Sway Bars: Splined or One-Piece

[USAZR1]

Pardon my ignorance but what are the advantages to using a splined sway bar over a hollow or solid one-piece unit?

[dontlifttoshift]

Splined sway bar allows you to vary the rate very easily by using a different wall thickness tube for the main part of the bar.

[Kulig]

Splined bars also typically use multi drilled/threaded arms which allow you to tune the lever arm length and rate.

However, you can also get one piece bars which have multi hole ends so I guess that's a moot point. But I suspect the splined bar will be far more accurate in its advertised rate then a one piece multi bend noodle bar.

[USAZR1]

Thanks for the info,guys. Since my Elco is a pure streetcar, I think I'll just go with a solid 1.25" bar.

[UMI Tech]

We sell a solid 1.250 bar and it's a nice medium-stiff solution for street and mild auto-x. Just a good all around bar.

Spline bars tend to have tuneability but at the expense of a larger initial cost and complexity.

ramey

[Skip Fix]

Lots of circle track cars use splined bars for the reasons described above.

[USAZR1]

We sell a solid 1.250 bar and it's a nice medium-stiff solution for street and mild auto-x. Just a good all around bar.

Spline bars tend to have tuneability but at the expense of a larger initial cost and complexity.

ramey

Thanks,Ramey. That's exactly what I plan to do, buy one from you.

[David Pozzi]

Splined bar ends are heavier, so in my mind, if you can get a fully tubular version in the wall thickness & adjustment holes you want, then go that way. It's less work to change a full tubular bar (for track tuning) than one with splined arms.

The splined arms want to "walk off" the ends of the sway bar tube if the arms "kick out" towards the wheels, and most of ours do. The best designs have a groove in the splined ends of the tube and the bolt on arm has a pinch bolt that travels through the groove to keep it from walking off.

If you change splined bar diameters to get a different rate, then the old arms won't fit anymore. So a splined bar arm only fits a limited range of wall thickness/diameters.

Splined bar ends are heavy steel, usually 5/8" thick. I've read tests where the aluminum arms deflect too much.

[USAZR1]

Thanks for that explanation, David.