Hotchkis rear bar broke at the mounting holes both sides. This ever happen to you all? What's a good way to go for a rear bar for a street/strip car? Tanks
I have had a factory sway bar break on me while cornering . Felt like the car was going to tip over .
Check out this www.HRpartsNstuff.com . The rear super swaybar/anti roll system is Highly recommended.:Smarty:
X2, I have the HR Parts n Stuff bar on my car. Nice piece. It is a real sway bar unlike the stock bar. All the stock bar does is connect the 2 lower control arms. The HR bar connects the body on the ends, and the rear in the center. It actually works. I've seen it straighten the launch of 9 and 10 second cars. http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=110386
Thjanks! i checked out the HR looks good. I spoke to Hotchkis they said they would credit $185.00 on their new bar $309.00. Take a look close or same design to the HR bar. http://www.hotchkis.net/p-509-64-72-gm-a-body-extreme-sport-rear-sway-bar-new.aspx picture is Hotchkis sample photo, not my ride.
Nope, not the same at all. The HR bar attaches, at the ends, to the body cross member, not the lower control arms. And I can tell you from looking at the Hotchkis pictures, that their kit is not as heavy duty and well made. It's cheaper for sure, but not the same IMHO. Take a close look at this picture. Notice where the bar end hiem joints connect. http://www.hrpartsandstuff.com/
Hey larry- Thanks for pointing that out, i didn't read all the info on the page, I was so shocked Hotchkis was going to credit me I glazed over the HR site. Thanks again for pointing it out, the design is far better than any other i've seen. I'm looking forward to not unloading and loosing traction. Cheers! Tim
You're welcome Tim, I've seen the HR bar on some very fast cars. It is built to handle that. It has handling benefits as well.
Larry, for a street driven car wouldn't the regular bar be fine though? There's a lot of guys on the board that speak about marked improvements with just the standard-type mount rear sway bar. Plus, does that HR system install on the rear axle housing without having to remove it? In other words, it looks like those disc things have to slide on from the outside somehow unless they are split to get aroung the axle.
Sure, a stock bar is fine Ken. The HR bar is far more effective though because of it's design. If you look at the stock front bar design, the bar is connected to the frame with bushings in the center section of the bar. The ends of the bar connect to each lower control arm. For the body to lean, it must twist the bar. The stock rear bar simply connects between the rear lower control arms. The stock rear bar has a reduced effect compared to the front bar. The HR bar connects to the rear axle in the center, and to the body cross member at it's ends. It is much more effective. The brackets that go around the axle tubes are split. They bolt together. Installation is very easy. The hardest part is accurately measuring, and drilling the holes in the body cross member.
Couldn't one take a stock or other brand bar are re make some body mounts, somewhere? Does it only need hooked to the body at the ends? Lots of bars out there with that general shape. What is special about the metal? Could one fab their own?
Im thinking of my wagon, it could use a rear bar of any kind over none. The stock ones that bolts to the LCAs cost money and from what your say is poopoo, it should mount to the frame on the ends, not the LCAs, right?
It's not poopoo, just less effective. It tries to keep the lower control arms in the same plane when cornering. If you can find a bar with the right shape, you can clamp the bar to the rear axle housings and run some heim joints up to the body crossmember.
So Larry, did you get part# HR-1471? That's the kit for the GM 10, 12 bolt or Dana 60 housing (3 inch axle tube). $509.00 :dollar: ou:
BMR Fabrication has a setup like HR's. Only thing is it looks like there's no provisions for the brake lines like their is on the HR one. With the BMR unit it looks like the brake lines are floating in the air because they couldn't route them along the axle tube. It is however about a hundred bucks cheaper. http://www.bmrfabrication.com/swaybars/XSB006Install1.jpg
So, I went with the Hotchkis Extrem Bar because it was easy and cheap. It's been great! My car hooks every time, i must have 70 runs with it. the car feels great on the street also, it's not too tight. I've been running without a front bar, now i'll put the factory one back on. The big Hotchkis I had on there was too tight, the car would slide around hard corners, now it rolls into them better. we'll see with the FT stock bar.:beers2:
