Who says the rear sway bar limits flex?

[David Kishpaugh]

That'd be a great photo to post in those Facebook TJ groups to show they're full of crap that the rear antiswaybar reduces usable flex.

It's been going around. The ones I really get a kick out of are guys that think they don't need any sway bars. I honestly don't have one on mine but it's not a driver any more since it got a 35 spline spool put in the 8.8 so I could stop busting 31 spline cromo's

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Antiswaybars help offroad too, that's why my TJ has them F/R. It's primarily an offroad Jeep, it only gets driven going to/from the trails.

 

[Mumblewood]

I also don’t run one up front but that’s not to say I don’t want to, just not a stock one. I’m gonna go to an anti rock once I get some other stuff done that for now takes priority, but it’ll happen in the not too distant future

 

[CharlesHS]

Calico's Gatekeeper is much (!) tougher. That photo is from Devil's Canyon in Imperial County just off the I-8 freeway roughly 60-70 miles east of San Diego. Devil's Canyon is indeed a tough trail but still not as tough as the Gatekeeper.

That trail sounds like a trail I did years ago with a small group of XJ's.
Is that the trail with an obstacle called Devils Slide (IIRC) ? The obstacle had VERY loose silt on an off camber section over looking a small canyon?

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Sir, I found the source of the issue!!!

I feel bad for the newbs that join those groups and start asking questions without the wisdom to know what's good advice and what's bad (which is most of it).

My favorite is when someone advocates doing something that we all know is dumb but they swear they've been driving it that way for 3 years "no issues". Clearly their threshold for "issues" is higher than mine, and I would bet there's a lot of overlap in that crowd that thinks dangerous handling, wobble, operating temp of 225, and a check engine light is "normal" for a TJ.

 

[tworley]

I feel bad for the newbs that join those groups and start asking questions without the wisdom to know what's good advice and what's bad (which is most of it).

My favorite is when someone advocates doing something that we all know is dumb but they swear they've been driving it that way for 3 years "no issues". Clearly their threshold for "issues" is higher than mine, and I would bet there's a lot of overlap in that crowd that thinks dangerous handling, wobble, operating temp of 225, and a check engine light is "normal" for a TJ.

Ive really come to hate the phrase "its a jeep thing"

 

[Mike_H]

Going slightly off topic, but something that both @David Kishpaugh and @jjvw said got me thinking. They mentioned that the Currie Anti-rock is appoximately equivelent to the rear anti-roll bar in its "middle" or third hole. That does not match my observation, and its bugging me.

Now, I'm either thinking about it incorrectly (entirely possible) or lift height is having an effect on body roll (feels silly to say it like that, seems obvious). Hopefully I can explain this. I have a two inch lift, with extended links in the rear (zone) and and Anti-rock up front. An anti-sway bar like the ones in our Jeeps works by using levers to twist a solid bar (its called a torsion bar). The anti-Rock allows adjustment of the length of the lever arm, thus impacting how stiff the torsion bar "feels" to the jeep.

In other words, say we apply a 200 # force to the wheel (up or down) with the link in the closest hole (say 5" from the center of the torsion bar) and generate 1000 lbs-ft of torque in the bar. If the link hole is then moved to the far end (say 20" from the center of the torsion bar) and want the same amount of torque in that bar, we'll only need to use 50 lbs. at the axle. Same bar, drastically different results.

Also, when you lift a vehicle, the center of gravity goes higher. So, all else being equal, a jeep with a 4" lift will have more body roll than one with a 2" lift. I think we all get that. The reason for that is the same as above. As the center of gravity gets higher, its distance from the roll center increases. That is a longer lever, and longer levers need less force to equal the same amount of torque.

So...At a higher lift height, you need a stiffer front roll bar to resist the motion of the body. That resolves the conflict I have in my mind from what I observed (rear on bumps, front not on the loosest Anti-rock setting) vs what David and JJVW posted (which is that the third setting is about equal to the rear). Since both of them run more lift than I do, it follows that they need more stiffness in the roll bar to counteract that motion....I think...

Discuss, please!

 

[jjvw]

All I know is that with my shock travels set up the way they are and having done a few forklift tests and watched what it does on the trails the opposite corners reach hard bump at nearly the same time when fully twisted up.