OT. Sway bars material

JL Ray · Jun 16, 2016

I'm wondering if some one knows what material a automotive sway bar is made of. I'm working on an old car. I want to relocate one but the shape isn't quite right so I was wondering if I could heat it and bend it? Or if needed could one be cut and welded. Mine is fairly soft. I took a file and can cut into it easy. I previously thought they were of a spring material but I don't think so now.

Steve@Advance · Jun 16, 2016

I'm pretty confidant they are spring steel.

I would be afraid to try heating or welding, especially if you are wanting it to be there for control, which the older cars were known for being top heavy! If this is a parade car, something that will never be driven hard, you might get away with it.

If what you are working on is something somewhat popular, you might find one at a speed shop, like Summit Racing, Jegs, and a number of specialty shops that may have what you need.

rustyfarmall · Jun 16, 2016

(quoted from post at 12:23:59 06/16/16) I'm wondering if some one knows what material a automotive sway bar is made of. I'm working on an old car. I want to relocate one but the shape isn't quite right so I was wondering if I could heat it and bend it? Or if needed could one be cut and welded. Mine is fairly soft. I took a file and can cut into it easy. I previously thought they were of a spring material but I don't think so now.

If you can dig into it with a file you should be able to heat and bend with no issues.

There are exceptions to that rule. I thought I could reshape a tire iron/lug wrench/jack handle. The file test indicated it would work. I heated it and bent it, and then welded it onto a hunk of steel. After about 3 uses, the lug wrench broke right where I had welded it. Just snapped right off.

CenTex Farmall · Jun 16, 2016

I haven't thought about this in a while but IIRC they are made out of hot roll but it's a heat treatable alloy.
8620? I can't remember. Google is your friend in this case.

It has to be heat treated in order to take the repeated bending stress and reshaping it without re-treating will end up in failure.

If you cut one in half, rather than weld I believe you could clamp the two ends together with some sort of collar and set screw arrangement (several on each side). Dimple the bar by drilling a little bit to make a place for the set screw. If you drilled through and used a bolt it would probably crack around the hole and fail.

504 · Jun 16, 2016

The last one I rebuilt,I heated it bent it and cooled it in oil. Worked fine under a 89 chevy pu.

OT. Sway bars material

JL Ray

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Steve@Advance

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rustyfarmall

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CenTex Farmall

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504

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