Swayloc or antirock experience?

[CptFloridaMan]

Hey all, currently running the apex autolynx, 10.5in version since I’m planning on shocks that are longer than 8.5in of stroke.

I’ve been trying to massage my inner fenders to make it work but Im not sure how much more I can massage them, my last trip with the jeep had me rubbing all over the inners with the knobs. Gonna give it another shot before taking them off and selling them to get another sway bar.

But it’s got me looking at a set of anti rocks, just worried about how the additional sway feels on the highway. I daily my jeep more than i wheel it sadly. But then that got me looking at swayloc again. Haven’t heard much bad about the new versions but older versions I’ve heard of them breaking or making noises when using the softer rate.

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[Jtclayton612]

Antirocks took the 5.5 hour trip to Windrock, wheeled Windrock for 2 days and made the 5.5 hour trip back no issues, I definitely wasn’t going 85 . I’ve been dailying it for a month or so now. There’s barely any more body roll on interstate than previously.

I would say you’d be able to make the same kind of evasive maneuvers you would’ve before, which is to say not much compared to more aerodynamic vehicles lol. It’s still a brick on wheels it just handles rough highway and interstate a bit better now

 

[CptFloridaMan]

Antirocks took the 5.5 hour trip to Windrock, wheeled Windrock for 2 days and made the 5.5 hour trip back no issues, I definitely wasn’t going 85 . I’ve been dailying it for a month or so now. There’s barely any more body roll on interstate than previously.

I would say you’d be able to make the same kind of evasive maneuvers you would’ve before, which is to say not much compared to more aerodynamic vehicles lol. It’s still a brick on wheels it just handles rough highway and interstate a bit better now

The biggest thing to me for the anti rocks is the set it and forget it mindset. I’ll only be installing either once I get my new springs and shocks installed but I was debating on doing anti rocks plus using the shocks to help control the sway.

 

[firedude]

I love the antirocks. . For me it is a very slight difference right at first slight turn in but that's it. Does not change how I drive at all. I still take corners the same. It really is so nice to never have to deal with them on or offroad. You give up very little and gain a lot. I have had the same basic set up ( Carli) on my 2500 dodge for over ten years now and I tow a 5th wheel with it. Same thing. Feel it at first turn in but that's it. Its just the initial body movement after that it feels the same to me. That same effect helps with bumpy roads though. With a stiff sway bar a bump from one side effects the other more. Not as much with the Antirock. If you do buy them I would get the bigger front bar and do front and rear.

 

[Headbarcode]

My JLUR is also my daily that doesn't spend as much time offroad as I would like. It's lifted about 6" over factory height and on 40's. I ditched the factory sway bars for front and rear Antirocks about a year ago. My experience has been the same as others above, that the difference in handling disappears very quickly into the first drive with them. Even at my higher ride height, about 81.5" to the highest point of my hardtop, I haven't had to slow down through curves and corners.

I always recommend doing both the front and rear whenever someone's interested in using them. They are specifically designed to function as a tuned system, equally sharing the articulation front and rear and resulting in a far more balanced handling both on and offroad compared to just doing the front alone.

I have the eTorque 2.0, which is supposedly heavier than the 3.6 with standard ESS. I opted for the "JL specific" .770" diameter sway bars front and rear, and have the rear links on the inner mounting hole of the arms which is the slightly firmer position. I did that because I do have a 125ish lb spare on a hinged reinforcement.

And a size reference of my Jeep compared to a Gladiator with the mopar lift and 37's...

 

[CptFloridaMan]

My JLUR is also my daily that doesn't spend as much time offroad as I would like. It's lifted about 6" over factory height and on 40's. I ditched the factory sway bars for front and rear Antirocks about a year ago. My experience has been the same as others above, that the difference in handling disappears very quickly into the first drive with them. Even at my higher ride height, about 81.5" to the highest point of my hardtop, I haven't had to slow down through curves and corners.

I always recommend doing both the front and rear whenever someone's interested in using them. They are specifically designed to function as a tuned system, equally sharing the articulation front and rear and resulting in a far more balanced handling both on and offroad compared to just doing the front alone.

I have the eTorque 2.0, which is supposedly heavier than the 3.6 with standard ESS. I opted for the "JL specific" .770" diameter sway bars front and rear, and have the rear links on the inner mounting hole of the arms which is the slightly firmer position. I did that because I do have a 125ish lb spare on a hinged reinforcement.

And a size reference of my Jeep compared to a Gladiator with the mopar lift and 37's...

Thanks for that, Im mostly sold on the anti rocks for the sheer fact that there isn’t much to go wrong. If I do the anti rocks I’m doing front and rear. I already have a friend who wants my autolynx so I’d sell it to help get into the next set up. I also think that once I add adjustable shocks I can play with it

As for the driving, on the highway, does it feel darty at first? My
jeep disconnected sorta feels like the front end wiggles. I think I would do the .850 front and rear .770. My jeep isn’t the heaviest but my wheels weigh 97lbs, and I have steel bumpers.

 

[CptFloridaMan]

Based on litebrights video, of their demon swapped jeep, the body roll honestly doesn’t look unmanageable.

this video too at the 4:55 mark.

 

[Headbarcode]

Thanks for that, Im mostly sold on the anti rocks for the sheer fact that there isn’t much to go wrong. If I do the anti rocks I’m doing front and rear. I already have a friend who wants my autolynx so I’d sell it to help get into the next set up. I also think that once I add adjustable shocks I can play with it

As for the driving, on the highway, does it feel darty at first? My
jeep disconnected sorta feels like the front end wiggles. I think I would do the .850 front and rear .770. My jeep isn’t the heaviest but my wheels weigh 97lbs, and I have steel bumpers.

Warning. This will probably be a bit long. You're looking to make an informed decision so my thoughts are that the more I can share, the better.

I have the Metalcloak Gamechanger with 6-packs. The shocks are awesome, yet have no adjustability. Therefore, I couldn't make any changes to account for the different sway bars. I didn't then, and still don't a year+ after adding the Antirocks, believe that there's any real need for it. The most important thing about shocks is that they are tuned to the springs that they're matched with, the weight of a specific Jeep, and it's intended use. Adjustability is most beneficial to someone that enjoys a softer ride during daily driving, but wants to firm them up to resist bottoming out offroad.

As for the bar thicknesses, it depends on what engine you have and how heavy your Jeep is. The .850's are recommended for the diesel, 392, and 4xe models or for 2.0's and 3.6's that are built heavier for overlanding and whatnot. If used on a 2.0 or 3.6 that isn't heavy, the thicker bars will limit total articulation.

I've added a decent amount of beef, and the weight that comes with it, for the sake of armoring up for rock crawling. On top of a full lift including all 8 control arms and both track bars, I've added 2.5 ton steering linkages, iron knuckles, chromoly axle shafts, winch and mounting plate, rock rails, aftermarket rear bumper and hinged tailgate reinforcement, onboard air, a bunch of lighting, and a wheel/tire combo that weighs at least 125lbs x5. My Jeep is also sitting 10" higher than stock, so it's center of gravity has also risen as a byproduct. The .770 bars have performed just right for my setup. If anything, I may try the outer sway link mounting position (softer of the 2) on the rear arms, because the rear may be a bit too stiff and is not allowing full flex.

My thoughts and findings with the stock front and rear sway bars. The front is tuned for the priority of on road control ability, but can be fully disconnected for enhanced offroad capability. Pretty much the best of both worlds. The rear, on the other hand, is tuned to be a bit stiffer than what's needed on road because it also has to serve extra duty to offset the disconnected front.

Having the Antirocks connected all the time allows for a happy middle ground. Stiff enough on road for everything shy of fast and aggressive driving, but not enough to limit offroad flex. I've found there to be less head toss when one side of the Jeep hits a dip or a high spot in the road, because each axle is being allowed to move a bit more freely. And no more uncontrolled flopping forward when cresting obstacles and the weight of the Jeep transitions from climbing to descending.

Again, just letting myself get wordy for the sake of information sharing both now and in the future when the next person finds this thread during their research phase.

Cheers, buddy!

 

[Headbarcode]

Based on litebrights video, of their demon swapped jeep, the body roll honestly doesn’t look unmanageable.

this video too at the 4:55 mark.

They added the rear Antirock about 2 years ago, because the factory sway bar was hitting the bottom of the frame rails. It gained them another inch or so of uptravel. I had the same issue with my setup. Fast forward to 1 year ago, they finally added the matching front. Here's the video of the front install and their thoughts...

 

[CptFloridaMan]

Warning. This will probably be a bit long. You're looking to make an informed decision so my thoughts are that the more I can share, the better.

I have the Metalcloak Gamechanger with 6-packs. The shocks are awesome, yet have no adjustability. Therefore, I couldn't make any changes to account for the different sway bars. I didn't then, and still don't a year+ after adding the Antirocks, believe that there's any real need for it. The most important thing about shocks is that they are tuned to the springs that they're matched with, the weight of a specific Jeep, and it's intended use. Adjustability is most beneficial to someone that enjoys a softer ride during daily driving, but wants to firm them up to resist bottoming out offroad.

As for the bar thicknesses, it depends on what engine you have and how heavy your Jeep is. The .850's are recommended for the diesel, 392, and 4xe models or for 2.0's and 3.6's that are built heavier for overlanding and whatnot. If used on a 2.0 or 3.6 that isn't heavy, the thicker bars will limit total articulation.

I've added a decent amount of beef, and the weight that comes with it, for the sake of armoring up for rock crawling. On top of a full lift including all 8 control arms and both track bars, I've added 2.5 ton steering linkages, iron knuckles, chromoly axle shafts, winch and mounting plate, rock rails, aftermarket rear bumper and hinged tailgate reinforcement, onboard air, a bunch of lighting, and a wheel/tire combo that weighs at least 125lbs x5. My Jeep is also sitting 10" higher than stock, so it's center of gravity has also risen as a byproduct. The .770 bars have performed just right for my setup. If anything, I may try the outer sway link mounting position (softer of the 2) on the rear arms, because the rear may be a bit too stiff and is not allowing full flex.

My thoughts and findings with the stock front and rear sway bars. The front is tuned for the priority of on road control ability, but can be fully disconnected for enhanced offroad capability. Pretty much the best of both worlds. The rear, on the other hand, is tuned to be a bit stiffer than what's needed on road because it also has to serve extra duty to offset the disconnected front.

Having the Antirocks connected all the time allows for a happy middle ground. Stiff enough on road for everything shy of fast and aggressive driving, but not enough to limit offroad flex. I've found there to be less head toss when one side of the Jeep hits a dip or a high spot in the road, because each axle is being allowed to move a bit more freely. And no more uncontrolled flopping forward when cresting obstacles and the weight of the Jeep transitions from climbing to descending.

Again, just letting myself get wordy for the sake of information sharing both now and in the future when the next person finds this thread during their research phase.

Cheers, buddy!

Thank you for the wall of text, truly I appreciate as much info as possible.
Just so I can absorb information correctly. Uninformed in the sense of using shocks to control roll? Knowing that, my initial reasoning for the shocks was to soften it for a daily and then stiffen to play with the jeep.

Knowing that now about jeep weight, I feel maybe it’s best to leave it alone and pair the .770s front and rear. I do know litebright mentioned you can pair the .850 and had similar flex. Which may be an option to me I think.

I drive it like an idiot sometimes but I’m also not doing skids like kevin in the video on 40s and a big lift. Not necessarily fast but there are times where i’m in the throttle pretty good during a curve etc. Which is still why I think test driving is in my list of to do due to wanting to see how the jeep would handle mid corner etc.

 

[CptFloridaMan]

Figured I’d update on my endeavors and research. So far I’ve gotten a good impression of Steve and the company. I read some
horror stories on the older tj forums. I think I’m decided on swayloc to be honest. I figure I’ll get to have the best of both worlds with the dual rates. Worst case, I might add a rear antirock in the future.

Thank you for reaching out and asking.

Torsion bars breaking, we have been making this product for 20 plus years and there has been some learning curves. Even with the best engineering showing that the bars should withstand the forces generated, we found that consumers found ways to induce other forces and cause some problems. Usually this was due to the tires contacting the arms and putting sideways forces on the bars, not rotational as we engineered.


That being said, we have migrated to overbuilding the bars, made that change many years ago, and then moved the manufacturing of the bars in house completely and once we refined the machining process and profile we have very few calls for broken bars of late. If we do its usually due to the clamping hardware becoming loose and therefore the rotation wear on the bar and hub causing the issue. Broken bars right now are not a concern of mine, me being the owner.

There is some noises involved, as we have a moving latch that makes a connection to handle the extreme forces when 1 tire hits a pothole and takes that forces and transmits it up/down rapidly thru the links, arms and the latch. We have to have a small amount of play in the latch to allow it to slide and not stick with some dirt and road debris, we have been refining this over the years and believe we have a good solution now that is nearly noise free and reliable.

The inner and outer bar intersection is the most common for the noise complaint of late, when engaged the arms will twist at the latch and the inner bar is lifted and pushed downward inside of the hollow bar. There has to be some movement here, we engineer appx 0.015" of movement in this intersection, as we have found that less gap and a swayloc that doesn't get used offroad, or a Jeep that sits for a few years, the corrosion between the inner and outer bars will at times cause the bars to fuse together. The greasing thru the end is the solution for that, and using the thickest, carmeliest (nice word, right?) grease will reduce that noise the longest, but a quick pump or two will quiet it back down.

The other noise we have dealt with thru the years, squeaky rod ends. We had used the chromoly QA1 rod ends for years but found that those metal on metal ball and sockets will at times create a terrible high pitched squeak as they rotate back and forth as the arm goes up and down... I hated that noise. So we changed to the QA1 3 pieces teflon lines joints, the highest quality and $$ parts we can get and found that these work great! quiet! but if there is any bind on the links throughout the articulation, this can cause the teflon liner to deform and work its way out of the socket, thereby cuasign a small amount of movement between steel on steel contact. This isn't a very common occurrence, but we have seen new ones fail for no reason. We also have units that have been on our jeeps for years and still are quiet.

With that, any more questions?

And yes, I think that you will definitely notice and enjoy the fact that you will have the soft bar while disconnected, controlling some of the body roll when offroad... as well as the aggressive bar being a torsion bar (ok, torsion tube) when you hit that pothole with 1 tire you will notice that this bar will absorb some of the sharpness of the pothole while still delivering great and predictable body roll control on the road.

 

[Moto_21]

.770 bar is roughly 59.52lbs/in of spring force to the wheel
.850 bar is 88.39lbs/in
1" bar jumps it up to 169.32lbs/in of extra spring force to your wheels. which is why its meant for heavy rigs/overlanders that are top heavy.

these are for the front 36" bar. No idea what swayloc uses for rates, but if you still have to get out and disconnect why even switch sway bars at all, you can accomplish that same task with stock.

 

[Big Juan]

Warning. This will probably be a bit long. You're looking to make an informed decision so my thoughts are that the more I can share, the better.

I have the Metalcloak Gamechanger with 6-packs. The shocks are awesome, yet have no adjustability. Therefore, I couldn't make any changes to account for the different sway bars. I didn't then, and still don't a year+ after adding the Antirocks, believe that there's any real need for it. The most important thing about shocks is that they are tuned to the springs that they're matched with, the weight of a specific Jeep, and it's intended use. Adjustability is most beneficial to someone that enjoys a softer ride during daily driving, but wants to firm them up to resist bottoming out offroad.

As for the bar thicknesses, it depends on what engine you have and how heavy your Jeep is. The .850's are recommended for the diesel, 392, and 4xe models or for 2.0's and 3.6's that are built heavier for overlanding and whatnot. If used on a 2.0 or 3.6 that isn't heavy, the thicker bars will limit total articulation.

I've added a decent amount of beef, and the weight that comes with it, for the sake of armoring up for rock crawling. On top of a full lift including all 8 control arms and both track bars, I've added 2.5 ton steering linkages, iron knuckles, chromoly axle shafts, winch and mounting plate, rock rails, aftermarket rear bumper and hinged tailgate reinforcement, onboard air, a bunch of lighting, and a wheel/tire combo that weighs at least 125lbs x5. My Jeep is also sitting 10" higher than stock, so it's center of gravity has also risen as a byproduct. The .770 bars have performed just right for my setup. If anything, I may try the outer sway link mounting position (softer of the 2) on the rear arms, because the rear may be a bit too stiff and is not allowing full flex.

My thoughts and findings with the stock front and rear sway bars. The front is tuned for the priority of on road control ability, but can be fully disconnected for enhanced offroad capability. Pretty much the best of both worlds. The rear, on the other hand, is tuned to be a bit stiffer than what's needed on road because it also has to serve extra duty to offset the disconnected front.

Having the Antirocks connected all the time allows for a happy middle ground. Stiff enough on road for everything shy of fast and aggressive driving, but not enough to limit offroad flex. I've found there to be less head toss when one side of the Jeep hits a dip or a high spot in the road, because each axle is being allowed to move a bit more freely. And no more uncontrolled flopping forward when cresting obstacles and the weight of the Jeep transitions from climbing to descending.

Again, just letting myself get wordy for the sake of information sharing both now and in the future when the next person finds this thread during their research phase.

Cheers, buddy!

Hello, great post on this topic.
Do you have any sort of track bar brace installed? Yeti or synergy? Wondering if you have any clearance issues to the brace with the arm on the driver side.
thanks

 

[Pismo61]

Had the AntiRock on the front of a JK.It was simple,handled fine and liked it.I will put one on my JL when then the funds become available.I don't remember what size bar I had.

 

[Big Juan]

Had the AntiRock on the front of a JK.It was simple,handled fine and liked it.I will put one on my JL when then the funds become available.I don't remember what size bar I had.

Mines the JL with the Yeti track bar brace, been looking around haven’t seen anything on clearance issues from the arm to the brace…

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