Rear sway bar install

SadbutTrue

Founding Member
May 1, 2002
2,390
4
49
Granada Hills, California
Trying to get this sway bar in tomorrow after work. The front was easy since it was a straight bolt in, I just have a few questions abotu the rear... how do you jack the rear end up so that its aligned correctly to drill the mounting holes in the frame?

I'm not sure if I should jack it up and and then push the wheels up too, or if I should just jack the car up and leave the rearend hanging (i could see there being a difference in the apparent mounting location between the two, even if its minor)...

I'm assumign you mount it on the rearend housing first, then align the mounting boltholes for the frame, drill holes, and tighten it all down. That correct?

Its and addco bar, for reference...
 
I have an Addco bar and I propped the rear end up on axle stands so the rear suspension was supporting the car, then mounted the bar to the rear axle, then marked the holes for refrence and drilled. One word of advice: DO NOT over-tighten the front mounts where they go throught the "frame" rails. The metal there is VERY thin and you WILL squish it if you muscle the bolts tight. Use blue loc-tite and just tighten them enough to be tight.
 
sway bar

I put my '69 on jack stands front and rear;axle and control arms so it would be close to level. That's true on the frame rails too. They are pretty thin and will move if you torque down on them. The only thing is to do a whole lot more work to beef them up unless you're on the street only. After I put in bigger sway bars front and rear, I quickly out-did the tires/wheels I had to begin with.