Write-Up: Front/Rear (Addco) Stabilizer/Sway Bar Installation

put em on ebay

Not sure I want to hassel with selling them on there and shipping them, but I might.

They are worth nothing. Toss them. I couldn't give my set away.

Set them out by the road. The scrappers will fight over them.

I turned my rear bar into a serpentine belt remover.took an old 15mm cut the end off,cut the bends off the bar,stuck the wrench into one end.voila.free tool.

That's not to bad of an idea there Robo.

yap.the secret is to flatten the tube where the wrench fits.otherwise the round of the tube will interfere with belt removal.if ya got a torch,you can put a bend in her.

AA wrote:

Good luck on your install, Larry. Doing this repair + the F/R mounts was one of the things that make me want to drive this car forever. It really makes the car feel new again. Doing the sway bar mod F/R was one of the best things I've done to the suspension for this car. Because of the increased forces exerted on the stiffer bars, you'll want to use energy suspension insulators, at least on the fronts. Also, the front links should be upgraded for the extra load (I've popped an OEM link with these bars). Write-up:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t7376p30-write-up-stabillizer-anti-sway-bar-link-upgrade

Thanks Aaron. When you say front insulators, are you referring to the bar bushings that bolt to the cradle? I did intend to do that also. I'll have to look through the sway bar write up for the part numbers. Do you know if Addco supplies that flat metal strip that goes between the sway bar bushing and the cradle? Is that also necessary for the Energy Suspension bushings?

Quote :

They have polyurethane instead of rubber. When you say front insulators, are you referring to the bar bushings that bolt to the cradle? I did intend to do that also.

Yes, GM calls them insulators, but they do work more like bushings in the form produced by ES. The supplied bushings from Addco are acceptable, but noisy if not greased every now and then. ES makes them with a greasable fitting, which I grease about once per year. Never heard a noise from them, and they are much stiffer than OEM.

Quote :

Do you know if Addco supplies that flat metal strip that goes between the sway bar bushing and the cradle? Is that also necessary for the Energy Suspension bushings?

Yes, Addco supplies the strips, but ES supplies them as well as part of the bushings kit. Use the ES kit parts - it's worth the $20 or so, imo.

I'm trying to get my stock bar out and I just can't get it clear enough on either side to get it out. I have the engine and downpipe out, the tire rod ends disconnected from the spindles, rear trans mount completely out and the steering rack loose. What am I missing here? Eek, I'll try again tomorrow

With the "wheel" turned all the way, the bar should wiggle out.

Got it. My problem was I wasn't directing the left side of the bar in front of the driver strut, I kept going behind. And yeah, the new one went in easy aside from me discovering I need to work out. That thing is damn heavy when you're trying to shove it through the car without scratching it.

Oh so did you guys using greasable bushings like finger in grease or did you just tighten it down dry and pump it or what. And I remember you said the red mobil1 synthetic grease is best right?

I pumped mine in after installation, but lubing it first couldn't hurt. It'll be a little more messy. I think I used a Marine grade grease, nothing too special.

Got my Addco sway bars from Never Enough, via EBay yesterday. They shorted me one end link bushing (7 instead of 8), and the rear bar did not come with the GM orange insulators (25666235). I believe the group buy guys got the insulators, but I guess Addco no longer includes them. I'm going to be doing the Cradle mounts and sway bars at the same time.

The front bar looks as if it lays nice and flat, so I'm relieved that I won't have the problem that Codith had.

I bought mine about 6 months ago from summit racing and they came with all the right stuff.

J. Chris Davis wrote:

I bought mine about 6 months ago from summit racing and they came with all the right stuff.

My rear bar came in a box by itself with no hardware. I called Never Enough, and they checked with Addco. Addco will send me the 1 front endlink bushing I am missing, but they said the rear bar does not come with anything.

Oh, you know. I"m sorry I was wrong. The rear bar I had to get energy suspension end links and I thought it came with the bushings. You have to reuse the original hold downs to the body though.

The end link part number I used for the rear end links was 9.8123G. Got them from autozone.

J. Chris Davis wrote:

Oh, you know. I"m sorry I was wrong. The rear bar I had to get energy suspension end links and I thought it came with the bushings. You have to reuse the original hold downs to the body though.

OK, I know you have to re use the rear bar brackets, but the stock insulators need to be replaced, correct? I see the GM "orange" insulators( GM part # 25666235) mentioned in this thread. I was going to use those. The end links, front and rear, I am getting from Aaron.

Yes you need new insulators. The one I got from Summit Racing did come with those.

J. Chris Davis wrote:

Yes you need new insulators. The one I got from Summit Racing did come with those.

Looking back on page 19 of this thread, Jason also got them with his rear bar. The GM 25666235 insulators. That was 9 months ago. Maybe I'll try to call Addco. Jody at Never Enough said the rear bar doesn't come with them from Addco.

I think a couple of years ago they didn't include them. Maybe they had old stock?

J. Chris Davis wrote:

I think a couple of years ago they didn't include them. Maybe they had old stock?

I don't know, but I have messaged Never Enough again through E-Bay. I linked the Summit Racing catalog page showing the rear bar with the insulators, and asked, why Summit includes them, but Never Enough does not? NE has them dropped shipped to the customer, not sure about Summit.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ACO-2015/

Seems to me that they should include everything just like the front bar, but I think the insulators are a bare minimum. It's not like you can just use anything, and the GM bushings are expensive for what they are.

I also tried to message Addco through their website, but that is a waste of time. Every time I try, I get a message that an error has occurred and that I haven't fully filled out the form. I'm not really impressed by Addco as a company. If there was any other manufacturer to get the parts from, I would order it from them. The bars I received seem to be perfect, but reading through this thread, it seems it took Derek and Codith 3 times to get a good front bar. Derek got the wrong bar the first time, a bar that was bent wrong the second time, and the third time was the charm. Codith got a bar that was bent wrong, then Addco tried to straighten it, then finally sent him another. Not exactly confidence inspiring. Seems like they do the right thing, then they don't, and they have other problems in between. My front bar seems to lay flat on the ground, so I'm sure I won't have a problem with it, other than the normal install pain.

http://addco.net/

Looking on Addco's website, I noticed a link to e mail their marketing director at nathan@addco.net. I noticed that we were dealing with John on the bushing issue. I figured I would try John@addco.net and see if that works. Worth a shot. If I don't hear anything, I'll try Nathan.