remove front swaybar...how bad?

Opinions vary so much on the subject of safety with the front removed on the road
What's the worst case scenario?

sbxj said:

What's the worst case scenario?

Click to expand...

worst case? well... shucks... you can die

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=101163

Take it off and try it. It can be scary as hell if you have to stop fast. If you don't drive much, well you may not care. I actually have mine off right now and have had it off for about 2 months because I have been too lazy to drill out my broken swaybar bracket bolts so I can reattach the bolts. Driving on the highway can be hairy at times too. Overall, it kind of makes you drive all tense when you're around other cars.

Worst case scenario...a little puppy dog runs out in front of you while running from it's 10 year old owner, you swerve, loose control due to no sway, hit the dog, go off the road and hit the 10 year old, flip over and somehow survive and then you are sued and will never own anything more than a pair of shoelaces if you're lucky. Lol...hey, you asked for worst case scenario. I'm sure some more creative people than me will chime in and give you something even more "worst case"...

KILL or be KILLED

well, I guess I asked, didn't I?..hehe
It seems I got my answer(s)

You swerve you crash and burn. I took mine off but I run real stiff coils and very little lift.

scottmcneal said:

KILL or be KILLED

Click to expand...

good catch.. I forgot the other more important one.....

Here's the deal: a lot of folks advocate that you can drive safely without a front swaybar. I know couple that were very big advocates of that till they nearly had to replace their drawers after a way too close of a call.... Then there are others who haven't had a problem yet. Will they have one? they might Will you have one? You might. Do you want to take the risk and live with that or have others live with that? Your choice.....

I feel comfortable at the wheel of my non-sway 9" xj on 35's, but maybe i'm just a more attentive driver, and if that dog runs out he'll probably clear the axles so no worries. but i've seen what passes for driving these days, if you have to ask, put the bar back on

I've been DDing my XJ with rusty's 3" HD coils and no swaybar for almost 4 years now. Before that, I had a 3" rough country on my MJ with no swaybars, never a problem. I also have an XJ on 36" TSLs and 6" of lift with no swaybars that I don't normally DD, but I drove it to work friday, drove it around wheeling this weekend, and will probably drive it around all this week. Never a problem. Then again, I don't live or drive in the city.

Once you have stiffer coils in there, you'll never miss the swaybar. I've heard people say that they don't like the sway with stock coils.... I don't like the lack of flex with the swaybar!!!

Leave it in, get a good set of disconnects. Best of both worlds.

Dude, just disconnect the swaybars before you hit the trail. Are the swaybar axle brackets not long enough? You can buy longer brackets for cheap and weld them on.

I have a D44 with locking hubs and I have to get out lock the hubs and disconnect the sways. No big deal. It takes like two minutes. I figure the added safety of having a front sway bar is worth the trouble. I bet you would think about it if you end up in the hospital because you rolled over a few times going 70 on the interstate.

That's my opinion, and I know that not everyone feels the same way.

To add onto what I said earlier, it's like this. Yes, you can drive without it...I can definitely say that there have been several times where I WISHED I had it because it about made me need a new pair of underoos (keep in mind I drive on a lot of curvy and populated roads) but I guess I've been lucky so far. I'm putting mine back on with disconnects because I don't want to have to say "damn....I wouldn't be sitting here in the hospital if I had put my swaybar back on"...because then I will just be extremely pissed at myself for being stupid.

ive never heard a good convincing reason not to have the sway bar connected when on the road.

i agree that on a stock xj, driving without the sway bar is much worse than driving without a sway bar on a lift xj. the stiffer springs when lifted(unless you do a budget boost with the stock springs) reduces body roll, but running with a sway bar is always safer than not running a swaybar at all.

my xj has 4.5" lift and i like the steering response and the stiffness/less body roll of running the swaybar. just from a steering and handling stand point, i dont see the reason to go disconnected on the road.