Sway bar fubar

[mnutz]

Just bought my 2001 XE-V6 4WD a few days ago. It is bone stock with brand new highway tires. Took it out this weekend to do a little light wheeling. Even with those tires it's pretty capable offroad and feels very solid.

Got it home to find my rear sway bar snapped in two. I was planning to take it off anyway, just was surprised to see it snap like that. Even more surprised to see that it was hollow!? What!? I removed the front and rear sways on my 94 Pathfinder years ago and they were solid, thick, and heavy as crap! Hope I don't start finding other things as ridiculously underbuilt as that. Took the pieces off yesterday and their is no difference in feel to when it was on and in 1 piece. My Pathy though was noticeabley different with the sways off.

 

[mnutz]

Do most of you remove your front sway bar also? Is it gonna snap like my back one? Luckily my back one didn't damage anything else when it broke. What about the front, will it tear stuff up if it snaps?

 

[drbandkgb]

No I wouldn't remove it... Unless you plan on being a straight trail rig there is no need


Sent from my iPhone that doesn't crash like the android did...

 

[J Everett]

I removed my sway bars once, and judging by the weight, the front sway bar is solid. But the trucks pitches about too much in corners without the front bar.

The rear bars on first gens are notorious for being badly designed. Check your passenger side rear shock to make sure it didn't get damaged by the sway bar.

 

[xterror04]

The front bar is solid... I have mine off due to the fact that I busted the mounts... you can definitely tell its gone but you get used to it

 

[Cyclemut]

Sway bars? What the hell are those things?

 

[RacerXXL]

The front bar is solid... I have mine off due to the fact that I busted the mounts... you can definitely tell its gone but you get used to it

Since I removed the front on mine it's actually not that bad.

Sway bars? What the hell are those things?

Those things in the scrap bin behind the shop?

 

[BigMeanTam]

What ^ they said. Leaving the rear swaybar attached is only good for creating custom modifications like this:

So I, too, did this:

 

[AbuseTheElderly]

Yep, the rear sway bar is junk. You won't miss it in the slightest.

 

[TJTJ]

Yeah, obviously, remove the hanging scraps if any are left, and don't replace the rear bar.


DO look at the passenger side rear shock for damage....the link on that side of the sway bar whacks the crap out of it.

ALSO look at your brake lines and wires, etc...to be sure the broken rear sway bar didn't slice/rip/damage other stuff under there.

Removal of the rear bar adds wheel travel, as on a live axle, it limits down travel.


------------

The FRONT bar works great though, and is worth keeping.

The front end is IFS, so travel is up/down between the upper/lower bumpstops...so removing the front bar DOESN'T increase wheel travel...

..and, the FRONT bar braces the rising side against the low side, so it does provide some forced articulation...as in raising one tire pushes the other one DOWN harder.

This is good off road, as it makes the IFS a little less "I"

 

[mnutz]

Yep, I was planning to take the rear bar off anyway, was just surprised it broke the day after I bought the truck. I'll leave the front on if it's solid. Surprisingly the rear one did not damage anything when it broke, even the shock is fine. Pretty sure this truck had never been offroad before I bought it.

 

[TJTJ]

Yep, I was planning to take the rear bar off anyway, was just surprised it broke the day after I bought the truck. I'll leave the front on if it's solid. Surprisingly the rear one did not damage anything when it broke, even the shock is fine. Pretty sure this truck had never been offroad before I bought it.

It may have already been broken...I've seen broken ones on trucks that never left the pavement.

 

[AaronsX]

The back sway bar limits flex which actually cause me to have a hard time getting up this spot at woolys this summer, it wasn't allowing my right rear tire to drop to get traction, as the left one was stuffed in the wheel well and wasn't turning over (no locker, or no 4x4) So I say remove the back one and leave the front one on.

 

[Cyclemut]

Those things in the scrap bin behind the shop?

Oh, THOSE things. I use one of them as a spud bar and I chop the other ones up and throw them at the bears.

 

[Airbornenurse]

My rear sway bar has been off since I have owned my X

 

[granitex]

Cut the mounts off of the axle, you are never going to use them again. Front sway bar is another issue all together.

 

[bigjim247365]

i plan on taking my rear sway off next week when im home from school. i think ill make a towel rack out of it in my bathroom haha!

 

[TheFauxFox]

i plan on taking my rear sway off next week when im home from school. i think ill make a towel rack out of it in my bathroom haha!

Haha, mine is a hurdle.

 

[NMTerras]

Don't recommend taking off the front - puts additional stress on tie rods when you wheel, and very little benefit, if any

 

[Ricel]

I actually had my front off for a while, then inspection yelled at me, pit it back on and now I'm wearing out the front driver bushing (a month old). Something is bent up there...

She's prob coming off again.

 

[NMTerras]

I actually had my front off for a while, then inspection yelled at me, pit it back on and now I'm wearing out the front driver bushing (a month old). Something is bent up there...

She's prob coming off again.

hmmm let me know if you find out what it is. Check your balljoints. I exploded the passenger side link on mine, the sleeve popped off and everything. ball joint is shot. Once I replace the balljoint, I'll put the new link on

 

[Scott Peele]

What does the nation recommend for a 2WD 2004 that is never off roaded? What negative effects will I get if I remove my rear sway bar? My driving is mostly around town with some freeway driving on days off. My tires are 265/70R16 Cooper Discoverer H/T's

 

[drbandkgb]

What does the nation recommend for a 2WD 2004 that is never off roaded? What negative effects will I get if I remove my rear sway bar? My driving is mostly around town with some freeway driving on days off. My tires are 265/70R16 Cooper Discoverer H/T's

I have never noticed it was gone.. If you look the passenger side shock is probably dented in from it. Beat thing to do is pull it off.. Drive around for a few days.. If you notice the back end leaning in to corners and that bothers you add it back..

Being 2wd you need all the contact you can get on a trail.. If you never plan to take it there leave it on

 

[Scott Peele]

Just checked the passenger side shock - no dents. Guess the best thing to do is take it off and see how it handles. I sure don't want it to fail and cause a bunch of damage.

 

[Muadeeb]

Scott,

I drive a 2wd, street tires, and have only really wheeled it once (a couple of weekends ago). I pulled my swaybar over a year ago and have had no issues. It felt a bit squirrely for a couple of days after I took it off, but that may have been a bit of a placebo effect. To me, the potential damage of the bar destroying the right shock outweighs the risk of driving without it.

 

[dhyde79]

You *will* notice more body roll without it, not as bad as if you pulled the front, but, it can be noticed. I'm sure Muadeeb could speak to it with my "not very slow" driving on interchange curves...though, I certainly wasn't driving as fast as I normally would have...

 

[Ryandrew]

I have a 2wd as well, and I drive like a maniac, and I didn't notice much when I removed mine. A little, for a couple days, but after that nothing. Of course now I'm sitting on a 2" BL, and 3" SL with worn out 31's so I've had to slow down a bit, but sometimes I still drive it like its a civic lol

 

[Silver dude]

Rear is gone never noticed it being a whole lot different. Front is definitely staying. After swerving to avoid a head on crash this winter some numb nut who flew over the median. Xterra traveling in a slow 360 spin down 50ft of highway at 45mph and not rolling when it would of rolled. Yeah that bar is staying put. Also useful with my roof mounted kayaks.

Ben

 

[granitex]

Without the front, mine is more like boating than driving, I just need to extend the end links a bit, for some reason I keep tearing the mounts in half.

 

[Silver dude]

Lol boating I consider it very similar to riding a mattress at highway speeds.
Agreed though offroading is rough on the mounts. I've pulled bolts and threads lost entire mounts. I believe I have some grade 5 hardware with nuts at this time. As far as links and bushings nothing is compareable to oem quality.
Ben

 

[granitex]

Wrap some 16 th plate around the outside, and use some grade 8s for the fasteners and I think I may have found something stronger than factory.

 

[Kuzmovka]

So would shearing a passenger side shock, the little plunger thing or whatever its called be considered sway bar damage? My bar broke on the drivers side but my shock recently sheared off randomly while going around a corner. is delayed damage such a thing?

 

[Muadeeb]

Yep, I'd call that sway bar damage. Just rip the thing off and you never notice it gone.