has anyone done this mod, my waggy rear springs are a bit soft for the road and towing is not always an option. after two people I know have rolled theirs on the road, Im thinking this would be a good upgrade (with disconnects of coarse) instead of stiffening the springs and suffering offroad. what do you guys think.

I totally agree, I'm going to try to do this too, I'm thinking one from a new TJ or something might be the right width to fit inside the frame rails in the rear, but I haven't measured anything yet.

Try a set of Rancho 9000's. I know you hate to buy new stuff but if you get some NEW 9000's and mount them as near to vertical in the rear as you can, you will find that they will control most of your body roll when adjusted to 4 or 5.

Another advantage is they will limit bouncing when you are getting it up a loose rocky hill.

Hot Rod Off Road sells them new for $59 each + shipping.

unfortunately I was banking on that happening and bought a new set from hotrod and it didnt help much. You actually get kinda used to it, but Im real uncomfertable wit the kids riding with me like this.
the only thing I can think of is getting one off a 55 or something. I have the remnants of one off a 45 with pieces missing I may try.
I thought about the jeep idea, but the fact their rear is centered might make the shape of the bar unusable.

2" backspacing wheels? Widen it out as much as possible.

A thought...

great minds think alike, Im placing an order after christmas. Think that will help body roll though? I was actually thinking of stiffening the springs a bit, but that would be totally counterproductive off road. I doubt I would be able to hit a happy medium anyways. BTW: I couldnt be happier with it offroad.

69Cruzer,

The backspacing won't impact vehicle roll a bit, but it *may* increase rollover resistance a very small amount. Trouble is, this will help only when you're lifting tires and so close that a small imperfection in the road surface at the wrong moment and over you go anyway.

I use AirLift air springs in my rear coils to limit body roll when I want it, and air them down to preserve articulation offroad. You have leafs, but there are some products designed for leafs as well. These bolt onto the frame and axle rather than sit in the coils like mine do. You could install them as a quick disconnect system you'd have to build yourself (simple pins with a removeable clip would do it) to remove at the trail head.

Also, stiffening the rear suspension against sway like this, or using a swaybar would cause the front end to slide first at the cornering limit. Definitely a better scenario than the rear sliding - almost a certain roll scenario for a top heavy rig like yours. As for swaybars, be advised the torque on a sway bar is measured in thousands of ft-lbs, so if you go that route get serious about the mounts and welding on them is a definite no-no.

I was looking at a 75 series today. It had one on the front only. It was a stock set-up. The sway bar was mounted on the front of the axle with the 90degree bends gong over the axle between the perch and the knuckle. The short uprights were then connected to a small plate mounted behind the shock tower, hanging down a little from the chassis rail.

It makes sense to put it on the front casuse that's where all the weight is. Imagine a case where the back end is extremely light. If the sway bar was on the back it would cause the inside back wheel to lift off o a hard corner.

Sure the 2" BS wheels will help you stabilize your rig, but it won't help with body roll, however, rollover resistance is what you are looking for, right?

OK, when I first did my SOA with 55 springs, I had my rear shocks at an angle from the spring perches at the axle tube to nearly touching at the top.

My line of thinking was that I could use a longer shock and get more droop.

Well, I had WAY more shock than I needed with the 9012's done like this, so I switched to 9112's and went back to the stock mounting location at the top.

When I did this, I did two things: 1) shorter shocks, but they do not limit my droop, nor do they bottom out on full compression like the 9012's did.

2) By installing the shocks at a1 15* v 45*, the shocks are much more efficient at doing their job.

Now my body roll is minimal as is the bouncing I used to get on steep, loose climbs.

Just some ideas before you screw with a bar you have to take off and put on.

I have put some thought into this too, i would recomend doing front and rear if you are going to bother. Also use one that came off of a vehicle, not just a piece of round stock beause they are a defferent type of steel. Check out the ones that are on the front of four wheel drive chevy solid axle pick-ups. if i remember right they are kinda narow and would work pretty good for the back.

Hope that helps.

Ian-

thanks for the input but a couple of more questions for you :D
as far as the front sway bars go, do jeeps have them? what about 55s or 60s? how do you think it would work with just the rear? Right now Im toying around with the idea of rigging a rear one up from a 55. just cause I have access to the parts for free :D

hey IAN: I sent that lockrite back and they sent me a nice shiny new one, which I promply sold and welded the rear up. :D

I just pulled mine off of my 55.

Damn travel limiter!! hehe

(Too lazy to fab disconnects and then have to actually use them)

hey dan:
got pics?

Wouldn't it be easier to run somehting like the Curie Antirock stabilizer?
I belive that the s10 Blazers had something similar. Piece of cake to install and disconnects would be easy too. There is a guy in Reno that has the currie ones on his cruiser. Glen? He has the big white cruiser that was in Toyota trails a while ago. Coils on all four and running 39.5's (and Birfields!!!:eek: )
With a stabilizer design like that you would not have to loose any ground clearance and mounting it would be easy...

more info please. Im definently open to anything

Have you ever looked in at a VW bug? Think if the rear suspension. A nice stiff torsion bar that is only connected to itself (axle can move up and down just fine but the whole axle wants to move at once, not an individual side at a time.)
Here is a cheesy pic of the antirock bar

antirock bar (http://www.pmdessentials.co.uk/catalog/performance.htm)

I am having a hard time describing in my head how this works. But it does. Let me think about it for a while...

300 bucks and still would have to custom mount it :eek:

Ive never paid attention to sway bars before so any info no matter how basic is news to me and appreciated. :D ;D

Lemme get my DV camera and crawl under it this weekend. I will take pics of the mounting points and the bar itself.

You could probably rig something up pretty similar to it.

FJ-55s came with stock rear sways, so you could probably adapt it to a 40.

you could get a 55 or 47 rear, and a 60 or 75 front, the 60 diffs are a couple inches wider, and you may have to narrow it up some, but apart from that, its all good!! :D

i know a guy thats done a couple and it seems pretty easy to rig up :rasta: