Forum: SCRAFAN.COM Forum (go)
Moderators: ljennings

Anybody tell me how a sway bar works on a 5 bar sprinter, I know they are supposed to help hook the car on a dry slick track but thats it.

from what i know...i think...it keeps the car more stable...or flat through the corner....i believe it makes it alot tighter too....

some people hate the 5 bar (Greg Taylor, ect....)

some people think its the key to winning( Brian Camarillo, Johnathon Henry, ect....)

we were thinking about mounting a sway bar on my 19 car befor the year is over....but we have a good thing going with the car the way it sits....and if it aint broke dont fix it, ya know?

"SLAMMIN" Brandon

The underlying theory behind running a a sway bar on a dirt car is weight transfer. A sway bar adds spring rate to the right front (since we only turn left) which allows you to run a softer spring in that corner without the feeling that the car is diving on the right front going into the corner. Having a softer spring up front allows more front to rear weight transfer for forward bite. Since the car is already leaning towards the right coming off the corner you also get the added spring rate on the right front causing the left rear to drive harder. Another added benefit is that you don't have to go away from running static right rear weight in order to get the car to drive off the corner. At it's simplest, sway bars allow you to have cake AND ice cream.

Having said all that, I've never worked with a 5-bar car so I have no clue how it works differently than a coil car. Also, always remember that any advice you get is roughly worth the price you paid for it.

All I know is we put a sway bar on my car and i LOVE it. Much better than not having one but its all on your driving style and how you like the feel of the car.

So let me get this straight, the only thing i would have to change is the RF bar to a softer one? Everything else can be left alone. Sorry guys i am just trying to research the pros and cons before i spend the money on a new chassis. i know the principle of the idea is to get more LR drive

So let me get this straight, the only thing i would have to change is the RF bar to a softer one? Everything else can be left alone.

As I stated, that was the theory and the answer would be yes. When Jack Rich built those cars for the Yeley's, no one else was running coilovers on the front of the car so it took some calculating and playing around in order to come up with a spring rate for the front coils. That number was lower than the comparable torsion bar rate. By the time 2003 rolled around and JJ had that wildly successful year, he was running a spring rate that was higher in the front than in 1996 when we first started running it. Granted he likes the car tighter than anyone else I've ever worked with so it's difficult to use him as a baseline. I say all this for background so you understand how the idea came about. Even at a higher coil spring rate, I believe it is still lower than a comparable torsion bar rate.

As I said, I've never worked with a 5-bar car so I can't tell you how to set one up. I have no clue if people run a 1000 or 950 bar in the RF rather than a 1050 or 1025. Some drivers like the sway bar and some don't. I suspect the ones that don't never had a correct coil/swaybar rate package. The times that I've come across people struggling with it, they weren't even close on bar/spring rate. At least if you buy a 5 bar car you can disconnect the sway bar and run the car like a "normal" 4 bar car. If you buy a coilover car with a sway bar and decide not to run it, you are screwed or at minimum you will spend a good amount of time trying to get it to drive the way you like.

You dont have to buy a new car to try it unless your car is wrecked.. iTi Performance Motorsports put the sway bar on the Camarillo's car as a bolt on deal. If you live in the So. Cal area give us a call and maybe we can help you out. (909) 390-4686

Sprint cars live on the Wild Side