ru4x4ever Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Pros and Cons?? What are they to removing the lower front sway bar? I hear the stearing is better, but also the chance of a roll over is greater. But really I just want to hear your imput! Thanks -Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subarubrat Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 I would suggest making a quick disconnect conversion so you can have it both ways. Just cut a 1/2 inch section out of the bar, weld a section of tubing over the gap but only weld on one side. Drill 2 or 3 holes on the other side that pass through the tube and bar inside it, you can then use pins to enable or disable the bar. It can be a pain to pin unless you park on a smooth even surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scooby Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 with the sway bar removed the body roll is MUCH worse, its not really easier to steer, and the pro's are that you have more travel and less chance of binding up and breaking joints if you are a hard core off-roader. Shean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ru4x4ever Posted April 9, 2004 Author Share Posted April 9, 2004 Subarubrat I like the quick-release idea, i will take all and every piece of info! -Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subarubrat Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 That is really all there is to it, just pull the pins and the bar pivots in the sleve, insert the pins and the bar functions. I used this system for a while, front and rear. But once I went to the adjustable Ranchos I couldn't tell the difference with the bar connected or disconnected. That is actually the best solution. With the shocks on a softer valving the wheels articulate easily. For onroad use I set the fronts at about 7 and the rears at 9. It is very stiff, virtually no body roll, and by having the rear stiffer than the front you get a nice oversteer on demand. As long as you have a decent track width and a few other areas covered you will get fair sports sedan handeling from your lifted roo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ru4x4ever Posted April 9, 2004 Author Share Posted April 9, 2004 Yeah, now when i turn left or right and let go of the wheel, it would normally return to a forward direction. But it stays in the direction in which my turn was, unless i turn it back strait. -Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Remove it. With the lift, and (for me) toyota rims, I don't notice any difference with vs. without it. The wider (by a good 6" or so) stance of the car makes up for it quite a bit. I routinely do 80 MPH down the freeway, and body roll really isn't all that noticeable. I haven't even come close to rolling my wagon - either on or off-road. But I wouldn't really-x it either. That's just not what a lifted rig like ours was built for. But for off-road, removing it allows better articulation. Also - consider that the bar was designed for a car with 185's.... with the 215's I'm running, and the height of my rig, the bar is WAY to small to have any real impact that I noticed. Body roll was the same before I took it off as it was after. The only reason I removed it at all was because it was just in the way, and it prevents good articulation at low speeds. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezapar Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 For once, I have no arguement for you GD. This is your offroader we're talking about, right? Pull it. You probably don't drive it like a street racer, if it's lifted there's no point. It will improve your offroading capabilities by giving you just a little more travel up front. You'll notice a little more body roll around corners, but who cares? It's kinda fun. If you plan to race it or something, it only takes 10 minutes to put it back on. . . Removing it means it can't get caught up on something while you're playing off road. Pull it. (do the before and after by testing your travel to see how far you can go without lifting a tire, you'll gain about 2 inches, which counts!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ru4x4ever Posted April 9, 2004 Author Share Posted April 9, 2004 Ill try and get it pulled for our trail run on Sunday!! Thanks guys -Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hondasucks Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 I vote for putting it on a quick disconnect. And forget the sleeve business, it's onyl one bolt and a clamp thinger that holds the sway bar to the strut rod.. I took the one out of my 77 wagon, and soon put it back in cuz the handling sucked. My 84 never had one, someone pulled it out in the wrecking yard whare it was at before I rescued it, and I never went and got the mounts and the bar, and it handled like C R A P.. like a 35 MPH corner that any one of my other cars could take at 55, I HAD to take at 35 in it or I thought I Was gonna roll! Worked GREAT off road though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 awsome! one less thing to reassemble this weekend thanks for the tip guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooinater Posted April 10, 2004 Share Posted April 10, 2004 i run with out mine. i've broken less front cv's since i did that. don't know why but i have. offroad performance is phenomenal.you lift tires less and are more likely to keep traction to the ground. which is a big plus when offroading. just my 2 cents, remove and toss.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam N.D.J. Posted April 10, 2004 Share Posted April 10, 2004 It's definatly something that should be done on an offroader, think about it, the sway bar, equalizes the wheel travel, if your right wheel goes up, this will push the sway bar up, which will then pull the left wheel up. Whot this means in the real world is that if you are on a trail, and it's off camber with a bit of a rut to one side, your body is going to roll to the side more, because your tires can't conform to the terrain, they try to stay close to each others height. Thats why I call it a sway bar, rather than the actual anti-sway bar. In my opinion, if I'm side hilling my rig, I would like to have body sitting level, and the suspension un even, rather than the other way around. Also, in the Brat, with over 3000 pounds there, the tiny stock sway bar didn't do a single thing on the road! Just on the trail, kept the suspension from wanting to move that little bit that our suspension can actually move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted April 10, 2004 Share Posted April 10, 2004 I removed the bar from the '82 when I did the dual exhaust system. It let me keep the pipes closer to the body for better ground clearance. I haven't noticed any difference in handling, and I drive both on the hi-ways, and back roads. I also have the bar un-hooked on the Wifes '95 Grand Am. Only reason for that is, they didn't have the links in stock when I replaced the control arm bushings, and the old links broke when I tried to remove them. No difference in handling there either, and it's made quite afew trips down to Lexington, Ky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushbasher Posted April 11, 2004 Share Posted April 11, 2004 adam, if you are on a side hill with no sway bar, the struts on the bottom side are going to compress more and the ones on top would unload, trying to make your car more vertical. In that situation a sway bar would help keep you at the level of the road instead of an even greater angle. But you are right, if your top wheel hits a bump while you are off-camber, the car will make a sudden (scary) weight transfer or just bounce off and down instead of flexing over. The one thing that scares me on the rocks in subarus is that you have to be careful because the lack of flex means that when you are liftin wheels, weight shifts can cause the car to rock suddenly until the wheel hits the ground again, instead of letting the springs slowly take up the slack. So, the more easy flex the better, rip that sucker off!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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