Towing without sway bars?

Brendon001

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Oregon
Any of you do it? I just picked up a quad, and am looking for a small trailer to yank it around with. I'm running around 6" of lift on 33 12.5's, no sway bars. With my 9000x shocks on anything higher than the #3 setting, there's very little body roll or dive. I think I may be able to get away with it, but would like to know what others think. I've got a little more weight in the front end than a stock XJ, so that may affect how it tows.
 
Brendon001 said:
I've got a little more weight in the front end than a stock XJ, so that may affect how it tows.

Reconnect the front for on-road use whether you're towing or not. Seriously, this is a major safety item.

As for towing with the rear disconnected, I haven't noticed any problems in mine. It's an Up Country (so no rear sway bar from the factory) with the tow package and seems to do just fine.
 
Definately hook up the sway bar. This is experience speaking.
 
Brendon001 said:
What experience did you have that taught you it was a bad idea to run without?
Driving on the road with your antisway bars disconnected is foolish, irresponsible and if you kill someone, criminal. Search the modified forum for several threads on this topic. Regardless of whether you are towing, the moment you have to swerve to avoid a kid running into traffic and your Jeep rolls over onto the kid, you will know what we are talking about.

Please don't drive anywhere on the road with your swaybars disconnected...
 
Brendon001 said:
What experience did you have that taught you it was a bad idea to run without?

While it was Tom who said it I will answer for myself...

Evasive action on the freeway at 65 mph taking the Jeep on to the two left wheels.

If you have to ask about it then you are not prepared to go sway less.
 
Going across a double set of off camber railroad tracks at about 30-35 MPH (actually too fast), tongue weight a little too light (should have shoved the buggy a little farther toward the front). Only takes once to make a believer out of you, an experience you´ll never forget. The trailer switched balancing itself on one tire, from side to side a few times and the XJ was doing the same, just the opposite of the trailer. Kind of reminded me of a rotund honey doing a dance, you get that thing swaying and inertia takes care of the rest.
At least I had enough sense to gas it a little, instead of using the brakes, which barley saved total catastrophe.
I was following a friend home in his lifted XJ. He was tired and almost missed the turn. Changed directions at the last second and got it sliding sideways. When the tires finally lost enough traction (and the body tilt was at just about max), the rear leafs unwound and vaulted his XJ onto the roof. Kind of a slow motion side flip, the roof was a good 6 feet or more from the street, with the XJ upside down, at the apex. I can still replay the whole thing in my mind, but kind of hard to explain. With his sway bars hooked up, he probably would have saved it.
 
Beej said:
Driving on the road with your antisway bars disconnected is foolish, irresponsible and if you kill someone, criminal. Search the modified forum for several threads on this topic. Regardless of whether you are towing, the moment you have to swerve to avoid a kid running into traffic and your Jeep rolls over onto the kid, you will know what we are talking about.

Please don't drive anywhere on the road with your swaybars disconnected...

Before you call me foolish, we should figure out how much an effect a 4" lift has on COG (center of gravity). This is the pot calling the kettle black. It's agreed that running without swaybars is more dangerous than running without, but this forum is loaded with guys running 6 to 8 inches of lift and 35" + tires - if you're driving your Jeep like it's a family sedan, I suppose you deserve to suffer the consequences. There are plenty of people out there that take this stance on any form of suspension modification... and so this discussion could go on and on.
I've been convinced to throw the front swaybar back on, but it wasn't because of your unoriginal character judgement (this isn't the first thread, and I'm not the first person you've directed this towards). Thanks for the PSA... If you flip over on to a child because of your increased ride height, is that criminal as well? Lower that Jeep down, buddy. I don't feel safe with you on the road.
 
I run 8 inches of lift and 35s. I don't run any swaybars at all.
But then again...I tow mine almost everywhere and would never ever consider throwing a trailer on it.
 
8Mud said:
Going across a double set of off camber railroad tracks at about 30-35 MPH (actually too fast), tongue weight a little too light (should have shoved the buggy a little farther toward the front). Only takes once to make a believer out of you, an experience you´ll never forget. The trailer switched balancing itself on one tire, from side to side a few times and the XJ was doing the same, just the opposite of the trailer. Kind of reminded me of a rotund honey doing a dance, you get that thing swaying and inertia takes care of the rest.
At least I had enough sense to gas it a little, instead of using the brakes, which barley saved total catastrophe.
I was following a friend home in his lifted XJ. He was tired and almost missed the turn. Changed directions at the last second and got it sliding sideways. When the tires finally lost enough traction (and the body tilt was at just about max), the rear leafs unwound and vaulted his XJ onto the roof. Kind of a slow motion side flip, the roof was a good 6 feet or more from the street, with the XJ upside down, at the apex. I can still replay the whole thing in my mind, but kind of hard to explain. With his sway bars hooked up, he probably would have saved it.


Dude - I totally appreciate your post - probably one of the more concvincing examples. BUT... there has to be a "but", right?... "actually too fast", and "tongue weight a little too light", as well as "He was tired and almost missed the turn" and "Changed directions at the last second and got it sliding sideways" are really what stand out to me more than anything. There's a very good chance that you would've seen the same results had your bars been installed. Same with your buddy. Lifted trucks, particularly coil sprung solid axles, do not lend themselves well to quick directional changes. You learned to drive you Jeep without the swaybars. It was a lack of attention that caused the error, same with your buddy. We all make these mistakes. Would the sway bars have made a difference? Possibly. But I have a hard time believing it would've completely prevented either situation. It was your quick thinking and being programmed to automatically react that saved your butt.
If I were using the Jeep strictly as a wheeler as I'd intended in tha past, I don't think I'd be throwing the sway bar back on just yet. Being that I've got to tow with it now, I'd like the extra security while the potential for input from the trailer is behind me.
 
DrMoab said:
I run 8 inches of lift and 35s. I don't run any swaybars at all.
But then again...I tow mine almost everywhere and would never ever consider throwing a trailer on it.

Do you EVER run on the street with no sway bars?
 
yup...and I am totally comfortable with it. But...I wouldn't let too many people drive it. I know what it will do and what its limitations are. Someone else in it might kill themselfs.
BTW I have had to do a highspeed evasive manuver in it and it handled it just fine but like I said. Someone else doing the same thing might have rolled it.
 
DrMoab said:
yup...and I am totally comfortable with it. But...I wouldn't let too many people drive it. I know what it will do and what its limitations are. Someone else in it might kill themselfs.
BTW I have had to do a highspeed evasive manuver in it and it handled it just fine but like I said. Someone else doing the same thing might have rolled it.

My feelings exactly - no way in hell I'd let my wife get behind the wheel on the road. Or any of my friends for that matter (probably as much to do with 300+ horses under the hood).
My biggest problem with the swaybars, even disconnected, is that there was some interference that took place SOMEWHERE. It's been quite a while, so I can't tell you exactly where - I think it's may have had something to do with some of the crappy bracing the previous owner welded up for the smallblock. We're in the process of replacing much of this, so I'm going to try and fab something up to make the bar work. I may look in to some of those custom aftermarket bars with the on-the-fly disconnect setup - but I think they're crazy expensive. And I'm not sure how much range of movement they'll allow.
 
DrMoab said:
yup...and I am totally comfortable with it. But...I wouldn't let too many people drive it. I know what it will do and what its limitations are. Someone else in it might kill themselfs.
x2
That and if I'm on the highway I never get up past 50-55mph, and I always leave tons of room between me and any other vehicles! I still would not recommend driving without the front one though. Kind of contradicting, but I only drive mine to the and from the trails 95% of the time I do have it on the road. Mines not DD either.....
 
So you ask for advice then you get all bitchy when people respond? Dude, you have one hell of a "I'm better than you" complex going on.

Piss off.
 
GSequoia said:
While it was Tom who said it I will answer for myself...

Evasive action on the freeway at 65 mph taking the Jeep on to the two left wheels. and over on its side, again and again and again .....till you come to a stop upside down....

If you have to ask about it then you are not prepared to go sway less.

there ya go G.

Darwin save us all.....kick the theory into high gear please....
 
How comfortable are you with your Jeep? How well do you know all of its quirks? How cautious of a driver are you? In order to tow properly, you’ll have to run a drop hitch. That adds more to the sway problem.

I, personally, feel more comfortable towing with the anti-sway bar attached. There are too many yahoos out there who you CAN’T predict what they are going to do.
 
Brendon001 said:
Before you call me foolish, we should figure out how much an effect a 4" lift has on COG (center of gravity). This is the pot calling the kettle black. It's agreed that running without swaybars is more dangerous than running without, but this forum is loaded with guys running 6 to 8 inches of lift and 35" + tires - if you're driving your Jeep like it's a family sedan, I suppose you deserve to suffer the consequences. There are plenty of people out there that take this stance on any form of suspension modification... and so this discussion could go on and on.
I've been convinced to throw the front swaybar back on, but it wasn't because of your unoriginal character judgement (this isn't the first thread, and I'm not the first person you've directed this towards). Thanks for the PSA... If you flip over on to a child because of your increased ride height, is that criminal as well? Lower that Jeep down, buddy. I don't feel safe with you on the road.
:rolleyes:
Well, it sure sounds like you got it all figured out...
Sofa king.
 
GSequoia said:
Piss off.

Right back at ya', asshole! I only get "bitchy" when someone jumps the gun and implies that I'm "foolish" before they know the whole story. I know quite a lot about suspension tuning. But I've never towed anything with the XJ before, so I thought I'd ask around. There are MANY members on the forum that run without sway bars, thought someone would've tried towing and could offer some good advice. I want to hear from people that have actually TRIED said feat - what I got was an insult.
Like I'd mentioned before, MOST of the population think lifted vehicles are more dangerous. And they are... if you don't know how to drive them.
 
red91inWA said:
there ya go G.

Darwin save us all.....kick the theory into high gear please....

You did actually read through the posts, right? The part where I'd said I was installing a sway bar? Ah... Good.
 
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