c 1500 1997 swaybar upgrade

What a good sway bar upgrade for a c 1500 regular cab short bed?

1/2 ton GMT400 SUV rear sway bar.
From the SUV you'll need...
~The frame brackets, along with the bolts & the specific nuts that fit inside of the frame. Those have a tab on them which hits up on the inner frame rails to prevent them from spinning. Can't get a wrench in there to hold 'em.
~Some 3" H/D extended length muffler clamps. Regular ones are shorter & the steel bar is a lighter gauge.
~New grease-able brackets/shells with urethane bushings from any parts store for cheap. (-$20.00?)
Do this on level ground.
The muffler clamps go in between the 2 plates of the shock mounts on the diff. One will face forward, the other back.
Slide that pressed & bent muffler clamp piece with the holes over the ends of the bent part.
IIRC the urethane bushings are split so they can be wrestled onto the bar. If not, gotta slide 'em on over the ends of the bar. Assemble the uprights & frame brackets onto the bar.
Bolt the assembly onto the muffler clamps. Fairly snug, but still loose enough so that they can be shifted around on the diff. The bolts have to be holding both the clamp & the bushing shells all with the one nut. Don't forget a washer.
Now you need a 3rd. hand. Someone to help get that bar horizontal to the ground & square to the frame. Tighten those clamps a bit.
With the weight of the vehicle on the tires, get a hold of that upright/bracket/sway bar assembly. While holding those uprights as perpendicular as possible (Straight up!) to the ground, trace around the outside of the bracket. Mark the one hole that's not blocked by the upright.
Drop it down, remove the uprights from the brackets & mark the second hole. Drill holes.
Next, bolt the bracket to the frame using the donor's bolts & those specific nuts. Can't do that with the uprights attached to the brackets. No way to get any tool in there.
Mount up the brackets followed by installing the upright. Check to see whether the clamps have shifted & that the bar is still horizontal & square & that the uprights are still perpendicular. Adjust if needed. If it's all good, give everything a final snugging up.
I had a bit of a prob getting those uprights exactly right. Rather than re-drill those holes in the frame, a bit of a PitA, I slotted the holes in the frame brackets so I could adjust them to be just right.
One one side, there is big rivet in the frame right where the bracket wants to be. Instead of messing with the rivet, I just drilled a pocket into the bracket with a large drill bit for the rivet to sit inside.
Altogether, it took me the better part of 2 hours to do the first install of one of these.
The drilling of the holes in the frame took a while. On my back in the driveway. Hot shards of drilled frame metal falling! Yeow! Lol!

Aftermarket S/B manufacturers use the same method with the U-bolts/Muffler clamps to install their bars on vehicles not factory equipped with.



Since the pic, I installed some new urethane bushings in the end links.



These were around $20. I used the black ones, though.
After I did the rear bar install, swapped all the front sway bar bushings with urethane, too.

Hey Sewlow, thanks for the write up and pics. I just pulled a sway bar and links from a ‘98 Tahoe to attempt this job, so I’m glad to see it worked for you! I was thinking I needed to get longer endlinks from a GMT800 since the RCSB trucks have a higher frame (the 800’s endlinks are about 8” long compared to the 400’s 5-6” length). Would you recommend the longer links to get the bar more horizontal? (I haven’t mocked up my bar bc I was waiting to get the new endlinks)

Also - did you use Prothane bushings to upgrade your endlinks like you did for the bar bushings, and do you remember the part number?

Thanks, I always appreciate your posts

I lengthened mine by chopping and welding some pipe on. If the GMT800s are longer, it's a consideration, but are they the right length? Mine keep the bar parallel to the ground.
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TexasLS1 said:

Hey Sewlow, thanks for the write up and pics. I just pulled a sway bar and links from a ‘98 Tahoe to attempt this job, so I’m glad to see it worked for you! I was thinking I needed to get longer endlinks from a GMT800 since the RCSB trucks have a higher frame (the 800’s endlinks are about 8” long compared to the 400’s 5-6” length). Would you recommend the longer links to get the bar more horizontal? (I haven’t mocked up my bar bc I was waiting to get the new endlinks)

Also - did you use Prothane bushings to upgrade your endlinks like you did for the bar bushings, and do you remember the part number?

Thanks, I always appreciate your posts

Click to expand...

I'm guessing that your truck's 4x4?
Both of my truck's are (were) lowered 2x4. With the differences between the SUV frame & the truck's, along with being lowered, I didn't have to modify the links.

I didn't go by part numbers when I bought the new bushings. The local jobber I got them from had a couple of large divided plastic boxes with various progressively sized urethane bushings. I took the old ones & matched them up to what I needed.
IIRC, the ones for the end links were of a 2 piece design. They can't be compressed to be pushed through their relative holes like the rubber ones can.

Yep I started thinking later that your truck could be lowered already. Mine’s 2wd at factory height, I plan to do a 4/6 on it but that might be a while unfortunately. I'll have to figure out if I’m gonna test out the GMT800’s or modify the originals like Erik did. I’ll have to hold onto an original set and add the urethane bushings once I do the drop. Thanks guys

You can always build adjustable ends from Smiley's.
https://www.smileysracing.com/shopping/productDetails.aspx?i=120015&c=1794
https://www.smileysracing.com/shopping/productDetails.aspx?i=10029&c=1558

I realize this thread is somewhat old and perhaps dead, but it has the information I need lol. If I install a sway bar BEFORE I lower the rear another 2in will that mess up the geometry once I install the lowering kit? I guess if it does all I’ll have to do is build custom ones from Smiley’s like Erik suggested.

I think if you had a set of un-lengthened stock sway bar end links, they'd be about perfect for a lowered truck. Just get a second set from the treasure yard.

Jerryred94silvy said:

I realize this thread is somewhat old and perhaps dead, but it has the information I need lol. If I install a sway bar BEFORE I lower the rear another 2in will that mess up the geometry once I install the lowering kit? I guess if it does all I’ll have to do is build custom ones from Smiley’s like Erik suggested.

Click to expand...

How low are you now?
Sway bar install after the drop.