Hellwig Swaybar - Best Mod Yet

[graytrucks]

Playing around a little with the suspension on my ‘21 XRand want to relate my experience so far.

First I installed the Mopar longer LCA’s, these seem to diminish the traditional Jeep wander which was great. A minimal cost mod that exceeded my expectations. Then I decided I wanted to try and get a little more control over tippy feeling from the rear in corners so I added the Hellwig rear sway bar.

This mod was twice the price of the LCA’s but the results weren’t as gratifying. By stiffening up the rear sway bar which did make ultimate cornering improvements, I also lost some of the wandering improvement I gained from the LCA’s. I wouldn’t say it’s back to stock, but there is a noticeable degradation in the steering wander back towards stock. I think what’s happening is that by not allowing as much sway, this lower motion amplitude is getting transferred back up to front and causing the softness in the front suspension to now absorb more sway. Since I don’t plan to do any major off-roading, I may play around with a slightly larger front bar but I don’t want to chase this back and forth forever.

Thanks for the feedback, interesting findings. I have a 392 non-XR and bought both the LCAs and Hellwig RSB. Just waiting to install both. Hopefully this isn’t a mistake to install both.

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[QwikKotaTx]

On any vehicle that’s an understeering pig a stiffer rear sway bar (up to a point) tends to be an improvement. Most vehicles are designed intentionally to tend toward understeer naturally for the sake of safety, less likely for the average driver to lose control of an understeering vehicle than an oversteering one. But my Jeep tends to oversteer already.

Is it the tires? I assume you are not talking about a 392 as it has AWD. We have not gotten our Jeep yet but I was under the impression that anything but the 392 is essentially underpowered, no? Maybe you are referring to wet roads.

 

[multicam]

Is it the tires? I assume you are not talking about a 392 as it has AWD. We have not gotten our Jeep yet but I was under the impression that anything but the 392 is essentially underpowered, no? Maybe you are referring to wet roads.

Were you under that impression because a salesman was trying to convince you to get a 392?

No, jeeps aren’t underpowered. Maybe an Unlimited with the 3.6L V6, full steel armor, steel bumpers, lift, 40” tires, winch, rooftop tent, camping gear, wife, kids, and dog. But stock they’re fine. I have the 3.6L with manual transmission and it can get out of its own way.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Is it the tires? I assume you are not talking about a 392 as it has AWD. We have not gotten our Jeep yet but I was under the impression that anything but the 392 is essentially underpowered, no? Maybe you are referring to wet roads.

Every JL does 0-60 in the 4-7 second range and 1/4 miles under 16 seconds stock. Even the slowest ones are quicker than most 90's v8 "sports cars". Under powered definitely isn't a problem. Even the 392 is still a large box with a relatively high center of gravity and large sidewall off road tires. Quick in a straight line and fast enough to be fun for sure, but still not a good sports car by modern day standards.

 

[Chocolate Thunder]

Is it the tires? I assume you are not talking about a 392 as it has AWD. We have not gotten our Jeep yet but I was under the impression that anything but the 392 is essentially underpowered, no? Maybe you are referring to wet roads.

Yes, I believe that part of the issue with poor wet cornering is due to inadequate rear grip of the tires I have. No, the Jeep isn’t really underpowered IMO, although I don’t know what that aspect has to do with lack or cornering grip in the rear.

 

[QwikKotaTx]

Were you under that impression because a salesman was trying to convince you to get a 392?

No, jeeps aren’t underpowered. Maybe an Unlimited with the 3.6L V6, full steel armor, steel bumpers, lift, 40” tires, winch, rooftop tent, camping gear, wife, kids, and dog. But stock they’re fine. I have the 3.6L with manual transmission and it can get out of its own way.

No, mainly because of the 2018 we drove but it had 37" tires and factory gears. I also have a modified Dakota and a Hemi Ram that are pretty quick for comparison. Ours may get 35's at some point but not buying it for drag racing obviously. Thanks for the feedback and no we can't afford a 392, hah.

 

[QwikKotaTx]

Every JL does 0-60 in the 4-7 second range and 1/4 miles under 16 seconds stock. Even the slowest ones are quicker than most 90's v8 "sports cars". Under powered definitely isn't a problem. Even the 392 is still a large box with a relatively high center of gravity and large sidewall off road tires. Quick in a straight line and fast enough to be fun for sure, but still not a good sports car by modern day standards.

Thanks. Not looking for sports car quick but our 4Runner is underpowered IMO and you have to give it more throttle than previous vehicles or it lugs badly and shifts too soon.

 

[QwikKotaTx]

Yes, I believe that part of the issue with poor wet cornering is due to inadequate rear grip of the tires I have. No, the Jeep isn’t really underpowered IMO, although I don’t know what that aspect has to do with lack or cornering grip in the rear.

I figured you meant the Jeep gets sideways accelerating around a corner but maybe not. Which tires do you have? The Cooper Discoverer's on my Ram are down right dangerous in the rain.

 

[Chocolate Thunder]

I figured you meant the Jeep gets sideways accelerating around a corner but maybe not. Which tires do you have? The Cooper Discoverer's on my Ram are down right dangerous in the rain.

Milestar Patagonia 37s. I don’t drive the Jeep aggressively. On dry surfaces it’s OK, but I don’t trust it at all if it’s wet. Slow down before entering a turn and don’t try to accelerate out of it. My original point is that a stiffer rear sway bar would make this behavior worse not better.

 

[weeitsmikelee]

Interesting. Subbed for more reviews

 

[QwikKotaTx]

Milestar Patagonia 37s. I don’t drive the Jeep aggressively. On dry surfaces it’s OK, but I don’t trust it at all if it’s wet. Slow down before entering a turn and don’t try to accelerate out of it. My original point is that a stiffer rear sway bar would make this behavior worse not better.

Trust me I'm on pins and needles in the rain in the Ram. I was going to get a Hellwig rear bar for it but theirs looks kind of thin compared to my Dakota's from Hotchkis. The Dakota is set up for road course racing so it's glued to the road no matter what with P-Zeros. I was thinking Ridge Grapplers for the Jeep but that's only after the OEM tires wear out. I don't even know if Saharas come with a rear bar but will keep that behavior in mind.

 

[Bay_Area_Guy]

Wondering the same thing, so interested in responses.

The power of LinkedIn! I was not satisfied with the vague answers from Hellwig's email support, so I decided to reach out to one of Hellwig's top engineers through LinkedIn. He was super nice and here is a portion of what he wrote back:

"For the 7775, we haven't rolled the application over to 2022 yet, but that doesn't necessarily mean it won't fit or would have issues.

All our research shows it should fit and there wasn't a change since 2021, but we always check out a vehicle in person to roll over each model year and lately none of our local dealerships have any 2022 models for us to do that final check. This is just to make 100% sure a brake line or something small like that wasn't routed different and potentially could cause an issue.

That being said, our bar is just a factory replacement using the factory mounting, end links, etc so if the factory bar fits, ours should too. I'm 99% sure it will work just fine, we're just waiting to check that last box before officially adding the 2022 application to our listings."

I hope that helps give confidence to anyone rolling in a 2022 model. But if you rather wait to see your model in Hellwig's listings... then it may be a while.

 

[Monster1926]

I finally got around to installing it on my 392XR. What a difference it makes. It gets awfully windy here in the plains of Indiana and the sway bar really helps with it. I was skeptical but glad I dropped the money on it. You can really notice it in off ramps and turns it feels so much more stable. If anyones feeling unsure it’s worth the risk.

 

[BillJean2022]

Playing around a little with the suspension on my ‘21 XRand want to relate my experience so far.

First I installed the Mopar longer LCA’s, these seem to diminish the traditional Jeep wander which was great. A minimal cost mod that exceeded my expectations. Then I decided I wanted to try and get a little more control over tippy feeling from the rear in corners so I added the Hellwig rear sway bar.

This mod was twice the price of the LCA’s but the results weren’t as gratifying. By stiffening up the rear sway bar which did make ultimate cornering improvements, I also lost some of the wandering improvement I gained from the LCA’s. I wouldn’t say it’s back to stock, but there is a noticeable degradation in the steering wander back towards stock. I think what’s happening is that by not allowing as much sway, this lower motion amplitude is getting transferred back up to front and causing the softness in the front suspension to now absorb more sway. Since I don’t plan to do any major off-roading, I may play around with a slightly larger front bar but I don’t want to chase this back and forth forever.

Hello Do you know if the long Mopar LCA's will work on a NonXR 392? and if so do you have the Mopar P/N Thank you

 

[thegame81]

Every JL does 0-60 in the 4-7 second range and 1/4 miles under 16 seconds stock. Even the slowest ones are quicker than most 90's v8 "sports cars". Under powered definitely isn't a problem. Even the 392 is still a large box with a relatively high center of gravity and large sidewall off road tires. Quick in a straight line and fast enough to be fun for sure, but still not a good sports car by modern day standards.

Every jl does 0-60 in around 4.7? Lol if by every you mean every 392 then yea maybe if by every you mean all JL models then absolutely wrong.

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