Sway Bar Musings

[sandcruiser]

Here's one for all who enjoy some armchair wheeling:

is there any reason to avoid running 1 sway bar?

with two, body roll is controlled at the front and rear axle.


with just a rear sway or just a front sway, wouldn't the body be stressed more as it tries to twist at one end, but is more controlled at the other end?

I don't think it should be a problem, but I'm curious to hear what others think.

(I'm thinking about putting the front sway bar back on to mellow out the wallowing in winding roads, but I don't have the brackets to add the rear bar, yet, so.... I'm waiting)

 

[Tools R Us]

Sway way bars also have an effect on handling, under/over steer. The '80 tends to understeer, plow through corners, so theory would say that running a rear only maybe better than front only? This page explains it.

Performance > Suspension Tuning > Anti-Roll Bars - Nissan 240SX Performance Tuning

 

[80t0ylc]

Sandcruiser,

You might want to wait for someone to chime in backed by "expert opinion" (professional driving experience, racing possibly). Reason I'm saying that is you'll prolly get multiple posts going both directions. For example, my daughter's Camry went for years with a broken rear sway bar (just snapped in half somehow) unnoticed. But, as you know, a Camry's COG is quite a bit lower than a LC. That is not a lot of help for you. If you're driving winding roads a lot, I'd think you would want predictable handling and what you're going to get here, mostly, is peoples opinions backed by their limited experience. -FWIW, My .02.

 

[onewhippedpuppy]

More rear bar = oversteer, more front bar = understeer. So adding the rear bar only would probably increase the tendency to oversteer. Of course, I'm not sure an FJ80 can corner fast enough for it to matter.

 

[sandcruiser]

80t0ylc: oh, don't worry, I'm familiar with the different directions that Mud can take!
I probably won't do anything for a little while- an object at rest and all that.

But I'm curious to hear opinions, just for the fun of the mental exercise.

As it stands now, I just drive slower on winding roads. Not that big of a deal.

 

[Tools R Us]

Sandcruiser,

You might want to wait for someone to chime in backed by "expert opinion" (professional driving experience, racing possibly). ...

If it's the criteria your looking for, probably best off running what Toyota designed, two stock bars. With that criteria I wouldn't recommend changing shocks, springs, tires, ride height, etc, individually any will change handling dynamics, my guess is all together would change it much more than a sway bar.

My racing driving/setup experience is limited to off road cars (~1500lb independent suspension) and road racing. Doesn't really cross over to 3 ton straight axle, radius arm pigs, I doubt many road race 3 ton lifted rigs, so pretty much stuck with theory and testing to see what your comfortable with.

 

[CRUIZER DAN]

iv been running with only the rear swaybar in for bit over a year now and love it it enough to help take out the roll

 

[60wag]

I'm looking to do a front sway disconnect to reduce the odds of tears a mount loose at Moab. Can I leave the bar in there but unbolt it from the axle and tie it up? What do I do with the ABS lines that are strapped to the sway bar?

 

[UCBerzerkeley]

im no expert, but people in the thread so far at least are all leaning towards installing just the rear sway bar (to correct the 80s tendency to understeer) or both FR+RR

Can anyone describe for those of us that don't know how just the rear would feel compared to front+rear installed?

 

[BrotherRob]

I'm looking to do a front sway disconnect to reduce the odds of tears a mount loose at Moab. Can I leave the bar in there but unbolt it from the axle and tie it up? What do I do with the ABS lines that are strapped to the sway bar?

When mine was "disconnected" at the front, it cut the ABS sensor wire. If you want to try it without the sway bar, you might want to just take it all the way out.

 

[cool breeze]

no front sway = little more body roll but safe on highway, more flex on trails
no rear = unsafe highway driving with little improvement on trails