Sway (stabilzer bar), heat/weld

[russcc]

Curious if someone knows the type of steel a sway bar is made from, specifically older Ford ones. I may have to reshape or cut & weld one to clear something. If it's a type of spring steel, would it soften from heating or welding, and if so, can it be annealed ? Thank you Fordbaners ?

[Ronnieroadster]

Seems to be mild steel should be able to modify as needed the way I see it.

[V8COOPMAN]

I would certainly think that for that thing to function as intended, it would need to be a form of SPRING STEEL, designed to resist TWISTING between the two "attached" ends, not unlike a torsion bar. DD

[cas3]

i'm with coopman, that thing is spring steel. no heating, no welding. if only tweeked a bit it could be straightened cold in a press

[russcc]

Good point about being like a torsion bar to resist twisting. I know you can weld a steel truck spring with the right rod and method. I will have to ask the man who told me about fixing a spring that way that lasted for years.

[JSeery]

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A spring shop should be able to make you a stabilizer bar in the shape you need or modify the one you have.

[Ol' Ron]

I've heated an bent many of them for the stock car. They seemed to work ok, except for the weight transfer. This can be solved by the diameter or the length of the arm. Welding is a no/no and if necessary, be annealed.

[Brian]

I've made my own, front and rear, fitted to my 35. Used 3/4" dia Chrome moly, heated and bent to suit application, with forged ends from original sway bars welded onto the ends using MIG welding process. They work very well in conjunction with the rest of the lowered suspension.
Might I suggest to op, if he needs to modify his original sway bar as he described, that he simply gets a fresh bit of chrome moly and shapes it to however he wants, heating it with a rosebud tip, allow to cool down slowly, any welding, use MIG, again letting welds cool down slowly, and he'll have no troubles.

[Andy]

I have made many from standard cold rolled steel. You only need high strength steel if you are going to twist it to a large angle. I never had one of my home made bars take a set.

[russcc]

Thank you all for some great advice.

[russcc]

I got into the sway bar, and it was tougher to cut with the band saw than cold rolled steel. It looks like a very fine grained steel alloy. Anyone know what Henry used for steel in those sway/stabilizer bars ?

[cmbrucew]

Remember Henry made his own steel, and cast iron.

Bruce

[Pete]

Originally Posted by russcc

I got into the sway bar, and it was tougher to cut with the band saw than cold rolled steel. It looks like a very fine grained steel alloy. Anyone know what Henry used for steel in those sway/stabilizer bars ?

Ford made their own steel and for many of the parts requiring high strength steel they used a proprietary one very similar to SAE 3140.
The sway bars I have checked have been heat treated to around RC40.
This steel should NOT be welded as used in torsion bar applications.
If you heat and bend it without re-heat treating it the yield point will be considerably lower. As long as you do not exceed this yield point, the bar will work fine.