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Thread: Sway bars disconnects - waddya got?

  1. #1
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    Sway bars disconnects - waddya got?

    I'm looking at sway bars disconnect options. The two adoptions I don't want are (a) remove sway bar and (b) the x-eng disconnect. Do you have sway bar disconnects? If so, please share some info on them and some "user feedback"

  2. #2
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    I have x-eng discos on my Puma 110 - they were inherited on the vehicle when I bought it.

    Gives reasonably good articulation even on my stock suspension setup. The hub dial is easy to select between connected and not.

    Only issue I have found is I had to replace the bushes last week. The only bushes I could find in the size (and as recommended by x-eng) were Superpro which feel cheap and nasty to me.

    IMO, I dont think I would drop that amount of coin on it if I was paying.
    Using Tapatalk

  3. #3
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    Hi , I've got an old v8 110 county , that came with sway bar on the rear , I found It restricted suspension travel quiet a lot so I took It off. At the time It had soft springs all round . So changed the springs , and shocks . It made It a lot better off road . Never put the Sway bar back on . I also have a 110 Defender that never had a sway bar fitted and It handles fine on and off road . I think It 's more about your spring and shocker set up . Jim

  4. #4
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    I've had them connected an precious 90's but my 110DC never had one fitted from new. Can't say I've ever noticed a real world difference. As has been said before the spring & damper configuration is far more important.
    Regards,
    Jon

  5. #5
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    Thanks for your responses!

    In my experience, removing the sway bars makes a huge difference. Let me share a story... Once upon a time (OK, 18 months ago), I took the sway bars off purely to test this out. Off road it was awesome, but on-road (even with HD springs) there was a large drop in on-road cornering/swerve performance without the bars compared to with the bars. That was for one day, but it included a freeway incident where the driver in front of me missed his exit and slammed on his brakes - performing a full ABS assisted stop from 110km/h to 0km/h, forcing me to quickly swerve into the next lane. The 110 which was about 2 weeks old at that point rocked violently, but stayed upright. When I got home I changed my underwear and put the bars straight back on. And I now keep a bit more distance between me and the car in front. This made me think about the possible liability I could have been exposed to if I'd hit the car or put the 110 on its side and my insurance company refused to pay up.

    That is why I ruled out a "no sway bar" option in the original post. I realise and accept that some will disagree and I am also aware that some defender models ship from the factory without sway bars.

    Last week my car received a lift with shocks and springs optimized for rock crawling (articulation) as much as can be obtained within the limits of safety and compliance. With this setup, the car has a little bit more body roll during cornering/swerve than it did before the lift. I want to keep the coils & shocks optimised for rock crawling, have sway bars for on-road performance but want to be able to disconnect for off-road.

    Hence the interest in disconnect options that allow me to have the best of both worlds.

    I would have gone with the x-eng solution, but it doesn't suit my needs for 2 reasons: (a) it is for the rear. My primary problem is the front as it's a much stiffer bar than the rear. (b) the x-eng mechanism is bulky and it will get damaged whilst rock crawling. Steve223 had his x-eng bar removed for that reason.

    If anyone else has another option then I'd love to hear about it

  6. #6
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    It sounds like you've answered your own question ! I don't think any Army Land Rovers had sway bars , maybe someone can confirm this ? Jim..

  7. #7
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    If you are into the rock crawling thing then yes, you will need to remove them and Im not surprised you had issues on the front end without anything to control body movement...

    For most people the front end can be left "as is", the rear one can normally be removed and then my previous advice remains.
    Regards,
    Jon

  8. #8
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    Hi John
    I will chat to you next weekend when I see your set up. On my Discovery, I modified a jeep quick disconnect. That worked fine and gave the results you are after. Only took a minute or so to disconnect with a clip similar to a Cat A 3 point linkage on a tractor. You had to park on level ground and slide under the car before and after the track. This may not be acceptable to everybody though worked for me. ( Think muddy track, not a great job to replace afterwards)
    The 130 went through engineering with the rear sway bar removed.
    Speak soon Brendan.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by jimr1 View Post
    It sounds like you've answered your own question ! I don't think any Army Land Rovers had sway bars , maybe someone can confirm this ? Jim..
    Thanks, but I'm not sure about your reference to Army Land Rovers (I have a 2013 Puma 110). My question was for anyone who had a solution other than x-eng or sway bar removal, so as far as I can see, I haven't answered my own question...

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yorkshire_Jon View Post
    I've had them connected an precious 90's but my 110DC never had one fitted from new. Can't say I've ever noticed a real world difference. As has been said before the spring & damper configuration is far more important.
    Quote Originally Posted by Yorkshire_Jon View Post
    If you are into the rock crawling thing then yes, you will need to remove them and Im not surprised you had issues on the front end without anything to control body movement...

    For most people the front end can be left "as is", the rear one can normally be removed and then my previous advice remains.
    Hi Jon, I'm, not sure about these two posts... one seems to say "remove them as they don't make a real world difference" and the other says "Im not surprised you had issues on the front end without anything to control body movement", implying that they do make a difference?

    Cheers, John.

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