IF you disconnect the end link hardware, I would suggest you find a way to tie the sway bar up and out of the way - if not it will move and possibly foul other suspension, brake or steering components (depends on the vehicle).

So far these are all very good arguments, for and against running the sway bar. I agree with the statements about running them on the highway, yes it does make a difference. I have a bit over 3.5 in" suspension lift and I can definitely notice a significant amount of body roll in fast corners, like on/off ramps. So I slow down for them. I've also had to make a 90 degree panic turn at about 35 mph to avoid hitting a child . Yeah it handled like a boat, but I did not roll it. The key here is knowing what to expect, and good training. If you want to know what your vehicle can do, go find a big empty parking lot and have at it. I also think a good driver can compensate for handling quirks, to a great extent. Maybe not always, but more than the average brain dead driver in their 8 airbagged, traction controlled, accident avoidence system equipped safty sedan. Go practice driving at the limit. It'll do more for you than all the sway bars you can mount.

Drone, you say that you remove the nuts at the bar ends under the control arms, right. So do you just leave the bar hanging loose then, or do you secure it up out of the way somehow?

We just leave it there.  The A-arm will push it up out of the way if needed.  If your worried about breaking the studs off you can zip tie them to the strut bar so they aren't hanging down anymore.  You can't push it up completely out of the way very well as it would hit the steering bar.  I would pull it off and take a look and see if you are comfortable with how it sits.



On my Daily Driver I actually installed a rear anti-sway bar to eliminate the body roll on turns and at highway speeds. 

Maybe not always, but more than the average brain dead driver in their 8 airbagged, traction controlled, accident avoidence system equipped safty sedan.

My kingdom for a stripped down body-on-frame 4x4 that doesn't say "JEEP" on it.  Do Suzuki execs monitor these boards occasionally?  Bring back the OLD Sidekick/Vitara and import the Jimny and call it a Samurai!

Sorry to get completely off track, but every time I see a $45k vehicle like bentparts described, it reminds me what made Suzuki a sales success in the 80's.  Why can't somebody sell "basic transportation" anymore.

Quote from: bentparts on June 09, 2009, 08:27:44 AM

Maybe not always, but more than the average brain dead driver in their 8 airbagged, traction controlled, accident avoidence system equipped safty sedan.

  Why can't somebody sell "basic transportation" anymore.

True that. I sold chevys for a while , its rediculous how much useless crap you can cram into a vehicle these days.

And thanks for all the input on the sway-bars.

Why can't somebody sell "basic transportation" anymore.

Because the federal safety requirements prevent it ?  "Basic transportation" is still sold in the third world emerging economies - the Samurai is alive and well in the form of the Maruti Gypsy.

On a different but somewhat related note - I believe I saw (somewhere on the 'net, that the Tata Nano will be sold in the US, it'll be interesting to see how it fares.

It doesn't take very long to pull the sway bar off.  Why don't you remove it and find out if you like it

What about the electronic disconnecting ones - I see Dodge Ram Power Wagons have them and some Rubikons -They only disconnect in 4X4 LO, Are they magnetic   I would be afraid they would somehow get snagged while off roading.

I would not drive at highway speeds with the sway bar removed - try a sharp left/right/left swerve at about 30 mph or so with and then without the sway bar - I'll bet you can tell the difference afterwards.

I have a LWB SJ413 in India and have removed the anti-sway bar for some time now. I have driven some 2000 miles now after that on highway and no major issues what so ever. I have done 60 MPH easily and no major issues even while normal highway cornering.

There is some bodyroll but nothing scary

Can't we get a group of like 20 of us who want the Calmini sway bars (front and rear kit) that is "temporarily discontinued?"  I'm sure if enough of us had a definite interest to buy them, they would make a large enough batch.  I'll be #1 on the list, I want them to go with my kit I am installing now

Depending on what you need it for I would order a swaybar kit from Summit Racing instead of the Calmini kit.  I had to bend the bar to make it fit properly and I ended up welding the mounts instead of trying their drilling through the frame solution.

Unless you need the heavier duty from sway bar, then you might as well.  But I'm just using the rear.

Drone that's nice to know.  How long ago was this?  Because I am wondering if Calmini found the defect in the fitment of the bar (where you say you had to bend it and weld the brackets) and has since corrected it in their manufacturing process.  Good to know though if that's still the case with the sway bars, if they haven't corrected it at all

A year or two back, not sure exactly.  I think it was two summers ago.  With only a 1" lift things just fit together smoothly and I that is why I had to make the mods.  With a 3" lift the bar may have fit a little better, I think it was really designed for heavily lifted or lowered rigs.

There was a thread a while back talking about rear sway bars and there was one person that just picked up the Summit kit, I decided to spend a little extra for the Calmini kit as it was "made to fit".  But like I said earlier I had to mod it anyway, which is why I recommend just measuring things out and buying a generic kit and putting it on yourself.

All that being said, the rear end handles great now on the road.  The rear tires will kick out and slide on a corner before the body even begins to roll far enough to feel like a roll over is eminent.  You can really drive it around the streets like a sports car.  Of course, then you have to deal with the fact that your rear end just broke loose when in the middle of that downhill off-camber corner that you went in a little hot during the rain.  I need to go back to softer shocks on the rear, I'm using the Ford Crown Vick shocks and they are way to stiff for the setup I have now.

Yeah see I am currently installing the Calmini 3" suspension lift, so I wonder if it is made for that application ideally

The sway bar is an integral part of the suspension, it is a torsion spring that makes the front suspension much stiffer in corners than it is on the straight. If your suspension is much stiffer than stock then you may not notice as much difference. I disconnected my sway bar and the handling was not nice at all with lots of understeer, I put it back on. My car was new at the time so all the suspension was stock in perfect shape.
I found that adding 35mm wheel spacers restored the handling enough to run without the sway bar.
I don't know how things are in the States but over here you have to declare all mods to your insurance company, they usually baulk at a mod like that.