Articulation w/-w/o Sway bars (1 Viewer)

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Nov 5, 2005
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Location
Napa, California
For those that “wheel” their 100's, but love that ON road handling, I did a little comparison for OFF roading.
My son happen to moving pavers for me into the backyard from the driveway when he decided to have some Tom Sawyer fun. The next thing I know is there is a 28” tall ramp of pavers in the driveway at a 22 degree angle so he can “test his Willys” suspension.

After a little search, we found an RTI calculator on the web, grabbed the tape measure, and dad joined the fun. Well the Willys pulled a 780, and he sees me looking at the Cruiser. I engaged the center & rear locker and crawled up to a 511. But seeing the rear sway bar in a position that it probably was not designed for, I pulled the bolts on the rear and headed up to a 583.
Well, "if a little is good," I climbed under and pulled the front bar. The 100 pullled out a 642 with no sway bars attached.
A little more articulation while crawling the trails can always help, and this is a great no-cost way to improve things for those trips while being able to re0connect things and cruise the malls at home.
So for those that might find this totally useless crap interesting, here's a review.

22 Degree ramp
With front & rear sway bars connected = 511
With rear sway bar disconnected = 583
With front & rear sway bars disconnected = 642

This now gives me a good base line to start with as I play with changing shocks and can track improvements in a controlled environment.
So go have some fun and build a ramp in your driveway, invite all your son's friends over and try to explain to your wife all the rubber marks on the concrete.
 
Great info..I see the 80 series guys using swaybar disconnects, never thought of doing it on the 100...
 
For those that “wheel” their 100's, but love that ON road handling, I did a little comparison for OFF roading.
My son happen to moving pavers for me into the backyard from the driveway when he decided to have some Tom Sawyer fun. The next thing I know is there is a 28” tall ramp of pavers in the driveway at a 22 degree angle so he can “test his Willys” suspension.

After a little search, we found an RTI calculator on the web, grabbed the tape measure, and dad joined the fun. Well the Willys pulled a 780, and he sees me looking at the Cruiser. I engaged the center & rear locker and crawled up to a 511. But seeing the rear sway bar in a position that it probably was not designed for, I pulled the bolts on the rear and headed up to a 583.
Well, "if a little is good," I climbed under and pulled the front bar. The 100 pullled out a 642 with no sway bars attached.
A little more articulation while crawling the trails can always help, and this is a great no-cost way to improve things for those trips while being able to re0connect things and cruise the malls at home.
So for those that might find this totally useless crap interesting, here's a review.

22 Degree ramp
With front & rear sway bars connected = 511
With rear sway bar disconnected = 583
With front & rear sway bars disconnected = 642

This now gives me a good base line to start with as I play with changing shocks and can track improvements in a controlled environment.
So go have some fun and build a ramp in your driveway, invite all your son's friends over and try to explain to your wife all the rubber marks on the concrete.



Great info Jeff! Ok...now we need sway bar disconnects ;) .
 
Yes, very good (and interesting) results... The fronts seem to restrict suspension flex a lot, but I didnt realize that the rears would make any real difference at all :confused:



I would love to see a "quick disconnect" kit for the 100 series bars...

Christo, are you listening ? ;)
 
Great info Campfire. Just a question... your shocks in the rear are longer than stock, correct? I wonder if using a swaybar drop bracket/extension improve your RTI numbers? IOW, is the sway bar also hindering articulation because of the angle it is working at?

As far swaybar disconnects, check out these ideas:
teraflex_sway.jpg
skyjacker_rocklock.jpg
 
I'm pretty sure Alan was disconnected in this pic.

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It does make a world of difference.

The Grey or Green Ute back I bought from him I never had the sway bar attached. In fact I tink he drove it to Colorado with it in the bed.

I've gone as far as having the springs actually fall out during some testing (No measurements though :doh: ). Luckily I had access to a 60,000 lb front end loader to help out.
 
I've expirimented on this too. I discovered:

Stock suspension: While the suspension cycles easier W/O bars the RTI numbers do not increase because travel is the same.

Lifted suspension:

Rear: Only small improvements in RTI are achieved because the shock is a tadlonger than stock. The suspension cycles fully and easily though easier without the rear sway. I liked it better without the rear sway.

Front: Front sway bar hinders the ease of front compression mainly due to the fact the T-bars are cranked 2.75". Combine that with the aid of the sway and it's hard to fully compress the front shock. Removing the front sway cyles the front MUCH easier. Off-road ride was nice! On-road ride was scary! As far as RTI.....with weight on the truck (and balanced front and rear), placed in the correct spot, the RTI numbers will NOT increase because you can still fully compress the suspension. The trouble is finding a severely twisted spot and having extra wieght on the truck. Without, that front will just not compress and therefore you will get higher RTI numbers in many situations with the sways off (like Campfire).

With sway bar pics:
Pic 1: 100 shocks and a heavy front end/light rear end (no Slee bumper yet). (Things are not copmpressing...especially the front)
Pic 2: N74L shocks and a balanced front to rear ratio. (The front is stuffed)
Note: These pics clearly show the added travel of the N74L over the 100 shock.

26308865-L.jpg

69919258-L.jpg
 
I thought only broken vinyl records "skipped" :rolleyes:
 
just dont drive fast with them disconnected whatever you do. I was watching Two Roads to Baja and one team flipped their FJC because it was disconnected and it just flipped easy on a turn.
 
just dont drive fast with them disconnected whatever you do. I was watching Two Roads to Baja and one team flipped their FJC because it was disconnected and it just flipped easy on a turn.

I ran 4-6 trails (?) on my 80 without both sways and loved it because we didn't flop around side to side as much. Then came a real twisty trail with many off camber spots......the sway bars went on the next day. They do help to keep you stable.
 
So the final answer is that in most cases it is best to keep sway bars on and get longer travel shocks? Right?
 
So the final answer is that in most cases it is best to keep sway bars on and get longer travel shocks? Right?

Depends on what you do? Driving on-road without sways is very dangerous especially a lifted truck.

And yes....longer travel shocks help off-road also though do nothing for on-road.
 
No problem Dog, I did forget to mention that my 100 is lifted 2.5" with re-indexed torsion bars up front, and OME 863's in the rear. I plan on going with OME N133 & N101's, so I'll see if a little more drop wil keep that tire on the ground just enough to improve it some more.
 
Depends on what you do? Driving on-road without sways is very dangerous especially a lifted truck.

And yes....longer travel shocks help off-road also though do nothing for on-road.

Shotts, good info. Thanks. Can the N74L shocks work on on a non-lifted Cruiser?

Thanks
 
Shotts, good info. Thanks. Can the N74L shocks work on on a non-lifted Cruiser?

Thanks

No...no reason to have them on a non-lifted LC. Plus they will bottom out since their collapsed length is longer than stock (without adding bump stops anyway).
 
No...no reason to have them on a non-lifted LC. Plus they will bottom out since their collapsed length is longer than stock (without adding bump stops anyway).

Thanks, that makes sense.
 
Shotts, enough with the N74L. Your like the kid with the first GI Joe with kung-fu grip. Sure it was a good idea. But, they've been in your truck for what a year now.
I keep my swaybars connected because I like drive on the pavement, kind of like not driving home with 15psi in the tires. Disconects would be cool, I'd probably buy a set if someone made some.
 

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