Lift Disaster, Dispair, and Correction

Feel will vary from person to person with the sway bar. To me the factory ride was loose and sloppy. Once the truck was lifted with 885’s and Dakar’s it was much more solid. After the sway bar was removed there may have been a slight more lean but to me it’s not uncomfortable or something I worry about. Been without a sway bar for 3 or so years. Truck drives fine on the road. When I hit a bump or hole in the road the bump isn’t transferred across to the other wheel like it is when the sway bar was on. Much more solid feel and the suspension can move independently. I’ve done evasive moves to test it and mine is fine. I live in the south and we’re not going to be hitting moose or anything like that. If it’s a deer you hit the thing and get the truck fixed. When you start swearing to avoid a deer isnwhen you get hurt or kill yourself. Been to plenty of wrecks where if they would have just hit the animal they wouldn’t have been hurt.

If you can get some adjustable UCA’s and get the alignment numbers in spec for the lift. Notice I saidnfornthe lift, that doesn’t mean stock alignment numbers. The numbers change when you lift the truck. You set the LR UCA’s for +1 before you install them. Take the truck to a shop that knows trucks to have the alignment done. Give them the specs you want for the alignment and they will get it as close as they can to that number.

 

No, my truck has an add-a-leaf, I'm not sure what brand but it works well. Here's my truck with one of the boats hooked up and it has a bit of tongue weight and the rear doesn't drop much.

 

I took my sway off when I was still on stock coils and 5100s set at 1.75" (2.5" actual lift). It was a little stiffer than the 885 coils for on road driving, but I wouldn't say my truck has any real body roll. If there was any, it went away with the HD Dakars, but I was running air bags before that, so...

 

Thanks I posted in the thread to ask about em.

Yeah I guess that's the plan

 

Have you taken the swaybar off yet?
After thinking and looking more at your skidplate and swaybar.
After you take your swaybar off, straighten out your skid plate then drive around awhile and check it to see if it is bent again.
It could be your swaybar hitting each side and bending it

 

You know I've been theorizing that for the past 2 days, I realized the sway bar can slide left and right so I think it may move left enough to be able to contact the plate. I wish I had a go-pro!

 

Also moves up and down, you kept saying the plate keeps get bent, which stuck in my head then a lightbulb went off, maybe.
You could spray a little white or silver on color than black paint on a few areas of your skid then check to see where it transferred too? Just an idea.

 

If the sway bar is moving side to side, you have an issue.

What do the bushings for it look like?

Are the brackets damaged?

 

Agreed, that slipped past me.

 

When I say side to side, I mean very minimal amounts. Seems like natural play, less than... 1/2"? (1/4" from center to left or right) Bushings and brackets seem good, basically if I grasp the bar and pull on either side it can slide a little to that side. I figured this was normal?

 

Your clamps aren't tight enough or bushings are slightly worn.

 

Okay, is there some kind of protrusion that indicates center? How do I know if I have it centered?

 

Equal distance on each side.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but without something to hold center... won't the sway bar naturally get pushed around from driving overtime? Even with tight bushings?

 

Only movement side to side should be flex of the bushings, either eyeball it or look on the swaybar each side of bushing for clean spots.
Which if it's moving side too side, the swaybar will be clean on each side of bushing/clamp and center swaybar with equal amount of clean area showing.

 

Gotcha

If my "no sway bar" test doesn't go well I will reinstall it and perform this check. Any recommended bushings if I need to swap em?

 

It looks like your skid plate is more to one side than the other since you can see your lower control arm adjustments more on one side. Your skid plate looks a lot better than mine so I'm not sure what would be causing that. Somebody may have gone off road and whacked the plate sideways and bent it.

 

When I took the plate off to remove the sway bar relocation brackets, I took it out to the pavement and manhandled the shit out of it to bend it back into shape. So when I put it back on both of the left and right sides we're pushed in much further than normal but they were completely clear of everything.

And then after a few days to left side was back bent out, and I don't think it can really go on any other way because I believe there's only four holes

 

Alright, the gf and I took off the sway bar and drove around to test it. Well it felt great going over uneven terrain/roads, the sway was way, way too much even at 25 mph. Felt like a boat. So once again I manhandled the splash plate and now it's no where near the sway bar on either side though it does rest on the cam bolts, hopefully this isn't an issue.

Will test drive it and also monitor the plate through out the week. If she bends again I'm ordering a 1/4" steel plate and throwing the other in the recycle bin.

Did make me wonder if heavier springs would counteract the sway better

 

May be the difference of having the Dakar’s in the rear that lessens the sway also. Could also be the valving of the shocks. It makes a big difference to me in drivability without the swaybar like you noticed. Hope you bending the splash plate gets everything worked out for you. Did you notice any rub marks on the sway bar when you had it off?