Anyone running with rear sway bar disconnected?

[BlackRubi]

I know that disconnected front sway bars is advantageous for articulation. But what about the rear? I keep seeing mixed thoughts on other sites about whether or not it should be done. Would it be more dangerous on the trail? Would it be easier to roll? I know it would be horrible for on road driving, but I was just curious as to whether or not it would help with trails (aside from smoothing out the ride). The rear bar is tiny compared to the front (about the thickness of a finger).

[Chris]

I can't speak to your truck but will share my experience with mine. Long story made short, I removed them a few years ago before heading to Moab and never put them back on and don't notice much change at all. I have a bit more roll on highway interchanges but that's about it. My springs are quite stiff which makes a difference and removing them provides much greater articulation. I know they make quick disconnects for Jeeps and think you'd like the articulation you'd gain and the ease of reconnecting for on road use.

[Smash]

Why not get yourself some quick disconnects? Be sure to make sure your break lines are long enough. I know I have to get longer lines for the 'burb before I take the sways off.

[Patrolman]

My truck doesn't have sway bars front or rear. Doesn't seem to bother it at all. It isn't a performance vehicle by any means though. ;)

[Smash]

Hehe, I didn't run front or rear sways on the Forester either. Does make it tippy on the road, but I didn't drive it fast. Got a FSB on there now.

[greenramp]

front and rear are gone on mine

[BlackRubi]

That's what I was thinking. I have homebrew quick disconnects up front. A clevis pin, a cotter pin, and some washers for less than $10 sounded better to me than $50 or so for the JKS or other brands, especially considering that whenever I get my lift, I'll have to replace the links anyway to accomodate. I'm not sure if I can do this in the rear or not, so I may have to spring for some rear disconnects...eventually. Tippy trails wear on my nerves, but Ashley loves them and loves to torture me by driving on them. Even after rappelling out of helicopters and such, my pucker muscle acts up on tippy trails. I was thinking that with the rear disco'd it might even out the ride in the cab and put me at ease, even if it's a false at ease.

[Rob]

Even after rappelling out of helicopters and such, my pucker muscle acts up on tippy trails. I was thinking that with the rear disco'd it might even out the ride in the cab and put me at ease, even if it's a false at ease.

I wouldn't discount the pucker factor in keeping you and your rig safe. That's what it's there for. "False at ease" might get you in trouble. :2c: Not saying you shouldn't disconnect, though.

[Brody]

Most of the people I know who have the rear sway bars on long wheel base rigs never re connect them once they have disconnected them. What I understand on a short wheel base rig such as a Jeep, you will get way too much body sway in off camber situations...the exact opposite of what you want.

Here is a link to what TerraFlex offers for an adjustable rear sway bar for around $90

http://www.tellico4x4.com/product_info.php/cPath/91_2274/products_id/39043

This isn't a bad price for what you get, but it is lift height specific. They don't look like they would be too hard to fab up, but you would need some old shock parts to do it, plus a welder, plus some tubing. In other words, by the time you fabbed or had someone fab a couple up, you would have been better off simply buying the parts. What I would suggest is that you purchase something like this and modify it to fit your lift.

Here are a couple of links for modifying the rear sway bar on a budget:

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Suspension_Steering_Axles_and_Brakes/Homemade_Swaybar_Discos.htm

And here is a link to the JKS adjustable rear sway bars...for $45 bucks, too, which is a steal for what you get:

http://store.fatbobsgarage.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=fatbobs&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=945629298&Count2=862769722&ProductID=3850&Target=products.asp&utm_medium=cse&utm_source=googlebase

[Andrew]

Well I took my rear sway bar off and threw it away.

But on the 1st Gen Xterra if you leave it on and wheel it, you end up with the bar punching dents in your shocks.

I haven't noticed any difference in on-road handling...but that varies on the truck

[Brody]

Most of the folks I know that have similar set ups like yours have done the same thing. I think the big difference is simply the wheel base and weight. You have both, as do Land Cruisers, but what I found on the Jeep forums and other information on the rears, it seems like no one runs with the rears disconnected on anything except the bigger XJs...Gotta be a reason...

[Andrew]

Yeah those small light Jeeps would probably feel very uncomfortable on-road without sways.

[WINKY]

i have both MIA on my dodge, i dont notice them gone. I towed about 8000 lbs from arkansas to here with zero issues.

[JeffX]

You should be fine. Re-connecting the front sway bar for road driving is a good idea.

[Brody]

Yeah those small light Jeeps would probably feel very uncomfortable on-road without sways.

My truck doesn't have sway bars front or rear. Doesn't seem to bother it at all. It isn't a performance vehicle by any means though. http://www.frontrange4x4.com/forums/../images/smilies/wink.gif

i have both MIA on my dodge, i dont notice them gone. I towed about 8000 lbs from arkansas to here with zero issues.

What we need is input from someone with a small, light, short wheelbase Jeep. The handling characteristics, sans REAR sway bars, are going to be totally different. Like I said, all the research I did on rear sway bar disconnects on the smaller, non XJ, non Grand Cherokee, non Grand Wagoneer, Jeeps it seemed that no one was disconnecting the REAR sway bars, but was doing adjustables in the rear.

Bigger, longer and heavier rigs quite obviously do not have an issue with them being removed altogether. Maybe someone from the Land Rover Discovery side can chime in here as this set up is very similar to what is on the shorter, lighter Discos.

[gm4x4lover]

it seems like no one runs with the rears disconnected on anything except the bigger XJs...Gotta be a reason

Dumped them on the xj both front and rear, to big of a pita to reconnect. My disco never had them on when i owned it. The full size chevy's only have them on the front and i alwasy dump those right away. On a wrangler i would probably run a anti rock in the front and nothing in the rear.

[sunk]

I dont know what my truck would even ride like with sway bars...

[Funrover]

I dont know what my truck would even ride like with sway bars...

X2.. Never had them

[Haku]

Yeah those small light Jeeps would probably feel very uncomfortable on-road without sways.

My truck doesn't have sway bars front or rear. Doesn't seem to bother it at all. It isn't a performance vehicle by any means though. http://www.frontrange4x4.com/forums/../images/smilies/wink.gif

i have both MIA on my dodge, i dont notice them gone. I towed about 8000 lbs from arkansas to here with zero issues.

What we need is input from someone with a small, light, short wheelbase Jeep. The handling characteristics, sans REAR sway bars, are going to be totally different. Like I said, all the research I did on rear sway bar disconnects on the smaller, non XJ, non Grand Cherokee, non Grand Wagoneer, Jeeps it seemed that no one was disconnecting the REAR sway bars, but was doing adjustables in the rear.

Bigger, longer and heavier rigs quite obviously do not have an issue with them being removed altogether. Maybe someone from the Land Rover Discovery side can chime in here as this set up is very similar to what is on the shorter, lighter Discos.

All the Samurai guys pretty much just get rid of the swaybar front and rear, which is about as short wheel base as you can get. That thing handled very well with very little body roll, but its pretty lightweight, and had relatively stiff springs on it. That said, I wish I had something like the Currie Anti-Rock on my rig, at least in the front. I get a lot of body roll, which seems to come hand in hand with a lot of lift and articulation. Sooner then later, I'd like to lower my rig a bit to reduce that. I feel really unstable on off camber stuff, and a lower CG would be better.

In the days when I did more to my Subaru then drive it, I read up a bunch on the sway bar deal. I know that not having it will effect the handling of the car, or more basicly making it stiffer increases oversteer, and softer (or in this case gone) will make the rig understeer if you delete it in the rear. Essentially, having the front stiffer then the rear equals understeer, and the front softer then the rear will tend to make the back end kick out more readily. Not sure you'll notice that as much in a Jeep, but it could be an issue to think about beyond the body roll issue. For what its worth, I'd just take both off and deal with a bit of body roll. I've gotten used to it in the Toyota, and know the limits. Its not like you are driving it like a sports car or anything. The cool thing about them is, you can reinstall them if you don't like how it handles after taking them out. Should be easy enough to just disconnect the sway bar ends, tie it up and just drive it around for a while to see how it drives. Your Jeep is low enough to the ground that I don't think you'll get as much body roll as you might think. Go with that 6 inch lift and big tires, and you might notice it a bit more, but for now I think you'd be fine without either the front or rear swaybar.

[Brody]

For what its worth, I'd just take both off and deal with a bit of body roll. I've gotten used to it in the Toyota, and know the limits. Its not like you are driving it like a sports car or anything. The cool thing about them is, you can reinstall them if you don't like how it handles after taking them out. Should be easy enough to just disconnect the sway bar ends, tie it up and just drive it around for a while to see how it drives.

Took the words right out of my mouth, Josh! Yes, indeed, just disconnect the back and drive it around, preferably in town and not on the trail and see how it handles. Both Josh and I (and probably everyone who has ever done an SAS with soft springs on a Yota) has had to modify their driving to suit the vehicle. And, again like Josh said, it ain't a sports car...

[BlackRubi]

Thanks everyone! Pete, the link referring to the homebrew discos is pretty much the same setup as I've done for the front sway bar on the Jeep. I did leave the front one disconnected the last time I was up on the Cache La Poudre river after I did the first part of Kelly Flats. Granted, I don't drive on roads like Hwy 14 every day, but I did notice that the body lean, even with just the front disconnected was quite noticeable (it wanted to put me in the passenger seat going 35-40 mph on some of those tighter curves). I'll probably just do the homebrew thing again until I get a lift, then go with some adjustable/disconnect links. Plus, that way I can disconnect all the links to see how much body roll I get. I was just wondering if it would be good or bad for trails (would it make the jeep more likely to roll).

[gm4x4lover]

All the Samurai guys pretty much just get rid of the swaybar front and rear, which is about as short wheel base as you can get. That thing handled very well with very little body roll, but its pretty lightweight, and had relatively stiff springs on it

Thats the difference between leaf sprun and coil sprung rigs.

[porkchop]

ive taken my xj with a 5.5 inch lift down plenty of mountain passes with no sway bars with out problems id say you should at least be able to take the rear off and be ok

[porkchop]

also id have to say that for wheeling it would probably be better not to have a sway bar if you watch this video of me on the adopt a trail run you can see that if my suspension was a little softer it may have helped me keep from tipping infact this video is what made me decide to disconnect the rear sway bars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXuv3w_1heE

[gm4x4lover]

xj's have a flex problem in back. Mine is set up pretty much the same and the rear doesnt flex much.

[Jamie]

I would listen to Brody. My experience with short wheelbase jeeps says leave it connected. Off-road it's not bad but on-road it could have terrible consequences. Too much body roll in a quick steering situation. On a vehicle with leaf springs it's ok but with coils it gets ugly real fast. IMO.

If you want to test it out take it of, then drive down a straight road at about 30mph and swerve, then correct and see what happens. If you feel comfortable with what you just experienced then you are braver than I.

[SCRubicon]

IDK about the TJ's but with the JK's it is recommended that you leave the rear sway bar connected. With it disconnected on the JK's there isn't much of a noticeable difference in articulation says Chrysler Jeep.

[Brody]

I was just wondering if it would be good or bad for trails (would it make the jeep more likely to roll).

My thought would be that it would make the Jeep less likely to roll. Almost all of your flex would be coming now from your suspension, meaning the Jeep as a whole wont be inclined to roll so much to one side or another. If you stay with a fairly small lift and don't get way up in the air, your body roll wont be excessive.

This isn't saying that your body roll wont increase as you will have eliminated the points that keep this from happening, but having the suspension flex more, both up and down, is sure to help keep the Jeep from rolling over.

You will have some really nice trail/off road response and lose a lot of on road/highway response.

You with your rappelling out of helicoptors and me with my big rock wall climbs...and I don't like those off camber/tippy situations very much either. Just funny...Anyway, when I put the 63" Chevy springs on the back of my rig, I got a lot more flex and wheel travel, but more body roll. I just got used to it..

[JeffX]

There's no question about it. Removing swaybars has safety consequences. However, I've had mine off (with a higher COG than a Jeep) for 4 years.

Since you have the critical one attached (the front), you should barely notice the abscence of the rear one. Like others have said, a simple test drive should help you make this decision.

[white collar redneck dad]

My rear sway has been permently disconnected!!! My 3 wheel avatar pic shown did not have the rear sway on at all.

[sunk]

I would think that a new lift would come with new springs that are not worn out...it will be a stiffer ride anyway

[4Runner3Wheeler]

Yank the sway bar and see how it feels around corners slow.

The main time you will miss the sway bars is if you're loaded down at higher speeds.

[1freaky1]

Kyle if you want to do the disconnects for just on trail use front or rear here are a few simple ones that work and are fairly inexpensive to make
1019610197101981019910200

[MelloYello]

Removed the rear on mine, I would say no difference to better with out it. But I have leafs in back.