Thread: Sway bars disconnects - waddya got?

There was a design used in track racing where the sway bar utilized a flat spring steel bar to modify the torsion.



The blade sections were on bearings, allowing the angle of the bar relative to the direction of torsion to be changed, hence affecting the torsion rate.
The angle could be adjusted on the fly using a lever in cab if needed.

Probably not suitable in any way to the applications being discussed here, but food for thought nevertheless.

How about a dog clutch setup operated with a hydraulic ram or a really tiny air locker on the bar, set up to be activated when you put the centre diff lock in and in low range.
Or you could just weld on 2 pieces of flat, held together by 2 nuts and bolts. Make sure that they have enough clearance when articulating. Oh hang on....

Sent using the AURLO App

http://foundry4x4.co.uk/index.php?ro...&product_id=76

AULRO mobile app

Dan, this is the x dflex which has already been talked about.

Chook73, that is probably why the Jimny kit is done like that, with the 2 bits of flat bar it wouldnt take much effort pushing them together to get them lined up.

With an air ram and pins all you would need to do is drive slowly over some uneven ground until it locks again.

Originally Posted by Toxic_Avenger

There was a design used in track racing where the sway bar utilized a flat spring steel bar to modify the torsion.



The blade sections were on bearings, allowing the angle of the bar relative to the direction of torsion to be changed, hence affecting the torsion rate.
The angle could be adjusted on the fly using a lever in cab if needed.

Probably not suitable in any way to the applications being discussed here, but food for thought nevertheless.

Maybe not what we are after but interesting, do you have a pic of it installed?

Originally Posted by cal415

Maybe not what we are after but interesting, do you have a pic of it installed?

Similar designs were used in the DTM cars in the E30 BMW era. This was just an image off google that I found to show the point.
The driver would have a lever on the transmission tunnel which would change the angle of the flat bar. When the flat of the bar was perpendicular to the movement of the suspension load, the bar would flex along its flat side, like a spring. However when the flat of the bar was parallell to the suspension load, all the torque was transferred to the tosion bar proper.

I'm no expert, but theory and practice have to come together somewhere. For an 'on the fly' adjustment of a torsion bar, this is a elegant solution to the problem.
With the right material and a long enough length on the flat bar section (and joined to a suitable torsion bar), there is no reason why you could not get considerable flex out of such a design. It would however depend on the space you have available to swing such a lever around.

Originally Posted by cal415

Dan, this is the x dflex which has already been talked about.

Chook73, that is probably why the Jimny kit is done like that, with the 2 bits of flat bar it wouldnt take much effort pushing them together to get them lined up.

With an air ram and pins all you would need to do is drive slowly over some uneven ground until it locks again.

It wouldn't take much to have a bar with a couple of keys welded onto it that fit into the disc to assist with turning it to line it up. The flat bars would be sure to foul on the fuel tank or a rock etc with the way the defenders are set up (well the 90's and 110's).

Or I could get air suspension......

They dont necessarily have to be in the middle.... it could be on the end similar to the x deflex, or just walk a short cut of pipe on to the locking section, insert a jack handle or similar to push or pull in necessary direction.