Sway Bar Disconnect from Front Range Offroad

This x2

 

Aaaaaand I'm out for a 2nd Gen one. I've been reading all disconnect threads over the years and was hoping the hookup here had things worked out. I just don't have the time to test this out. Best of luck for 1st gens, though! If these get done well, then it would be a useful product!

And the reason I keep my swaybar on is because others drive my truck, too, and I don't trust they would feel safe without it and wouldn't cause an accident.

 

I agree. I might be interested if there were pictures of it installed a video would be best though.

 

Food for thought...

I always thought unless you have a locking front diff swaybar disconnects in the front are pointless. If our suspension has more freedom to move independently in crawling situations the side to side difference in footprint psi will increase causing the tire with the least amount of footprint psi to spin. A swaybar will work to keep closer to equal psi on each tires footprint. The psi I am referring to is not psi of air in your tires but instead the psi of the footprint for those that may be confused.

 

Actually, unless I'm misunderstanding you, I think its just the opposite. Without the swaybar, you can have both tires on the ground instead of just one. With one tire off the ground and no locker, it will spin freely. With the swaybar on, the tire will lift off the ground sooner when fully flexed.

 

Well that sounds fine and dandy. But I removed my sway bar and I haven't noticed any extra wheel spin up front when off roading.

 

Like I said, my response is food for thought.

I am not stating 100% preference for or against sway bar disconnects because every situation is different. On the surface of things it seems like the more articulation the better, but just like anything else there is more to it than what meets the eye. Its like asking what is the perfect tire or what is the perfect air pressure or what is the perfect suspension setup? Just like everything there are trade offs.

Wouldn't it be ideal to split the weight of the front end 50/50 on each tire for an open diff rig? I agree that the disconnects may keep your tires in contact with the ground but what good is a tire connected to an open diff if it is only supporting, for instance 50lb of vehicle weight. With hardly no weight on the tire it is going to spin very easy which will leave your stuffed in the fender heavily weighted tire motionless. In certain situations this 50/50 split could be achieved with a sway bar assuming the rear suspension has good articulation capabilities. If the rear suspension is active enough (and this would be key) to compensate for a sway bar up front I think there are certain situations where it would be better to have one connected.

Once a front locker comes into play, forget the sway bar.

OP - I am not trying to hinder the sales of the disconnects so please don't take it that way and I apologize for the tangent.

http://www.sonoransteel.com/index.php?main_page=suspensionfaq

 

I don't think you understand how a sway bar works.

With the swaybar connected, the fully stuffed tire will try to bring the other free tire up with it, not force it down to split the weight. So you would have even less weight on the lower tire.

 

Yeah, your thought process is backwards.

 

I'm still under the impression that OP's 01 has different style links than the quick disconnects

 

You are right it will bring the unweighted tire up. It is doing this by slightly compressing the unweighted coil spring. By transferring torque through the sway bar to the other coil it decreases the weight on the heavily weighted coil which will cause the spring to uncompress or lengthen slightly. This lengthening or uncompressing of the weighted coil could potentially be enough to get the other tire planted again.

 

For first gen, I looked at where the bar end would be when disconnected and suspended. IIRC, they would interfere with the brake lines while turning, among other things. Won't work. At least not safely.

If you have aftermarket coils, just remove the swaybar.

If you don't have aftermarket coils, removing the swaybar should be farther down your list, after you do a few other mods.

 

And potentially rolling the vehicle over because it didn't have enough articulation

I paid good money for a mid travel lift, so I'm not going to limit its articulation.

 

^ yup. they put it on cars for a reason. i agree with takin it off at the trail, but on the highway? good luck with that insurance claim

 

Have you driven a Tacoma with aftermarket coils and no sway bar before? If not then you have no idea what you're talking about. There are many people on here, including myself, that are running aftermarket coils without a sway bar.

The aftermarket coils are much stronger and set for more weight. So keeping the sway bar actually reduces the ride to be more stiff and even less travel than stock.

 

Who thinks it would be correct to say that for every off-road situation a sway-bar would decrease the trucks ability to keep moving forward?



So is Steve over at Sonoran Steel completely nuts for making the statement below?

http://www.sonoransteel.com/index.php?main_page=suspensionfaq

"Sway bar disconnects are not needed with an IFS suspension
By disconnecting the front sway bar you may gain a very slight amount of added a-arm droop, but here is the problem with an IFS truck. The only tire that has any weight on it is the one compressed, so it does not matter if the other tire is in the air, almost on the ground or on the ground. It will spin because it has no weight on it.

"It is however correct to disconnect a sway bar on a straight axle truck as it will increase articulation. The real benefit of having a straight axle is that both front tires bear the weight at all times, not only one like an IFS truck under articulation."

 

This

 

Yes that guy is nuts. Sway bars are nice when they actually let the susp work. The factory bars on these trucks feel like they are for a heavy duty truck. Also wrong about the solid axle as well, those need a sway to keep stability, just need an aftermarket one and not the factory one. Really sounds like the guy has no clue what he is talking about.

 

Actually the Sonoran Steel guys are pretty legit...