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Remove sway bars to gain flex ?


Guest uhohru
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Guest uhohru

Hi,

 

I was just wondering if i will get extra suspension travel or a better flex if i remove my sway bars?

 

Will I gain any clearance?

 

Would my car be too wobbly?

 

Thanks.

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Guest Caboobaroo

you can remove your sway bars for extra movement and forbetter articulation, but I wouldn't advise removing them if its a daily driver or you plan on driving it on the roads really at all. If you do, you'll know why they put sway bars on them:eek:

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Guest Sweet82

What he said!

 

My sway bar is off and the car does handle noticably different.

 

I wouldn't drive it over 35 on pavement that way. It becomes unpredictable in even slight corners:eek:

 

Figure out a quick release mechanism if your doing any on-road driving:rolleyes:

 

Good luck,

Glenn

82 Hatch, transforming..

01 Forester, wants a lift.

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Guest uhohru

oooo wow!! 35 mph huh! Thanks for the BIG warning :lol:

 

So removing it makes the suspension feel ALOT more loose I take it?

 

Is it worth it to remove it for offroad use?

 

Did you remove both or just one sway bar?

 

I was thinking about removing the rear swaybar because I find that the rear end of a subaru will almost always make whatever your attempting, its the front that gets stuck alot. I was thinking keep the front swaybar in and remove the rear, so I can concentrate on what my front tires are doing and let the back wheels flex a little more to adhere to the front better.

 

What do you guys think?

 

(sorry for the long reply)

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Guest baccaruda

you can leave the rear off all the time. not all subarus even came with rear sway bars. it's not as pronounced in our front wheel drive cars, but in heavier and rear wheel driven cars, it's dangerous to run the rear sway bar and no front, as the rear will try to take the lead :D .. in our cars that makes the car feel a little more like a RWD but be careful anyway..

 

and the flex idea is valid. have fun!

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Guest kevinsUBARU

On the otherhand, I have a friend who rally-x's with an Impreza and he said that with the front bar off, the car hooks up a lot faster on dirt/gravel.

 

Driving a car without a front sway bar on the road is a little hairy at times though :)

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Guest Caboobaroo

yeah, removing the front will make your can NOT wanna steer or it will over steer. Hondasucks (Andrew) said he took the one off of his 84 wagon I think, or it was his 77 wagon. Either way he said he almost ended up in a ditch a few times due to having no sway bar. So I'd advise leaving it on or making a quick disconnect system so you can take it off while 4x4ing.

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Guest baccaruda

I have 20mm front and rear sway bars from an XT6 on my wagon. I'm going to the yard this weekend and I'm going to sneak a stock "smallest" front sway bar into the rear subframe assembly i'm snaggin for the wagon (skeet's, that is) and try it on my car soon..

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Guest tomrhere

I removed the swaybar from my '82 BRAT, when I did the custom exhaust, mainly for ease of installation. I've had it up over 70mph, and she don't seem to handle bad. I drive it everyday, all over the place. Did find that on freshly graded dirt roads, she's a bit swervy. But I'm thinking it's more front-end alignment. I replaced tie-rod ends and ball-joints, waiting to do strut mounts and control arm bushings, before having it aligned. Steering wheel is slighly towards the left, when going straight down the road, so I know my alignment isn't quite right...........Tom

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Guest uhohru

It totally makes since that you have a possiblility of ditching your car. :x

 

Doesn't sound too fun when your not intending to go there :lol:

 

But is the extra flex worth it?

 

(that is, if you gain any extra flex. Noone has said anything yet about any extra flex if you remove the sway-bar)

 

someone just said it was just a valid idea..

 

How much flex gain?

Worth the flex gain?

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Guest Wagon Wagon

I had a sway bar bolt and bushing fall off my XT on the way back from CT, seems I forgot to tighten it back up all the way when working on the struts. I didn't notice any difference on the road... matter of fact I didn't even realize it was gone until I had the wheel off the car.

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Guest bushbasher

I took the frnt and rear sway bars off, and off-road performance was way better. When off-roading, sway bars resist flex, so it is much less likely, if it will even happen at all, that any one of the struts will ever use its maximum travel, especially at angles where the weight is not evenly distributed. My car was never meant to be my driver, but I did drive it a couple of times on the road, and with no sway bars, a 6" lift, and 27-28 inch tires, at the speed limit i would have been f'ed if I'd had to turn suddenly to avoid something. The body roll was very scary, and I almost lost it once turning onto a side road, that was more than a 90* turn.

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Guest Hondasucks

My 84 did never had a sway bar (Someone yanked it when it was in the boneyard adn I never put one back on), so 35 MPH corner meant 35 MPH! I was used to the way it handled, but I could tell the difference immensely. I removed the sway bar off of my 77 for better articulation, but it didnt' help much + it tried to ditch itself so I put it back on. If you want to, all you have to do is take the sway bar link off of one side, all it takes is a 10mm wrench. Just take it off for the trail, and put it back on before you hit pavement again.

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