Rear swaybar perm disco

[JorDaneeKey]

The front sway bar on 03 and up ( if I remember right) goes through the frame. Apparently you can get it out if you lift the motor some... or you can cut it off, or just leave it....

Not sure if ours is a late or early model '03, but our front sway bar bolts up to the frame. Four bolts total, plus the end links to get it off. And maybe the rear was easiesr to get out with some wiggling (and yes, that is what she said) because of the height of the 35s and repositioned rear axle.

[Cable810]

My Front bolts to the frame. I'll mess with the rear and see today. Just gotta get stuff ready for the 13th and 14th

[bartonmd]

My Front bolts to the frame. I'll mess with the rear and see today. Just gotta get stuff ready for the 13th and 14th

It bolts to the axle and has end links that go to the frame.

Mike

[Cable810]

My Front bolts to the frame. I'll mess with the rear and see today. Just gotta get stuff ready for the 13th and 14th

It bolts to the axle and has end links that go to the frame.

Mike

The rear does yes, but doesn't bolt to the axle.

[bartonmd]

My Front bolts to the frame. I'll mess with the rear and see today. Just gotta get stuff ready for the 13th and 14th

It bolts to the axle and has end links that go to the frame.

Mike

The rear does yes, but doesn't bolt to the axle.

It's captured by rubber and sheetmetal mounts that are bolted to the axle.

Mike

[boog2006]

I've been running fully disconnected for a couple months now and I don't mind it at all. Smoother ride to me, but I don't drive over 55-60 mph very often at all. I may hook the front back up for a longer trip...

[MONSONwarrior]

Just removed mine, was pretty simple after disconnecting the stock end links. Just unbolted the bushing mounts, dropped it out, then rebolted the mounts back into place in case I ever decide to put it back in.

[Cable810]

I guess it was wrong. It is bolted to the frame Sorry.

[navigator]

I was talking to TrailShaman awhile back. If you recall his TB rolled and was totaled in an accident where someone hit him. He said he felt that being disco-ed contributed to the roll-over and that if it hadn't been disco-ed it might not have rolled.

[bartonmd]

I was talking to TrailShaman awhile back. If you recall his TB rolled and was totaled in an accident where someone hit him. He said he felt that being disco-ed contributed to the roll-over and that if it hadn't been disco-ed it might not have rolled.

Front or rear? Nearly had to be front, or completely disco'd if it was actually a partial cause. I've never had a truck with a rear anti-roll bar, and I've even had a couple cars without rear anti-roll bars.

Mike

[v7guy]

I was talking to TrailShaman awhile back. If you recall his TB rolled and was totaled in an accident where someone hit him. He said he felt that being disco-ed contributed to the roll-over and that if it hadn't been disco-ed it might not have rolled.

That's a lot of speculation mixed with feelings. It may have been a contributing factor, but it's not like we're rolling over while doing a moose evading test.

[navigator]

he said the rear was connected but the front sway bar was removed.

[bartonmd]

he said the rear was connected but the front sway bar was removed.

Fully disco'd, yeah, could have been a contributing factor.

Mike

[JorDaneeKey]

Lifted as we are, I could totally see a rollover issue with the front off. Hence the reason I had Mike put it back on. More than once I've had to swerve to miss an idiot here, and having the extra stability helps maintain control.

[Trail X]

I figured I'd revisit this since I've removed my rear swaybar now.

My opinions are based on my experiences. I also have not ran with only a front swaybar.

To me, front and rear swaybars are greatly excessive. I removed the front swaybar 4 years ago and never looked back on that topic. I felt like swaybar in the rear with the 87 springs up front was a decent setup. It was fairly even, but I felt it did oversteer a bit. It handled bumps very well without the front swaybar, but also didn't body roll a ton. This makes sense because the lifted geometry of IFS is actually better against body roll than a lowered truck due to the raised "virtual roll center".

With the heavier 600# springs on the radflos and the rear still connected, the truck felt very even around corners. You could get some understeer, or you could get oversteer if you gave it power. I really liked that setup.

With the radflos and removing the rear swaybar (so, completely swaybarless), there is a little bit more body roll noticeable, but not a ton. The body roll is more evident when switching from a left turn into a right turn, but not as much when only shifting the weight from neutral. I do notice a lot more understeer though, which has made me ponder creating some new rear swaybar design that mounts the swaybar to the body instead of the axle. I'm sure the benefits off-road will be more evident as I take more trips. So far it felt a little unsettling driving with the new setup, mainly I think because the body is reacting sooner to bumps. Where it used to react more when the rear axle ran over the bump, now the body is reacting more when the front end runs over the bumps. Probably just a matter of getting used to it. I'd say the biggest benefit by far is the increased clearance under the rear axle.

Figured I'd write down my experiences for others to reference as they are trying to make their own decisions on how to customize their suspensions.

[bartonmd]

Having run rear-only, front-only, fully connected, and fully disconnected, with stock springs, 87's, and Radflos, by far, my favorite is front-only for the street, then quick disco and run none off road. The Radflos in front and airbags in the rear make the body roll without any bars somewhat tolerable as long as you corner slow (like JD drives on the street), but it gets seriously out of shape when you try and really drive it on the street. With just the front connected, with the radflos, it doesn't get out of shape at all, until you corner faster than you should corner an SUV. At that point, you would miss the rear bar, but I figure you give up something for getting rid of the anchor under the rear diff.

Mike

[Trail X]

I'm no grandpa driver. When I said I get understeer and oversteer, I'm not just saying that to sound cool.

[bartonmd]

I'm no grandpa driver. When I said I get understeer and oversteer, I'm not just saying that to sound cool.

I was under the impression that you were, from talking to you about it, and that you got 50k out of the first 1/2 of the wear of a set of BFG MTs?

I can't remember the last time I actually lost traction in a corner on dry (clean) pavement, and I drive pretty hard. Also, mine is an '07 with Stabilitrac, so I have no idea if it understeers or oversteers, because whenever something like that happens, the Stabilitrac nips it in the bud before I can even tell what it would be doing. Plus, I consider that in the realm of "shouldn't drive a lifted vehicle that fast." My wife drives it like a F-ing NASCAR, and she is only on the edge of what I'm talking about.

I can, however, see you running into premature traction issues without any swaybars connected, topping out the inside damper and losing traction on the inside tire on a bump or undulation in the road because you're out of travel. I've never pushed it that hard fully disconnected, because it feels really horrible long before that.

Mike

[mikekey]

Having run front off, and both front and rear off, I have to agree with Mike. Front on is my preferred setup.

I'm not sure how much lift + tire size contributes to the feeling of body roll and oversteer. My first setup was with the front off and only the rear connected which felt very stable on the 2inch only lift with the smaller 30.5 inch tires. Later I ditched both the front and rear, and didn't see much of a change. The vehicle still felt comfortable to drive on road, taking a sharp turn meant taking it a little easier though. But to be expected with an SUV.

When we added the 3 inch body lift and the 35 inch tires I had re-connected the rear sway bar again. I noticed an increase in oversteer with the new setup, but the body roll felt about the same. During TECORE we removed the rear sway bar, and drove home with it disconnected. The oversteer and body roll became very noticeable and actually kind of scary, especially during the rain. Just changing lanes felt worrisome. At the time I wasn't sure if it was the swaybar disconnect or the tires themselves. We left both sway bars disconnected for about a month to see if it was just the tires or the swaybar being disconnected, but the vehicle just felt unstable on the roads.

We have since gone back to the front sway bar only which seems more stable and the over steer seems minimal to before. Since I had stock springs at the time, I may give it a month without the front sway bar on the new Radflos. But if it feels the same I'm probably going to make disconnects.

[Moots1288]

I have both off and haven't seen a drastic difference. I don't mind having both off.