hey all....does anyone know if a sway bar kit exists for the stock front end on the 1951 F1? Ive been looking online but no luck yet...thanx

 

Try the sway bars from the Bronco 2's. They fit well on my 56 F100. Your axle width and frame width should be close enough. Cheaper than a kit.

 

A sway bar won't do a whole lot for you with the stock single I-beam axel anyway!

Good springs, bushings and pins make all the difference in the world.

 

Thanx Julie...I just ordered new 2.5 drop springs from performance online...!!!

 

I agree with Julie. The parallel leaf springs provide the same function as a swaybar if the eye bushings are in good shape, so adding a sway bar is redundant and can lead to binding.

 

I'm not sure I agree that an anti-sway bar (or sway bar) won't help with the I-beam front end. The purpose of a sway bar is to increase roll stiffness, which it will do with a leaf spring I-beam suspension as it would on any other type.

A stock front end with good pins, bushings, hangers, etc will not benefit from the addition of a panhard rod, which intends to limit the suspension to vertical rather than horizontal movement.

Re the 2.5 inch drop springs, how can you do that? The stock suspension travel is hardly 2.5 inches.

Jonas

 

A sway bar resists roll by acting like a torsion bar when one wheel moves up or down. The leaf spring does the same thing because when a wheel lifts up (for example) and the other down the tilting of the axle tries to twist the leaf spring along it's length, which the spring leafs strongly resist and push the axle back until the axle and spring mounts are again parallel with the ground. Put a single spring leaf end in a vise and slip a large adjustable wrench onto the end of it parallel to the length. you can bend the leaf relatively easily against the flat side, the way it would bend in normal both wheel up and down motion (say like going straight over a railroad track). Now clamp that same leaf in the middle (at the spring mount area) and put your wrench on the end of the leaf at right angles to the length and try to twist the leaf. That is what the axle tries to do when it when one wheel goes up and the other down such as when the chassis leans in a turn.
Adding a swaybar to the setup add new lever arms and pivot points that are unlikely to work in concert with the original suspension design which can cause binding, even lockup, and unexpected axle movements.
There is never a reason for a panhard bar on a parallel leaf suspension, the leaf springs prevent the axle from moving side to side.

When dicussing drop in reference to a lowered suspension the reference point is usually considered the frontmost part of the vehicle i.e. the front bumper or frame horn. Lowering springs, especially with reversed eyes can easily drop the bumper 2 1/2".