Front Sway Bar - On or Off

I for the longest time ran a front sway bar and just this weekend I took it off. I really REALLY like the ride difference. It is MUCH softer of a ride and seems to be more of a true "IFS".. It does have a little of a body roll but its not that bad.

So, do you run a front sway bar?

interested to hear the opinions

as of right now i do, unless someone can convince me not too???

im about to take mine off

why are you going to take yours off, i'm hopping someone is going to explain why they want to take it off...

Originally Posted by jimbobway69

why are you going to take yours off, i'm hopping someone is going to explain why they want to take it off...

I'm guessing for more articulation...

Subscribed... wanna here more opinions as well.

Something is wrong with your poll. It will only let me select yes or no, not the appropriate both. Aren't Power Wagons great!

In all seriousness, it is amazing how much difference it makes. I used to have end link disconnects on previous vehicles or just disconnected them while off-road. It is so much easier just flipping a switch. Besides the increased articulation and smoother ride, it also makes it much easier for the truck to climb. Awhile back I started up an off camber ramp with the sway bar connected and then backed up and went up with the sway bar disconnected. With it disconnected, as expected, I was able to go farther up and the truck was much more level. What surprised me is how much easier it went up with the sway bar disconnected. I did not need nearly as much throttle as I did with the sway bar connected.

bc they are crap and i live on the edge

Silly powerwagons! I wish I had that.

Ok! I took mine off and immeditaly felt the difference backing out of my driveway. While the HOLY CRAP factory of body roll was my first thing I noticed while driving down the street rocking the wheel left and right.. the ride was amazingly softer and smoother. Its like I performance struts on now.

This is a super easy thing to test. Just take the top end links off your sway bar, drive it around the 'hood and see how it feels. If you like it, remove it.. simple 6 more bolts from there.. If not, reconnect it.

It is staying off of mine just because of the ride. There is a street near my work that is just beat to hell. Today, I took it and it felt SMOOTH! I was hooked right then and there..

Could you just disconnect one side?

Originally Posted by Devster

Could you just disconnect one side?

You could but then you'd have a a lot of pent up weight floping around on your truck.... not smart.

No sway bar is great, I rocked in on my 1500 and am doing the same on my 2500. If you offroad, I believe its a must, no reason to hold your axle/IFS from doing its job. Now if I'm going to be towing, you bet your ass its going back on.... body roll transmits right to the hitch and flipping a trailer is never fun.

Hearing this i think i am seriously going to take mine off, my ride quality sucks, and my enlinks are busted so they clunk like hell when i hit bumps. Just have to slow it down a bit when i hit sharp turns i guess.

How bad does on road handling degrade with taking off the bar? Say if you could take a curve at 65 mph with the bar, how much would you have to slow down without the bar?

I would be more inclined to experiment but my wife sometimes takes the truck to town and I'd hate to have her roll from a lack of a sway bar. I'd drive fine without it but she is more of hit the gas and fly type of person. I might try taking it off in the summer when I do more off roading.

I have mine on two... but I just hit a button and it's disconnected also

Night and ****ing day difference, with it on or off it's like two totally different trucks over the crappy roads out here. It rides fairly smooth anyway all things considered, but if I disconnect it, it actually feels like the road is flat. Smooth, flat roads in PA
Unfortunately though it automatically reconnects at 20mph so I can't really comment on cornering or anything but I would just say keep in mind that you don't have one, drive accordingly and you'll be fine. Like angus said if you put any significant weight in the truck just hook it back up.

I do mostly highway driving, so mine is staying on. In fact, I just made some of the most amazing sway bar end links ever... My truck only has 30K on it, and the OEM pieces were already crapped out. I built my replacements for less than the cost of OEM replacements, and they'll probably outlive the truck.

I will say, though, that my truck rides pretty harsh; I think it may be that the shocks are too short, which I'm going to take care of.

I'm planning on adding a rear sway bar to my truck in the next few weeks as well. I'm going to use either the front bar from a fox body mustang, or an aftermarket rear bar from a G body Monte Carlo. I've mocked both of them, and get get them both to fit with relative ease. I have to build my own mounts, but I don't like the aftermarket mounts anyway.

There is no problem taking the highway at 75. I do it and even in curves I do not feel that much of a difference. The difference I felt was rocking the truck hard left to right. More of a roll.

Every day driving.. it's like a smooooooth caddy on the road.

If you do alot of highway driving - or just street driving, and you want a nice softer ride. Try it.

If you run a front one and you are going to think about running a rear sway.. yikes! I hope you never have to take it off road! Even on road, its gonna ride very harsh.

Originally Posted by '04DMR1500

I do mostly highway driving, so mine is staying on. In fact, I just made some of the most amazing sway bar end links ever... My truck only has 30K on it, and the OEM pieces were already crapped out. I built my replacements for less than the cost of OEM replacements, and they'll probably outlive the truck.

I will say, though, that my truck rides pretty harsh; I think it may be that the shocks are too short, which I'm going to take care of.

I'm planning on adding a rear sway bar to my truck in the next few weeks as well. I'm going to use either the front bar from a fox body mustang, or an aftermarket rear bar from a G body Monte Carlo. I've mocked both of them, and get get them both to fit with relative ease. I have to build my own mounts, but I don't like the aftermarket mounts anyway.

Just wondering what your thoughts are on running a rear sway bar? Why do you want to do this I should ask?

If you live somewhere flat, like out west, you can get away with it. I can't even imagine driving in Pennsylvania or Shenandoah (2 places I visit regularly) with my swaybar disconnected.

Originally Posted by 06QuadRam

Just wondering what your thoughts are on running a rear sway bar? Why do you want to do this I should ask?

Same reason to run one on the front- better handling. SOme people interpret a cushy floating ride as better handling. Others interpret better handling as the ability to take corners at a higher speed.

I see alot of threads on here on how to soften the ride up. Well, this is one of the ways. But adding a sway in the rear is just making it ride on rails. Just very uncharacteristic of a 4x4.

So, again, another region thing where here out west we don't need them... but other parts need them?