Sway Bars

[one_crf_pilot]

The wife is having trouble with neck pain believed to be due to side to side sway, even when driving on the street with sway bar (stock) connected.

Do the after market sway bars like Skyjacker or others help reduce sway enough to be noticible?

Anything recomended?

Thanks,

[Guest]

I had some aftermarket ones on a truck when I was a kid (90's) and I noticed a difference.

Is it the bump back and fourth or 100% the sway? Maybe needs shocks? Just a thought.

[Dukes69]

I would imagine most aftermarket sway bars for a Jeep are going to be softer. We have a Currie on our, and while we run it on the softest setting, it can be adjusted stiffer. ORO makes a dual-rate sway bar. Its basically 2 bars, one for the street and one for offroad. I would personally steer away from ORO, but that's just me. There is another company coming out with a Dual-Rate bar, but it'll probably be end of the year before we see it.

[one_crf_pilot]

ok, well the shocks in the rear are bilstien, and the fronts....i forget, not stock though and fairly new. these were on it when i bought it a short while ago, and im sure are still good.

I was hoping something aftermarket would help reduce side to side sway.

saw the currie ad and video, a couple days ago...maybe ill give it a try.

Thanks,

According to Currie, their Antirock swaybar while offering other benifits, will actually increase side to side sway stating that the stock sway bar is stiffer. much more research is in order..

[FishPOET]

ADDCO
http://02bbfb5.netsolhost.com/aftermarket.htm

or

Helwig
http://www.hellwigproducts.com/

[inVERt'D]

If it were me, I'd look into my wife's health before I spent a lot of money trying to make the Jeep ride like a Caddy. Riding in a Jeep shouldn't hurt her neck. I've had some nasty back injuries, and the things that helped were 1) getting the spine into alignment (read chiropractor), and 2) physical therapy--rebuild and strengthen. I've never had a back injury when I was taking care of my back. Going to a doctor for a spine injury is kinda like going to the pimple face kid at Autozone for transmission problems. More than likely, he'll suggest something in a bottle. But if you've got something worn out, broken, or out of alignment in there, a bottle really isn't going to fix it. Take it to a mechanic who can fix the mechanical problems, and you'll be better off. Oh, and back surgery is like taking your transmission to the tweeker down the road--he'll just f*** it up more and charge you a lot for it.

I've driven a couple of Jeep TJs on the road quite a bit on some windey (not windy) highways that camber this way then that. I can tell you the stock sway bar is fairly stiff and actually makes the ride jerkier. I've driven the same highways with my (anti) swaybar disconnected, and although there is definitely more sway, it's a much smoother sort of thing--and potentially more exciting, too.

Your profile has "4" lift, Rubicon Springs," but you don't list an actual lift kit... If you're running stock control arms with a 4" lift, that's bad juju. My bro was running a budget 3" lift, and it rode like crap compared to my 4" Teraflex lift. In fact, it ended up degenerating to where death wobble was a common occurence. I tried all the cheaper fixes, but in the end it was the Rubicon Express control arms (short) that transformed his ride--and fixed the DW.
I'm sure a good long arm lift would improve the ride quite a bit more.

Others claim that an outboard shock conversion helps.

[one_crf_pilot]

The lift is a Pro Comp, and also has an adjustable track bar. The lower control arms are upgraded, but the uppers I believe are stock. I can say that from the day I bought it, I thought it rode very strange, but never owning a Jeep I also thought that it’s ride was normal. DW’s did occur a couple of times on the road with tires at 30 lbs. once 50 mph was hit. No DW’s with the tires at nearly 40 lbs, but it does vibrate pretty good on not so smooth roads. I am concerned that what little suspension upgrades ere installed are not a good match and/or installed improperly. That would not surprise me as the same group (reputable company, name withheld) that did the suspension work installed the ARB lockers and wired them so both front and rear are on a single switch, with the front switch not wired. I was told that was because a main fuse was blowing every time the fronts were switched to lock. Seems pretty stupid, to have both front and rear locked or neither.

Off Road Warehouse is doing free suspension inspections right now, I am taking it in today to have it inspected to confirm if all of what has been installed is a good match and installed and aligned properly.

Incidentally, both my wife and I have been off road nuts for a good 20 years riding dirt bikes, and are quite used to seeing a chiropractor. Getting older is a whole other issue…and her health is first and foremost. That said, if going long travel makes it all better….I’m all in!

[inVERt'D]

There are a number of things that affect quality of ride, and suspension geometry is probably the most fundamental; next would be the quality and condition of the suspension components themselves. Death wobble is first and foremost a symptom of improper suspension geometry--namely the caster angle. The higher you lift a rig with a link-type suspension (like the Jeep TJ), the more acute the control arm angle becomes. Since control arms move the axle in an arc, when the suspension cycles down, it also goes a little bit backwards, and when it goes up, it goes forwards. The shorter the control arms, the smaller this circle is, so the more it moves the axle fore and aft as it cycles up and down. This is why longer control arms give a better ride. This is also the underlying cause of death wobble in a vehicle with link suspension, as the forward and backward, up and down motions can begin to "fight" each other from one side of the vehicle to the other. Death wobble can also occur in leaf-sprung vehicles. From what I've read, the Jeep TJ's factory 6-7 deg of caster is too much for larger tires; 5 deg for 33s and 4 deg for 35s, etc.

Other issues can compound the DW problem--loose bushings and bolts, unbalanced tires, worn out shocks, and on some TJs, the front springs not being clipped to the axle. Many people may try to point you at these secondary issues to fix DW on a TJ, but they're wrong.

I've driven my TJ under ever imaginable SoCal condition (yes snow and ice too) with low tires (10-12) lbs, no swaybar, loose suspension and steering components, worn out ball joints and bushings, a stripped steering gearbox, broken or worn-out shocks (all of this at the same time), and I've never once had death wobble (some exciting moments, nonetheless!). What I do have are adjustable upper and lower "short" control arms set as long as they can go. Someday I may build my own long arm lift, or buy the control arms if I can get them cheap enough, but I like my short arms--they don't get in the way too much on the rocks.

I can't say I'm a real fan of Pro Comp. I'd bet some good control arms would help your rig a lot. I recommend an adjustable control arm with at least the axle end having some kind of flex joints (not heims) rather than a bushing. That's most of the newer higher-end TJ links, including Rubicon Express, Teraflex, Curry, etc. Get uppers and lowers--don't leave the uppers stock. Mine are old-school Teraflex, and while they work very well, they are high maintenance, even with poly bushings. If you're going to run bigger than 33's you really need a long-arm (or custom medium arm), as bigger tires will affect your castor angle, reduce your flex, and make your ride crappier. Whatever you get, make sure the castor angle is set properly by a good shop. I seem to have gotten lucky on the Jeeps I've worked on. :2: