[bubbahotep]

Can sway or stabilizer bars be beneficial on the trails ? I don't plan on flying through s -cruves at 75 mph with the Fj, but was just curious if they help beef up the front end at all on a 4x4. (very novice on this subject)

 

[Ben]

Sway bars just help on the road in cornering by trying to reduce the vehicles tendency to lean. Basically the suspension on the outside of the turn will start to compress from the increased load of the vehicle leaning to that side. The sway bars are attached to the suspension as well as the chassis to transmit some of that load back to the opposite side in order to flatten out the cornering. They will reduce the articulation of the wheels from side to side so on rough trails they will hurt your traction.

 

[bubbahotep]

So on the regular pavement, are they just as much of a waste. Are Sway and Stabilizer bars the same thing. I'm a fish out of water on this crap !!!

 

[Ben]

Yea, 2 names for the same thing. They do help a lot for cornering on flat surfaces, but that's all they're for.

 

[woody]

They will reduce the articulation of the wheels from side to side so on rough trails they will hurt your traction.

note that most competition rock crawling rigs use a sway bar in the rear to help balance the suspension out...very little limits to actual flex, but a great deal of assistance on sidehilling.

Sway bars will come stock front and rear on most newer vehicles...while "off road" performance will be touted, manuf's know most of these will be used exclusively on-road and must be setup as such. (safety requirements)

 

[Topless4runner]

The Dodge PowerWagon has an electric disconnecting swaybar in the front, best of both worlds. too bad nobady else has gone that route... 'course with the powerwagon you are paying 40K+ for a Ram, so it better some with some neat hardware.

 

[mpd8488]

You can easily put on front quick disconnects disconects on SFA Jeeps, I image you could do the same with other SFA vehicles, don't know about IFS, though.

 

[Shadowrwr]

I like to keep my sways on for the road and off for the trails. On my Xterra i had to cut the rear sway to fit the shock, but little to my knowledge it wasnt solid. So basicly it rusted, since i couldnt fill the space in or por-15 on it, and it decided to break off later on. Well this led to me to doing a 180 on the road when i made a turn at 20 mph. The car leaned way to much from the one side being broken. So now i will not have this off while on the road.
-Rich-

 

[Roosterdo]

There are some good sway bars disconnects on the market but make sure you get top quality rustless types