Sway Bar Removal-No Thanks, I'll Keep Mine

There's a lot of talk here on sway bar removal. A couple of days ago, I finished swapping out my front LCA bushings and adjuster sleeves. They were seized and after I installed my lift a while back and it wouldn't align like it should have. It was "in spec" but my front wheels were noticeably out at the top. After driving like this for a while, I noticed that my new Michelins were wearing bad on the outsides. It drove fine but I can't live with this kind of tire wear.
Long story short, I replaced all the bad parts, greased the LCA bolts and sleeves really well and headed off for the alignment.

I left the skid plate and sway bar off that morning and even considered not re-installing the sway bar after reading several posts about it here.

I drive my truck 99% on-road and use it on field roads and some rough back roads around here on the weekends.

On the drive home and a subsequent trip into town to get a soda, I did a lot of swerving around to see how it felt. It felt like crap. The front end felt loose and the truck had more body roll than I epected.

When I got back home, I re-installed the sway bar and skid plate and went for another drive. All I can say is, I'll never remove it again except for maintenance that requires access to something it blocks.

If I was a serious off-roader, I might consider it, but for the driving I do and I suspect, most of us on this site do, it makes a significant difference. I'm glad I tried it because now I know.

In my opinion, the truck drives and handles much better with it. So for those of you on the fence about it, I would suggest you leave it alone.

But again, you never know until you try it.

Just thought I'd share.

Winkel

 

Happy for you

 

subbed for the "cool story bro" post.

If you don't really flex the suspension, there's no need to remove it.

 

Very happy for you, I removed mine and drives fine at 85-90 on the highways.

 

Still have mine on too...

 

Depends on your suspension and personal preferences.

I installed a lift with 590lb coils and it was too much body roll so I put the sway bar back on.

Beefed up suspension to 660lb coils later on and ditched the swaybar again, and it rides great.

 

Nobody with any sense recommends ditching the swaybar from a stock suspension. The real swaybar debate is over upgraded suspension.

 

Heavy coils and leafs help the roll.

 

Pulled mine. Def resulted in more body roll, but I didn’t mind. I’m a pretty conservative driver. I later added airbags (with daystar cradles) to the rear for the added weight I carry on longer trips, and it feels nice and firm again.

 

Never had the sway bar on from the day I bought my truck. Never noticed it. It’s not a race car so i don’t ever regret it.

 

How to not Tacoma

 

That's odd. I don't miss mine.

 

The sway bar is needed for emergency safety maneuvering at speed. End of story. Those who say it drives fine are not avoiding a roll at 70 mph on a regular basis (hopefully)and are, frankly, wrong. It's less safe. No amount of stiff coil on one side can compensate for a sway bar that links the right and left suspension. Take it off if u want more flex off road, but it's the safest option on road. Leave it on there.

 

This is why I’m hoping someone with more time than me will come up with quick disconnects.

 

I removed mine during installation of 5100s and 885s. I had read through so much back and forth on here that I just decided to say screw it and do away with it. I will say there is a tad bit more body roll than what I had before, but nothing that is scary or unnerving. Definitely to each their own

 

Amen. I think it was easier on the first gen to just unbolt the links and move it out of the way for off road.

 

Many people have tried and many people have failed unfortunately

 

Did you install heavier springs with your lift or are they the same spring rate as the stock ones? Usually you want a stiffer spring when you ditch the sway bar to help counter the body roll.

I took mine off when I installed heavier springs with my Kings and while there is somewhat more body roll, it's not bad enough to make me want to put the sway bar back on. I could see it being a lot worse though if the springs were stock rating.

 

I’d agree that the key here is to have coil overs of some sort, and to understand the trade off involved.

Then again, I’m the sort that removed the front sway bar on my z06 because it was an inconvenience for the procharger.

Maybe I’ve got bugs in my head...