School me on swaybars and link geometry

[Pike2350]

With my Rodeo on the market (had someone test drive it today) I figured I could help myself sell it as well as make it more street friendly to a new buyer.

The rear has a swaybar on it. It is mounted to the axle and the links go to the frame. The links are just generic Rubicon Epxress. There are multiple holes and the link arms. When I installed the endlinks I just picked a hole.....now I am wondering how rhe others would affect handling.

The body on this thing rolls a lot. I think it may deter some buyers...so Inam curious about stiffening it up..bit unsure what to even look for. So rather then waste time testing multiple mounting locations...I figured I would ask here.

Would changing the endlink length have an effect?

 

[Hickey]

The last hole on the arm gives the least sway control. I think.

 

[Tebbsjeep]

I would think moving the links inward to the bar would stiffen it up. Less leverage to twist.

 

[Hickey]

I would think moving the links inward to the bar would stiffen it up. Less leverage to twist.

I can't think it out hard enough. Too many long days of work just finished.

 

[Trate D]

Mounting hole closest to the axle will give you the least amount of body roll.

 

[Pike2350]

Mounting hole closest to the axle will give you the least amount of body roll.

I managed to move the endlinks to the holes closest to the axle. This seemed to help a little bit with the body roll.

Would getting shorter links (pulling the arms further out of parallel to the ground) help or do nothing?

 

[Trate D]

I managed to move the endlinks to the holes closest to the axle. This seemed to help a little bit with the body roll.

Would getting shorter links (pulling the arms further out of parallel to the ground) help or do nothing?

If you wanted shorter arms you would also have to change the location of the sway bar links. Shorter would provide less leverage but would effect the movement of the rear suspension limiting droop and running the possibility of hyper extending the arms/links and having them invert and break.

 

[Pike2350]

If you wanted shorter arms you would also have to change the location of the sway bar links. Shorter would provide less leverage but would effect the movement of the rear suspension limiting droop and running the possibility of hyper extending the arms/links and having them invert and break.

I don't meant to shrink the arms...just the end links. I don't know if shorter end links have any affect on the effectivness of the sway bar. I can see it would put the arms out of parallel, but I am not sure if it would have any affect on the performance. Currently the links keep the arms pretty flat, so I imagine short links would pitch them up (like the pinion angle)

Since I don't know jack about swaybars, and even less about the one on the truck, I'm just looking for easy ways to reduce the body roll as much as I can to help it sell.

 

[skippy]

Shortening the links has no affect on sway control.

 

[spaggyroe]

Options to reduce body roll (as I see it)

- Free - move the end link to the hole closest to the axle.

- Some money but not a lot of time - Look into a stiffer sway bar

- Possibly cheap, possibly expensive, depending upon what is needed - Run your numbers through the ol 4-link calculator and see where your roll axis ends up. Adjusting the mounting points of the suspension links will impact this. Obviously, this is the most work and you may not want to undergo that on a rig that is up for sale.

 

[skippy]

Options to reduce body roll (as I see it)

- Free - move the end link to the hole closest to the axle.

- Some money but not a lot of time - Look into a stiffer sway bar

- Possibly cheap, possibly expensive, depending upon what is needed - Run your numbers through the ol 4-link calculator and see where your roll axis ends up. Adjusting the mounting points of the suspension links will impact this. Obviously, this is the most work and you may not want to undergo that on a rig that is up for sale.

On a rig that has a 3 link front, he can adjust the roll center with track bar mounts. But then he would he need to redo his drag link angles and likely open a can of worms.