Bending A Sway Bar

Pat

Supporter
I'm looking at a minor redo of my front swaybar/anti-roll bar that involves putting another shallow bend in it.
I've heard that it can be heated and bent, that it should never be heated and bent, that it should be cold bent and that cold bending won't work on the spring steel material of most sway bars.
Does anyone have experience doing this (good or bad)?
 
Mine were bent by a local pipe bending company, did them cold and they work well. I used 4130 for mine 5/8" tube
 
Last edited:

Howard Jones

Supporter
If its spring steel it will break. I broke my original GTD rear bar trying to slightly change the turning radius of the bend. I made a new one from 4140 heavy wall tubing. Has worked fine for over 15 years.

If you heat up spring steel so as to take the spring out of it........well you get the idea...no more spring. It will still do something but who knows what. It will more than likely break in the end.

I got my 4140 here.

4130 ALLOY STEEL ROUND SEAMLESS from Aircraft Spruce

I think I used the 5/8 od .120 wall. I had a guy who made roll cages bend it for me on his tubing bending table. Make one out of copper for a template.
 
Hi Pat,
Assuming you already have a decent grade of spring steel, it can be bent hot, but will need to be re-tempered afterwards, which is along the lines of:
- Heat to cherry red and bend as desired
- Reheat to cherry red and quench in water (re-harderns the material)
- Heat to straw colour and air cool (tempers the material)
Regards,
Andy
 
Andy are you Shure water? That usually introduces hydrogen from the water and give it hydrogen enbrittlement I would do oil. I know the re-heat takes some out but maybe not all? Rod. I used to deal with heat treating metal working for a bolt manufacturer.
 
Gents,
This is the way I was taught to get a rapid cooling to give the correct crystalline structure. Oil and forced air cooling also work.
Hydrogen embrittlement may be introduced, but on the low stress levels in a A/R bar, it would not be an issue and is more associated with plating processes.
Also the colour should be light blue, which is 337°C (639°F) for springs.
Regards,
Andy
 

Mike Pass

Supporter
You can bend spring steel by heating it the section red hot and then bending to the required shape. Because it is spring steel the heating will destroy the spring temper. it will need to be heated and then quenched to restore the hardness. it will then need to be reheated to the correct temperature to temper it. This process will restore the metal to the original condition. This is pretty much impossible at home so I take mine to the local spring repair works who will put the material through the correct heat, quench and temper cycle as they have large furnaces running at the appropriate temperatures. Generally pretty cheap and usually a banknote in the hand does the job. There will be a spring repair shop somewhere near if you check around.

Cheers
Mike
 

Pat

Supporter
Thanks for the help. I know know a lot more than I did a day ago.
I'm now looking for a shop that can handle it. A fellow in my muscle car club suggested I get a new bar fabricated with a material called "Stressproof (1144) Steel Round".
Is anyone familiar with it?

Your help has been great.
 
Usually you don't need the bar bent they have offset bent or straight ends that are clamped on to the end you have had spline cut. Do a Google search for splined end sway bar end links I'm sure they will have pictures to see what is needed.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top