To Sway or not to Sway

I just wanna get some insight here. My Jeep is off road as well as an everyday driver. The ride is a little rough because the suspension feels like its stiff. I've heard a few different opinions. I've heard take the front sway bar off, and I've heard take both the front and rear sway bar off. I've taken them both off for now and it seems a little less stiff. There is at least 3 inches of play with the shocks so I don't think they're overextended but I'm not sure what the answer is. :dunno:

What is the question? I relocated both bars to the corner of my garage. The rear one is entirely useless, I could not notice a difference with it off. The front one is where the big difference is. I don't mind feeling like I'm in a boat, so they will never go back on. The only trouble I had was switching between my Jeep and my 3 series. Just don't take turns fast....

Get better shocks, make sure you're contol arm angles arn't too steep, make sure the leaf spring shackle angle is correct.

The front sway bar should always be connected while on the street, regardless of what some half wit hicks think. They shouldn't have an effect on ride stiffness either way.

I would definitely run the front sway bar. You can really tell the difference without it. Mine was scary driving without it going around clover leaf on ramps.

Deadman 94 xj said:

The front sway bar should always be connected while on the street, regardless of what some half wit hicks think...

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I resemble that remark...

Mine handles better with no swaybar and the spare on the floor, than it did with the swaybar and the spare on the roof. ie: the swaybar had less impact than the location of the spare.

And nobody thinks the roof-mounted tire is unsafe for the street.

And just because somebody has to post the link:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=101163

Robert

Take the rear sway bar and put it in the trash can where it belongs.
As for the rear get some sway bar disconnects, or make some. It will deffentally help you out on the trail.
Personally Im too lazy to connect my sway bars unless it gets really windy out, my XJ handles just fine w/ out them with 8" with really soft suspension even at 80 mph.

99xj4x4 said:

Take the rear sway bar and put it in the trash can where it belongs.
As for the rear get some sway bar disconnects, or make some. It will deffentally help you out on the trail.
Personally Im too lazy to connect my sway bars unless it gets really windy out, my XJ handles just fine w/ out them with 8" with really soft suspension even at 80 mph.

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:lecture:

"The issue isn't in handling in planned maneuvers, it's when you have to make an emergency maneuver that it really counts."

I highly recommend and also practicing trying to be prepared for any emergency your vehicle may offer you whether on-road, off-road, or otherwise.

A sway bar, kind of like a seatbelt, is a kind of "insurance" for things going wrong. Same as air bags. You don't "need" seat belts, air bags, and sway bars in planned driving, but all of these devices definitely help when things go wrong. Crimson316 almost rolled his XJ when he was driving his XJ with the front sway disconnected and the rear removed.

A sway bar is a giant torsion spring that helps to transfer the weight of the vehicle from the outside of a turn to the inside of the turn by having another secondary connection to the body of the vehicle. This connection point does have a pivot point to allow the shocks to absorb bumps, but does limit each shock's independent travel distance. The result of this is a slightly rougher, but more stable, ride.

As for the handling differences with the front/rear sway bar removed, this is kind of a two-part question:
Rear - With the rear sway bar disconnected, I have felt a little more pitch in my XJ than I felt before while attempting the same maneuvers. I felt that these were well inside the vehicle's handling capability and I have also had to swerve around a car in an emergency situation. I was moving about 45mph and changed lanes in less than 50 feet. Besides the added flex, I have also had better handling on ice/snow with the rear sway removed. The vehicle's sway bar affects oversteer/understeer. With the rear swaybar removed, the vehicle has much more understeer in the back making it harder to have the back end break free from the ground in turns.
Front - I drove with my front sway disconnected while going to work one time to test the handling difference. I will never do this again as the vehicle pitched quite a bit even around curves that I was handling at the speed limit (and even the recommended speeds posted on the lower part of those "obstacle" signs). I felt that this was an unsafe pitch to be handling the vehicle with and as such I have set my personal sway bar disconnected speed limit to be 30mph, and not any faster.

:lecture: off.

My recommendation comes down to this: Be educated in your decision.

WrenchMonkey said:

I resemble that remark...

Mine handles better with no swaybar and the spare on the floor, than it did with the swaybar and the spare on the roof. ie: the swaybar had less impact than the location of the spare.

And nobody thinks the roof-mounted tire is unsafe for the street.

And just because somebody has to post the link:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=101163

Robert

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i find it the opposite on my 89. with the sway bar connected, the steering is much more responsive with less body roll, but it does firm up the suspension so you feel more of the road. i dont like the swaying boat feeling when driving.

I run without either of them.

You can call me a "half-wit hick" all you want, but mine handles perfectly fine :flipoffsmilie:

Never been scared or anything and I run at 70-80 mph for most of my commute.

i also run the sway bar(89 w/4.5" lift) because i dont trust the other drivers on the road. too many variables that i can not control when driving to not run one for me.

just this morning going to work on rt.476/blue route, i passed an SUV on its roof. it didnt look good.

89xj said:

i find it the opposite on my 89. with the sway bar connected, the steering is much more responsive with less body roll, but it does firm up the suspension so you feel more of the road. i dont like the swaying boat feeling when driving.

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I should have been clearer:

I didn't just take the bar off, and say it was better. "With the bar" will obviously be more stable than the identical setup "without the bar."

But at the same time I took off my bar, I removed the spare tire from the roof.

The resulting change in center-of-gravity was much more than enough to offset the loss of the swaybar.

Basically what I'm saying is "Yes, removing the sway bar does impact handling, but not as bad as the very common and accepted practice of putting tire on the roof."

Guys that say you should never do anything that might compromise your rig's at-the-limit handling, usually overlook a lot of things (like, say, lift kits) that already do.

hasta

Robert

Dont run em. When I took mine off I felt a little more sway but nothing that I was scared of. I have made "emergency manuvers" and have not rolled.

99xj4x4 said:

Take the rear sway bar and put it in the trash can where it belongs.
As for the front get some sway bar disconnects, or make some. It will deffentally help you out on the trail.
Personally Im too lazy to connect my sway bars unless it gets really windy out, my XJ handles just fine w/ out them with 8" with really soft suspension even at 80 mph.

Click to expand...

X2

With my spare tire on the bumper, I've had my sway bar disconnected a few times and been in a situation where I had to lock up the brakes to avoid an accident.
I've also been in the same situation when I had my tire and hi-lift on the roof with the sway bar connected.
The tire and hi-lift on the roof was alot more ass-puckering and felt like driving a big boat all day.
I'm at 6" with an extremely soft suspension.

Take it for what its worth, but I've personally had no problems running with out a sway bar.
You just need to know how you're vehicle is going to handle in a panic situation.

Mudd Digga said:

I just wanna get some insight here. My Jeep is off road as well as an everyday driver. The ride is a little rough because the suspension feels like its stiff. I've heard a few different opinions. I've heard take the front sway bar off, and I've heard take both the front and rear sway bar off. I've taken them both off for now and it seems a little less stiff. There is at least 3 inches of play with the shocks so I don't think they're overextended but I'm not sure what the answer is. :dunno:

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What do you mean by "less stiff" with the sway bar off? The sway bar has no effect on the stiffness of the suspension. It does effect the axles articulating through uneven spots like dips and gutters when you hit them at an angle, like turning into a driveway or alley. The sway bar can tend to make the body jerk sideways more which can feel rough in some instances when it would feel smoother with less body roll without the sway bar. This gives the impression of a smoother ride but it's not really stiffness.

As we've seen here, there are all kinds of standards and opinions on what's safe and not safe regarding running a sway bar. What one person would never be willing to live with another person feels perfectly fine with. The most blatant comment was the one about "feeling like a boat" but he's OK with it, obviously most prudent people would not be OK with it. I think it is generally accepted that excessive body roll is not acceptable, and not safe on the edge. Whether anyone should run a sway bar depends on how stiff their springs and shocks are. I'm pretty sensitive to handling, and would not run without my front sway bar with every spring/shock combination I've run up until the last one, which is a pretty stiff setup for running fast in the desert. For me, it's what feels good going down the road, not what I think I can get away with.

Goatman said:

For me, it's what feels good going down the road, not what I think I can get away with.

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Best answer to the OP's problem.

Anyone got any experience with or know anything about "quick disconnect" for sway bars??

Mudd Digga said:

Anyone got any experience with or know anything about "quick disconnect" for sway bars??

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Lol about 90% of us will. I'm running JKS quick disconnects in the front and I love them. They cost about $150 but they're easy to operate and they don't seize up. That plus a couple wally world bungees and they're fine.

If you daily drive your jeep I strongly recommend keeping the front sway bar. The rear has little function on a modified vehicle and removing it does not present any real danger. You will want the front one on if you have to make a sudden maneuver at speed.

I currently don't have mine on the vehicle. I'm at about 5.5" of lift with RE springs with spacers and shackles on top. I have JKS quicker disconnects, but one of the bolts got boogered up so I removed it to keep from further boogering it. Once I get that taken care of, I will be remounting my sway bar with discos up front. I don't mind the handling. It does have more body roll of course, but not an excessive amount. I've driven up and down a mountain, along a twisty curvy rad, at a pretty decent speed, and on the highway (where I live, to get anywhere involves hittin the highway at 65mph). I've also taken it cross the desert at modest speeds, slowed more by my RE springs being too soft than by lack of sway bar.

But again, I do plan on putting the sway bar back on because it is more stable and feels better with it on, then with it off.

Mudd Digga said:

Anyone got any experience with or know anything about "quick disconnect" for sway bars??

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Yep, like was said, about 90% of us. You'll get some advice on who likes what, they all work. The cheapest way to go is to just get a couple 10mm wing nuts for the top bolt on the sway bar links. For less than 2 bucks you now have sway bar disconnects. If you want to go further, knock out the bolt for the bottom of the links and put in a 1/2" removable pin, now you have cheap removable disconnects. If you have a lift, cut he stock links and weld in a piece of rod, or a long bolt with the threads and head cut off, to make the link longer. If you don't weld, it's a very small and quick job that I'm sure someone would help you with.