Jeff-
I have had the Addco rear sway bar on my TR6 for a few years now. Let me
see if I can shed some light on your questions.....
> Basically,
> the instructions say to simply 'place one large square washing inside
> each spring so it will be located over the hole in the a-arm (trailing
> arm) at the spring center'.
>
> First, my kit didn't have any 'large square washers'. It did come with
> four large round washers that just fit inside the spring, so that's what
> I assume they are talking about. However..
Your assumption is correct, the four large round washers are for the
following. Two of the washers are located inside the spring on top of the
spring mount (raised locater tabs). They "float" on the tabs. The other two
washers are for underneath the trailing arm, they also "float". As the car
corners, the trailing arms move up and down. Because of the trailing arm
pivot point, this causes the end of the sway bar to have to move in a
horizontal as well as a vertical plane. The large washers will slide and
move a few millimeters in cornering.
>
> The large round washers won't fit through the center of the spring
> packing pieces. As such, I am assuming that the rear springs must be
> removed in order to install said large round washers??? Not the end of
> the world, but kind of a pain nonetheless.
They may not have to be removed, but it is easier to construct the bushing/
washer/ bolt assembly and get it started with the spring out.
> My further question is, on the TR6, the trailing arms conveniently have
> the lower spring locator tabs on them, which conveniently fit right up
> into the spring packing piece to make it easier to install the rear
> springs than on a TR4A without the tabs (they don't try to slide around
> when you're jacking the arm up). However, due to these tabs, it doesn't
> seem to me that the 'large round washer' would fit into bottom of the
> trailing arm (for that matter, neither would the square washers).
See above, the washer "floats" on top of the spring tabs. You could grind
the outside diameter to fit down into the spring center, but I do not think
it is worth the time or effort.
> Please offer any assistance/guidance/comments.
After installation, my advice is to tighten the nuts to 15 ft/lbs and then
back them off two full turns. This is a good place to start. The rear sway
bar will create an ugly oversteer condition if the bolts are too tight. Once
they are tightened, add a jamb nut and lock-tight. Drive the car for a while
until you can determine if it is oversteer or understeer then adjust to your
liking. I have poly bushings in the entire suspension of my TR6, Koni
adjustable shocks set at medium on the front, Addco sway bar on the front
and rear as well as comp springs front and rear. The rear sway bar can hook
the car up nicely if it is set up right. This summer, I pulled one of the
rear sway bar brackets right out of the tender frame! The result was a
sheared bolt (under tension)and bushings and washers everywhere on the road.
I have since welded reinforcement plates to the frame where the sway bar
pivots, and changed to grade 8 bolts at the end of the sway bar. The poly
bushing kit for the front stock sway bar (available from the big 3) fits the
rear sway bar as well if you need to replace bushings.
Be sure that you have uprated the front sway bar before mounting the
rear sway bar. This creates a better balanced system and will yield better
results.
My TR6 now corners better than most but rides like an empty dump
truck!!!
YMMV
Good luck,
Tim Hutchisen
71 TR6
80 TR7 Spider
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