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rear sway bar yay or nay ?

shrinkhead

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overflexed my JT rubicon on the Mopar 2 inch lift the other day and popped the rear sway bar link off the driver side. just popped off those rubber grommets (what a weird design). so took the link off and it drives the same as with the link. I guess when towing it would matter but otherwise I could almost swear the truck runs calmer ha ha. Do you all run a rear sway bar ? Cons to not running it ?
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Jeepin' John

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I run a hellwig rear bar set on the first hole (stiffest) and love it for the street. With the oem bar, the jeep felt "front heavy" in normal turns. The hellwig bar on the center hole was an improvement, but the first hole "feels" completely neutral and the handling feel is fantastic.

Warning (in general - not you specifically): all factory vehicles are set up with a healthy amount of understeer (front bar overly stiff) for safety purposes. A "neutral" setup with a stiffer rear bar can switch from understeer to oversteer instantly, and you have to be prepared / understand how to manage that oversteer. When in doubt, leave the hellwig on the center hole and that will maintain some small amount of understeer.

Next is going to be fabricating a rear sway bar disconnect so that i can go from stiff rear bar on the street to no rear bar on the trail. I've got an idea, just need some time to cut and drill some steel angles to mount to the rear axle bump stop pads

Not sure how much the oem rear sway bar does, but i do know that having it likely does "something" and the hellwig is a huge improvement
 

spectre6000

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...so took the link off and it drives the same as with the link. I guess when towing it would matter but otherwise I could almost swear the truck runs calmer ha ha.
You won't notice a huge difference until you find yourself in an emergency handling situation. It's like a seat belt in that you don't really need it until you REALLY need it, and then it had better be there or you'll regret it. It's best left in tact on the road.

Off road, a debate can be had about flex and what not, but I'll not wade into those waters.
 

Rubi_Rhod

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I run a hellwig rear bar set on the first hole (stiffest) and love it for the street. With the oem bar, the jeep felt "front heavy" in normal turns. The hellwig bar on the center hole was an improvement, but the first hole "feels" completely neutral and the handling feel is fantastic.
Well said. I just put one in myself and it was a marked difference. With the lift and the camper it was feeling really ponderous. On the first hole, itā€™s quite sharp.

I like a little sway, so did pop it back to the middle and itā€™s much more back to stock, but handles the weight and higher center of gravity much better.
 

Blade1668

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Off road as long as it doesn't flex enough to drop out a coil spring.
My XJ (disconnected) in front with little effort I could remove the coil spring on the un-compressed spring side when flexed. Something I'd not want to happen off road or on is a coil spring to drop out. If so limiting straps might be a good thing to add.šŸ¤”
I know a XJ is not the same thing but some things to think on.
 

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Wheelin98TJ

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You won't notice a huge difference until you find yourself in an emergency handling situation. It's like a seat belt in that you don't really need it until you REALLY need it, and then it had better be there or you'll regret it. It's best left in tact on the road.

Off road, a debate can be had about flex and what not, but I'll not wade into those waters.
I'll bite. šŸ˜

What good does it do to keep a tire on the ground if there is no weight there?

I'd rather have the body above the axles and hang a tire in the air versus the body flopping around and the tires staying planted.
 

spectre6000

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The sway bar keeps the body planted. Instead of swaying around over the axles and leaning into curves as you describe, as the weight shifts such that the body wants to lean into one side or the other, the sway bar pulls the opposite, unloaded wheel up (or really, the body down) to match according to the strength of the sway bar spring. This results in the vehicle effectively squatting into corners rather than leaning into them. There's plenty more about how you juggle the relative spring strength from axle to axle and how it affects handling vis a vis under/over steer, but this is not a track car forum.
 
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shrinkhead

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I am curious though how much of a difference this makes in an emergency evade situation where you are not putting power down but you are likely breaking or neutral. On a track car it makes a lot of sense and when towing too. Would not putting weight on the bed do more good ? Since the truck gets sooooooo nose heavy when braking with all the suspension travel upfront and no weight in the back
p.s. I will reattach it
 

spectre6000

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It makes enough of a difference that Jeep figured it was worth the cost of the R&D, parts to build, assembly labor, and inventory to maintain. Add to that the limitation it adds to suspension flex on a vehicle intended for flexy suspension. It's probably worth keeping around on road.

Now if there were some decent and easy disconnects for it to be used at slow speeds off road, I'd say that's just fine. Again, that seems to be one of those things people like to disagree about, and I don't want to open that can of worms.
 

Wheelin98TJ

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It'd be interesting to know how much the rear bar limits travel.

Would not surprise me if it was only an inch or so.
 

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Jeepin' John

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I am curious though how much of a difference this makes in an emergency evade situation where you are not putting power down but you are likely breaking or neutral. On a track car it makes a lot of sense and when towing too. Would not putting weight on the bed do more good ? Since the truck gets sooooooo nose heavy when braking with all the suspension travel upfront and no weight in the back
p.s. I will reattach it
In all turning situations, braking or not braking, you will have more understeer than oem, which means you'll lose front end grip sooner, and your jeep will be sliding straight into what you're trying not to hit

The oem rear bar is not very stiff, but it's something. Probably does not limit flex much at all

I'm more interested in a rear bar disconnect due to running the hellwig on the stiffest setting on the street. I did take mine on an easy trail and can confirm front bar connected and hellwig rear connected on stiffest setting is NOT pleasant, lol. My options are a rear disconnect or putting the hellwig on the last hole the night before a wheeling trip
 

sass JT

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I decided one day to take my rear oem swaybar off and disconnect the front on my JTR. Then went around a roundaboutā€¦ nope swayed so bad I put the oem back on.

I bought a rockjock rear antirock recently and will be putting it on this weekendā€¦ as long as I get my friend to helpā€¦ to get the lower swaybar out of the way of hitting rocks but to keep some tension while going around corners and being in the trails
 

Rubi_Rhod

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I am curious though how much of a difference this makes in an emergency evade situation where you are not putting power down but you are likely breaking or neutral. On a track car it makes a lot of sense and when towing too. Would not putting weight on the bed do more good ? Since the truck gets sooooooo nose heavy when braking with all the suspension travel upfront and no weight in the back
p.s. I will reattach it
Adding weight just causes more issues. The sway bar adds resistance to the lateral movements. It wonā€™t do anything for nose dive, thats other adjustments to deal with that. But in an emergency maneuver, this keeps tires planted and body motions curtailed so your steering has a better ability to correct and not just plow into understeer or snap oversteer. Adding weight without correcting the motions just increases the potential for problems as weight is the enemy here for dynamic control.


On another note, I did an alignment with proper tools this time and it greatly fixed itā€™s awkward steering inputs. I now have the rear sway bar on its stiffest setting and it feels super dialed in now. The Mopar lift is on the softer side of things, so it has the initial turn in movement, but stiffens up and feels much more confident than before. Lifted and with a good 700+ pounds of added gear and accessories, it drives as good, if not a little better than it did stock.
 

Marine2947

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Anyone do the Hellwig rear sway bar that has 37 inch tires and 3.5 inch lift, any issues with fitnent, spare tire clearance etc?
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