Thread: D1 Sway Bar Disconnects?

DC,

are you looking for front or rear disconnects?

I took my rear sway bar off last week and have noticed absolutely no difference in handling. It doesnt lean into (or out of) corners and rides the same even when pushed a bit hard, I would have no hesitation in suggesting taking the rear one off, but I am not sure about the front one

hope that helps

There's nothing I know of commercially available but you can make some up yourself very cheaply using commonly available parts.
pm me if you want more details. ( or for a hint look in my photo gallery )
Being an engineer you could probably even improve on the simple design.

Thanks Shorty and WayneP. I'm looking at doing both sway bars for maximum effect. This is rumoured to give up to an extra 5" of articulation, and without lockers, I need it. I was thinking of doing the hitch pin type design (saw a similar thing used on an XJ some time ago) but my concern would be the long-term durability of it as the bushes would allow the pin to rock over under articulation/cornering loads, possibly chewing the edges of the sway bar and link holes. I was hoping someone did a co-axial type. Any feedback on how yours has gone and how it's surviving, WP?

I've taken the hitch pin style disconnects off now and gone back to the standard bolts. I had them on for 6 months with no real issues. There doesn't seem to be a lot of stress on the swaybars in normal driving situations. There was no wear evident on the pins or bushes. When the stress might be applied, in extreme artic situations, you'd have them disconnected anyway.

The only reason I went back to standard is because of insurance/legality concerns. Anyway, I don't really do anything these days that requires the extra artic.

Plus I have a Maxi Drive locker in the rear that sees me out of most problems,

I hope you don't mind, but a bit of an aside......

Did some 4wding last weekend and had the rear suspension articulating to the max, the rear antiroll bar links inverted and ended up resting against the bottom of the coil (does that make sense?). The end result is that I have to replace the 'D' bushes and the bottom link bushes as both are well beyond it.

Is this a common thing amongst D1 owners? I have toyed with the idea of removing the rear roll bar altogether, but am wary because of insurance and legality issues. I would be very interested Discoclax if you were able to find a reasonably simple setup for a sway bar disconnect. As far as engineering goes, I could design you and build a high voltage transmission line, but mechanical design is a bit out of my territory.