Thread: Sway Bars

Originally Posted by rammypluge

Unless a car is designed from the factory to not have a front bar and have a rear bar, and i cant think of one like that, its generally considered unsafe because it generally promotes oversteer.

My County* (and , I suspect all others) came that way from the factory.

*This term used here correctly to refer to pre-Defender coil sprung Landrover 110s. The County trim gave you carpets, a clock, cloth trim on the seats, a rear sway bar, self levelling rear suspension via a Boge strut, rear window washer, wiper and demister, and probably a few other bits and pieces I can't think of at the moment.

Thanks all.

Mine has the mounts, but never been fitted from the Factory.

Will do more research on them. I do a lot of highway and outback roads. Not much fire tracks etc etc around mine way.

I have just done about 8k kms, a lot of desert work, great central road etc etc.

Might just go for one in the rear.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

My County* (and , I suspect all others) came that way from the factory.

*This term used here correctly to refer to pre-Defender coil sprung Landrover 110s. The County trim gave you carpets, a clock, cloth trim on the seats, a rear sway bar, self levelling rear suspension via a Boge strut, rear window washer, wiper and demister, and probably a few other bits and pieces I can't think of at the moment.

Okay. I didnt know that! Our family had a V8 110 county for a while, maybe thats part of the reason why it didnt flex anywhere near as well as the 2 door rangy. I really didnt think ours had a boge self levelling strut either? It was around a 1987 model i think.

Originally Posted by rammypluge

Unless a car is designed from the factory to not have a front bar and have a rear bar, and i cant think of one like that, its generally considered unsafe because it generally promotes oversteer.

understeer, oversteer, vague-steer, suggestive-steer, self-steer - My Defender has all those traits.

There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to sway bays on the 110 and Defender range. As stated the County came with one on the rear. I had an early generation TD5 (not the extreme) and it didn't come with sway bars. The TD5 extreme of the same vintage did come with sway bays front and rear. AFAIK post 2002 facelift defenders came with sway bars front and rear, same with the Puma. I deduce from that info is LR didn't put much weight on the sway bars as an integral part of its handling dynamics. Most likely its inclusion in later models is more to do with occupant safety laws than original design principles.

I personally prefer to run stiffer springs, good shocks and no sway bars.

A soft sprung defender with sway bars is great around town but not safe when loaded up for touring rough roads. I also consider increased articulation 'safer' off road. So no sway bars on my tours.

A D1 I had was running the factory setup, both sway bars, new factory spec springs, new bushes, good shocks and a light/medium touring load, just an awning and shovel on the roof. It fish tailed on a gravel bend and rolled two and a half times. No doubt an inexperienced driver the major contributer but im convinced a more rigid spring set up would have done a much better job of keeping it level and the sway bars in this case only helped to lift the wheels off the ground whilst he wrestled for control.

So a spring rate that can handle the load on rough roads is way more important than sway bars IME

Early D1 200tdis came without sway bars. When they added sway bars they softened the springs. I think that was to increase ride comfort whilst maintaining similar levels of stability.

Originally Posted by Vern

For a small fortune!

Make your own if you are cheap. It is not rocket science.

Living in the city with a Defender I can only imagine the adventures to be had by removing the front and rear anti-roll bars. A skipper's ticket would be essential.

Just to be different (and I'm sure I'll cop it for this) has anyone gone down the path of upgrading their anti-roll bars to improve on-road handling further? Twisted do a nice progressive suspension kit.

Twisted Progressive Suspension - Twisted Automotive

Originally Posted by Andrew86

Living in the city with a Defender I can only imagine the adventures to be had by removing the front and rear anti-roll bars. A skipper's ticket would be essential.

Just to be different (and I'm sure I'll cop it for this) has anyone gone down the path of upgrading their anti-roll bars to improve on-road handling further? Twisted do a nice progressive suspension kit.

Twisted Progressive Suspension - Twisted Automotive

If your looking to go around bends with less sway I wouldnt look at upgrading the roll bars. I would get stiffer, perhaps shorter springs. My 90 completly stripped of added weight sits near enough flat through the bends on a HD +2inch lift. There isnt enough sway in it for sway bars to make any difference when driving around town. The forces through most bends (unless driving like an absolute lunatic, or round a race track) wont compress the springs enough. Its a harsh ride given a few bumps, but good for a laugh every now and then!