Swar Bar Disconnect Function

[fiatlux]

Can someone help me confirm what’s supposed to happen when the car is leaned over to the passenger side and I disconnect the sway bar? My understanding is that the car should level out and the car drops on the driver side. However, when I do this my passenger side drops and the car leans over even more. If I park facing the other direction so that the driver side is leaned over, and I disconnect the sway bar, the passenger side drops and the car levels out as expected. Could it be that there’s an issue with the shocks on the passenger side and the sway bar is the only thing holding that side up?

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[Figmo]

You could always put a jack under the passenger side. Jack it up reach in flip switch see what happens.

 

[C6ZZGT]

Can someone help me confirm what’s supposed to happen when the car is leaned over to the passenger side and I disconnect the sway bar? My understanding is that the car should level out and the car drops on the driver side. However, when I do this my passenger side drops and the car leans over even more. If I park facing the other direction so that the driver side is leaned over, and I disconnect the sway bar, the passenger side drops and the car levels out as expected. Could it be that there’s an issue with the shocks on the passenger side and the sway bar is the only thing holding that side up?

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[brkdncr]

The sway bar connects both sides of the vehicle to reduce body roll. It does this by moving the opposite wheel up or down to match. Its a spring, not a solid connection.

this has the negative effect of limiting how much articulation a vehicle has, which is the amount one wheel can travel. If you disconnect the sway bar, one wheel can extend up or down a lot more without affecting the position of the other wheels.

to get an idea of what happens, find a curb and drive one front wheel up it. Then disconnect the bar and notice the vehicle adjust.

When off-roading you can get into situations where rocks or holes vary enough that the swaybarnis causing another wheel to lift up. Disconnecting will flop all the wheels down and improve traction, sometimes enough that you don’t need to kick the rear locker on.

 

[gbub]

Can someone help me confirm what’s supposed to happen when the car is leaned over to the passenger side and I disconnect the sway bar? My understanding is that the car should level out and the car drops on the driver side. However, when I do this my passenger side drops and the car leans over even more. If I park facing the other direction so that the driver side is leaned over, and I disconnect the sway bar, the passenger side drops and the car levels out as expected. Could it be that there’s an issue with the shocks on the passenger side and the sway bar is the only thing holding that side up?

What you have described is exactly what disconnecting the anti-sway bar should do. When your vehicle leans to one side the anti-sway bar tries to keep it from leaning more. When you disconnect anti-sway bar it allows it to lean more until the spring stops it. Just remember the anti-sway bar tries to keep it level in cornering but when the vehicle is on uneven ground side to side it cannot keep it level. It only tries to keep your vehicle parallel to the ground.

The sway bar is actually an anti-sway bay as I have called it so that may be why you have a little confusion about it.

 

[CalvinT]

I was just at Nevada OffRoadeo. They discussed the swaybar disconnect and those in a Badlands got to experience how one works. They work exactly as gbub says.

Btw, loved the OffRoadeo. If you haven't gone, go! You'll get an excellent idea of how capable the Bronco really is. I think the Nevada one is the most comprehensive.

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