Best anti-sway bar or panhard rod for a stock 35?

[Jembow]

I'm a big fan of these on any Ford with transverse springs. Drake does anti-sway kits for front and rear - any good? They've stopped doing Panhard rods. Any other recommended suppliers?

[Brian]

V8 Pilot has the same basic front end, except the front of the wishbone has provision for attaching a sway bar. In my 35, I used that wishbone, and made a swaybar out of 3/4" dia 4140 High Tensile barstock. Used the Pilot mounts; had to drill holes in bottom of chassis rails to mount, and machined up some Nolathane bushes to suit.
On the rear, I again made up custom swaybar out of the same materials and attached via angle brackets which locate in original rear shock location.
The Drake rear sway bars are for 37 and later rear ends. Dunno about the front.

[Phil Gillespie]

Chassis Engineering do a range of front and rear sway bars.
Got one for my 39 standard coupe a good easy bolt on.
Check out their website.
Phil NZ

[Jembow]

Thanks gents. I'll talk to my Pilot friends about front sway bars. A friend is placing an order with Drakes this week so I may get him to add their rear kit and give it a try (says it fits 35, it's the kit with rear shocks included which needs a 37 rear).

[JM 35 Sedan]

Not meaning to hijack your post, but.......I've never felt the need for a sway bar on my 35 fordor sedan, but then I don't have any experience to make a comparison to, with or without. When I first started driving this car it had bias ply tires, and shocks in need of repair/rebuild, and it handled very poorly. After going to radial tires and rebuilt shocks it handles very well, like a completely different car. I'm not sure how front and rear sway bars would make this car handle any better than it does now??

I do have a 35 3w coupe with front and rear sway bars installed by the previous owner, but I have not driven this car enough to determine how it handles. This sway bar addition was done so poorly, IMO, that I'm inclined to just eliminate this mess when I completely redo the running gear and suspension. I'll add some pics later.

I guess I'm just saying...are these sway bars really felt to be a major improvement in ride/handling on an otherwise stock early Ford suspension??

[blucar]

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Most people confuse sway bars, Panhard/tracking bars, with body roll control bars.
The difference between the two systems is the Panhard type of bar is securely attached to the frame/chassis on one end and the axle on the other end. The connection points will allow the body to move up or down. but not from side to side.
A body roll bar, like the bar on the front of the 1940 and later Fords is attached to the frame via a solid connection which can pivot. The other end of the bar is attached to the vehicle axle via a moveable link. The nature of the bar minimizes body roll-up on turns.
The nature of the early Ford traverse mounted spring and the very short shackles of same, had a strong tendency to minimize body sway, however, the early Fords were well known for excessive body roll-up on turns, especially at speed on sharp curves.
Vehicles with coil springs on the front will generally have a anti-body roll-up bar. Vehicles with coil springs on the rear will always have a Panhard bar and a bar to control roll-up.
The problem with the two systems is that the names of same are used interchangeably by most manufactures and/or parts counter men.
Modern vehicles, cars and light have anti roll bars and panhard anti sway bars front and rear.
To respond to "John's" question in #5.. "are these sway bars really felt to be a major improvement in ride/handling on an otherwise stock early Ford suspension?"..
Generally speaking, stock early Ford suspension is very good for normal city/urban driving. However, anybody that has used an early Ford V8 for drag racing on city streets and/or the open highway quickly found that the stock Ford suspension could end very badly.
I have attached a pix of the rear suspension under my '36 Ford coupe, the entire setup is a stock '48 Ford Columbia. For many years I street raced and/or ran it on the drag strips. I saw far to many early Fords come un-glued from the road from a blown tire, etc., never wanted to be in that position.

[Jembow]

Some years ago (when these things were daily drivers) we bought a Ford Popular (in US sold as the Anglia) for my wife, it had a tube shock kit with Panhard rods front and rear. These things were called Puddle Jumpers cos of the way they handled but this one was like driving a sportscar! A friend had a Thames van (on the same chassis) - one day we drove it fully loaded and he got up to 45mph and it started to swerve all over the road. The rear spring had flattened out so the shackles were hanging straight down and the body was swaying from side to side. He bought a Panhard kit ASAP.

4 yrs ago we bought a 24 T Fordor, that top-heavy body rolled like mad - you could drive down the road holding the wheel dead centre and every time it hit a bump it would swerve across the road. Fitted a front Panhard rod and it became driveable.

Current problem I have with the coupe is I have fitted British Armstrong shocks (think MGB rears) as the original Houdailles are shot and no-one here rebuilds them. There is 1.5" clearance from tyre to shock but the car rocks on the shackles and scuffs the tyres. Basically any Ford with transverse springs will sway on the shackles, just it isn't always a problem.

[FlatheadTed]

I have telly's on my 34 right out at the edge so you get a little rubbing on the shock ,but the car is very stable ,compared to my 35 that bump steers because the steering arm is crossways so any shackle movement affects the steering .If your springs are weak you will get the shackles hanging down like Jembow says and a se saw affect .Ted

[Ol' Ron]

The pan hard bar is for use with the vertical shackles of the later Fords. Having the shackles at an angle negates the need for the pan hard bar. Most roll bars are very stiff, but work well when racing, I try to use a smaller diameter bar for a street sar.

[Talkwrench]

I have the Chassis engineering one on the front of my 35 pickup. big difference and no need for a rear one. However it does change the way it all works, you may find it may understeers. But I've always found the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to anti sway bars..

[scooder]

Jembo, have you tried Bob Froch about rebuilding the shocks? Somethings rattling around in the back of my head that he can do shocks.
Martin.

[Krylon32]

Pete And Jake's makes an easy to install bolt on front panard bar for the stock 35-40 chassis. I've used several and they work good.

[Jembow]

I had a long phone chat with Bob Froch - he has done some Model A & B shocks and made up some tooling for them, and has been looking at getting new shafts made, but right now is too busy with engine work. He's going to let me know when he gets back onto the shock project. Thanks for the tip