Front sway bar on/off?

[Wild one]

Ordered a set of spohn end links for levelled trucks. I was looking at the suspensionmaxx links and liked the design of the spohn better. Put them on this morning and seem to have a solid compromise of ride comfort and handling. It's definitely smoother than with the stock length end links, no where near as harsh. But, is well maintained around corners and doesn't roll near as much. It honestly wasn't too bad without the end links, but I feel better knowing they're on there. I may end up ordering some longer ones for the rear as well soon since I'm slightly lifted in the rear.
I think with the stock end links, the sway bar was being preloaded and causing the excess harshness I was feeling. Bar is nice and level now.

The stock endlinks wouldn't preload the bar,unless they were each a differant length.

 

[hunterdan]

With the level, the bar isn't parallel to the ground anymore. The stock length links will pull down on the bar and as one side of the suspension cycles, the bar is fighting it more than it would if the bar were parallel to the ground.
At least, in my mind it's similar to cranking the torsion bars on a torsion bar suspension. With it no longer parallel, you're fighting geometry and the spring of the bar, not just the spring of the bar.
Either way, it rides better.

 

[olyelr]

With the level, the bar isn't parallel to the ground anymore. The stock length links will pull down on the bar and as one side of the suspension cycles, the bar is fighting it more than it would if the bar were parallel to the ground.
At least, in my mind it's similar to cranking the torsion bars on a torsion bar suspension. With it no longer parallel, you're fighting geometry and the spring of the bar, not just the spring of the bar.
Either way, it rides better.

The only time the bar fights against itself is when each side of the suspension goes in the opposite direction of each-other.

 

[hunterdan]

The only time the bar fights against itself is when each side of the suspension goes in the opposite direction of each-other.

As the ride height changes, if the end link height or the bar height doesn't change, the bar is starting at an angle under that. 90 degrees to the ground. The pivot point of the bar stays the same and if ride height increases, the bar pivots down at static ride height if the end links haven't changed in length. As the bar pivots, it's length effectively changes, because it's on a single, fixed pivot.

You move anything from beyond parallel, it's harder to move it as you have less leverage typically. As it sits now, the suspension at static ride height has more leverage on the bar, making it easier to move, and from what I'm experiencing, takes the harshness out of the initial impacts from bumps in the road. Maybe that's a better way to explain it, not so much preload, but leverage. And considering I'm running 5th Gen struts that probably have a slightly softer spring rate than factory 4th gens, it shouldn't be riding harsh. In fact, it didn't when the sway bar wasn't fighting the suspension. And now with proper length end links, it still rides a lot better than it did with the short end links.

It was so bad I was thinking about changing struts to something else. The road I live on has been in a perpetual state of construction for the past 1.5 years, and covered in poor repairs from trenches and holes dug to replace wires and pipes and who knows what else. So, I've become hyper sensitive to the suspension setup on this truck the last few months. This change is dramatic enough that I'm not contemplating changing out the struts immediately. Take that for what it is. And it was enough of a difference that the wife noticed it. And she never rode in the truck when the sway bar was disconnected.

 

[04fxdwgi]

Hmmm. Didn't see any Spohn sway bar links for a 4th gen 1500 4x4 stock ride height. Bummer

 

[olyelr]

As the ride height changes, if the end link height or the bar height doesn't change, the bar is starting at an angle under that. 90 degrees to the ground. The pivot point of the bar stays the same and if ride height increases, the bar pivots down at static ride height if the end links haven't changed in length. As the bar pivots, it's length effectively changes, because it's on a single, fixed pivot.

You move anything from beyond parallel, it's harder to move it as you have less leverage typically. As it sits now, the suspension at static ride height has more leverage on the bar, making it easier to move, and from what I'm experiencing, takes the harshness out of the initial impacts from bumps in the road. Maybe that's a better way to explain it, not so much preload, but leverage. And considering I'm running 5th Gen struts that probably have a slightly softer spring rate than factory 4th gens, it shouldn't be riding harsh. In fact, it didn't when the sway bar wasn't fighting the suspension. And now with proper length end links, it still rides a lot better than it did with the short end links.

It was so bad I was thinking about changing struts to something else. The road I live on has been in a perpetual state of construction for the past 1.5 years, and covered in poor repairs from trenches and holes dug to replace wires and pipes and who knows what else. So, I've become hyper sensitive to the suspension setup on this truck the last few months. This change is dramatic enough that I'm not contemplating changing out the struts immediately. Take that for what it is. And it was enough of a difference that the wife noticed it. And she never rode in the truck when the sway bar was disconnected.

I know how a sway bar functions.

Im just saying…remove the sway bar end links, and it swings free as a bird up and down.