One reason to disconnect your swaybar
 

THis last weekend I had some mild wheeling to get back into a camping spot. Coming off an obstacle I heard a pop. Turns out it was a bolt shearing. The now defunct bolt held the collar that holds the front sway bar to the frame.

One solution for this not happening in the future would be to disconnect my sway bars. QUite honestly, I'm lazy and somewhat poo-poo the benefits of a disconnected front end. In an effort to learn something from this event could you answer the following:

1) Have you ever bent or broke a part of your front swaybar setup (endlinks, bar, collar)? If so, what type of terrain was it on?

2) When do you deem it worthwhile to unbolt the swaybars? (and do you disconnect front and rear, or front only?)

Thanks

iirc disconnecting the front swaybar does not improve IFS off road performace. at least thats what i have been tought. rear on the other hand, I took mine off.

i find it actually helps gain a little travel, but at highway speeds it aslo makes it less stable, i took mine off anyway, just felt it belonged in the "extra parts" category

I've broken my endlinks twice in mild offroad situations, but I have an thicker Addco bar. If I had the stock bar, I wouldn't think twice about leaving it connected. I don't know if any travel could be gained by disconnecting, but less stress on the end links and not having to replace them all the time is what I aim for.

Umm you DONT rememeber correctly. dissconnecting the front sway bay is a major help to what little flex we have in the front end.

i would agree with Michael, it definitely helps mine and according to my rti ramp there is a measureable differance of about 3 inches of additional flex without my front swaybar connected, compared to not disconected my rear seems to flex fine without any removal, i do some pretty difficult trais so my determining factor is whether i expect any large rocks, (14" diameter or better) i will say that is a PIA regaurdless but i do see an advantage in it
my .02 worth!
H-man

if you don't tie down the end-links when you have the swaybar connected, you could have one migrate into your bumpstops and get really bent. Always secure the links when disconnected.

Swaybar???...what??? :hillbill:

Hi Ric - You hit on my dark secret. I already have the wab fab disconnects. Yikes am I lazy. When this goes back together I think I'll look at a jeep solution (seeing if I can rotate the swaybar and endlinks up, and connect the end link lowers to something like the frame). Theoretically taht would allow me to pop the rings, rotate and secure. We'll see if that happens.

I broke an endlink, drove that way for a while, then disconnected the other side and never looked back. I don't know about how much travel you gain, but it sure does ride better both on and off the road. I can't say I've even noticed any extra body roll.

There is also a minor difference on the trail with the swaybar disconnected, It will smoothen the ride more, Its stops the wheel from virticaly following eachother and making get that little hop, The passenger/driver side articulate indavidualy.

I have to have mine for the street, I would be dead along time ago without them.

i will try that next time i am out. i was tought that because ifs was independant, it was going to flex as much as it would with or without the swaybar. the slow speed and weight transfer would overtake the swaybar. i dont know though, ill try unhooking it next time and see the difference.

I took off my front one after i did my lift and i havent noticed any adverse affects yet. I definately gained some flex.

All I have to say is, after I broke the driverside front link, I never looked back. It does add more flex (variable depending on tiresize/setup). On road "I think it handles better" a bit of body roll is better than feeling like you are going to start drifting (high speed) My wife who drove my truck for 5 years didn't even feel the difference (2 years without) Now maybe if I spent money on a highend swaybar I'd want to keep it connected/disconnects. For what I do this works especially with 33'x12.5R15" MT's

k thread revival time. ive got wabfab disco's, and my last outing, i didnt tie down the endlinks and tey ended up tearin into both my outer boots :bang: :bang: :bang:

my question is where/how do you tie em up? to the frame? im thinkin rotate the sway bar all the way so that the endlink is vertical...and zip tie it to the frame somehow.

what are you guys with the disco's doin to secure em out of the way?

hmm i have never had a problem when wheeling. never even thought about takin them off. anyone have a pic of where they are so i can look at em!

Im changing my opinoin after wheeling with it off. Disconnect that thing, it helps immensely. I took my front one off altogether and have felt no ill effects from it. sure it leans a little, but i dont experience any of that swaying and stuff that others complain about. I was very impressed with the IFS stuff that i attained.

One option is to leave one side connected to keep it from falling down, as long as the free end will not hit anything. Otherwise, you can install a screw eye onto the frame or fender and use a short bungee cord to hold the sway bar end up and out of the way.

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...#DisconnectsV2

On and IFS rig the sawybar does not limit the amount of wheel travel, it limits the independent function, thus creating the improvement with it removed.

i changed my mind.... it helped a ton, defintely let one side loose when 4wheeling

Both my endlinks are broken so mine has been disconnected. I noticed it at first but but I am used to it now.
I am going to fix it but I am just waiting for the tundra setup to arrive and will tackle it all at once