Sway Bar Bushings and Leaf helper springs on the way

Post by **Walt** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:50 pm

I ordered the Bushings and Helper springs mentioned in the threads posted in this forum last night. They'll be here Friday. Hopefully I'll be able to tell a big difference after installing them. I'll post my review afterwards

killian96ss · Post by **killian96ss** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:06 pm

wamason wrote:I ordered the Bushings and Helper springs mentioned in the threads posted in this forum last night. Hopefully I'll be able to tell a big difference after installing them.

I think you will be surprised how much better you Crew handles.

Steve

Post by **Walt** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 7:16 pm

Ok.....here's my review.

Talk about night and day difference!

I'm still having to adjust my driving style to make up for the difference in handling. Have to be careful when I turn the wheel...because the truck doesn't lean in the opposite direction before turning anymore, it just goes

It actually feels like I'm driving my wife's accord n ow.

I put the bushings on the other night, and drove the CC with just them for a day and was impressed. The sway helper springs made a difference in rear end sway, but I would say that the bushings up front made the biggest difference.

Bottom line, if you're not satisfied with the way your CC handles, the money spent on both of these mods is well worth it!

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 7:29 pm

The front bushings would be my in my first four mods in hindsight.

First is dumping those GD OEM shocks

Second is a toss up between the bushings or intake mod

Third would have to be exhaust if, you went with the intake mod, as your second mod

And the forth would be the bushings if you did not do them in the first 3 mods

Make any sense?

Blaze One · Post by **Blaze One** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 11:36 pm

That's great to hear ..... kinda . I have so many things to attend to on my Blazer , and now with every new mod , i add another . So far ... Tune up , shocks , helper spring , moog bjoints , and new bushings now . The lists is getting longer before i can make it shorter . But it is nice to hear positive feedback , such as the above . on this forum .

Post by **Walt** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 6:30 am

Reed, when you do the bushing, do the sway helper springs at the same time

Also, put them an #1, the intake can wait

killian96ss · Post by **killian96ss** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:46 am

If I would have known earlier how much these 2 mods improved handling then I would have made these my first 2 mods as well.

Steve

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:57 am

wamason wrote:Reed, when you do the bushing, do the sway helper springs at the same time

Also, put them an #1, the intake can wait

I haven't done the sway helper springs yet.

Steve2003 · Post by **Steve2003** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 8:57 am

What's the part # for the front bushings? I'm making a wish list, since I've
been cut off

for now anyway

Steve

killian96ss · Post by **killian96ss** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:02 am

Steve2003 wrote:What's the part # for the front bushings? I'm making a wish list, since I've
been cut off for now anyway

Steve

Summit part # ENS-3-5207G $30.

Steve

killian96ss · Post by **killian96ss** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:07 am

Here is the original topic as well.

Polyurethane front sway bar bushings

Steve

Post by **HenryJ** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:22 am

Steve2003 Do us a favor and check the articulation before and after. Even something as simple as measuring from a jacked front a-arm would be helpful. It would offer a percentage for the loss or reduction in body roll.

Jack up one wheel under the a-arm. Raise it to the point it starts to lift the other wheel. Be careful this will be a very unstable situation. Now measure how high the lifted wheel is off the ground.

Repeat this after installing the bushings.

I am curious to see what the difference will be.

If you add the clamp-on's do the same process for the rear to see what happens there as well.

Reed has yet to install his clamp-on's! Maybe he could test the rear articulation? Before and after. Jack up one side to the point of raising the other side before. Add the springs and do it again.
I'd appreciate the information

Steve2003 · Post by **Steve2003** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:43 am

Killian96ss wrote:Summit part # ENS-3-5207G $30.

Thanks

Hj wrote:Steve2003 Do us a favor and check the articulation before and after.

I'll do that! probably won't get to it until next month!

Steve

killian96ss · Post by **killian96ss** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 10:39 am

I know for sure that with both mods (front bushings & rear springs) I can still stuff the rear tires into the wheel wells almost as far as when I was still stock (maybe 1-2" less articulation), however it does takes more effort since everything has more resistance. The front bushing mod won't affect articulation as much as you would think since you are only firming up the bushings, which only makes the sway bar more efficient because the stock bushing slop has been reduced. I have not seen any downside to these mods off road other than the ride becoming a little more bumpy.

Steve

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 11:20 am

HenryJ wrote:................. Reed has yet to install his clamp-on's! Maybe he could test the rear articulation? Before and after. Jack up one side to the point of raising the other side before. Add the springs and do it again.
I'd appreciate the information

Would be honored to do the test when I install the rear sway helpers. It may be several months so, if anyone else does the mod before me please give , Brule the results.

Post by **HenryJ** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 11:24 am

f9k9 wrote:...please give , Brule the results.

Post the results for all of us.

For the next person to install the bushings, do one more measurement, please. Take a measurement with the sway bar disconnected. THX

1337vending · Post by **1337vending** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:50 pm

What about adding the 23mm rear sway bar that came on the ZQ8 package?

I would think that would make more of a handling difference (in the rear) than the helper springs. When I put on the sway bar in the back, I noticed a drastic handling improvement (with the stock front bushings) and no ride penalty. I agree with Steve that the articulation wouldn't be affected much for the rear sway helpers... Aren't you just be changing the spring rate on the rear springs and not preventing 'roll' of the body? I guess it just depends on what you use the truck for most of the time...the only time I see a sway bar being at a disadvantage is on rocks or extremely rutted trails where you need the articulation to keep all the tires on the ground.

Blaze One · Post by **Blaze One** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:28 pm

i have a question , What are " rear sway helpers " and are they the same as when you mention " helper springs" ?

1337vending · Post by **1337vending** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 6:17 pm

Yes, those both refer to the same thing...

Rear helper springs - That's the rear helper springs that we're talking about right?

What I was thinking was that this mod would help more than the rear helper springs and not roughen the ride.

Sorry bout the confusion, had to post before I went and got dinner

killian96ss · Post by **killian96ss** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:20 pm

It all depends on what you plan to do with your Crew. The best rear sway control would be the rear sway bar, but it will definitely limit off road articulation. The rear helper springs or sway control springs will improve the sway in the rear while still allowing the rear to flex or articulate when off roading on very uneven surfaces. If you never go off road on uneven surfaces go with the sway bar, but if you need articulation to keep the tires planted on uneven surfaces while off roading go with the helper springs.

I hope that made some sense.

Steve

1337vending · Post by **1337vending** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:41 pm

killian96ss wrote:It all depends on what you plan to do with your Crew. The best rear sway control would be the rear sway bar, but it will definitely limit off road articulation. The rear helper springs or sway control springs will improve the sway in the rear while still allowing the rear to flex or articulate when off roading on very uneven surfaces. If you never go off road on uneven surfaces go with the sway bar, but if you need articulation to keep the tires planted on uneven surfaces while off roading go with the helper springs. I hope that made some sense.

Steve

That makes a lot of sense ..

, but I don't think the rear sway bar limits articulation too adversely for most 'soft roading.' You'd have to have the suspension pretty tweaked to have the sway bar picking up the other side of the axle and causing significantly worse traction. I think it also helps that I have the G80 locker in the back, so if the sway bar does limit articulation enough to make the tires lose traction I won't be stuck with 1 wheel spinning in the air.

For me, since I don't really go on too many hardcore trails, mainly just running in the river bottom, I think the sway bar is the way to go. Not to mention when there's low traction on roads, I feel the sway bar keeps the back end MUCH more under control...not like I've tried out power oversteer in the rain before and after..

I'm just thinking that the more you stiffen up the springs, the more rebound control your shocks will have to have to control the back end properly in a low traction situation. Speaking of, I saw a guy seriously fubar his regular cab silverado in the rain because he fishtailed it into a concrete underpass pillar around a left turn. (It didn't help him that he didn't know how to drive in the rain) He got the back end a little too light around the corner, loading up the right rear tire, unloading the left rear tire, and when he tried to correct the RR unsprung quickly and loaded up the LR and sent it into a fishtail, which he couldn't recover from. A sway bar would have been much better in that situation, because it would have kept the loads much more even on the LR and RR tires. The reason I bring that up is that the sway bar keeps the back end on my truck from fishtailing at all, allowing very controlled oversteer should you ever encounter it, or need to use it...

So short story long, that's why I think the swaybar is better for most things except maximum slow speed articulation.

Well, that turned into quite a long post...feel free to correct any glaring errors that I may have made

killian96ss · Post by **killian96ss** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:47 am

1337vending, thanks for adding to my explanation of rear sway control options.

For me a rear sway bar would limit my trail selection since I need good articulation, but your right about still being able to do some mild off roading even with a sway bar. I have been on several trails where I get into full flex on either side, and sometimes I wish that I didn't have the front sway bar, or at least I would like to have some sort of disconnectable front sway bar like some Jeeps I have seen. Our IFS flexes pretty well with the front sway bar disconnected, but it is scary on the road when taking turns without it.

Speaking of rear sway bars you should see the one on my SS, it is 1-3/8" and believe me it keeps the rear planted very well.

Steve

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Sway Bar Bushings and Leaf helper springs on the way

Sway Bar Bushings and Leaf helper springs on the way

Re: Sway Bar Bushings and Leaf helper springs on the way