KENNY said:
alright, im gonna go back to my newbie days, but while yall are on the subject..
WHAT do swaybars do? and if i take mine off, what will it affect ON the road - if anything? thanks, sorry
Swaybars work as a torsion bar....dealing with twisting forces. One end link is mounted on one side, and other on the other side... their function is to control body roll. As in, when one side rocks down, the swaybar keeps the other side from rocking up....like the leaning in a turn.
If you keep your truck on road for a majority of the time, only only occasionally offroad with it, leave it on. If you go offroad quite a bit, and require some bigtime flexing of your suspension, then take it off, as it would inhibit the "flex". "Flex" is an exaggerated form of body roll... one wheel up in the wheel well, and the other dropped down. Just imagine a "flex" but on a level surface. You'd be looking at the ground through the pass side window..now if you throw in a body roll of that magnitude during a turn..well, you can see where you'd end up.
Leaving it on for a highway queen is a good thing... like if you're on the interstate and somebody pulls in front of you and you need to make an emergency turn...the swaybars would keep the truck upright by limiting the body roll, therefore allowing better road holding power. In a situation like that, body roll is bad, as body roll is what makes the truck want to continue rolling on over the top...maybe twice or three times too.
I'll attempt to make some crude drawings to illustrate my point. I'll attach them when they're complete.