Does the TJ need a rear sway bar?
- Thread starter Philip
- Start date
Yes I ordered a Gobi Stealth Rack last year. I assume with a bit of additional weight up top the sway bar will be more important.
OP
Some stuff I should have mentioned in my original post. My Jeep has a 2.5” OME HD lift and I’m running 31” All Terrain TAs. I also have front sway bar disconnects.
Well yesterday I disconnected the rear sway bar and tried the Jeep off and on road. Disconnecting the sway bar does appear to gives slightly more suspension articulation based on the fact that I could get the suspension to bottom out on one side or the other fairly frequently. Actually kind of unpleasant but probably giving slightly better performance going up rocky ledges. Probably the only place it helped.
Back on city streets with the front bar reconnected, having the rear bar disconnected I really noticed no difference and I did use a large parking to try hard maneuvers at under 40mph.
On the freeway having the rear disconnected was noticeable. Where I live many freeways have a 75mph limit and on sweeping turns, while the increased lean seemed modest, the Jeep just didn’t feel as directionally stable. I think it would be much easier to make it swap ends which at freeway speeds would obviously be bad.
Conclusion, that while in certain cases it help off road it might offer improved traction in certain circumstances, it is not worth the loss of high speed stability.
Well yesterday I disconnected the rear sway bar and tried the Jeep off and on road. Disconnecting the sway bar does appear to gives slightly more suspension articulation based on the fact that I could get the suspension to bottom out on one side or the other fairly frequently. Actually kind of unpleasant but probably giving slightly better performance going up rocky ledges. Probably the only place it helped.
Back on city streets with the front bar reconnected, having the rear bar disconnected I really noticed no difference and I did use a large parking to try hard maneuvers at under 40mph.
On the freeway having the rear disconnected was noticeable. Where I live many freeways have a 75mph limit and on sweeping turns, while the increased lean seemed modest, the Jeep just didn’t feel as directionally stable. I think it would be much easier to make it swap ends which at freeway speeds would obviously be bad.
Conclusion, that while in certain cases it help off road it might offer improved traction in certain circumstances, it is not worth the loss of high speed stability.
The best increase in traction is produced when you have a soft bar up front like the AR and the stock rear bar or AR in the rear. That causes them to work together to produce the most traction. Seems counterintuitive but that is how it works.
