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raptoranderson

Proven Member
195
21
Sep 24, 2015
Graham, North_Carolina
I know this question has been posted before and I have read many answers regarding this topic, but I have been at this for weeks now and I cannot get my new RM front sway bar to go in. I have attached a link to a video explaining my problem and I just need a set of steps to follow. Other people have only been able to post vague descriptions of what the solution to this is and none of them seem to work.

So far, I have:
-Jacked the up car roughly two feet off the ground.
-Removed both the driver's side and passenger's side gussets.
-Removed the passenger's side rear control arm (which I incorrectly called a compression strut. My bad ...:coy:)

I have been laying the sway bar so that it is parallel to the car with the longest part of the bar facing the front of the car (see image 01, sorry it's not a picture of a DSM) and then pushing the end of the sway bar toward the driver's side so that it goes overtop of the subframe, behind the hardlines for the transmission fluid (I would assume?) and then up over the propshaft. However (as the video shows) the sway bar contacts the floor-pan of the car so that I cannot continue to push the bar any further forward or pivot the bar so that it is perpendicular to the car.

Can anyone save me from this madness? :banghead:

Video:
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Links I have used for help so far:
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http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/rm-racing-sway-bar-install.421408/
http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189369
http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/how-to-install-front-sway-bar-in-awd-with-no-lift.233915/
 

Attachments

  • image 01.png
    image 01.png
    53.6 KB · Views: 104
Is it possible to remove that crossmember on its own and keep everything it’s holding-up in tact? I know there’s a way of getting the sway bar back in, I’ve just no clue what it is ... :idontknow: i can’t get the stock sway bar back in either, so I’m clearly just doing something wrong
 
It has been a reeeeeally long time since I did this, probably 16 years. I believe I did the install from the driver's side, not the passenger, and that might give you better angles to rotate the bar into place. I am pretty sure I didn't drop the longitudinal cross member or the transfer case back then, but I do remember it seeming impossible and then I magically found the right orientation to get it through.. However, with that said if things are really causing a problem, pull the transfer case as it's really easy to get out of the way, it's a handful of bolts, just keep it somewhat level when you remove it so as not to pour the fluid out.

I'd take a look at my car for some more insight but it's getting some fabrication work done at the moment.
 
If your DSM is AWD you may reconsider swapping out the front sway bar for the RMDSM as it tends to give the car more understeer. Your best bet is to upgrade the rear swaybar to an RMDSM and keep the front stock to help the car rotate (oversteer) around corners in my experinece. John Fruend (TSiAWD666) would be the DSMer to talk to about this but I'm sure he has his reason of doing this too.

On to your question though...
  1. Remove the subframe braces from both the driver and passenger side.
  2. Remove the north/south cross-member brace that attached the subframe to the radiator support/front roll stop.
  3. Drop the downpipe. (You might not need to do this, try snaking it in there first attacking it from both the passenger/driver side of the car like John suggested).
  4. Install the sway bar, snaking it around the driveshaft (if it's AWD).
For future reference, you don't need to remove your compression arm(s) to do this (at least I never have) but it doesn't hurt either.

Here's a photo of the bracing you need to remove. (5) 12mm bolts from the driver side and (6) 12mm bolts on the passenger side. You can also see a part of the north/south cross-member bar that needs to be removed that shares the same bolt with the passenger side brace.

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If your DSM is AWD you may reconsider swapping out the front sway bar for the RMDSM as it tends to give the car more understeer. Your best bet is to upgrade the rear swaybar to an RMDSM and keep the front stock to help the car rotate (oversteer) around corners in my experinece.
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I'm a step ahead of you and already have the full RM kit for both the front and rear sway bars specifically because I saw a sizeable group of DSMTuners recommended the RM bars over other brands :thumb: I also have coilovers and a drop in height which will hopefully help the car stay a bit more planted on the track (although body roll wasn't all that significant imo).

I'll remove the 'north/south cross-member brace' and see if that does the trick. I suspect it should ... :pray:
 
I understand you've got both the front and the rear, so do I, but I uninstalled the RMDSM front because my car had noticeable understeer going around corners. Swapping back to the stock front sway bar and keeping the RMDSM rear helped the car rotate (oversteer) a bit more. It's personal preference I guess, just thought I'd mention it.
 
I apologize, I completely misunderstood you. I don't suppose you were able to quantify this difference in any way, were you? If it is true then I will only install the rear sway bar. But maybe I'll have to compare the two and figure it out for myself
 
I agree with @gofer on only upgrading the rear bar & leaving the front OEM. This helps the front tires get more traction during cornering & weight transfer & reduces our oversteer push.
 
I apologize, I completely misunderstood you. I don't suppose you were able to quantify this difference in any way, were you? If it is true then I will only install the rear sway bar. But maybe I'll have to compare the two and figure it out for myself
You're right, I have nothing to quantify this difference and I've never autox'd or road raced my DSM just something I could "feel" during spirited driving around the same corner on my regular drive around town.

This forum has been around 15yrs so there's already more threads discussing this than you can count on one hand with 100x more opinions about it. Here are a few but either way I'd say you use some trial and error to decide for yourself what you prefer.


 
You "tune" your chassis for either both or just one. Guys on the street usually run rear. Guys who race run both, or in Dennis Grant's case, front RM with stock rear. There are so many variables to tune out/in understeer or oversteer. It's more about preference and driving style.

I run both bars and the car is pretty nuetral, unless I enter a corner too fast. But at that point, every car understeers with too high a corner entry speed.
 
Here is a definitive solution on how to do this install. This is it. It shows exactly how the sway bar should be installed and maneuvered every step of the way. If you have any further questions, the details are still fresh in my mind so fire away! :thumb::dsm:

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Also thank you all for helping! This was driving me insane ROFL all it took was some luck in the end, but I still appreciate the help. I am going to run both RM sway bars and see how it feels, and if possible figure out some way of putting physical values to the difference in feel between a stock front sway bar and an aftermarket front sway bar.
 
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