Nice write up man!! Congrats on the sway's ! They sure make a difference for us v6 guys.. I didn't undo the shock bolts when I did mine and the cradle still dropped down enough, I did have to drop the exhaust though.

 

hhhmmm thats interesting i didnt have to drip my exhaust cause the bushing and all are welded to the craddle so by dropping the cradle it all came down with it. by releasing the shocks it was able to drop more to make the rear sway go in easy.. Thanks by the way it was fun

 

I told you it would be a snap Joey. Nice job young man, I was happy to assist.

How's she handle now?

 

like a dream she hugs the street

 

Very nice write up!! now I have to tackle mine....

 

do it man handles like a dream

 

Nice write up. This is one of those installs where it's helpful to have extra hands. Not too tuff though. What kind of sway bar did you go with btw, SRT??? Probably even more noticeable in your ride with all the weight of the stereo equipment in the rear.

 

it sure is Brock and yeah SRT8 sway front and back

 

OK, so the next question is, if I have a lift, can I just put the car in the air and inflate the bags all the way? Or am I really gonna have to drop the rear cradle?

 

Greg You will have to drop the cradle. Reason being the cradle is to close to the bottom of the car,witch won't let you manover the sway throught to the other side. Do to the curves of the sway. I tried to slide it through before dropping the cradle it was a no go. Also t it's the only way to get a wrench or air rachet it there to tightin down the bolts on the brackets.

 

Sorry Greg, it's easy, but not that easy. You're going to have to drop the rear cradle. The bags will change the height of the vehicle suspension, not the relationship/attachment of the rear cradle to the chassis

 

Thats not what I wanted to hear Bill. Guess you better take a road trip to Utah.

 

It is critical to mark the location of the rear cradle with a sharpie as it relates to the frame, as there is almost 10mm of play available fore/aft and left/right.

If the cradle was in the corrrect position prior to dropping it, then it's a simple case of re-installing the four cradle bolts finger tight and using a prybar to slid the cradle around to precisely where it was positioned before the drop.

Prior to even lifting the vehicle it is a good idea to check the clearance from the apex of the rear fenders to the corner tread of both left/right tires (while on level ground). Even from the factory the cradle can be off (left or right) creating less of a gap on one side and more on the other. You can then correct for this while the cradle is being re-installed.

Secondly, just prior to lifting the rear of the vehicle another important measurement should be taken with a tape measure from the center of the front wheel (make sure the front wheels point straight ahead) to the center of the rear wheel. As long as the steering wheel is not disturbed while working on the back end, once you drop it back down on all fours you can confirm the cradle has not be installed skewed...which means you would be dog-legging down the road. Note: it's not critical to have the front tires perfectly centered for this measurement; the point being that you want to duplicate whatever measurement you took "after" your finished re-installing the cradle.

 

It is critical to mark the location of the rear cradle (on the frame - with a sharpie) as it relates to the frame, as there is almost 10mm of play available fore/aft and left/right.

If the cradle was in the corrrect position prior to dropping it, then it's a simple case of re-installing the four cradle bolts finger tight and using a prybar to slid the cradle back precisely where it was before the drop.

Prior to even lifting the vehicle it is a good idea to check the clearance from the apex of the rear fenders to the corner tread of both left/right tires (while on level ground). Even from the factory the cradle can be off (left or right) creating less of a gap on one side and more on the other. You can then correct for this while the cardle is being re-installed.

Secondly, jut prior to lifting the rear of the vehcile another important measurement should be taken with a tape measure from the center of the front wheel (make sure the fornt wheels point straight ahead) to the center of the rear wheel. As long as the steering wheel is not disturbed while working on the back end, once you drop it back down on all fours you can confirm the cradle has not be installed skewed...which means you would be dog-legging down the road. Note: it's not critical to have the front tires perfectly centered for this measurement; the point being that you want to duplicate whatever measurement you took "after" your finished re-installing the cradle.

very true when we went to install the cradle again it was 2mm off so wee had to push and nudge but it when in simple after that

 

Beans to you for the write-up!

 

Thank you Tina

 

this is a great thread. thanks for all the time and part numbers

 

no problem maybe we can find a way to sticky it on the HOW TO THREAD

 

I added it to the ***The Ultimate CM.com How To:*** some time ago.

 

nice thanks Bill u da man. We missed you today it was a huge turnout

 

Sorry I missed it. I was at work for 72 hrs. and needed to relax a bit.

 

def understand that Bill gotta catch up on the z's lol. Hope we get to see u soon

 

Very nice write up, a great job!

I could not help but notice that you have a lot of rust on the car, is it because you live near the ocean??

When we did my Hotchkis install, all my suspension parts were rust free - my car is garaged all the time.

Any way - enjoy the ride.

I was careful but my cradle was off 3 degrees - I had a 4 wheel alignment done after my install.

Bob

 

it stays in the garage yes but the rust was like this when i first got it and for that i had the dealer lower the price for me. the orignial owner lived in Cocoa beach FL so yes right on the ocean lol. But the he moved up here so since then ive done alot of undercarriage cleaning it doesnt look as messy now trust me ive gotten many comments about it.

 

Thanks for the awesome write-up!

 

Beans to you Santi on the write up!! I'll be putting a R/T bar kit on the SXT - however it's going to the local garage for install since having to lower the cradle and the possibility of side tracking isn't giving me a warm and fuzzy.

 

Sounds good glad I could help


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