Beating a Dead Horse: Sway Bars

Funny you mention this. Over the summer I created a thread asking to buy a spare sway bar to start a project with a very similar idea. A buddy of mine who is a good mechanic, who is a GM guy, and somewhat of a redneck fabrication specialist, came up with an idea almost identical to yours. He couldn't believe there isn't an option for us to disconnect it.

I found a spare sway bar that we bought, but we never got into the project. I think your thinking is worth pursuing. I have my doubts about its viability, but I do think it's worth a shot. Heres the thread I started. A few guys showed ideas of how others have done something similar in a few cases. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/wtb-sway-bar.670820/

 

I figured my idea wasn't original, since it's something that has such high demand among Tacoma owners. That being said, I've been running my truck without a sway bar for a few days now, and honestly can't tell much of a difference at all in handling and stability, likely due to suspension upgrades. If anything's changed, it's actually increased ride quality by quite a bit. The truck handles bumps much better now and doesn't jar you around as much on rough roads. I like it, so I think I'm just going to leave it off. Thanks for the insight though. I think for someone running a stock truck that off roads just here and there on the occasion and wanted elmore articulation, it'd definitely be worth trying if they had a spare bar laying around.

 

Yeah I’m torn. I wheel my truck hard. But I also put a lot of highway miles on it. It’s very heavy at this point but I’ve got 650# springs up front so I’m curious if I’d really notice it. Should really just try and take it off before I go crazy building something new.

 

I think I have seen others ask about this idea. If I remember right, the concept of reconnecting in the field gave some pause. You would have to find level ground, park, crawl under the truck, hope that the hole is lined up enough to drop the pin, cuss, relevel the truck, crawl back underneath, have a buddy jump up and down on the passenger fender while you try to drop the pin....etc.

 

I don't know how the Jeep auto sway bar disconnect works, but I imagine you'd have to be on level ground to reconnect it at least. I think it actually works like our 4WD ADD and if you could find a way to convert a Tacoma ADD motor to use as a swaybar disconnect, you might be on to something. You'll at least know that the "sleeve" is probably strong enough.

 

I'm relatively competent when it comes to working on my truck, but my major setback with something like this would be getting it to actually work

I would say go for it, run it without for a while. You'll probably find yourself in a similar situation, preferring it without

 

I can think of a couple ways to use the ADD hardware and wiring isn't an issue. The only problem would be spitting the sway bar and welding on the parts of the axle that matter. Even in my head this is getting complicated.

I just looked at the internals of a Rubicon disconnector and sway bar. I think it could definitely be modified to work on a Tacoma and controlling it should be a matter of figuring out if it has sensors, limit switches, or anything else you'd need a modified signal to control.

 

i took mine off years ago and never once said "shit i wish i had a swaybar" and ive literally tried to roll my truck.

 

So I know we're pretty much mutilating this horse's corpse, but here are some universal sway bar systems for Jeeps that definitely could work with very little modification.
https://www.rockjock4x4.com/CE-9903-20


EDIT: nevermind, these things are really only for solid axles. Better luck next time, I guess.

 

I took mine off and love it. I also drive pretty tame on road but noticeable difference offroad.