Driving without Sway Bar Disconnects?

[The_Paper_Cut]

Hey everyone. This past weekend I went off-roading and ended up losing the nut to one of my stock front disconnects, so I ended up driving the whole way home without disconnects. Honestly I didn’t notice a huge difference in anything, except when going over things like speed bumps became super smooth and easy. I know you have a higher chance of rolling over when not using them, but I never drive fast anyhow. Are there any other downsides to not using them ever? I may even take out the rear ones since they make the Jeep shake a lot when hitting bumps like speed bumps and what not.

any opinions?

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[redsyphon]

You'll notice a difference during an emergency maneuver, and depending on the situation it may hurt... it may help.

In general, if you're going at a higher speed (for me that's 40+) having to perform a quick maneuver with the sway bar fully disconnected is a very iffy endeavor.

There may also be an argument to be made for extra wear and tear on your suspension system, but I wouldn't know how to quantify that either direction.

I would leave the sway bar connected and disconnect for the trail.

If that's just not an option, then I'd highly recommend the Antirock solution. You get best of both worlds, and I honestly liked offroading with that better than fully disconnected on my Sport JLU. https://www.rockjock4x4.com/antirock-sway-bars-3

 

[word302]

I can't believe you didn't feel any difference. I've driven for short spurts with the sway bar disconnected and it made for a very floaty, uneasy ride at highway speed.

 

[The_Paper_Cut]

I can't believe you didn't feel any difference. I've driven for short spurts with the sway bar disconnected and it made for a very floaty, uneasy ride at highway speed.

I’d like to think that it may be because of how stiff my coil springs are. I’m in a 2 door Sport with soft top and using the heaviest JLU springs I could find. So maybe that prevents the front end from articulating as easily as it would on stock suspension or something

 

[maaark]

During the warm weather months I keep my front sway bar disconnected and zip tie the sway bar/links out of the way. I'll adjust my shocks dampeners to stiffen them up a bit, but I really like how smooth it feels going over bumps or dirt roads. I'm also not a very aggressive driver so that probably plays a role.

However, if I know i'm going to be driving at hwy speeds for a prolonged period I will reconnect them which is easy enough to do if you have quick disconnects installed, which I do.

There is inherently more risk associated with driving with your sway bars disconnected. I have had 2 notable instances where i've had to quickly swerve to avoid a collision and luckily I didn't roll, nor did it feel like I was going to roll, still scary though. Regardless you will feel more sway in those instances and yes there is a higher risk of rolling your amazing jeep which you love so much.

 

[blnewt]

I don't have quick disconnects but have disconnected/reconnected the sways a few times off-roading and found it pretty simple just using a ratcheting box end wrench. Able to disconnect them in the time it takes to air down, and have them reconnected in the time it takes to air up
My small Viair compressor isn't the fastest though @ 2min. per tire

 

[omnitonic]

Until I got the quick-disconnects, I ended up driving home every time with the factory links disconnected. I never managed to get them hooked back up on the trail.

I never had any major problems, and the Jeep kind of reminded me of that time I got to drive Grandpa's 1972 Caprice. That car rode like butter over bumps and potholes, but it cornered like total crap. It was a scary thing to drive fast on curvy roads.

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