1997 2-Door - aftermarket rear sway bar

[revmatcher]

Is this sway bar worth anything? I want to remove it, it's ugly and hangs lower than anything else on the truck.

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[movietvet]

Take it off and drive thru a tight cloverleaf and see how you like it. I own a 2005 Tahoe Z71 and have Hellwig bars, front and rear. I love them. I like the way I can stay flat around curves. Handling is where it is at. You will regret taking that sway bar off. If you are gonna off road, removed bar will help.
By the way, fix the differential leak.

 

[revmatcher]

Thanks. Also BTW, thanks for noting the leak. Haven't gotten around to working on the rear end yet....

 

[Nad_Yvalhosert]

My 4 door Yukon's OE rear bar swept upward. The previous owner installed it upside down for some reason?
It's there for reason, what's stopping you from flipping it over the right way? The cost of new sway links?

If you do decide to remove it, kindly PM me and I'll take it off your hands in a heartbeat...

 

[GoToGuy]

I would flip it over and mount it on top of axle. In the factory position. A big improvement that will notice is to upgrade all the bar mounts and end links with polyurethane. It makes a noticeable improvement in handling. Most gmt's have high center of gravity, especially the boxes ( Tahoe , Suburban, Blazer ) and always benefit from two sway bars and poly upgrades.

 

[movietvet]

I would flip it over and mount it on top of axle. In the factory position. A big improvement that will notice is to upgrade all the bar mounts and end links with polyurethane. It makes a noticeable improvement in handling. Most gmt's have high center of gravity, especially the boxes ( Tahoe , Suburban, Blazer ) and always benefit from two sway bars and poly upgrades.

When I went from stock front and rear sway bars to Hellwig front and rear Performance sway bars, it was without a doubt the biggest "seat of the pants" improvement I did to my 2005 Tahoe Z71. I have a tune on it from BlackBear Performance and that is nice but the handling improvements means the tune work can be fully utilized while driving.

When I was wrenching in shops and mostly teens came up and wanted to go fast, I would not do the engine work till I made sure the steering/suspension/brakes were all in good shape to handle the "go fast" upgrades.

 

[Schurkey]

Fastest, easiest way to tuck that bar upwards, closer to the axle housing is to remove those gigantic axle-to-bar supports clamped around the axle tubes, and get some that are not as tall.

Or pay someone with a cutting torch/plasma cutter to shorten the ones you have.

 

[1998_K1500_Sub]

this sway bar ... hangs lower than anything else on the truck.

Look at it this way, at least now you have easy access to the rear end for service

In the picture, with the weight off the suspension, the rear axle is hanging at full extension, and so the sway bar (because of the link geometry) hangs quite low.

What's the bar look like when the suspension's at normal extension (i.e., when the vehicle's on the ground)? Is it still lower than the leaf spring's shackle bolts? Than the lower shock mounts?

You could of course trim the excess length off the U-bolts holding it to the axle; they seem to hang low.

Rotating those same U-bolt clamps toward the front of the vehicle would position the sway bar higher by some margin; doing this requires close attention, so that binding / interference doesn't occur during suspension travel.

Changing the length of the links would be a way to alter / "trim" the bar's position.

Otherwise, the lower shock mounts seem to hang as low as everything else, and you'll always have those hanging there...

If you want to see what it's like without the rear bar in play, simply disconnect ONE link and leave everything else in place, then drive it for a few days. That's the easiest way to find out.

If that's a Suburban (I can't tell from the picture but it looks like a utility body), I'm pretty sure they all came with rear bars OE. If that's not an OE bar, then I would guess that's not the OE rear. Tahoes and Blazers, maybe similar story.

BTW, that exhaust pipe looks pretty close to the fuel tank. Was there no heat shield?