Technical Can you heat and bend a sway bar?

Reading through the other sway bar thread, I saw mention of a certain material used for a sway bar, and was easy to heat it up and bend it.

My question pertains to a sway bar that came with my Heidts IFS kit (no worries, will run fenders on my '36)
The sway bar darn near touches the coil overs, I think what occurred is they sent me a standard length sway bar, but my spindles were 5/8th? as I recall, narrower.

I recall talking to Heidts about this, but since I bought it from a supplier (who's gone out of business) they wouldn't swap it for the correct one..i/e I had to go through the supplier.

So, can I heat and bend this sway bar, without losing it's "spring" nature?

 

I tweaked my 1" ADDCO front sway bar about a 1/2" per side by having a guy that had a 50 ton hydraulic press very carefully bend both ends in. Worked fine.

Before he started, he told me to go stand outside in case it broke.

I should have known something was up because the box it came in was all torn up and it was scratched all over. Bought both front and rear from JCW so figure it was a second! The rear fit fine!

Price was right so what the hey!

pdq67

 

I don't see why not? I could be wrong in offering that advice but really a sway bar is just a piece of metal that links the suspension to the frame. Granted it's not one of those torsion bar deals and is a stock style bar. Only thing I would be careful about is if it's hollow I would think u could kink it. Hopefully someone else can help u and say I'm right or wrong. I've never done it myself for the record.

 

It might be possible to heat and bend it, but it would have to be tempered. Not the kind of thing you can do yourself. You might ask a spring shop if they can do it.

 

It's solid, I just ***umed it would be heat treated in some fashion like springs?

 

No spring shops in the area that I know of, but I bet a good BlackSmith could do it then, there's still some around these parts.
Thanks

 

Yes you can, but after you do then it's just a piece of cold rolled steel.

 

Got one from a 95 Firebird,Heated and bent to fit on my 37 Chevy truck with a 10bolt. Works great!! Pete

 

Lol, that's what I was wondering

 

How much use do you have on it?...i/e miles?

 

I,m retired so it gets out 4-5 times a week. We use it for our truck.dirt,stone,coal, etc!! 6000 miles since it was installed. Pete

 

have taken them and had bent on a large press --no problem thus far

 

Shoot this guy an email, he manufactures sway bars.....mailto:carolinaswaybardan@hotmail.com
KK

 

Ask an established dump truck co where they are, or check google, they must be somewhere near you
probably in an older industrial area.

 

You can bend 'em. That's how they build them, from straight steel bar stock. Pop them in the hydraulic pipe bending machine, and they bend them up. I would imagine a good heavy press would be just fine. I wouldn't heat them either. Dunno' if that will affect it, it's just not how they make them originally .... soooooooooooo....... no heat.

 

haha, whatdya' know .... youtubage - > https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5JZtaBHDpuQ

 

I know that they will bend when your car slips off the jack under the crossmember and lands on the sway bar.....

Bend it without heat and you'll be fine.

 

You heat it, you make it junk...plain and simple.
Read up on heat treating...!
If you need to change its shape, a LARGE press is in order, and do it COLD.

Mike

 

Thanks again gents!

 

I tweaked 3 of them in a 50 ton press cold no problem. A lot of springs were (are ) made from tempered wire and then coiled cold. I made one for my hydraulic press that way

 

anyone know what type of steel is used, 4140?

 

I bent one in a large vice, cold, while standing with one foot on the vice and another on the bench, took about 30 degrees out of a 90 degree bend. First side went fine, second side snapped, I went for a short flight. Wear a helmet if you try this.

 

LOL you can heat and bend about anything made from steel. Uh that's not what you wanted to know right?

I have heard of guys heating and bending sway bars, I personally don't think it is a good idea, think of one as a spring, yes you can heat it but the question is if it is a good idea. well heating a spring really isn't such a good idea.

 

Don't **** up the temper, do the bending cold. I had to spread one an inch, used my port-a-power, everything was going good, couple more strokes, bang, port-o-power smashed a cement block in the outside wall of the garage.
Do be careful when working with spring steel.

 

I machined ome and I can tell you they are HARD. Had to use carbide end mill and sparks came off the cutter.

 

You can reverse a spring so I would think you can bend a sway bar, like others have said, do it cold. does not sound like you need much.

 

Had the one on my car done and retempered afterwards. Been going fine for 15yrs now.

 

I see a lot of bent sway bars on wrecks. Most are bent few are broken. I would vote for bend cold. Put the short end in a vice or some other solid object. Use your body weight on the long end, or a big friends body weight. You prob only want to move each side 1/4 to 1/2 an inch. Leverage is your friend in this case.

 

I have heated and bent a bunch of them, it never caused a problem. For Mustang Front ends I heat and bend S10 sway bars, and they work great.

I have also cut the ends off one, and welded on new ends with no ill effects.

 

GMC safari van, company truck had snapped on both ends. ( known for it) Hollow tube with both ends smashed flat with a hole drilled in. I pulled it off and migged both ends back on.
Smoothed and blended the welds with a 4in sanding disc.
10,000 miles ago. So far, so good.
Air cooled no quench.