New Undercarriage Pro

[Pewterbird]

Originally Posted by wpage

Great Thread! Smart upgrades

Changing Sway Bars is a dangerous modification, I just want to warn those who don't know.

Bigger isn't always better with sway bars.

Increasing the size of the front bar will stiffen the front of the vehicle increasing the understeer of the vehicle. It will increase the tendency for the front wheels to break loose in corners.

Increasing the size of the rear bar will stiffen the rear of the vehicle reducing the understeer of the vehicle. It will increase the tendency for the rear wheels to break loose in corners.

From personal experiance on a car with a low center of gravity (lowered Firebird), controlling a slide when tire break loose can be managed (and fun), when there is little potential for rollover.

Personally I wouldn't want to be in a situation where my H3 looses traction in a turn on the streets at 20-60 mph. Catching traction during a slide can flip the car.

Ideally sway bars shold be matched with springs and tire sizes in order to keep a balanced suspension.

[trailerpup]

Sway bar mods within reason are okay on vehicles equipped with stability control systems (VSC, PSM, etc.).

[trailerpup]

[trailerpup]

http://www.aa1car.com/library/stability_control.htm

I guess I really screwed the pooch by putting on the sway bar. Maybe I can ebay it.

Originally Posted by trailerpup

http://www.aa1car.com/library/stability_control.htm

I guess I really screwed the pooch by putting on the sway bar. Maybe I can ebay it.

Nah, H3's have StabiliTrak (06-auto tranny only, 07-all)

[Pewterbird]

Originally Posted by trailerpup

http://www.aa1car.com/library/stability_control.htm

I guess I really screwed the pooch by putting on the sway bar. Maybe I can ebay it.

Not really. Just be carefull, and understand how the mod affects the handeling of the vehicle. You should be ok.

[Wisha Haddan H3]

Yeah, a stiffer swaybar isn't necessarily a bad idea. How does it corner now compared to before? How does it affect your articulation?

I never understood how swaybars affected handling, so I looked it up just now. Here's a couple of articles I found online.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sway_bar

http://www.teamscr.com/sway.htm

[Desert Dan]

The H3 is a truck not a sports car.
Nothing you do to it will make it handle like your Firebird

They still make Firebirds with the flaming chicken on the hood?

[Pewterbird]

Originally Posted by Desert Dan

The H3 is a truck not a sports car.
Nothing you do to it will make it handle like your Firebird

Your exactly correct! And the suspension is completly different and 4 wheel drive makes a huge impact.

But a sway bar is a sway bar. I just want people to be informed about this modification, because this mod is not intuitive where a bigger bar is a better bar.

It would be a shame if someone who didn't understand how sway bars can affect a vehicle and removed the front for more articulation offroad, jumped back on the highway with a beefed up rear bar. That would be massive amounts of oversteer.

Originally Posted by Steve - SanJose

They still make Firebirds with the flaming chicken on the hood?

They stopped making the Firebird in '02 and the flamming chicken hood graphic sometime in the late 80's.

[trailerpup]

I kinda drive it the same way I drove my Tacoma for the past 7 years. I think it may have been "somewhat" like the H3. In so far as it had a high"er" center of gravity than most "cars" on the road. The H3 seems to drive, now, much the same as after I put the Deaver Leaf packs on the rear of my Tacoma. I was running Donahoe coil-overs up front. Before the Deavers, the front was much stiffer than the rear. After replacing the the leaf packs the truck seemed more balanced. At any rate, I think I got the hang of driving a rig with a "somewhat" higher center of gravity. That being said, I understand that the current stock springs are not the same rate as the Deavers, and the combination of the stock H3 leaf packs with the larger-diameter sway bar are going to react much differently, as the suspension is now relying more on the sway bar than the actual rate of the suspension springs, and after all, we are talking about two entirely different vehicles. I expect that if I drive the H3 in the same respectful manner that I drove the TRD there will be little problem. Time will tell... I am waiting on a set of custom-built Deaver 7-leaf progressive packs for the H3. I may end up with the stock sway bar back on there after the new packs are mounted. Also, I am waiting on some SAW HD torsion bars which are supposedly rated at 30% over the stock torsion bars. I think I should be able to come up with a nicely balance vehicle in the end. I have no intention of lifting the H3 as I have enough clearance and "wheel stuff" for the 35's as is. I don't drive like a mad man and would describe my driving style as more "defensive" than anything... I hope all of you are these days. I believe you are correct, in that, the H3 is not a sports car and should not be driven as such. With that said, I can say that there is noticeably less "body roll" with the new sway bar in "normal" driving conditions. I am not an idiot and I do not think that just by putting "cool parts" on my vehicle it will make me Robby Gordon, or Mario Andretti for that matter. I have a nice 30-plus thousand dollar truck and intend to keep it that way. If by chance I am faced with an emergency maneuver situation, I would think that my driving style and level of respect for my vehicle, current road and traffic conditions would place me in a state where I would be able to make a somewhat safer steering input than most. And, if not, hopefully the StabiliTrak and side curtain air bags will save my ass.

Picture of the ol' TuRD...

[RubHer Yellow Ducky]

Originally Posted by trailerpup

I kinda drive it the same way I drove my Tacoma for the past 7 years. I think it may have been "somewhat" like the H3. In so far as it had a high"er" center of gravity than most "cars" on the road. The H3 seems to drive, now, much the same as after I put the Deaver Leaf packs on the rear of my Tacoma. I was running Donahoe coil-overs up front. Before the Deavers, the front was much stiffer than the rear. After replacing the the leaf packs the truck seemed more balanced. At any rate, I think I got the hang of driving a rig with a "somewhat" higher center of gravity. That being said, I understand that the current stock springs are not the same rate as the Deavers, and the combination of the stock H3 leaf packs with the larger-diameter sway bar are going to react much differently, as the suspension is now relying more on the sway bar than the actual rate of the suspension springs, and after all, we are talking about two entirely different vehicles. I expect that if I drive the H3 in the same respectful manner that I drove the TRD there will be little problem. Time will tell... I am waiting on a set of custom-built Deaver 7-leaf progressive packs for the H3. I may end up with the stock sway bar back on there after the new packs are mounted. Also, I am waiting on some SAW HD torsion bars which are supposedly rated at 30% over the stock torsion bars. I think I should be able to come up with a nicely balance vehicle in the end. I have no intention of lifting the H3 as I have enough clearance and "wheel stuff" for the 35's as is. I don't drive like a mad man and would describe my driving style as more "defensive" than anything... I hope all of you are these days. I believe you are correct, in that, the H3 is not a sports car and should not be driven as such. With that said, I can say that there is noticeably less "body roll" with the new sway bar in "normal" driving conditions. I am not an idiot and I do not think that just by putting "cool parts" on my vehicle it will make me Robby Gordon, or Mario Andretti for that matter. I have a nice 30-plus thousand dollar truck and intend to keep it that way. If by chance I am faced with an emergency maneuver situation, I would think that my driving style and level of respect for my vehicle, current road and traffic conditions would place me in a state where I would be able to make a somewhat safer steering input than most. And, if not, hopefully the StabiliTrak and side curtain air bags will save my ass.

Picture of the ol' TuRD...

Is that your ROCKET SLED on top ??????

Nice ol turd of a truck.

[trailerpup]

The ol' TuRD served me well. But I really love my H3. The Spock box was cool to throw up there for extended camping trips, etc. Thanks everybody for the feedback and tips. Much appreciated!!