Has anyone ever done this? a friend of mine has a new Rubicon with a recently installed 3.5" RK mid arm lift. He said he removed his front sway links because the jeep was riding rough and now without the links, its much smoother. I didnt think that the sway bar would affect ride quality on road but I've been wrong many times before lol.

 

Sounds like he has something setup or tuned wrong in his suspension and removing the links is smoothing it out, but it's also unsafe to run without front sway bars due to the added roll in the even of an emergency maneuver at speed


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

x2

The sway bar is probably not the problem.

An emergency maneuver without the sway bar can be dangerous.
I've tried it in safe conditions, and can assure you that while most of the time there's no much difference in handling, in some circumstances it can make the difference between avoidance or accident.

 

x3, i wouldnt do it!

 

If he used the Fox or Rock Krawler shocks then it will be a stiff ride. I ran the bilsteins for this reason as they are a softer shock. driving without a sway bar at higher speeds is very dangerous. tell him to bring it to a reputable mechanic to have it looked at.

 

Agree that it's not safe to run without the sway bar connected. He has other issues if this is his solution.

Springs will also make a big difference in ride, not just the shocks.

 

he went with the bilstein 5100s. I have the fox and didnt find them stiff but I find that any imperfection in the road is amplified and pitches the jeep side to side, get very annoying. i'm guessing my jeep isn't heavy enough for the springs I got?

 

Every coil spring, which keeps the Jeep at the same height, has the same spring coefficient = the same "hardness". Therefore, the differences between shocks can be much larger than the differences between coils (of the same lift).
(Dual-rate, progressive, coilovers or air springs, are another story.)

As all coils are pretty close to each other, the main contributor to ride softness or hardness, are the shocks.
Shock and coil work together, as a unit. The shock should be valved for the specific coil, and controls the resistance to the coils' compression or decompression.
When the rest of the suspension system is properly installed and tuned, the shocks are your control over ride quality.
I have Fox shocks, re-valved to work nicely with the coils, and the ride is relatively soft.
If you had experienced a hard riding Jeep with Fox shocks, the shocks were not correctly valved.

With the proper valving, any shock - regardless of price - will feel the same.
The differences are in quality and price, meaning how long will they work without problems, or would they warm up too much under heavy use in hot climate.

Shocks which can be tuned by the driver are the best option, as they save the time & money spent on a few re-valving sessions, until one achieves the desirable ride quality.

 

i wouldnt worry, and doubt theres an issue. I ran without both for a long time and with only a rear even longer. No one died from it....

Depending on the condition of the roads and such I can see it helping, especially on a 2 door.

 

Been without both for close to a year now as well, I wouldn't say it changed the ride at all though