Sway bar
Senior User
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 322
Likes: 1
From: FL
But you're not bending it...the steel still has all the properties of the base metal which include elasticity. You will not bend it to the yield point. Further, you're not trying to bend it linearally, you're twisting it.
More Turbo
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 535
Likes: 42
From: Scotland
Exactly. The point about using the correct grade of steel is important. The yield point will be higher and it is correspondingly more brittle than ordinary low carbon steel. If you introduce heat (e.g. by welding) you change the properties of the steel locally. The properties make it hard to bend and difficult to drill
Senior User
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 322
Likes: 1
From: FL
Exactly. The point about using the correct grade of steel is important. The yield point will be higher and it is correspondingly more brittle than ordinary low carbon steel. If you introduce heat (e.g. by welding) you change the properties of the steel locally. The properties make it hard to bend and difficult to drill
The heated bar will not yield if it is cooled reasonably and it will not be brittle if it is not cooled too quickly. It will be sufficient for this application because the base metal isn't truly altered, only the temper is. It doesn't become silly putty...it simply isn't spring steel anymore. Nevertheless, it will retain its elasticity sufficiently to spring back from the very, very minor twisting it sees in this application...truly, sway bars aren't critically heat treated. Is it the best possible bar? Nope. Is it more than adequate for what we're doing with 70 year old trucks? Yep. It's not like we're road racing with them...
Logistics Pro
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 3,685
Likes: 372
From: Fallon,NV & Bainbridge OH
Bend it cold unless you have to go crazy with your bends. If you must heat it, place it in a bucket of sand or bury it in sand to hold the cooling process down or just let it air cool in the sun. That is how I would do it, others will have other opinions.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,891
Likes: 103
From: Birdsboro PA
There are aftermarket buildable ones that one end is splined and you cut the other and then weld the arms on ( welder series ) I believe and custom ones but again by the time us Canadians get things from stateside we have to double the cost and I'm trying to keep this a budget build and 5-6 hundred for a sway bar isn't exactly budget
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Logistics Pro
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 3,654
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From: Swan River Valley M.B Can
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Elder User
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 508
Likes: 1
We have bent our sway bars in our race cars before. We cooled them in used room temperature oil before. I know, red hot bar in oil sounds safe right? We were fine and the bar worked fine, for us.
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