Sway bars or no sway bars?

[BuddyLe3]

I've heard mixed thoughts about driving on the road with sway bars disconnected / removed...wanted to know what you folks prefer, pros and cons of daily driving disconnected and possible safety and or mechanical mishaps that may happen. Thanks in advance
-Chris- #1096

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[Stone74]

On my XJ I deleted the rear sway bar, wasn't need with the leaf springs I have. On the front, it's still there. Quick disconnects for ease of disconnecting when going off road and getting back on the road.

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[1derer]

I agree the best of both worlds is to use quick disconnects. Many of use spend a lot more miles on pavement then dirt and the possible situations you can run into on pavement which sways can keep your truck under control. With that said it really does depend on the rig, driver, use of the truck. I'd love a rig that has electronic disconnecting sways.

 

[OffroadTreks]

Ditto that sentiment of quick disconnects. Swaybars serve a purpose. Sometimes off-road they're annoying and limiting. I've had sway bars that are also too stiff even on road. My current rig has an electronic disconnecting front sway bar.

Quick Disconnects kind of just let me decide when and where.

 

[The other Sean]

I run no sway bars at all. HOWEVER... I do have wider than stock control arms and more spring under the front so, it is more controlled than if I was stock and simply removed the sway bar. With that said, I may at some point pick up a sway bar for the front and only run it on road trips.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

You should not be doing ▼this▼ without swaybars

You will not be doing ▼this▼ with swaybars connected

 

[BuddyLe3]

I appreciate all the input...very informative. Thanks guys.

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[stoney126]

Sway bars are recommended. Emergency braking or maneuvers would benefit from them.

 

[KD7WCD]

Are talking front or rear. Just discovered my rear is snaped so pulling it off. Did not even notice until I saw it.

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[Justin Forrest]

I have been running with out my front since February. I haven't noticed much of a difference, but I have suspension with compression adjustment. It's usually turned up when daily driving. I turn it down for longer off road trips. Not sure how I will feel about it when I get a RTT. All of the weight is currently down low. If I had the weight of a tent up top might be nots so good. I would also just turn the compression up before reinstalling a sway bar though.

 

[Justin Forrest]

The typical quick disconnects aren't super awesome with IFS. Several friends have tried them and ended up tearing CV boots while on the trail because of swaybar just hanging out and flopping around.

 

[restinpiss]

i removed my front sway bar on my truck and honestly it's not too crazy driving but i don't drive fast so i didn't have an issue on or off road


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[Quicksilver]

I removed the rear sway bar from my Xterra a couple of weeks ago. No difference in handling whatsoever, which seems to be the norm for Xterras. Results on other vehicles will vary, of course.

 

[jer]

I'm think removing the sway bar definitely help with wheel articulation but with independent front suspension does it cause to much stress when offroading on the rack and pinion. Any thoughts on this would be awesome.
Thanks guys

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[Anon]

I run no sway bar up front, but I kept the rear sway bar on my truck since I still tow and haul things on occasion when not off-roading. Thinking about ditching it though as it limits my articulation in the rear end a little bit. I don't/can't drive fast so even though this is my daily driver, not having sway bars doesn't seem to really affect me in a negative way. I also only run 33's though.

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[SGT.]

On road sway bars connected - off road disconnected. Quick disco! Short travel on roads whil on way to trail I might be disconnected. But higher speeds and quick maneuver are not recommend if you are disconnected.

 

[DieselPilot]

I did it once on an F250 and loved it offroad. I never towed and didn't do many hwy miles at the time. I spend so much time on the hwy now that I wouldn't consider it these days with my current setup.

 

[Tinker]

I've been running a few months with them completely removed on my lifted Disco. It's my daily driver & I do avoid highways unless I'm crossing states, but even when it's more top heavy with a full loadout I'm happy with it's behavior. As funny as it may sound... it's actually been more fun to drive with the increased body roll (famous last words?), maybe I'm just dreaming of driving a trophy truck

 

[EatSleepTacos]

I've been running a few months with them completely removed on my lifted Disco. It's my daily driver & I do avoid highways unless I'm crossing states, but even when it's more top heavy with a full loadout I'm happy with it's behavior. As funny as it may sound... it's actually been more fun to drive with the increased body roll (famous last words?), maybe I'm just dreaming of driving a trophy truck

Ha, I feel the same way!!

I removed my sway bar on my 2005 Tacoma when I installed my lift a couple weeks ago. I definitely notice the increased body roll, but this isn't my DD so I'm not too worried about it as it behaves much better off road and soaks up bumps a lot better. I'd love a QD, but many have tried and many have failed on our trucks. With that being said it's not for everyone. Removing a swaybar is simple enough (at least on any car/truck I've worked on) so you should try removing it and see how you like it.

 

[alaskan.lad]

I pulled mine off on my last 1991 pickup DD and was running 31's, didn't notice too much extra body roll. My current 91' still has the front on, but with a heavy topper in the back plus bed boxes I feel like it does its job in keeping body roll down. Installing a rear locker one of these days and will be able to test out the configuration on the trail, feeling like with proper psi and the rear locked I should be just fine on the trails I run.