan-impala-ss-94-96-sway-bar-mounts-onto-our-wagons

- J

Those are some pretty fancy rear arms,. why are you putting them on?

They would be pics of my arms lol. And yes the Herb Adams type wagon bar will hang low but I have never had a problem with it. I call it my tail hook. It is now on my room mate Sarah's Buick hearse. Is the Belltech bar also for the sedan?

The sedan and wagon bars are different widths. The sedan bar is about 2 inches more narrow than the wagon bar.

jayoldschool wrote:

You don't post the link, you copy the one with the IMG tags, and paste that in.

Ive been on here 2 years and still have trouble posting pics...ugh.

JaySS wrote:

Not sure what the confusion is, given that:

Sedan bars can only bolt up to wagons if they are slid forward and spaced down.

Wagon-specific aftermarket bars, or the '71-'76 B-body bars, are the only ones that can bolt up to control arms with the sedan mounting hole locations.

(Yes, there were some '77-up wagons equipped with bars that would also fit, assuming you could actually find one.)

There are several wagons running around with the sedan bar and up to this point, nobody has complained about ground clearance:

https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t2213-how-a-stock-sedan-impala-ss-94-96-sway-bar-mounts-onto-our-wagons

- J

The confusion seems to be in the trailing arms. The wagon arms in the picture has 3 holes,mine only has 2. Wagon sway bar requires that 3rd hole at least the Beltech does....

atlantadan wrote:

I have those and a rear swaybar. I'll take some pics of whatever you want. Let me know.

Yes,please. Would love to see how low it sits.

I see what you are getting at.

MCA0001, the Sedan Version (note the two holes):


MCA0012, the Wagon Version:


On my Wagon:

Why the spacers? Mine appears to bolt directly to the arms

Andebe wrote:

Why the spacers? Mine appears to bolt directly to the arms

Have you actually bolted the arms on to the car yet?

or is this all by eye hypothesis,..?

Andebe wrote:

Why the spacers? Mine appears to bolt directly to the arms

Where the swaybar is pinched at the bolt holes it is flat in the middle of the bar rather than flat on one side so if I didn't use the spacers it wouldn't have been flat against the control arms.

Does any one have a picture of the Hotchkis rear bar installed on a wagon?

Just the one side.

Here ya go yakko.  [/URL][/URL] [/URL]

Yes see mine are pinched in the middle and are not flat to bolt to the LCAs. The Hotchkis like Rhino posted are flat on one side.

Andebe wrote:

. I got the sedan instead of the wagon. Shop I got them from said they are the same,alas theyre not . Second mistake,because of first mistake said sway bar will not fit...however with correct parts in place it will fit according to all parties involved....

is the shop going to exchange them for you for free ?

jasonlachapelle wrote:

Andebe wrote:

. I got the sedan instead of the wagon. Shop I got them from said they are the same,alas theyre not . Second mistake,because of first mistake said sway bar will not fit...however with correct parts in place it will fit according to all parties involved....

is the shop going to exchange them for you for free ?

Negative,Ghost Rider....

I either have to drop more coin for the correct set,or go the Panther bar route and sell my Beltech Fatty bar...

The Hotchkis bar seems to tuck up in the body the best.

I asked once ,. i'l ask again,.

Have you actually bolted the arms onto the car yet?

mebbe the arms simply need one extra hole drilled and tapped,...

Well Nick, for the second time. Just the one side. Yes it looks like a fit when you slide them done to where a third would be but then the structure of the arm changes. Metco suggesting drilling the hole also.

In the picture on the first page of this thread you can see where the 3 hole arm is reinforced for every hole. The sedan arm would not have that area reinforced if I can get it drilled.

The reinforced area's around the bolt,. look good esthetically speaking, as for 'doing' anything i doubt it,.
There is no "sideways' force,. so the bolts will have more than enough "meat' to hold a sway bar on,.

If i was in your position on this matter,.

I would bolt the bar onto the arms,. and then drill through the arm where needed to add the second bolt,.  and use a long bolt and nut,.(wait,. didn't metco themselves recommend this too)
drive the car and enjoy the firmer handling feel,.

I bought a huge overkill rear bar for the orange wagon because it was used and cheap,..
i made it fit, with some free overkill parts,.it's tweaked slightly and fit badly, i had to manipulate it to get it to bolt on,.

Only you and the road kill will know for certain whats underneath the car,..

Perhaps sharpen an edge on the bar to not only make more aerodynamic,but make it more humane killing instrument? Nick,Im looking into that very idea,because it has Metcos blessing.Thanks everybody for their imput.

here's what factory inserts look like for swaybar mounting,.
pretty puny,.

phantom 309 wrote:

here's what factory inserts look like for swaybar mounting,.
pretty puny,.

 Thats what I ended up using after the Hotchkis arms didn't work out.  Have these been known to fail?

No. They're not known to fail, but they're a good example of just how little actual lateral force is on the bar. If that dinky insert can make it work on a stock stamped steel control arm, some holes in a quality set of aftermarket arms isn't even going to know it's there.

rhino,
Ahhhhhhh! The Hotchkis set up in there nice. What length are the long bolts? I think I got the wrong ones. The thread is metric and the brackets are SAE thread. 3/8-16 I believe. The Hotchkis fits nice!

yakko wrote:

rhino,
Ahhhhhhh!  The Hotchkis set up in there nice.  What length are the long bolts?  I think I got the wrong ones.  The thread is metric and the brackets are SAE thread.  3/8-16  I believe.  The Hotchkis fits nice!

The bolts are a 7/16-14 thread and are 4 1/2" long with full thread. Ordered them from Fastenal. The self tappers on the sides holding the bracket are 3/8-16 3/4". Had to get a couple 1 inch long because store didn't have enough 3/4".

40 bucks in parts, 20 minutes of work, no screwing around with control arms. Car handled much better.

94Woody wrote:

40 bucks in parts, 20 minutes of work, no screwing around with control arms. Car handled much better.

Looking more appealing all the time.