You bonehead! Just kidding, I'm not a Neon Pilot, but I am a member of the
bigger rear sway bar club....
Was the straight part of the rod still "straight", meaning the bending
up/down was from torsion only? Or, are the elbows of the arms not touching
the ground?
Assuming it is torsion caused, I would think any combination of autox,
normal driving, jacking/unjacking, or uneven load. Usually, for metal to
bend, it takes a large deflection in one direction to make a small change in
the bend. Skimpy stock sway bars are probably known for not staying
straight.
My bet is jacking/unjacking is what did it. I've been scared I'm going to
break endlinks because if I jack up one side from the front, the rear goes
up too because of the sway bar, so I try to jack up both wheels the same
amount or d/c the bar first.
Brian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Linnhoff, Eric" <elinnhoff@smmc.saint-lukes.org>
To: "'autox'" <autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 9:46 AM
Subject: Tweaked sway bar
>
> Yesterday I replaced the stock 16mm rear bar with a 22mm Mopar Performance
> sway bar. (I'm in Street Touring this year.) When I set the factory sway
> bar on the ground the passenger side lever arm was resting a full inch off
> the ground while the driver's side arm was flat on the ground. Whether
this
> means that the passenger side is bent up or the driver's side is bent down
I
> can't tell you.
>
> I also don't know if it was bent due to autocrossing in general (which I
> doubt), hefting one side of the car up in the air at a time to change 2
> tires for the last 2 years of autocrossing (I never left one side up in
the
> air appreciably longer than the other side) or just plain old fashioned
> metal fatigue. What I can tell you is that it would help explain why the
> car tended to oversteer while turning one direction and understeered in
the
> other direction.
>
> Any thoughts. Besides "you bonehead". ;^)
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