The FE5 rear axle has an integrated antisway bar. It has different durometer mounting bushings, and it has the mounts for disc brakes. These mounting tabs for the calipers interfere with the drum. You can cut them off though i guess....Ill take some pics of the FE5 axle Ive got and of my car so you can see what I mean.


They absolutley do, Ive been running them since almost new and I got a 1 3/8" in front and a lil over 1 1/4" drop rear. (my fronts settled more than the rear, it was just about 1 1/4" frt and rear imeediatlet after instal If you need further evidence. Take a look at Eibach prokits. See how much they say they drop an LS, then see howm much they say they drop an SS, subtract, the numbers and the difference is how much SS springs drop an LS.

Endlinks do make a difference, but you dont HAVE to swap them, FE1/FE3 cars have one size(diameter), FE5's have a larger one and Bwoody's are even larger.


Yeah they play a part obviously, but youll need to make a big upgrade to notice a difference.Not sure if just going to FE5's would be noticeable for most people) The BWoodys are over $120 or so easy.(which is almost twice what the bar costs ) Unless youve got access to some chromo pipe and heim joints and a TIG welder, stock is fine til you can swing the money for aftermarket. The bar will make a more notable difference than links.

 

I think the price offsets the install

besides, a few Ion guys who swapped over to the RL bar reported an increase in understeer. thats why I went a different route...

 

Yup, a stiffer front bar by itslef will absolutely create understeer. as it prevents side to side weight transfer, it changes the vehicles roll stiffness(how much force must be exerted to get the body to lean) between the front and rear. When you change front or rear roll stiffness you change the cars tendency to under/oversteer.

You need a nice stiff rear antisway to stiffen up the rear in relation to the front, the cars weight will transfer to the outside front and and the antisway bar will unload the rear inside wheel, reducing rear grip as it attempts to keep the wheels on the same plane and become neutral or oversteer. If you oversteer too much you need to stiffen up the front, in relation to the back, this will force the body roll in the rear of the vehicle to apply force to the front bar, and as it attempts to keep the front wheels on the same plane it will unload the inside wheel, reducing front grip, causing the car to become more neutral or understeer.

 

Here's the thing with the links. They have no spring force purpose like the bar does. The forces transmitted through the links are tensil and compression. There is no twisting or bending like on the bar. So it really shouldn't matter that much at all what the link is.

That is interesting about the FE5 axle however. I have long wanted to put an FE5 axle on my car. I planned to do it along with rear disks, so perhaps I still can. I certainly wouldn't put the old drum assemblies back on the new axle.

My intention was to replace my brakes at the next regular wear interval with the SSBC package (as I told you in PM Maven). But if I got the FE5 axle, it would now seem their FE1 rear calipers won't fit. I would probably have to get their FE5 rear caliper with a 4-lug FE1 rotor. I definitely need to look into this some more.

I am absolutely interested in your pictures Maven. Post them up. See if you can get some detail on the actual hub so I can compare it to mine.

 

Yeah, Maven Im real interested in the rear axle now. Wasnt planning on that. Hurry and post those pix while the wrecked ss/sc cobalts are being parted out in classifieds.

 

well when i switched my stock rear links for dezod stg 2 links it made a worl of difference. turn in is much more precise and not sloppy

 

Rear links? There are no rear links.

 

what??

 

well i dont have a cobalt....but suspensions are suspensions...if links help my car out then it will help the cobalt out.

now i will say the difference in fe1 to fe5 may not be noticeable but i guarantee the bwoodys will be noticeable.

shouldnt this be in suspension anyways????

 

That logic is a bit flawed, but I won't bother with that here.

As for the suspension section, yeah, your right. I'll move it right now.

 

so your telling me that having a 1 1/4" bar attached to a 1/4" bar that the 1/4" is not going to be flexing ?

where as if that bar was say 3/4" it would be more stiff and less flexing. would that not offer a better suspension setup?

i mean apparently this guy wants his to handle as good or better than an ss/sc so why not use any thing that is stiffer or better...

and changing the endlink made a large difference on my car...

and if you dont want to bother with that here then explain it to me in PM's

 

Halfcent is correct that if a link only has tensile and compressive forces acting on it,(as it would if it were always vertical) it doesnt matter what size it is so long as its strong enough not to break from the forces. And in this case, it wouldnt matter what size the link was it would make the bar the same effective stiffness.

What I think Halfcent is forgetting is the fact that the end links on our sway bars(and virtually all bars for that matter) DO NOT operate in a vertical orientation most of the time.

They are attached to the end of the sway bar, which only moves up and down(well technically it moves in an arc but not enough to affect our discussion) and they are also attache to the strut body which moves up and down.

The link connects the bar and the strut, so they always move in unison.

BUT since the link is attached to the strut(as opposed to the control arm) it ALSO rotates or turns off its vertical axis when the wheels turn side to side.

So every time the wheels arent straight ahead and the links are vertical(or as close as they can be to vertical) they are very stiff regardless of their diameter because they are only being compressed and stretched, but as soon as you move the wheel, it rotates the strut, which moves the upper mounting point of the link and takes the link off its vertical axis, now the forces applied to the link are trying to fold it in half since its on an angle and has force coming from one direction at the bottom and from a different dircetion at the top.

This is why you can feel the difference between a Bwoody link and a stock or FE5 link, because the aftermarket link iis MUCH larger diameter and is stiffer to these "off axis" mforces that the link encounters whenever it isnt vertical.

Like I said before, you dont HAVE to swap to FE5 links, and some people wont even notice the difference( I believe its only a 1/16") but the BWoodys are massive 3/4" pieces and WILL make a difference. The 3 different links actually offer an excellent way to tune the feel of your front bar.(NEVER mix links from side to side, ONLY replace in pairs)

 

i agree with everything you said....and on my scion the rear links are not vertical either and these links are very commonly the ones that people have issues with....im not a suspension ''expert'' but i have felt and heard of the difference...

plus rear links for me were only ~70 so if it makes a noticeable change for ~70 then im all for it...hell people buy strut bars all the time and you wanna talk about something that does nothing for these cars that is a waste of money

 

For all of you guys wanting to go to the FE5 setup, I have good news for you.
I have two different setups for sale.
The first is the shocks/springs/struts from a SS/SC.
The second is for the real die hard, a complete FE5 suspension kit including the 5 lug rotors/hubs/calipers/rear axle so your complete setup is the SS/SC suspension.

 

Okay, heres some pics. first of the antisway end link, these are the FE1 in the pics.

Here you can see that even with the wheels straight ahead, the link isnt vertical, so what little force goes into it it can and does flex, this is good because youre going striagh you dont want the bar to be stiff anyway, causes a seesaw motion over single wheel bumps


Here you can see that the link is again off of vertical with the wheel hard right.


Here is the links attitude with the wheels turned left, again nowhere near vertical.


Now some FE5/FE1 axle pics. Sorry for the lighting and general quality of the FE5 pics, Theres no lights at my garage at my parents house and a storm was rolling in as I took the pics.

The FE5 axle right side hub flange, claiper is upper left, notice how much material is above hub mounting bolts.


Different angle, same side, you can see how massive the mounting flange and paraphenlia are.


The FE5 rear antisway bar. MUCH larger than my finger, from this angle the top of the bar is not visible


The left rear FE1 hub mount


The right rear FE1 hub mount Notice the drum adjusting covers on the left and barely visible at the top(reddish rubber jobs) These are covered by the FE5 axle


Very clear shot of FE1 hub mount, the brake adjusters are agan visible. one directly above hub, and one in upper left, there is a silver paint mark on the backing plate that ends on the adjust plug

Very clear shot of FE1 hub mount, the brake adjusters are agan visible. one directly above hub, and one in upper left, there is a silver paint mark on the backing plate that ends on the adjust plug


The FE1 rear antisway bar, MUCH smaller than the FE5



Yeah its a simple install, 6 bolts hold axle to body, 2 shock bolts(one on each side), and then your 2 brake connections. But its got to be modified if you wanna run the drums, you need to cut off the extra material for the disc mounts, or just machine access holes so you dont remove the disc brake functionality. This is why its still on the crate in my garage and not bolted in my Balt. I just cant seem to get around to modifying it, And at this point I dont REALLY want to buy wheels, so I am just kind of in limbo as to exactly what I am gonna do, I decide to get the SS/TC FE5 front bar and Bwoody links Ill probably get a bolt on rear bar. I dont think I am doing anything brake wise till the spring, unless I can get my 280mm/4 lug frt disc swap going.....


(or I guess you could just say f#ck it and cover up the adjuster access holes. but unless youre trying to cheat in AutoX I'd just recommend a bolt on bar, much cheaper than what these go for. and easier to install)

 

Okay, I see it. The FE5 axle simply has a mounting flange provision for the rear caliper. So you could, in fact, just cut it off it you wanted to keep the drum assembly. Or, as in my case that I want to do, just get the SSBC rear caliper kit for the FE5 with some FE1, 4*100 rotors. Good stuff, thanks.

 

Where are you getting FE1 rear discs from? To my knowledge there was never a 4whl disc, 4 lug Cobalt

 

SSBC (Stainless Steel Brake Company) make a rear disk brake kit for the FE1 Axle specifically, as well as for the FE5. They are exactly the same part caliper, and same dimension rotor. The only difference in the rotor is one is drilled 5*110 and the other is 4*100.

I haven't seen the kit yet, but assume the different kits simply come with the appropriate braket to mount the caliper.

http://www.stainlesssteelbrakes.com/...balt&year=2005