Removed sway bar w/ IFS.

[BCJC]

pulled the sway bar off today, and the front has some more articulation before the body tilts. not huge gains, but worthwhile i feel. i'd like to hear some tips on life sans sway bar. i'm slightly worried about overstressing the cv's while they're at a harsh angle. thanks for the input.

 

[Grim Reaper]

pulled the sway bar off today, and the front has some more articulation before the body tilts. not huge gains, but worthwhile i feel. i'd like to hear some tips on life sans sway bar. i'm slightly worried about overstressing the cv's while they're at a harsh angle. thanks for the input.

Its funny but on my 4Runner I cant tell when I put it back on and I only notice its off for just a few miles on the street. Its been off for 2 years now. Off road it seems to runs smoother on washboard roads without it.

 

[Bella PSD]

Its funny but on my 4Runner I cant tell when I put it back on and I only notice its off for just a few miles on the street. Its been off for 2 years now. Off road it seems to runs smoother on washboard roads without it.

Same for my old Isuzu Space cab truck. I ended up just leaving it off.

Louie

 

[BCJC]

i definitely notice a smoother ride on the rough logging roads, and havn't had it up to highway speeds yet, but so far so good. anybody encounter any suspension/driveline issues after the removal?

 

[slosurfer]

I know that with my 4runner, the bumpstops keep the suspension from cycling too far for the cv's, not the swaybar. But, I don't know what your suspension is like, do you have bumpstops that stop droop and compression? If so, then you should be fine without the swaybar. Mines been gone for 2 years now.

By the way, I can't wait to get back to your neck of the woods. I loved the drive to Virgin Falls.

 

[7wt]

The big gains I noticed was that it tracked better on washboard roads.

 

[StumpXJ]

Easily the best "free" modification I have ever done to my truck. Way better off-road, and very little difference on-road.

~James

 

[DaveInDenver]

With a properly sprung and damped suspension, a truck really shouldn't need a sway bar. They are a band-aid IMO to compensate for a too soft or under damped suspension (be that because the manufacturer is trying to make it ride like a Caddy or because you have crawler suspension). There are cases where I can understand that having a sway bar would help, mostly very heavily loaded roof racks. But my truck's sway bar was removed about 5 years ago when I put on higher spring rate springs and decent shocks. I think it rides much better on the road and doesn't seem any more tippy. But my design goals are for a good all around truck that handles pavement and trails OK. If someone was building a crawler, then having super flexy suspension might necessitate sway bars and that's a special case if you ask me. Also, if you are building a track car, different case, they are really pushing their cars. I personally don't think a sway bar is going to keep you from rolling over if you have to execute an emergency move, if that's the 'what-if' thought.

 

[ntsqd]

In road racing there used to be two schools of thinking. "Hard" springs with tiny or no sway bars; and "soft" springs with large sway bars. The former rides like, well, a truck. The latter rides rather nice considering. The latter has gradually become the norm in cars lacking significant aero down-force. It has the advantage of allowing the tire to track the road surface without unduly upsetting the chassis. The springs carry the weight of the vehicle only, The sway bars deal with lateral weight shift encountered when cornering.
The most a shock can affect body roll is to delay it, it can't stop it. If it is correctly tuned to the spring rate I would expect this effect to be pretty small since the other inputs are much higher frequency.

 

[HenryJ]

... sway bars can be made disconnectable pretty easily, and that's what I have done with mine.

I too made some quick disconnects for my front sway bar. In the process I did some crude testing.
This may be a little difficult to grasp through text, but here goes.
The sway bar reduces body roll. As one wheel travels upward the bar twists and tries to pull the opposite side upward as well. When you go into a corner the idea is that the whole front squats rather than roll to the outside. For offroading this means when you twist through an off camber section. The front body wants to try to follow the terrain , or tip , rather than remaining level allowing the suspension to travel independently.
By disconnecting the sway bar we are attempting to keep the vehicle level while the wheels traverse the terrain.

Here is what I did.
I used a ramp. I pulled my left front tire up on the ramp and took measurements at all four fenders. This was done stock. Then with the sway bar disconnected and with polyurethane bushings installed. The difference from side to side was subtracted, then the difference was added to the rear. The percentages were calculated from there. The percentages did closely mirror the front alone. I wanted to add the rear measurements to allow for some frame twist. It didn't amount to much since the front alone was virtually the same percentages.

If we call disconnected our baseline the stock bushings decreased body roll by 6%. Poly bushings decreased body roll by 23%.

What does this mean? Well, having the sway bar disconnected and running the stock bushings , the body is tipped 6% less than with the bar attached. Once I added the poly bushings this percentage really increases and the body will tip with the frontend 23% more than it would with the bar disconnected. The bar being disconnected then makes a big difference.

I considered one of the Mopar, or Jeep electronic disconnect swaybars. The Jeep unit was mis priced a while back and was an excellent bargain, but I missed out on that. The method I am currently using is simple. Probably the best in the long run.

The addition of polyurethane bushings made a huge difference in on road handling. I would recommend this modification, as well as a disconnectable sway bar.

Mine were easy to make:

The bar swings forward and is retained by the front tow hooks.
The truck did feel a little "mushy" on the highway when disconnected, but nothing scary. Offroad it floated nicely over the terrain. It definitely allows the suspension to move more than it would have connected.
Installation and removal was easy. I just tossed a small tarp on the ground to slide under and in minutes the job was complete.

 

[HenryJ]

... my truck is a blazer, rather than pickup as yours is... I also have a rear sway bar (I believe the pickups got a panhard bar instead?) - but I haven't come up with a good, safe means of disconnecting the rear yet. I like the way it rides on-road with both bars in place and in some ramp testing it doesn't look like the rear one has as much effect as the front one, with regards to flexibility.

I find that the greaseable polyurethane sway bar bushings make rotating it forward much easier.
My truck did not get a rear sway bar. I have the same rear as the other utilities, since mine is a crew cab. The RPO ZR2 got the rear pandard / track bar. I have not heard of a good way to disco the rear sway bar for a Blazer. Most have been removing it and just relying on the front bar. With the addition of the polyurethane front sway bar bushings, the difference seems to be minimal. Loading will play a part in this. If you COG is low, you will not see as much body roll.