So what is the first step when you need to go buy gas for the lawnmower?
That's right! Install a front anti-sway bar on the FC.

I'm glad I could get it and the design as far as where it goes and mounts is great. The execution is terrible. The bar isn't bent like it should be so it rubs the tires on both sides at full lock. The bolts that hold the control arm brackets on are way too long and won't fit. It didn't come with enough washers even though it came with more than the parts list showed.
I'm also guessing that it probably needs to be much larger. The diameter combined with the length of the arms tell me it isn't going to do much. I would guess the car bars are 10x stiffer with the super short arm they have.
The instructions are a joke. They don't even have a good diagram just showing where they expect things to go. Good thing it isn't complicated to install.
So I had to come up with 2 shorter bolts and some washers. No big deal but it should have come with them.

Joel
Northlake, TX
5 Ultravans, 145 Corvairs and counting...

Here's the bracket on the control arm. The bolts it came with hit the spring pocket long before they would be tight and there is no way to install them the other direction.
The end links have 3 normal bushings so the bar is trapped between a bushing and a washer. The center bushing should have been a special one with 2 smaller diameter extensions on it instead of just one so the washer could be left out. Does anyone know if one like that is available?

Joel
Northlake, TX
5 Ultravans, 145 Corvairs and counting...

Joel- I do believe that most drop links use 4 bushings and capture the bracket and bar between those bushings with extension. See diagram.

If you need a contact at Addco, call this gentleman as he is very helpful.

John Wright
johnw@addco.net
Office 800-621-8916 X 102

Ken

They do but this one isn't designed that way. The link bolt isn't long enough and it would put the bar at a weird angle if it was.
If the bushing between the bar and bracket had the shoulder on both ends it would work great. The end links were pre-assembled and both had a washer in the same spot. The picture doesn't show it. I should probably take them out.

Joel
Northlake, TX
5 Ultravans, 145 Corvairs and counting...

Now i see it ... maybe i can come over an help you "bounce the van"

Come on by. We can do some corner testing.

I drove it to the gas station. I hate to say it but this is the first bar install I've done that didn't make a dramatic improvement. I would be hard pressed to tell it is there. With the tiny diameter and long arms I'm not surprised.
I should have done some skid pad testing before I installed it.

Joel
Northlake, TX
5 Ultravans, 145 Corvairs and counting...

Joel: How about these for end links?

[www.amazon.com]

I’m sure there’s a better way to post a site link than this, but I don’t know it.

Anyhow, Metrix Premium on Amazon for 21.97 a pair delivered. Probably available elsewhere. Looks like a much better setup than what came in the box.

Try flipping the bracket on the control arm upside down and mount the end link underneath for more tension? If it’s at an odd angle, maybe turn the control arm bracket to match the angle of the end link?

Good luck. There’s got to be a better way to make it work.

Craig T
Central NY
1961 Tramp (truck with a ramp)

Those links are way too tall. The height is why they are only using 3 bushings which would be fine if the center one was a special bushing to fit both holes.
You can't add tension to an anti-sway bar. They transfer the load from side to side changing directions based on which direction the body leans. If you only turned one direction I guess you could.

Joel
Northlake, TX
5 Ultravans, 145 Corvairs and counting...

Joel and John,
The ADDCO front bar has a good basic design but falls way short on execution. As you observed Joel, it is so simple to install that one can get by with the sketchy instructions.

I put one of these on our '65 Greenbrier in 2005 when I installed Ken Hand's modified front springs. I wanted to increase the roll stiffness to make up for the lower spring rate. I think increased roll stiffness was the reason Chevrolet put such high rate (stiff) front springs in the FC vehicles. Unfortunately the small diameter [3/4"] and long arms of the ADDCO front bar do not add up to much of a roll stiffness increase. I found this out during the autocross at Hawkeye Downs raceway for the 2010 CORSA Convention. See the photo below where there is 2" of air below my left front tire.

Since then, I have constructed much stiffer and better front bars using DOM tubing and off the shelf Moog swaybar bushing mounts. The first iteration [2014] used 1/4" flat steel plate as the arm, bent in an increased arc to avoid rubbing by the tire at full lock. This one still used the long bolt end link with three bushings.The [rather poor] photo below shows it after several years of use. Pieces of square tubing were used to space the 1" diameter straight section of tubing low enough to clear the fuel tank. I calculated this bar to be 2X stiffer than the ADDCO front bar. In 2015 I installed the ADDCO rear bar which is much stiffer and seems, counter-intuitively, to reduce the jacking effect of the rear swing axle suspension.

In 2022 I constructed a new, even stiffer bar using larger 1-1/8" diameter tubing but with offset bends to clear the fuel tank and allow the center mounts to be attached at the frame rails without spacers. I redesigned the attachment of the arms and fabricated new A-arm brackets to accommodate short 4 bushing end links. I haven't yet taken pictures of this bar to post but it is a better match to the ADDCO rear bar and Ken Hand springs.

Dale Dewald
President - Corvanatics
Hancock, MI

The bar in your picture looks 1000x better than the Addco bar.
Love that top picture. Two wheels in the air. You need posi if you don't already have it.
I'm not convinced the front springs are too stiff as long as you can find shocks that can handle them.
I'm glad you confirmed Ken's springs are a lower rate. I guessed that but never could get anyone to confirm.
I think GM chose the spring rate to go along with the 3/4 ton rating they gave the FCs. I think with the spring rate they figured anti-sway bars weren't needed. My car hauler doesn't have any.

Joel
Northlake, TX
5 Ultravans, 145 Corvairs and counting...

joelsplace Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The bar in your picture looks 1000x better than the Addco bar.

Thank you Joel. I have since taken that bar off, sandblasted, and painted it. It is in the possession of Ken Hand who plans to install it on a customer's FC.

> Love that top picture. Two wheels in the air. You need posi if you don't already have it.

I DO have posi in the diff.

> I'm not convinced the front springs are too stiff as long as you can find shocks that can handle them.

I have fitted Bilstein 4600 series BSN-24-184632 (for Dodge B-series vans-front) all the way around. I can't think of a better shock to use front or rear.

> I'm glad you confirmed Ken's springs are a lower rate. I guessed that but never could get anyone to confirm.

You can tell that easily after not hitting your head on the roof after going over RR tracks or a big bump.

> I think GM chose the spring rate to go along with the 3/4 ton rating they gave the FCs. I think with the spring rate they figured anti-sway bars weren't needed. My car hauler doesn't have any.

Fair to say. If I have nine passengers inside the front suspension settles down almost to the bump stops.

Dale Dewald
President - Corvanatics
Hancock, MI