MATTSRED

Hey guys, I hear around the place about people removing there swaybars..from what i hear it give more flex?

Can someone explain to me all about it....

Does it give more flex??
Does it compromise on road handling?
Is it dangerous??
Can it do damage to your suspension??

Thanks

904_runner

Well it might give a little more flex, i didn't notice a difference in terms of flex.

But disconnecting it made a difference for offroad driving.

I say do it, its a 14mm bolt Iirc, and just undo the end links from the control arms and tie them up and go for a ride and see if you like it.

I noticed a little more body roll when i took mine off, but not much

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Try disconnecting it and see for yourself:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...l#AreTheyForMe

1. Yes
2. Maybe
3. Depends on your driving style and how you find no sway bar affects your truck's handling
4. Likely not.

I've not had a sway bar on my '85 for about 10 years now.

4banginRunner

yes
no, handles better
IMO no
no

he's the flex difference in my 87 4runner before BJ spacers

Before

After


Pics may look pretty close but the latter has more up travel
doesn't feel as tipsy anymore, handles so much better on the road, now i just gotta order some low-pro bump stops

tc

x2

Offroad, no swaybar essentially lowers your spring rate and makes the limited flex of the IFS easier to get and A LOT more comfortable ride offroad.

Onroad, I hardly noticed when my front swaybar broke. MAYBE a little more body roll MAYBE.

As for them being "dangerous" - these are 4WD rigs with high centers of gravity and need to be driven as such.

sa51

i'm 23 and i drive like like i'm an old man , i'm going to try em disconnected this weekend. my bushings are toast anyway

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

A buddy of line with a '94 pickup called me a few years ago about a metal-on-metal grating noise in the front of the truck. Turns out his sway bar snapped inside one of the bushings. He had never disconnected it off road. He was all worried about getting it fixed. Asked him how long it had been making that noise and he said 6-9 months. I told him that for 6-9 months he had essentially no sway bar since it was broken and asked if he noticed any change in handling (he used to drive ~1000 miles/week for work) and he said no. Told him to just unbolt the bushing brackets underneath and check the bar in the trash. No need to fix something he didn't need.

But an (anti-)sway bar will help flex off-road because the job of the sway bar is to force both front wheels to move in unison. If one goes up or down, the other one is forced to move up or down to match. So this is good in a high speed turn, vehicle leans to the outside of the turn, forcing the outside wheel/suspension to compress. With the sway bar, the inside wheel/suspension is pulled up to help level the body roll. Off road, though, say you run the left front tire up on a rock to go over it. Well since the left wheel/suspension is compressed, the sway bar will try to raise the right side wheel/suspension. So instead of the front end articulating (one tire up and one tire down) you get both tires up. Actually since the IFS setup is independent, there is nothing to force the opposite tire down unless you go with something like below:
- http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/air_shocks/

But bar on or off may also depend on what sort of off-roading you do. If you do lots of high speed pre-running or similar driving with not a lot of slow speed rocks, then the bar may help with handling. If you do rocks and lots of uneven terrain, then the bar off may be a big win.

MATTSRED

thanks for the info... It helps : )

ill have to try and see how it feels