josh_edwards6

I drive a 99 xj on about 3.5" of lift and 31s. This is my first car. I bought it used and I'm not 100% sure how much lift it has. It has sway bar quick disconnects in the front and the sway bar is still hooked up in the rear. I've heard an equal amount of people say to leave the rear sway bar in and take it out. What should I do? Leave it in or take it out?

Tom95YJ

Take it out. If you have decent springs you won't even notice it's there other then more articulation out of the rear . I don't run swaybars on my Yj or XJ. But the Xj usually sits in the garage unless it's going to the trail.

josh_edwards6

I probably will. I just don't want it to ride rough and I want to be able to make evasive maneuvers on the road if necessary without tipping lol

unidentifiedbomb

The rear sway bar won't make any different to evasive maneuvers, the only reason people keep them on is if they tow a lot because depending on the weight of what's being towed, that can have an impact on the way the jeep behaves around corners.

RubberSideUp

An anti-sway bar (ASB) increases effective spring rate, but only when one side of the chassis is loaded more than the opposing side. The increased spring rate is intended to come into effect primarily in corners, and it affects only one side. The increased spring rate originates from the torsional twisting of the transverse part of the ASB, caused when one end link is in a different plane than the other. Hit an undulation in the road and both of the sway bar's end links are pushed upward the same amount and the torsional effect does not occur. Enter a chicane and the suspension on the outside wheel compresses. This compression pushes the ASB end-link on that side vertically, toward the floor of the chassis. That force is transmitted through the transverse part of the ASB to the end-link on the other side, at the inside wheel. The weight of the XJ on the inside wheel is telling the end-link on that side to stay put. That resistance to vertical movement on the inside wheel versus the upward force from the outside wheel is what twists the transverse part of the ASB. This is what adds effective spring rate to the outside wheel. The additional spring rate reduces compression, which reduces chassis roll. In short, the XJ has rear leaf springs. These have a fairly linear response to loads compared to most coil springs because they are wider and mount across a larger surface area on the chassis. This stability lends itself to a more forgiving suspension with a generally much rougher ride. They also do not "bend" horizontally like large coil springs can. They have less "sway" to begin with. Thus the reason leaves are often preferred by those on a tight budget.

salad

Well now that RubberSideUp had told us what it does and how it works without giving any meangingful input... :P

The rear anti-sway bar is a great idea but woefully undersized. This computer nerd can flex it with his hands! I've never heard of anyone talkng the rear anti-sway bar off actually noticing. I did not. If you're going to be racing or towing and think you would benefit from one, you should upgrade because the stock doesn't work for **** lol

josh_edwards6

racing in a jeep? like that's ever gonna happen lol

salad

You'd be surprised lol

josh_edwards6

hahaha why would you put a wing on a xj?!

EvstaG

That's team Pettycash, they race that XJ in the 24 hour Lemons series of races, the idea is that the total cost of the vehicle is less than $500 (minus safety and tire/ brake equipment) You recieve points for creativity, and many would consider a wing on a Jeep pretty creative.
To include something marginally relvevant to the thread topic, that Jeep certainly does have a rear sway bar.

josh_edwards6

haha the wing is fairly creative. and that's pretty cool! I wonder how fast a $500 xj could go..

XJBear

You can take it off, and if you don't like how it feels throw it back on.

DieselDaze

what rubbersideup is trying to say is, removing his sway bar caused him flip over and give him his name..

on another note..4.0 is a beast with a turbo charger, an '88 mj with only mod being the TC smoked a stock '88 vette 3 times over in the track... was in a magazine.. forget which, beautiful part is i owned an '88 mj

skife

there is an entire series devoted to racing jeeps.



in 1988 tommy archer won the SCCA sport truck class in a 4 cyl MJ

salad

Ah yeah here's the guy I was thinking of.



Anyway unless you do that or tow like >3000 lbs on a regular basis not much use for a rear anti-sway bar.