TRD Off Road Sway Bar Swap?

Has anyone bothered swapping the sway bar from an OR model to another? Would it be worth doing to gain a little more articulation / improve ride quality while maintaining some road manners? I'm not interested in doing the delete and have not found any information on this by searching the forums.


If I find one cheap I will measure the articulation difference between the 30mm and 28mm bars and post the results, but if I can't I'd like to know if it's worth it before dropping the cash.

 

I swapped the OR for the Pro SB. No notable change.

I eventually ditched the SB.

 

I’m not sure what you mean in the OP.

The OR is the flexyist sway bar of the Tacoma’s. The pro sway bar is the same as the sport.

The TRD office told me they do this because the spring rate is less on the pro (despite some of the bs that goes around here) then the off-road, and they wanted to reduce body roll. Safety and all that, but as stated above, there’s not a huge noticeable difference between the two.

I have discos for mine.

 

I'm curious if anyone who doesn't have an OR swapped their non OR sway bar for an OR one and noticed if the ride quality changed at all (more articulation due to the smaller bar) or if the change was negligible. You two answered my question.

But also, who makes disconnects? I haven't been able to find them and was under the impression no one makes them for the 2nd and 3rd gen?

 

As far as I know, many have tried, none came up with an acceptable solution. Disconnecting at the arms means your sway is at risk of punching your CV boots, and a center disco pin means you'd have to drop the skid plate to reach it.

If a successful design is out there, I haven't seen it.


Also, in before the screeching masses rush in about "take it off, leave it off, and bury it in your back yard. Anything less is unmanly."

 

Long ago I did this, swapped an OR bar into my SR. Now, I could tell a definite difference but I've also been an autocrosser / sports car nerd who obsessed over sway bar rates.

Most people would mainly feel the difference on washboard roads or going over a bump that only hits one wheel or the other. You don't feel the transfer as hard.
Any difference in articulation would probably be miniscule. I'd be shocked if it was over .5"


Eventually what I ended up with was no sway bar at all, and Fox 2.5's with a spring rate that made up for the lack of sway bar.
My setup was very unique in the Tacoma world though, a prerunner 4banger that had a whole lot less weight to contend with.

That shit was fuuuuuun. Felt like a trophy truck going around corners, lifting up that inside wheel. And man, it would glide right over stuff.

 

Ah see, this is why I think it would be useful. I'm running a full suspension lift, and the roads where I live can be about as bad if not worse than most fire roads I've been on. I don't want to completely remove the sway bar, but I'd trade a little more sway for a little more comfort. I'll keep my ear to the ground to get a cheap take-off from someone. If it happens I'll measure and share the difference in articulation between the two. In the equation I found for sway bar stiffness, the diameter is to the 4th, so even small differences in the diameter should make a difference. I needed butt-feel confirmation to determine if it would be worth spending the money on.

 

You should be able to find a TRDOR sway bar pretty easily. I seem to recall I asked for takeoffs and I got 3 of them for free. One was clean but had no endlinks, one was dirty but had servicable endlinks, and another was lightly used and had almost new endlinks. I picked the best endlinks and put them on the cleanest bar, and tripped over the other 2 for years until I gave them away.

 

Mike from Overlandcustomdesign made them. It’s not listed on the website. You’ll have to talk to him directly.

There’s a whole thread on TW that we talk about them.

 

Interesting design. When disconnected, do you tie/stow the links and bar, or let them hang loose?

That's kind of cool.

 

The pins pull out all the way. I just put them in a cup holder.

edit: @rocklobster2008 i thought you were talking about the pins. The links and bar stay in place and move freely within itself. They are made so they don’t contact the CV boots, while still allowing IFS to work independently.

 

I just found a video for a similar design. Why don't more people make these?! The only downside I see would be keeping those heim joints clean living in the rust belt

 

That is basically the same design I have

 

You might find this video interesting.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ueshf401B0k

 

!!! I figure I could buy all of the parts for these sliding "disconnects" and assemble them. Found DIY instructions on some 4runner forums. This would be great to use heim joints with grease fittings! I could just buy a cheap link and take measurements, but... does anyone know off the top of their head if the hole sizes are the same in the swaybar and steering knuckle for the tacoma and 4runner? I've searched up and down the forums here. I think I found the thread @dfanonymous mentioned but no direct measurements for the taco.

 

Hole sizes are the same. You can also open them up from 12mm to 12.7mm (1/2" ) to ease procurement. (Easier to find inch size heim rod ends and coupler nuts in North America.)

I had parts to build a set (even spent $$$ on stainless heim rod ends). Then I got Icons with 700 lb springs and found handling to be manageable without the swaybar

You need to be precise with the pip pin drilling to avoid rattles in daily use. Also the heims will need frequent flushing to keep quiet.

 

@3JOH22A Thanks for the tip! I'm running Dobinsons c59-314 coils so not nearly as stiff which is why I won't ditch it altogether. Plus I read that in PA you won't pass inspection with the swaybar removed.

 

Guarantee you most PA inspection places don't know the exact suspension setups of every vehicle on the road and I'd be shocked if they pointed out that a sway bar was missing so long as you didn't have obvious dangling end links connected to nothing...
(Grew up there, used to live there)

I'd say give a full disconnect a try for a day or two, it's an easy swap on and off.

I ran Fox 2.5's which, IIRC, have 600 lb coil rate and your Dobinsons are 586. At those spring rates no sway bar is something you have to be *accustomed to* but not dangerous in any way. You just have to understand there's going to be no load transfer between the front wheels to pull that inside wheel down as you corner.

Feels like this the first time you go around a 90 degree turn at a stoplight:

But it's not actually what's happening under you. Way WAY less dramatic. Very pedestrian actually. That spring rate is enough to keep things sensible, but you also need to have properly valved shocks. So without knowing the particulars of your setup I'd say "try it" and worst case you just go back to the drawing board and hook it back up.

I will say that I drove stock springs once with no sway bar and I was like NO NO NOPE this is DANGEROUS. IMO.

 

@Nitori That's good to know! I was starting to worry that I may have gone too light on the springs. I think building those discos will be a great solution though. Then if I like keeping them disconnected for trails, or around town, I can reconnect them for highway trips without additional tools... I fluid film my truck each year so taking the bar off and putting it back on would be really messy as a regular thing