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Cool Junk Yard find.. Sway bar for 2wd fronts

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Old Oct 10, 2008 | 02:26 PM
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Cool Junk Yard find.. Sway bar for 2wd fronts

I stopped in to pick n pull to get 32 stock 1/2" lug nuts for some stock wheels. I wandered upon a clean chassis cab '92 d350 with less than 100K miles and the sway bar in front caught my eye! I didn't even know these existed! 25 bucks later I took my parts home, and 6 bolts/nuts later, the sway bar is now on MY rig

One thing I did notice is that our springs and tie rod ends are bigger than the gasser d350 chassis cab... maybe not but still it was interesting crawling around that long thing.

We'll see how it rides, I may never end up going back to the ricksons :-)





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Old Oct 10, 2008 | 02:59 PM
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From: Terre Haute,IN
Sweet, my 85 crew cab has one like that. I wonder if it's an option, because I've come across them in parts trucks yet my 91.5 D250 doesn't have one. Same with the W models. My 89 has one, Matt's 90 doesn't:lol:.
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Old Oct 10, 2008 | 03:38 PM
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From: Rocket City USA - AKA Huntsville, AL
What are those tires and wheels that you have on there now? They look bigger than stock.

That looks like the sway bar on my '79 Li'l Red Express.
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Old Oct 10, 2008 | 05:08 PM
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you truck didnt have a sway bay?
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Old Oct 10, 2008 | 05:11 PM
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Those are the wheels/tires I picked up from Paul yesterday, they're stockers, with the Big O Big Foot A/T 235/85 R16 load range E 10 Ply. My Door jamb calls out this size, I'm finally riding on the wheels/tires that chrysler intended. I've been thru a whole lot too...

-Got the truck with china "chrome blade" 16x7 rims. Got a rude awakening on these when I went to put new tires on them, 2 out of the 4 were bent badly!!

-Ended up buying 2 replacement Chrome Blades.

-Swapped on a set of stock steel rims from a 4x4 97 ram... found out the hard way with cabover camper,,, toooo much offset! The tires rubbed the inside of my bed wells!

-switched back to the chrome blades...

-Found a set of Ford Alcoas, put those on, switched the tires from the CBlades to the fords..

-Bought a set of Toyo M/T 265/75R16 for the ford alcoas...

-Found a set of brand new ford alcoas for 50 bucks on CL,Put michelin A/S 265/75 tires on those,

-Found the Ricksons mounted on a 2nd gen for sale on CL... traded the original ford Alcoas/toyo mt + cash for them.

-sold the 2nd set of ford alcoas to Travis (that white truck I posted)

-met Paul at Tom's place a few weeks ago, Tom sold paul a set of aluminum rims and I offered to buy Paul's Stock wheels.

-Picked up Paul's stockers yesterday, went to picknpull today for lugnuts, found 32 in the bed of an 85 3/4 ton dodge pickup, and swiped the swaybar...

-Ricksons are sitting in garage taking up space until I decide to haul something very heavy for a long time or put a cabover on there again... The taller tires on the ricksons do give it longer legs on the freeway... getrag 3.07 + 245/70R19.5 (33.6") rock hard skinny tires = They're great but man that horrible ride...
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Old Oct 10, 2008 | 05:12 PM
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Originally Posted by 89f150
you truck didnt have a sway bay?
nope. it didn't have a sway bar in the front. still doesn't have one in the back! .... yet!
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Old Oct 10, 2008 | 05:41 PM
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From: Salina, Kansas
No sway bar on mine either
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Old Oct 10, 2008 | 05:49 PM
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From: Rocket City USA - AKA Huntsville, AL
I was thinking about looking into 19.5's, but if the ride is that bad, I'll pass. Guess I'll have to be happy with some 285/75R16 Nitto Terra Grapplers. I wish there was more available than the Dunlop RVXT, Toyo M55 and T/A Mud Terrains in a 255/85R16, but there's not.
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Old Oct 10, 2008 | 06:11 PM
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Wellllll I don't want to get flamed but yeah the ride is a little harsh... Simply because well there is a lot of rotating mass there and the sidewalls are extremely stiff, + the fact that I can only air down that massive tire to 65psi according to michelin. 45 psi on the stock rims with the much smaller volume 235/85 R16 is all that is needed on my rig.

Also I think the 245/70 r19.5 would be fine on the 4x4s moreso than on the 2x4s I think ... I think that going with the 225/70 19.5 is the only way to go with 2wd because even with my front end lift I was always rubbing when the suspension squished about halfway down, and this is going straight fwd. Rubbing on the TOP of the fender...

The m55 255/85 R16 load range E is a great versatile long lasting tire, just a lil noisy, but hey but they're pinned for studs!

you gunna haul heavy? You looking for mileage? then 19.5s could be the ticket. But lets face it these things are heavy. The Rickson aluminum rims are only 35 lbs each compared to their equivalent steel rim which is 60+ lbs...

The bummer is that the aluminums aren't available anymore, and when they become available again, they're going to be set for the 3rd/2nd gen offset. They're so expensive they only produced one stock of offsets, and drilled the hub bore (chevy) and bolt spacing to match the application . (6.5x8 vs 170mm x 8 lug)
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Old Oct 10, 2008 | 09:43 PM
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From: Hesperia, CA
That's wierd mine had one took it off for the lift
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Old Oct 10, 2008 | 09:46 PM
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cool
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Old Oct 11, 2008 | 08:34 AM
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sway bar

Mine came with one too. marc
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Old Oct 11, 2008 | 08:28 PM
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Huh. Both my 2wd Dodges (gasser '85 and my '93) came with a swaybar on the front.

I've read that you can "stack" them and run two swaybars, up front for more roll stiffness. I've been thinking about trying that to get more balanced handling.
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Old Oct 11, 2008 | 09:16 PM
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yeah I don't know how I got along without this swaybar, It corners much much better. The only thing is though I changed the wheels/tires at the same time but went to stock tires (45psi up front) vs the ricksons so I'm sure that made an impact as well, I got more steering "on rails" feeling with the 19.5s... I also got a little bit of understeer under hard cornering
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Old Oct 11, 2008 | 10:39 PM
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From: Rocket City USA - AKA Huntsville, AL
You didn't happen to see the frame brackets for a 4x4 swaybar in your journeys, did you? I have a sway bar, but no frame brackets. You wouldn't believe how heavy it is, something like 1 1/4" thick.
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