Sway Bars & Tipage?

[wyomingben]

I understand how sway bars work and how they make a rig stable at higher speeds. My question is for creeping along at off road speed. Say you are on a steep side hill, are you more likely to tip on your side without sway bars as you would with?

Thanks
-Wyo

 

[Elbert]

sway bars really manage "body roll," I don't think they would have any real impact in regard to the events you describe. The steeper the angle the less a sway bar is going to be able to counter the effects of gravity or inertia.... if those are the proper terms to use.

 

[inkpot]

I understand how sway bars work and how they make a rig stable at higher speeds. My question is for creeping along at off road speed. Say you are on a steep side hill, are you more likely to tip on your side without sway bars as you would with?

Thanks
-Wyo

Howdy! Good question, tuff answer. If you are way off camber to the right, then gravity will put more weight on the right tire and make it compress the suspension. A sway bar will transfer SOME of that compression to the left tire which will reduce body roll to the right a little bit, and it will also lower the body a little closer to the ground, which may in turn lower the center of gravity, and also reduce the body roll. But this may also reduce your overall ground clearance, which could be critical in some situations. Been there and done that. In over 20 years of being SOA in my Piggy, I have never had the rear sway bar off. I have been way off camber, past 30-35 degrees, which is starting to get a little hairy, but I haven't fallen over, YET. My Piggy is 8 ft tall with the spare on the roof. John