Drop the sway bar without blocks (1 Viewer)

[LandCruiserPhil]

I could not take the looks of the front sway bar “block” anymore so I changed it.

Cut the factory bracket off at the base. Dropped the rear of the front sway bar down until all mounting points were level. Measured the gap and cut a piece of ½ ID pipe (your choice) and welded together.

So far the modification has seen 2000 miles of all types of driving and looks like it will last or at least it has not broke yet. I do believe everything can break under right/wrong condition. My hopes are that during my up coming knuckle project (thanks CDan) I will also fab up quick disconnects for the front sway bar eliminating stressful conditions during 4wheeling. See any problems?


Standard disclaimer: Front-end modifications can kill you so I’m not saying to do this. I’m just sharing what I did.

Phil

 

[Junk]

Phil, that looks great. Good job. How far did you end up dropping it? Looks like about 4"?

Nice disclaimer too. We frequently all forget that that messing with this stuff can have bad effects.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Junk, without measuring you are close if not exact. I don’t remember how much of the stub went into the pipe.

Thanks for the thumbs up.

Phil

 

[inacoma]

That's a pretty good idea. And if you have it out and are cutting and welding, may I suggest sleaving it and then boring a hole for a nice thick pin so that it can be quick disconnect! i.e. have two seperate sized pipes (one fitting into the other) than cross drilling a hole through it all. man, I'm going to get on this once I get the 40 running.

I am curious though, at full dropp does your front axle now hit the front driveshaft?

Kumar
...his blocks were 1/2 inch too short and thus ripped the axle mounts off...that's why i have a welder

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

[quote author=inacoma link=board=2;threadid=13772;start=msg128193#msg128193 date=1080460301]

I am curious though, at full dropp does your front axle now hit the front driveshaft?

[/quote]

No my driveline is connected to my axle.

If you are asking about driveline contact with sway bar??? – No

Prior to the new set up I was running a 3” block with no contact also.

Phil

 

[inacoma]

oops, sorry about the driveline comments ... too much work, not enough play

Kumar

 

[PHAEDRUS]

inacoma,
the disconnects while they sound cool arent very feasible, look under the truck and at the curve in the sway bar and you will see the problem with disconnecting it.
Dave

 

[landtoy80]

I was woundering why you could disconnect the swaybar on the fj60 and no one does it on the 80.

 

[PHAEDRUS]

I dont know on the 60 but on mine if you disconnected form the axle side there is no where to put it. it has a cut out for the front drive line and if you roll it backwards and out of the way it will hit the drive line.
Dave

 

[inacoma]

hmmm, you are saying the front shaft gets in the way. what if one was to disconnect at the axle mount, than hang the mount from above with nice long springs...that way when the driveshaft hits the horizontal bar the springs will allow the sway bars to "give a little". one day when I get time to work on this, i'll show what i'm talking about, not sure if I typed it out to understand

Kumar

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Kumar, I’m with you on disconnecting the sway bar from the axle. On my application it seems possible to swing the front of the sway bar up to fabricated fixed mount just below the frame. Where you would be able to pin the sway bar in place and out of harms way.
It all looks good laying under the truck I see what happens when I get the welder out.

Phil

 

[PHAEDRUS]

NO one will be more stoked than me if you figure it out so let us know.
Dave

 

[cruiserdan]

I recently spent a good bit of time studying my swaybar whilst I fixed another bit :whoops: .

I do not see a practical way to unhook only one side of one.

However it can be completely removed in under 5 minutes with the proper hand tools that should be in your trail kit anyway.

I have never had a need or desire to take mine out of the loop as I am not that extreme :bust: But, if I was I would not want it dangling under there whilst I was pounding the rocks.


D-

 

[lyrikz]

I could not take the looks of the front sway bar “block” anymore so I changed it.

Cut the factory bracket off at the base. Dropped the rear of the front sway bar down until all mounting points were level. Measured the gap and cut a piece of ½ ID pipe (your choice) and welded together.

So far the modification has seen 2000 miles of all types of driving and looks like it will last or at least it has not broke yet. I do believe everything can break under right/wrong condition. My hopes are that during my up coming knuckle project (thanks CDan) I will also fab up quick disconnects for the front sway bar eliminating stressful conditions during 4wheeling. See any problems?


Standard disclaimer: Front-end modifications can kill you so I’m not saying to do this. I’m just sharing what I did.

Phil

IS there a picture im missing?

 

[Polak]

IS there a picture im missing?

Yes. A lot of the old threads lost their associated pics during some server thing-a-ma-bob woody was doing. You'll notice this one's over 6 years old.

 

[Tools R Us]

Here is a pic of my rears, the fronts are done the same way (cant find a pic). On the fronts, care needs to be taken with heat, due to the joint. They were cut close to the lower plate to keep the weld/heat away from the joint.

 

[landtank]

I did the same thing that Tools did with my HD links, not welded just made that way. I like it better than a drop bracket. For you guys with the side mounts I'd consider going with the under the frame style as they seem more sturdy.

 

[96r50]

At what point do you start to need to extend the swaybar links?

 

[Ebag333]

At what point do you start to need to extend the swaybar links?

I was just wondering the same thing. Sitting at about 3.5", and haven't really even thought about extending the sway bars....

 

[Tools R Us]

On the front, it's a drive shaft clearance thing, mainly caused by CC, but also somewhat affected by long shocks, at full droop. My test is done when installing the lift, with the sway bar disconnected and the suspension fully drooped, attempt to install the sway bar, there maybe interference, contact between the sway bar and driveshaft.

On the rear it's mainly an efficiency thing, but also a bracket angle issue, with long shocks the short links can become bound/bent at full flex. The sway bar is more effective when parallel with the ground, but then would be a rock magnet, prone to damage.

Mine has ~5" of lift and pretty good flex. The rears are extended ~2" and the front ~2.5", works, is a good compromise for my use.