Swaybar Disconnects - Ford Raptor

[Bojangles]

Cross another one off my Kwanzaa List.

You will be hearing all about this at "The Airing of Grievances"

 

[Xjrguy]

You will be hearing all about this at "The Airing of Grievances"

Make sure you bring a shiny new norelco for dan. He'll have to shave a couple times before his list is done. LOL

 

[MagicMtnDan]

Sway bars (anti-sway bars) reduce roll when cornering and are especially helpful when turning back-and-forth (in the twisties and when moving in and out of traffic). Sway bars are helpful when trailering.

For what it's worth (may not be worth anything), here's some input from other forums:

Toyota:

An (anti-)sway bar will help flex off-road because the job of the sway bar is to force both front wheels to move in unison. If one goes up or down, the other one is forced to move up or down to match. So this is good in a high speed turn, vehicle leans to the outside of the turn, forcing the outside wheel/suspension to compress.

With the sway bar, the inside wheel/suspension is pulled up to help level the body roll. Off road, though, say you run the left front tire up on a rock to go over it. Well since the left wheel/suspension is compressed, the sway bar will try to raise the right side wheel/suspension. So instead of the front end articulating (one tire up and one tire down) you get both tires up. Actually since the IFS setup is independent, there is nothing to force the opposite tire down.

But bar on or off may also depend on what sort of off-roading

Jeep:

If you are going to completely remove the rear than remove the front also. If you are going to have a front than also have a rear. The front and rear as it tracks work hand in hand. Yes you can still mix it but I've tested this myself and it works better in the way I described.

If you are going to remove sway bars altogether than you must have something limiting the axle droop, either cable or straps, etc. Droop past the downward pressure of your coil spring is totally useless.

Personally I run with front and rear sway bars as I can get a heck of a lot more feedback and control of the vehicle (while off road) than without sway bars all around. On the street, just don't take corners as if you were in the Daytona 500. And if the swaybars modification is installed properly, you will not limit any needed articulation.

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While leaf spring Jeeps like CJs and YJs don't benefit from a rear antiswaybar, the TJ most certainly does benefit from it remaining in place. As opposed to a very stable leaf spring suspension, the TJ sits on coil springs that make for an unstable platform if both of the antiswaybars are gone (assuming you disco the front for offroading which does help when offroad).

Besides, on a TJ, removing/disconnecting the rear antiswaybar does not increase the amount of useful articulation the rear axle is capable of. You'll be a LOT better off when you're offroad and especially onroad if you keep that rear antiswaybar connected. As highly modified as my TJ is, all I've done to my rear antiswaybar is to have installed longer heim-jointed antiswaybar links to match my lift height. Leave the rear antiswaybar connected for sure.

One more thing... John Currie won the overall US national rock crawling championship while running front and rear antiswaybars. Granted the front antiswaybar was his famous Antirock antiswaybar but his rear Antirock antiswaybar isn't that much different from the factory's in most regards. And if you get into an extremely off-camber or extremely steep trail situation, having that rear antiswaybar in place can, no exaggeration, make the difference in flopping on your side/rolling over and not flopping on your side/rolling over. No exaggeration.

Finally, you'll notice that you find a ton of quick disconnects being sold by most manufacturers for the front antiswaybar but not for the rear. The suspension lift manufacturers learned long ago that disconnecting or removing the rear antiswaybar does nothing to help a TJ either on or offroad.

 

[Bojangles]

Dan, all that info is about Jeeps and Rock Crawling.....

 

[Xjrguy]

The same thing can (and has) been said about engines more powerful than stock. Maybe you wouldn't have spun out if you didn't add that CAI... after all it added more horsepower than came from the factory and the car wasn't designed for that horsepower...

Not saying you should run out and do this. It makes me nervous too. But the "insurance" argument isn't really one that holds up in my experience.<SNIP>

Have you ever been in an at fault accident where someone is killed and you've been the owner/driver of a modified vehicle. I'm not just talking about CAI and spinouts. This could completely change the suspension and ability to prevent a rollover in an emergency situation.

Police departments have forensic engineers that are trained in accident reconstruction. You have got to be very naive to think that they would not look at this as a factor in a major accident which involved a death or severe injury.

All I am saying is you throw the dice you take the chances. Caveat Emptor.

Good luck with this mod.


P.S. Has anyone asked the Ford guys (the engineers we shook hands with and got cards from in Las Vegas) how this could affect the truck on the street in all conditions?

 

[MagicMtnDan]

Some concerns I have with removing anti-sway bars:

* Most Raptors run nearly 100% on road
* A/S bars are clearly more important on road than off road IN MOST VEHICLES
* The Raptor is not like most vehicles - it typically will be driven at much higher speeds offroad than other vehicles
* The Raptor will benefit from A/S bars offroad when driven at higher speeds
* Removing A/S bars for slow speed stuff seems to make a lot of sense as the vehicle will benefit from longer drop on one side


In my opinion anyone removing the A/S bar on the Raptor and running at speed offroad should be concerned.

It's my feeling that offroad vehicles have huge wheel/suspension travel and running sway bars aren't practical or even possible.

 

[BigJ]

Some concerns I have with removing anti-sway bars:

* Most Raptors run nearly 100% on road
* A/S bars are clearly more important on road than off road IN MOST VEHICLES
* The Raptor is not like most vehicles - it typically will be driven at much higher speeds offroad than other vehicles
* The Raptor will benefit from A/S bars offroad when driven at higher speeds
* Removing A/S bars for slow speed stuff seems to make a lot of sense as the vehicle will benefit from longer drop on one side


In my opinion anyone removing the A/S bar on the Raptor and running at speed offroad should be concerned.

It's my feeling that offroad vehicles have huge wheel/suspension travel and running sway bars aren't practical or even possible.

Dan, don't Baja trucks run without front sways?

Edit: If they were beneficial, I would have to assume the Baja guys would figure out a way of making them work, even give their huge wheel and suspension travel.

 

[A.I.I.Raciing]

xjrguy:
How's that bubble that you live in?

I would have to assume the Baja guys would figure out a way of making them work, even give their huge wheel and suspension travel.

Guy's spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in R&D to make sure that there truck is the fast it could possibly be. Yet you never see sway bars on the front of there trucks.

I read quite a few different web sites daily and have for 11-12 years now, I've never seen 1 site that has so many people so concerned with a sway bar.

 

[AndyR]

I use a SwayLOC from ORO on the JK & TJ. It's pnumatically operated dual rate bar. What I've found with Jeeps that depending on how much crap you have in the rear will dictate how much of a rear swaybar you need. Also......if you reloacte the shocks outboard of the frame (Polyperformance, GenRight and others have kits) then you can cut back on the amount of rear bar needed.

As for the Raptor......I want the stock setup for off-road and something equivalent to the Lightning for on-road.

 

[BigJ]

Have you ever been in an at fault accident where someone is killed and you've been the owner/driver of a modified vehicle.

Nosir. But I do have a very good friend who owns a premium car insurance company (classic and hot rods). If anyone knows, he will. I'll ask.