1996 Tahoe Rear Suspension Opinions.

[0xDEADBEEF]

Generally, with a rear bar you want to start on the softest setting if you have a choice. The harder you set it the more it will tend to cause oversteer.

 

[GoToGuy]

You can't turn 4x4 truck based utility platform into a rally road rocket. The expense and reengineering with associated headaches, and do over. Get a Syclone or Typhoon, or a AWD pickup.
Or replace all rubber type bushings with polyurethane. Get the 1 1/8 or 1 1/4 front sway bar, with poly. Then get the rear frame mounts from Tahoe, poly end links, bushings and rear sway bar from 2500 Suburban. If possible lower it 1 or 2 inches, bring the center gravity lower, for improved cornering. The poly all-around makes dramatic improvement. All the soft rubber bushing all adds up for great ride but negates good handling. This is very cost effective and returns a big bang for the buck.
Handling wise the above setup is almost identical to what Chevy installed on LE Tahoe. And it beat every other LE optioned vehicle in pursuit corning. An SUV beat the autos.
Have fun!

 

[Orpedcrow]

If better road manners is all you’re looking for, these would be my suggestions. Both sway bars, 2” drop shackles, poly bushings in the leaf spring eyes, quality shocks (ex. Bilstein 5100), larger wheels with a shorter and stiffer sidewall tire. All that should get you going pretty good without re-engineering everything.

Make sure your frame isn’t cracked around the steering box and delete or replace your rag joint if it’s worn too.
A loose and squirrly front could give the perception of a loose rear.

Note: the narrow rear ends are FOR tighter turning radius.

 

[400Rogue]

A loose and squirrly front could give the perception of a loose rear.

I'll second this. I just did energy suspension on the front, and will be tackling the rear shortly. Before I aligned it, the truck was borderline dangerous to be driving. And the rear can very much feel like it is swaying about if the front alignment is off. I would look seriously at the rear bushings in the leaf springs and shackles. If these are terribly worn, there would be some lateral movement. More than it should. The reason leaf spring vehicles don't have a panhard, generally speaking, is because it doesn't need one to keep the axle from shifting to the side.

If the bushings are horribly worn, all bets are off. Add to this the front suspension likely needs new bushings and you start to have a pretty unstable vehicle. If the alignment is off, it compounds. If you want to go with linked and a panhard, it will do some pretty cool stuff to your overall handling. But also at the same time, it's costly, you will need to custom fabricate a lot, and there's dudes still racing cars with leaf springs and laying down some wild lap times. I'd only go with a linked/panhard setup if I was doing coilovers. Watts is rad and all, but more fabrication, and more moneys.

I'd start with bushings both front and rear, and new shackles.

 

[b454rat]

Did you check everything? I had a 92 years ago, had over 200k when I got it. I don't think I did anything to the suspension, and no rear bar, and handled just fine. Had some fat tires on it, maybe that helped lol. I know on the 4 doors, that the mounts are there for a rear bar. I'd imagine it be the same on a 2 door.