Yes or No, Keep the sway bar on?

God forbid something were to happen, it’s not my fault. I simply said you could try it. Lol

 

For the first time in about 22 years of not having a sway bar on a truck (admittedly 19 of them where with leaf and torsion bar springs prior to the Taco) I kind of wished I did last weekend, on the section of US89 from Sutro, UT, to where it opens up south of Pines. It was dry road, just the truck I was following could go faster than I felt comfortable since he had a sway bar still.

The problem I think is with coil springs to get body roll down you have to run a high spring rate, which defeats the purpose of a 4wd truck. I run 650 lb/in springs and the ride offroad is right on, I use the full travel without wallowing and it floats over washboard. If I go up to a 700 lb/in spring I imagine the ride would improve on pavement at the expense of off pavement.

Solution is sway bar disconnects I suppose. I'm also saying that I guess I no longer am an anti-sway bar zealot. I get why people like them. The first step is to admit when you're wrong.

That said, I'm not interested in putting it back on, just need to find a way to slow my friends down.

 

Of course not. I appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

 

@cantjump Any issues with the "ski traffic" stupidity on i-70? When you say slow, do you mean the speed limit (which is 55mph)?

 

Are you new to Colorado? Ski traffic isn't the problem, you'll be going 3 MPH between Silverthorne and Denver anyway.

 

@DaveInDenver Not new, I'm referring to diving at 5am when the traffic is just starting and people are still going fast, and also referring to 3pm when people are headed home and a multi-lane accident hasn't closed the highway yet. Its 70mph and cars on all sides.

Shit slows down at 6:30am after the first accident of the day, usually in the bends right before Idaho Springs, and after 4pm when the people who have been drinking for an hour after the lifts close decide to start driving home.

 

I guess I've never felt the need to keep up with traffic in these mystical light traffic scenarios. But it's also been 7 years since we left Denver and the I-70 nonsense, so my memory is failing. My solution traditionally was to sleep in the parking lot Friday night, back when Loveland still let you anyway.

 

I only ski back country with my dogs, or ice climb in Vail... or run away to rock climb in Moab. I hate ski traffic. Ive gotten in the habit of leaving by 4:45 - right behind the plows.

So you have mixed feeling on the sway bar? Have you found any reasonable alternatives?

 

Go slower. Life is all about compromises.

 

I dig it about ski areas. We got married at Loveland Ski Area in 1999, so we go back once in a while to ski on Valentine's Day. The occasional Steamboat or Powderhorn day. But yeah, we gave up on the in area bullshit long ago, too.

 

Sway bar will help keep all 4 tires equally planted in the snow.. better traction on the highway for sure

 

@DaveInDenver Killer! My favorite spot to ski these days has been Crested Butte. I sleep in my truck with my dog, and then crush in the mornings. Skip 70 all together.

"Slower" is the impression I'm getting.

 

I ran without a sway bar for about 5 years. Then one day I had a car flip over in front me into my lane on the highway and I had to do an emergency swerve out of my lane to avoid hitting the flipped over vehicle. I almost rolled. It was enough to make me put it back on. I’ll never ride without it on a hwy again.

 

It depends too on how much you need it removed. Honestly a stock truck + sway bar is hard to beat for mixed use. It's when we go messing up with lifts that you have to compromise. Unless you're rock crawling you're not really going to need it removed anyway so if you're after highway handling you're probably better off trying to get it to work with it still on. I don't miss mine but I had an overloaded 22R-E truck for 20 years before I got my Taco in 2015, so I never formed a habit of going fast anyway. Heck, I still rode the cow (leather tele boots) until the mid 2000s so any "crushing" I did was of my bones. I'm only up to 3 buckle T2s and still have my Tua Nitrogens with Voile 3 pins in this day-and-age, so you know I truly suck as a skier. Absolutely a granola munching meadow stomper.

 

I freed my heals for five seasons, then developed arthritis and a torn meniscus in my early 20s, had to quite my guiding career, and now lock those damn things down firmly (and wear lots of knee braces - its both necessary and approaching a fetish-level obsession). I can ski anything now, but man... tele skiing was awesome. All you need is like 2" of powder and its face-shots all day, faster change overs... the good old days.

 

Please post pics of where it's rubbing? Something is wrong, with relocate kit it shouldn't rub. Either the spring is the wrong size, it's bulging (which is common with Freedom lifts) or the bottom seat on the strut is flat with a shaped pad instead of the bottom seat being molded to fit the bottom of the coil.

Either way keep the sway bar, axe Freedom Off-road.

 

That is the impression I'm getting. Ive been watching the poll I setup, and its close to 60:40... in favor of dropping the sway bar. Given the hand full of testimoney's like yours, I'm leaning towards dropping it for now so I can use the truck with the intention of continuing to figure out how to mount it without rubbing my shocks.

Sorry you had to deal with that.

 

It's safe to say I will never be featured in a Red Bull skiing ad. Kind of the opposite, there's almost nothing I can ski without falling down... But I am a glutton just the same in other ways.

 

No bulging spring. You can see where the sway bar contacts the bottom of the seat, and you can see the rub marks on the spring too. I'm almost tempted to take off the sway bar, tap it with a sledge to open it up a little, and bolt it back on (almost, not saying I'm going to do it).

 

I can drive faster on curvy roads with Fox 2.5s and NO sway bar, than I can with stock suspension WITH swaybar. I slow down for road conditions and sight distance, not because the truck doesn't handle.
Swaybars control weight transfer. If you are cornering fast enough to create significant weight transfer in snow or ice, it's only a matter of time till you crash. Swaybar or no swaybar.