Well, I finally got around to installing the rear Hellwig bar
I ordered from Summit for my '98 2WD SB. The kit was very complete,
and the installation took me about an hour.
Although the photos I've seen of the kit components give the
impression that the bar may reduce ground clearance by looping
under the rearend housing, that is not the case. The "bent"
portion of the bar is behind the housing, not underneath, once
the bar is bolted in place. The bar is mounted to the axle
housing with two large U-bolts, which clamp the polyurethane
bushings. The steel rear brake lines must be slightly tweaked
to provide clearance for the U-bolts. I've added rear-anti
sway bars to several of my vehicles, and to avoid squeaks
when using poly bushings, I *highly* recommend drilling and
tapping the frame (in this case axle) bushing mounts for grease
"zerk" fittings (typically 1/4-28 thread, but there are other
thread size zerks as well). Drill a small hole through the poly
bushing to allow grease to reach the inner diameter of the bushing
too. Grease anything and everything that comes in contact with
the poly bushings and endlinks. Marine grease is best, especially
on the exposed-to-the-elements endlinks. My "Shelbyized" Brand X
musclecar has had "zero" poly bushing squeaking using this method,
and I installed 'em nearly 10 (yes, ten!) years ago.
The ends of the bar "arms" attach with typical endlinks and poly bushings
to brackets provided in the kit, that in turn bolt to holes already
present in the frame. One hole is in use for the tailpipe bracket/insulator,
but Hellwig provides a replacement metric bolt (hardened) that allows
their bracket and the threaded tailpipe bracket to use the same hole.
Clearance between the stock tailpipe and the end link is close, about
3/4-1", but it does clear. Running dual exhaust with this bar may be a
problem, depending upon how the driver's side tailpipe is bent to clear
the axle housing.
Handling with the new rear bar is improved, less oversteer, but oversteer
is still present. Ride quality is slightly firmer but still fine.
I personally would have preferred a larger diameter version of the same bar,
but perhaps the addition of good set of gas shocks (next on my "handling"
list) will result in the "flat" cornering I seek. The stock ride height of
the Dakota is really much too elevated for great cornering, but my ol'
'88 Ranger (boo, hiss, sneer, I know, I know ;~D ) with a handfull of SVO
suspension components cornered surprisingly well, but it was also considerably
lighter, the SVO bars were larger in diameter (intended for V-8 conversions)
and I also installed gas shocks. I have no desire to lower my Dakota, mainly
because I use it as a truck, and I like the high vantage point in traffic.
Anyway, that's my experience with the Hellwig install...if you don't have a
stock rear bar, it's well worth the $130.
Later!
Dan
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:08:35 EDT