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craig_fer

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if i were to remove both my swaybars what would happen? would my car just toppel into turns? on road is this legal? off road i heard it is amazing for flex? would it be a good idea or bad idea to remove them both, just front or just rear? thanks craig
 
Sway bars are for YJ's..(beat you to it Matwaz!!)

Take em off. But your going to act like a slinky. I don't care for the most part, but put them back on if I pull the trailer to the trail instead of pulling the Jeep to the trail.
 
I wouldn't do it. Actually I have. Friends called it the slinky mobile. There are lots of potential problems. The worst being sudden stops. You WILL lose control of your vehicle if you stop suddenly, ei emergeny braking because of the vehicle in front of you. Better yet the kid that runs out in the street after the soccer ball. The front end will droop and let me tell you it is very scary. Now having said that you can remove your rear swaybar. Downfall is quicker tire wear and a little more body roll. I remove mine in the summer and put it back in for the winter. In the end I would not run with all the sway bars disconnected. Get quick disconnects for off-road use so you can disconnect the front. Run without the rear in the summer, unless you tow alot, and put it back on in the winter.
Hope that helps.
Howler
 
Boils down to personal preference. I run no sway in the rear right now, but my heep rolls just like a slinky. Not good in off camber situations being that you will have twice the body lean. I am making a rear torsion set up simular to the antirock that currie makes. Running a set up like the antirock front and rear gives you overall best performance keeping your body mostly level, while everything underneath is twisted up. Also the swaybars are made to work against each other, with out running the sway in the rear, I have a hard time stuffing the front. With the stiffness of the subframe the front end just wants to unload, tilting the jeep to the side instead of stuffing a tire.
 
I don't see how removing the sway bars would cause the Jeep to nose dive when braking. All the sway bars to is prevent SWAY. When the axle moves up or down parallel to the sway bar (like when braking) the sway doesn't do anything. It helps ONLY when one end is higher or lower.

I lost a pin for my front disco (got another one, just too lazy to put the discos back on!) and haven't run a front sway bar for a few weeks. I didn't really notice a whole lot a difference. When you take a corner fast, the Jeep will roll some, but I got used to it. Actually ride better if you ask me!

Now if your the type trying to make an "rice burner" out of your ZJ (WTF is that about!?) then you will notice in turns!

Removing the rear is not recommended since the springs are short and will unseat when you articulate too much!
 
Nate, I have not had a rear sway for 2 or 3 years now. My springs don't unseat that much. It will also add several useful inches of downtravel to your suspension cycle.

Oh and the Heep is back from being loaned out to Sage, feel free to stop by anytime to take a look at stuff now. I got the go ahead last night from the wife for the next evolution of the Heep! Should be interesting!
 
nate379 said:
I don't see how removing the sway bars would cause the Jeep to nose dive when braking. All the sway bars to is prevent SWAY.
Not sure about the nose dive but the Jeep is definitely very unstable upon hard braking. If you decide to run w/o swaybars better keep that in mind.

The Jeep will definitely roll way more on turns although you are not likely to flip since you'll freak out way before you have a chance to get yourself in trouble. Personally, I'm not a fan of stiff ride so no swaybars works for me but people have been known to have sea-sick reaction after riding in my WJ and as some poor soul put it "It's like riding a waterbed".

nate379 said:
Removing the rear is not recommended since the springs are short and will unseat when you articulate too much!
Yea, ok :roll:
 
itsajeepthing95 (Dave) has been running for months with out his Swaybars connected. Ask him. I do see him roll quite a bit on the highways and obviously he needs to keep the speed down in the mountains while on the highway.
 
I ran without my front sway for about a month. Not much of a difference, but it was noticeable. My g/f wouldn't drive it and it made her nervous to ride in it, so I put my disco's back on. I think I like it better with them on.
 
I think one should ask one's self why the performance guys claim such huge differences when they put on slightly thicker swaybars, but the lifted guys claim no difference when they take them off. Then consider that the lifted guys have more flex, and more potential sway..... Then putting it all together, you realize that it is all a crock of faeces.

I don't understand it. From a physics point of view, it is impossible that no swaybays make no difference. From a personal experience point of view, having run with no front swaybar and/or no rear sway bar at 4 & 6 inches of lift on my WJ, the difference was astronomical. So what is going on here? Mass deception? Illusion? BS? What is it? Too young and inexperienced? I have 75 thousand miles on my WJ, and it has been lifted for 40 thousand of those. I definitely have a lot of experience in all situations, and for a lifted WJ with and without swaybars, front and rear, I can easily make the claim that swaybars FRONT and REAR are necessary for a safe vehicle.... safe for you, your family, and certainly safer for the other occupants on the road. Maybe they are not necessary when you are driving straight down the road, but all you have to do is avoid one pothole, one dog, one stalled vehicle, and it could be curtains for you.

Offroad of course, front swaybars suck, and rear swaybars.... depends on how tippy you are. The rear doesn't seem to affect capability too much (I personally was flexing too much with them off), and the fronts.... that is why you have disconnects.
 
Oh, there's definitely a difference not running a front (or rear/both) swaybar on a vehicle, esp. lifted...May not be noticeable driving down the road, but the added body roll should speak some of the truth...Larger bars will *help* keep the body roll down (even in a performance car), but it's part of the whole package...futhermore, by increaing it too much, you can easily induce oversteer (too big in rear) or understeer (too big in front)...Some of the "performance" guys will disco their front (not rear) bar to gain a little more 1/4 mile ET (I know this works in my 'velle), by allowing the suspension to work a little more effectively in transferring the weight ("loose" front, "tight" rear)

Another consideration in the perception (for me) is that the rest of the suspension has been changed (higher rate springs, stiffer shocks, new bushings, etc.), so of course it won't be so noticeable...but, put the swaybars back on and you'll definitely notice it ;)

As was mentioned, the worst part (safety wise) not running the bars is under panic situations, such as hard, sudden braking...I had this happen to me when some joker pulled out in front of me...I was able to keep it under control, but can see where that could become scary!

All's I know is I want my swaybar back on :D
 
Maybe I didn't state what I really meant...

I currently don't have my front swaybar connected and yes, while I do notice a bit more body roll, it is not to the point where the Jeep feels like it would roll over! Of course, I do take turns slower than normal just to be on the safe side.

I don't see a whole lot of highway use. Usually it's just 10-15 miles a day to and from work.
 
I noticed the added body roll in the 2 miles I drive to work. I too had a few hairy experiences in mine while the sway was not connected. I'm sure if I were higher than 4", it would be worse. I definitely don't condone driving with it off very much.
 
I removed my rear when I first went to 5" so I have no idea how it is on vs off on a lifted Jeep. I haven't noticed the difference at all vs stock really. As for the front I have driven up to 60mph being discoed up front driving from trail to trail on the main roads. You can notice the movement a little, but not that much that its scary. I still put the discos on when I leave the trail to add some extra secruity, but as for the rear it will never got back on.
 
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