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41 plymouth sway bar question


old-idaho-iron

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When I bought my P11 1941 Coupe it was missing the front sway bar, I knew from having my 1940 Dodge that the front sway bar is the same 1940/1941 and obtained one from a guy who was parting out a 1940 sedan.........perfect fit..........regards, andyd

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I cant remember if it was on here or the HAMB but someone used an inverted late model Jeep Cherokee swaybar on theirs and it worked great. Plus it's about three times thicker than the stock one and made a noticeable difference in handling.

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Here, I found it. This is off of a 84-2001 Jeep Cherokee and here's what the guy wrote about it:

This particular bar is from a 6-cylinder Grand Cherokee, and is 1" in diameter. As you may notice, it is mounted upside-down from the Jeep application, for a better fit.. The "drop" in the bar is facing upwards.

As you can see int the pictures, the anti-sway bar mounts have to go as far forward on the frame as you can. This does mean that the forward hole is pretty close to the edge of the metal. This is fine. Just put a good, Grade-8 washer on top. The car in the pictures has been set up this fashion for years, and is a daily-driver.

You can use the stock Jeep ones, or Poly ones.

Mount the bar on the frame first, and them put the end links on. That will show you where the control arm mounts need to go. Do this with the wheels on the ground.

The mounts on control arm, on this car, were made from 2" square tubing (1/8" wall), split in-half, and welded to the bottom, of the control arm. The hole needs to be the size of the shoulder on the bushings.

The anti-sway bar end links have a sleeve length of 1", and are Energy Suspension part number 9-8122R(Red), or 9-8122G(Black) respectively. You can junkyard source the end-links too, if you are patient.

I mounted the control arm mounts to the end-links, and then pushed them up against the cleaned-up control arms. Where they landed is where they got welded on (after making sure they were in the same place on both sides).

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  • 1 year later...

Here, I found it. This is off of a 84-2001 Jeep Cherokee and here's what the guy wrote about it:

This particular bar is from a 6-cylinder Grand Cherokee, and is 1" in diameter. As you may notice, it is mounted upside-down from the Jeep application, for a better fit.. The "drop" in the bar is facing upwards.

As you can see int the pictures, the anti-sway bar mounts have to go as far forward on the frame as you can. This does mean that the forward hole is pretty close to the edge of the metal. This is fine. Just put a good, Grade-8 washer on top. The car in the pictures has been set up this fashion for years, and is a daily-driver.

You can use the stock Jeep ones, or Poly ones.

Mount the bar on the frame first, and them put the end links on. That will show you where the control arm mounts need to go. Do this with the wheels on the ground.

The mounts on control arm, on this car, were made from 2" square tubing (1/8" wall), split in-half, and welded to the bottom, of the control arm. The hole needs to be the size of the shoulder on the bushings.

The anti-sway bar end links have a sleeve length of 1", and are Energy Suspension part number 9-8122R(Red), or 9-8122G(Black) respectively. You can junkyard source the end-links too, if you are patient.

I mounted the control arm mounts to the end-links, and then pushed them up against the cleaned-up control arms. Where they landed is where they got welded on (after making sure they were in the same place on both sides).

 

Does anyone know who the original poster was for this sway bar upgrade?  I'm considering doing the same, but would like the OP's opinion of how or if it improved the handling of his vehicle.  A search failed to find this information, so reach deep into your memories!!!  Thanks. :confused:

 

Wayne

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". . . someone used an inverted late model Jeep Cherokee swaybar on theirs and it worked great. Plus it's about three times thicker than the stock one and made a noticeable difference in handling."

 

Explain 'noticeable difference in handling'.  The sway / torsion bar in my 53 is broken, so a replacement is required.

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When turning to the right the left front tire compresses the spring and put upward pressure on the lateral bar.  At teh right side the tire ad wheel want to drop as wthe weight unloads.  the upward pressure from the left  side partially counter acts this drop keeping the tire and wheel from falling as far as they would if unfettered.  Therefor controlling and limiting the tendency of the right side to rise in a rolling motion. Keeping the front end flatter in relation to the road surface, then would occur without the bar. 

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I received a reply from the HAMBer who installed a Cherokee sway bar on a 49 Plymouth.  Here's what he had to say:

"It was a huge improvement. We had to upgrade the wheels after that, as the customer had the habit of flexing them so much in hard corners, that he kept popping the wheel covers off."

 

I asked if the car had a stiffer ride after the modification:

 

"Not stiffer, per se, but certainly different. More confident feeling.
The stock bar barely does anything."

 

When I finally complete the upgrade of my P15's sway bar, I'll report back with my findings. 

 

Wayne
 

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  • 1 year later...

I was recently bouncing around the interweb and found this thread on the Jeep Cherokee sway bar swap. Sounded like what I was looking for so off to the wrecking yard, one hour and 40 bucks later it was my shop. Held it up to the car and soon found out the frame horns on a 41 P12 coupe are too short to do this conversion .  My question is does anyone have another vehicle in mind that will fit, or a scource I can order one ?.    Thanks Tom.

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James you could be right on this, my problem is a 41 grill falls below the frame horns and is one inch from the ends of them. I was a little too fast pulling the trigger buying the jeep sway bar, Im sure it works great for 42--50 models with alot of space at the ends of the horns, however I have figured out a mustang II / pinto aftermarket sway bar is the needed 43 1/2 inches eye to eye and looks to be the the right depth. I am looking at using a Chassis Engineering bar #SB-0010PM .

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Let us know if you do go that way.  If it works on your 41 it should work on 46-54 Plymouths also.  The shape of the bar is important in that the bends back and out need to be out of the tires turning range.  I looked at Firebird sway bars but the bends were all wrong and the tire rubbed them when turning sharp.

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For 40/41 the bar attaches to a pair of vertical links about 8" long and has a ball end that allows it to fit into a rubber bushed hole in the link which are attached to the front of the lower shock pin that bolts thru the spindle.......don't 46(maybe 42) to 54 sway bars attach straight into a rubber block located in the front edge of the lower A arm?........the shape maybe the same 40-54 but the ends are different I think?..............apologies if this is wrong.............andyd

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James.........when I was originally "restoring" my 40 Dodge I once took for a drive around the block without the original 5/8"(?) thick sway bar.........only did it once........lol.........I have had a custom made 1" thick bar for the past 40 yrs with heim joints and an adjustable link......handles much better..........lol......you can see the link in this pic, the sway bar was made with a flattened end and drilled to allow the heim joint links to bolt on.........andyd  

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