My experience with sway bars is with the B210,the ute my brother and I are fixing is set up for cross country ,sand and beach travel,so I have not even thought about sway bars for the 1200 ute. But in the case of the B210,which is a brother car to the 1200,sharing many aspects of technology as engine ,suspension,etc,similar if not the same,and which I am setting as a road car,lowered with koni shocks,front stock cut springs(intent on installing coilovers and using my koni inserts)rear decambered springs,etc,the instalation of a front ADDCCO sway bar,thicker than stock,made a totall diference,diference so notorious that I would refuse to drive the car w/out it. Now it behaves as a performance car,were as before it was just oK,rubing tires and leaning.
Before I droped the rear 2 inches,(I would like to drop it one more inch,after I install the front coil overs,maybee from ground control),I used "helper springs",those ones advertised for pick up trucks(ute's)and RV vehicles. They clamp with U bolts front and back of the spring /shock plate,and hold up against the leafs. The diference between the sway bar and the stronger springs with these device,which I can not use now because the decambered springs go almost flat,(perhaps with larger U bolts I could do it,have not as of yet)...is that the stronger spring keeps the weight of the car from sinking into the axle on the outside side of the car,but does NOTHING to prevent the inside side of the car from going upwards,which is exactly what the sway bar does,so while in turning/cornering,the sway bar helps stop the inside tire from separating away from the body ,as well as preventing the outside tire from sinking into the body,or better said,the body from sinking into the axle. That is why I think ,and I am cosidering,installing a rear sway bar. On the other hand,a rear sway bar will take some of the stress away from the front sway bar components,which if alone(no rear bar)...handles all of the car,while w/a rear bar added,shares some stress. The idea is to have a rear bar smaller in diameter from the front one,just to help share the forces between front and back,overbaring the rear would create problems,but that will happen only if the rear bar is thicker than the front one,creating oversteer. I have not seen yet a rear sway bar on a leaf sprung 1200/B210,I would appreciate if anybody has a picture to visualize the link position,or the clamping.
Thanks
Jaime