Has anyone installed a CPP sway bar (or another brand) on their 57-60 truck? I think a sway bar will be the solution to my poor handling, however I don’t like my chances of this fitting a 3 inch dropped axle.

 

Is that front or rear application?

 

It would be for the front.

 

OK so just trying to understand the thought behind a added a front sway bar. It will do nothing to correct understeer inherent to the vehicle and will in fact make the problem worse, negating any gains made in keeping the body level in the turns.

If you are adding it to add stability while hauling a load then by all means go for it. But since the truck is lowered I assumed this was being added in improve unloaded handling. If that is the case. Then you need to start with adding a rear bar and not the front bar.

 

Weak springs will let the body roll. For what it's worth.

 

The springs could well be worn out but they seem ok and have had new bushing installed. Two leaves have been removed but I’m planning on putting one spring back in to bring the front up slightly.

Im just looking to maximize front end stability. I have some new double adjustable shocks on the way which should help a lot also. From what I have read it seems that adding a front sway bar only improves the drivability. So just after any first hand experience of anyone that has installed a front sway bar on their truck.

 

For front end stability you need a rear sway bar. Sway bars work on the opposite end of the vehicle that they are installed on.

Pick up trucks have a high front end weight bias causing them to understeer. The understeer is the result of the front outside tire (relative to the turn) being overloaded and losing traction and causing the truck to plough through the corner (understeer).

Installing a rear sway bar takes loading off the front outside tire (relative to the turn) and transfers it to the rear outside tire (relative to the turn) thus reducing or eliminating the understeer. This will make the front end of the vehicle follow through on the corner instead of ploughing (understeer) and give it more stability.

If you are looking to increase stability while loaded you would install a front sway bar.

Installing a front sway bar on a vehicle that already has an understeer issue (like all pickup trucks do) will only exasperate the problem making the understeer issue more pronounced and severe Yes the body will may remain more level but the speed at which understeer occurs will be reduced and the severity of it will be increased.

If you are looking to improve handling and add stablity start with a rear sway bar. Ideally, the largest you can find.(within reason) If you do oversize the rear bar you will induce oversteer (the back end stepping out on ya) but this can be rectified by installing a front bar to bring the vehicle back to a neutral cornering stance (neither understeer or oversteer)

As a side note installing sway bars will increase the perceived or felt spring rates of the springs, so they may add to ride harness.

 

Update-

I received my CPP sway bar today and installed it in the Front of my truck. I’ll cut straight to the point....

The truck drove and handled better in every single way!!!!! It was really a huge improvement and I’m stoked! The truck drove straighter, cornered smoother, held its line on the bends, held a nice straight line at highway speeds and just made me feel a lot more confident and comfortable driving the truck!!!! I also noticed that under heavy braking it stayed in a straight line rather than slightly veering to one side. I gave the truck a good work out and pushed it hard into corners on some windy highway roads and also narrow rough roads. My double adjustable Viking shocks are still in the post so I am expecting even more improvements once I fit and tune them!

on a side note- I installed 4deg caster wedges (3 inch dropped axle) last week and it also improved drivability, but I did have to get new spring pack/axle locating bolds made. See pics at bottom of post. Total caster is now +5 deg.

A few comments on the install-

This sway bar is for 55-59 Chevy and 53-56 F100. Since the 56 and 59 f100 share the same 34 inch frame width and similar spring set up, I figured that it should work. The sway bar could be 1” wider overall as there wasn’t enough clearance between the sway bar ends and the leaf springs and also the link ends and leaf springs. Because there wasn’t enough clearance between the sway bar ends and the leaf springs I had to install the bar ends -7 down. The instructions are pretty much useless.

On my truck with a 3” dropped axle and 2 leaf removed, the link end brackets landed right on one of the chassis crossmembers which made it difficult to drill and bolt so I just welded them on.

This install worked ok for me but I would advise anyone to do their research when looking for a suitable sway bar. This probably wouldn’t work on a stock truck.

I would like to see a 56 install to see how the clearances look.

Plenty of gear supplied and they provide what looks like silicone grease to lube the sway bar bushings- there are also grease nipples for future maintenance greasing.


CPP provide axle u bolts for both I beam and round tubular axles


bolted up to the I beam axle


about 1/4 inch clearance between spring and bar end. Would be a lot better if there was an additional 1/2 inch clearance


same 1/4 inch clearance between link end and spring. You can see the bar end is angled in slightly.


Drivers side same clearance.


bar ends are -7 down when at ride height. This was a compromise to keep the clearances around the springs


all bolted up and ready for the test drive

Instruction
Note on instructions says- will work with dropped axles.


New vs old bolts- needed longer locating ends to compensate for the space the 4 deg wedge made between axle and springs.


4 deg caster wedges fitted (truck on hoist- ignore drag link angle)


last but not least- fuel has been leaking out of the gas sender screw holes and fuming me out so I used some permatex fuel resistant gasket dressing. Worked like a charm! Got some good progress today😁

 

Congrats on the improvements! Just wondering if you did anything with the springs during the lowering. Kinda sounds like you might have had weak springs from your last descriptions of it.

 

Thanks Red,
I bought the springs off a bloke who swapped out his 60’s front end for a crown Vic, I literally just bolted them in.

I too suspect the springs may have seen better days and quite possibly the handling issues may have been fixed with new springs and new shocks but I’m happy for now and maybe later on I’ll get some new springs for the truck.

 

I just put the same front sway bar kit on my 60 truck. The clearance is about 3/16s between the sway bar end link and the springs. Just like new glove. Happy with it. Have not drove it yet. Still will be awhile before that happens.