GT John

Can anyone tell me what purpose this mickey mouse thing is suppose to do.

I've been under my car at least a dozen times and everytime I see this thing and the way its connected from the axle to the frame just doesnt seem like it really serves a real purpose.

The rear anti sway is allowed to freely sideways back and fourth in some rubber bushings on the axle.

Back in my days all we had was an anti sway bar that was one piece and went from the axle to the body/frame. It looked like a panhard bar. If you removed it you could push the tail end of the car freely sideways...........a lot.

Exactly what does this piece of crap really do. And is it really needed and can it be removed or is there a better way to accomplish its intented use.

Thanks

Shortstroke

The purpose of any sway bar (really an anti-sway bar) is to control weight transfer side to side during cornering. It's the differences in strength between the front and rear bars that helps determine whether a car understeers or oversteers. Generally a stiffening the rear bar will promote less understeer.
A panhard rod is used to control rear axle location side to side and to some degree rear ride height.
Rich

Stang281

I concur. ^

Just for reference...

GT John

Nice picture 281

Thanks Rich for the corrections.
Yep, wrong wording. Anti-Sway Bar.
Yep , the panhard attaches from the axle to the frame.

The thing that I'm questioning is the whole Anti-Sway bar assembly is allowed to move up an down and sideways freely. I can understand why you would want free travel up and down............but sideways?

Man, there has got to be a better setup than this using better materials and a better mounting system from the axle to the body/frame.

Just ask'in here. Is there a vendor that anyone knows of that has a better idea for an anti-sway assembly and a better mounting system.

The assembly and mounting that is there now is not as good as it could be.

Maybe the Mustang owners that are "Drifting" them have a better idea.

FLAstangx3

Man, there has got to be a better setup than this using better materials and a better mounting system from the axle to the body


one word answer: STEEDA

GT John

Thanks, I'll go check it out.

I would think that guys that are using the Mustang for Drifting have a way better setup than the stock.

Tony Alonso

I would not presume to be a suspension engineer, however, I assume the chosen bushings and free play is there as a part of the overall tuning for the car to be comfortable in the daily driver situation. Unfortunately, a downside of the live axle is that all its movement has to be controlled by putting in more give.

I defer to more expert folks here on the forums, as well as any engineering types, to correct and dispute the above cheap comment.

05BlackGT

The anti-sway is not a locating device like the panhard bar, so restricting what little lateral deflection it has could introduce bind. Also, the Steeda and Eibach/FRPP mount in the same location as stock, but with harder bushing material and stronger attachment links. Do you have a particular handling problem you are trying to sort out?

LBJay

It has to be able to move "sideways" because the rear does. The panhard bar forces the rear housing to move in an arc which changes the R/L location. (same reason you need to check centering of the rear housing when you lower an S197)



The swaybar needs to be able to follow the side to side movement of the rear.

FLAstangx3

Excellent informative reply. I do think he can improve by swaping out to Urethane Bushings. I have not gone that far with my 07, but both on my 99 and 03, the STEEDA advantage sure helped. (At least I think it did after the $$$ and intense session's under them)

RadBOSS

Maybe this will help. There are other factors that come into play in all of this, like roll centers and center of gravity, but in laymans terms the sway bar front or rear works by differential deflection of the arms of the bar and how stiff it is. Its primarily a torsion spring, but there is some bending in the lever arms as well. The stiffer the sway bar, the more chassis roll resistance it offers. For the rear, the bar needs to be compliant with any lateral movement in the rear axle. When the car is cornering and the chassis sways (rolls), the bar transfers some load from the inside to outside of the direction of turn, making the inside want to come down. If you are cornering hard enough, 100% weight transfer can occur and that inside wheel will lift. If you have looked at a lot of old Trans Am photos, the balance of the car is such that you will see the inside front wheel lifting in a hard corner. This is a slightly understeer set up.

The setup on our S197 is not a whimpy set up. In fact it is well engineered. Stiffer poly bushings will allow the system to realize a little more restraint, but unless you have money burning a hole in your pocket, you could probably spend it more wisely elsewhere.

Like everyone said above, the panhard bars job is to limit lateral axle movement, not roll. A more elaborate set up, a watts linkage allows the axle to move up and down and resists all lateral movement ... but that is a different animal all together.

dustindu4

Ask 169stang what happens when you drive without a rear sway bar.

His rear axle broke free because one of the contol arms failed and it smashed his driveshaft into his tranny and his tranny into his engine. The result? Cracked tranny and engine blocks. But hey since you're the suspension engineer, put your mechanical engineering degree to work and go try it.

Rear sway bar controls body roll at the rear wheels

GT John

I guess LBJay and RadBoss pretty much explained the hole anti sway bar thing.

Yeah, I dont really have money to burn.

I will check out the Steeda solution........if I can just keep myself from pudhing the enter key at the checkout I should be okay.

Thanks for the help.

metroplex

Stock rubber bushings are "mushy" for a reason: ride quality/comfort and reducing noise/vibration/harshness.

I have Addco anti-roll bars, Energy Suspension poly bushings, and Edelbrock IAS shocks on my 2000 Crown Vic. Albeit the 98-02 Vics have a Watt's Linkage with a revised 4-bar system, I can still attest that the thicker anti-roll bars coupled with the poly bushings gives a much harsher ride. The IAS shocks help out a lot in making it comfortable.

The S-197 GT's stock suspension isn't too bad for normal driving but the road racers will be setting up their cars differently. For grand touring/commuting/driving, the stock rubber bushings and stock anti-roll bars should be more than adequate.

BTW the 07 differential covers don't appear to be shiny or aluminum. It looks almost like a painted cover but feels/looks like a composite cover or perhaps a powdercoated steel cover. Does anyone have any details on this?