disconnect sway bars=nicer ride off road?

[becker69]

After Wheelin' quite a bit for the AZ run, I started to wonder if disconnecting my front sway bar would; not only give me more travel in the front.... but; would it have given me less of a harsh ride? With the sway bar attached (front) and the torsion bar cranked a lot.... it tends to feel as if there is NO front suspension at all. I have wanted to get adjustable shocks, but I am concerned that I will make it even more stiff. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[RFR2212]

Eh, it might, but ya got IFS that's nearly maxed out, so the ride will be harsh, and the flex will always suck (cept fer wicked modding)
Pete

 

[Rick]

Yep, when you do a torsion twist if you go to far you are practically riding on your bump stops which will definately give you a harsh ride.

 

[becker69]

I only gained 1.75" w/ the torsion twist... max. But I remember reading GJarret's post about his truck, and he explains how he has the stiffest rated torsion bars Ford makes (at that time).... and I don't know how different it is, but when I looked up my Torsion bar code; it is stiffer than his were. I will look up the code and post it this afternoon. But I did verify it when I originally looked at it.
I think I may just have to air down my tires some more For the AZ run I was running them at 25 psi which is probably a little high.

 

[SplashMan]

I have run with my rear bar off for over a year and have taken the front one off twice for wheeling, but really didn't notice any difference with the front on or off.

 

[Jason_25]

The only real difference with the IFS and the front bar off is the side to side rocking you get when going over bumps with the bar on.

 

[Alec]

I noticed a lot more wheel travel and comfort in AZ with the bars off. Actually, on Sunday my rear reconnected itself mid-trail and wrecked my suspension travel. With stock tires and no lift, it doesn't make much difference. But with any lift and larger tires, disco'ing the sways helps a lot. I left them disco'ed all weekend and it wasn't bad, I just couldn't corner quickly on pavement.

 

[SplashMan]

Originally posted by Alec
But with any lift and larger tires, disco'ing the sways helps a lot.

Yours must be alot different than mine then, cause when I took the front one off I got maybe and extra 1/2" of drop and I took the entire bar off and have the BL, 1" TT with 33s. Definatly not worth taking off each time I go wheeling, unless I get quik disconnects or something.
I know with the rear off, I get alot better travel, but it has been so long since I had it on I can't remember what it was like.

 

[Robert]

The ride is much better off-road with the sway-bar disconnected. With it connected, as one tire drops into a hole, the sway-bar prevents the opposite tire from getting too much out of line with the dropping tire. As a result, your entire vehicle will lean as your tire drops into the hole. If the hole is deep enough, your other front tire will lift off the ground. Mine has on stuff that I considered to be somewhat minor. With the bar disconnected, the tires are truely independent of each other. One tire dropping into a hole has no affect on the other. Your vehicle will stay flatter and you won't feel the hole as much. Your other tire will also stay on the surface longer. On the highway you can definately feel the difference with it removed though. It feels similar to running at high speed with a very heavy cross-wind. A lot of moving around. I disconnect my front bar everytime I go off-road. I did it even with everyting stock and even stock it made a world of difference.

 

[SplashMan]

Don't get me wrong, I agree that taking the front (and back for that matter) off helps, but for me it isn't worth it to take 20min to remove the bar for what little it does help. If I had quick disconnects, I would take mine off everytime, but untill then unless I go on a multi-day run I just won't bother with it.

 

[becker69]

Thanks for the information... I have never undone a sway bar... and people's opinions vary from; 'oh you'll never put it back on' to ' it's really dangerous to drive highway speed without one connected'.
Robert, could you notice any visual differences with my truck and how it looked on Crown King, vrs how other Explorers looked?
Thanks for the info... I have done a ton of fire-road drivin' in a 4x2 ranger... yet now that I am trying harder stuff and for a longer duration.... I am trying to learn the advantages to the stuff I haven't done yet.

 

[Robert]

You weren't close enough to me for me to get a good look. I have re-ran trails that I at first ran without disconnecting my swaybar and then with my bar disconnectd. I couldn't believe the difference it made. The first time through the trail, I was constantly spinning and there was one obstical that took a couple of runs at to get over. The next time I ran it, I disconected my swaybar and the trail seemed quite a bit milder than the first time. I don't know how hard of a time you had on Crown King, but I had zero traction problems. I took all of the bypasses but even the several places that there weren't any I easily crawled right over. The deciding factor to me was when I was up by Saquaro Lake in the "Rolls". I was slowly making my way down one of the hills and when i got to the bottom, the guy behind me said I put on a heck of a show for him. Aparently I lifted various tires at various times completely off the ground the whole way down. I felt a couple of them but I didn't realize I did it that often. It is a kinda scarry feeling when right after coming to a stop you feel one of your front corners drop a foot or two as your rear tire lifts off the ground.

Assuming your front swaybar is like mine. all it takes is removing the long bolt through the link. Some people only remove one side. I was going to try just doing one side, but I figured that since I was under there it only took a few more minutes to undo the other one. I was concerned that if I left the bar attached to one side and that side went all the way to one end of travel while the other tire went all the way to the other that I would bind up on the free end of my sway bar. Since my bar is very tight and hasn't moved yet on the trail, I just remove both links and leave the bar in the middle.

I disconnected my front bar on Friday night before the weekend. I reconnected it after I got home on Sunday. I drove up to 70 MPH. I definately do not like the way it feels on the highway with it removed, but since I was aware that it was off, I used more caution than usual. I would not want to leave it off permanently.

I have not tried removing my rear bar yet. Maybe some day I will try it.