Rear Swaybar for a 1937?

BigSky

I was going through the 1937 Hudson salesman book & saw that a rear anti sway bar was an option in 1937.  Has anyone ever seen one?  Anyone have photos of it?

Geoff

Yes, there is one on the '36 H8 I have in my workshop at the  moment. 

BigSky

If you don’t mind, I could really use your help! If possible I d love to see a few photos of it & find out details.  Such as where & how it attaches to the frame & axle (the end link bushings & center bushings), are end links attaching to the frame in front or rear of the axle, size of bar and placement over axle or under, etc.  

After looking at my 37’s frame / suspension  yesterday, I imagine the bar is setup to attach to the axle with U-bolts and attach to the frame in front of the axle.  if so, I’m wondering if the bar goes inward or outward of the rear shocks to attach to the frame and how it works around the exhaust as well.

Over the past week I’ve been working with a company in the USA that has helped me design & produce sway bars over the past couple decades.  Again, I really appreciate anything you can help me with!

 

terraplane8

I'd tend to drive the car first and see whether fitting a rear anti-roll bar was justified. The splaying of the rear springs was said to help in this regard anyway from what I recall reading in the factory information on design features. The effect will be to decrease understeer, but on my '36 it tends to oversteer naturally (the car has no anti-roll bars at all), so fitting one would make that even more so I would have thought. Of course if your car already has a front bar and is understeering then a rear bar would help. It's interesting how Hudson touts the bar as helping under rough road conditions whereas it is now known that anti-roll bars prevent each spring acting independently so will give a worse ride in these conditions.

BigSky

Well I got lucky & found an image that shows the 1936 rear sway bar.  It appears to run near the upper shock mount & cross frame.  Where exactly, I’m not sure but I’ll look tonight.  A good friend shared with me today that there were 2 sway bar sizes used in 1936, 5/8” & 7/8” depending upon model numbers & body styles.

If anyone knows how the center bushing/bracket is mounted, I’d appreciate the info.   Finally if anyone has any measurement of “A” below length or can help in any other way please let me know!

RichardD

 Most likely an initial large order will be required to get tooling made. Good luck with this; every old car needs one !!!
EDIT: I had to order 15 bars when ADDCO did the Stepdown HD 1.125" bars--Dale is stocking these now.

Trevor J

Ive got one on my 37  coupe

BigSky

Trevor,
Would you mind taking some pictures of your rear bar setup?  I was looking yesterday at the rear end & it looks rather tight on my stock 37 sedan’s rear to run the bar between the tire/wheel & frame/body like it shows in the 1936 picture I posted above.  

My 37 coupe has wider tires & wheels which makes it completely impossible to do a 1936 style bar set up on it.  

Ol racer

Picture Looking rearward