Sway bar disconnected with no trac bar?

[glockholiday]

Just installed a 2" Rough Country lift on my 88' Suburban 4x4.

Our trucks don't have a Trac Bar.

I know a trac bar is not absolutely required on a leaf spring front end since the leafs/shackles keep it aligned left to right but I believe the sway bar still helps keep everything centered. I want to disconnect my sway bar for more flex while offroading though. Is just relying on the shackles/bolts to keep everything centered asking for trouble or will they do the job.

I only question it because my 05' Excursion was a leaf spring front end but also had a trac bar. I just feel thats a lot of weight pushing sideways on the leafs and shackles while turning or in off camber situations.

So, can I remove my sway bar? Have you removed your sway bar?

 

[PrairieDrifter]

I removed mine, along with many other people. Sway bars don't do much to actually center the axle, I believe with enough force the sway bar will actually slide within the brackets on the frame, but of course to do that would take a lot of force. The leaf spring hangers and leaf spring bushings keep the axle from moving side to side, the way bar reduces vehicle sway( body roll) whatever you would like to call it.

If you really want to keep the sway bar but still be able to articulate off road with out it you can check out ORD's sway bar quick disconnect kit

 

[bucket]

In this case of a real truck (hehe) a track bar is only useful on a big lift or if the shackles being used are too long. The sway bar does nothing to center the axle.

For a long while I kept my swaybar in use because it was the family Burb that saw a lot of highways miles. After a while I removed it to see what difference there was. Better flex... that's it. No added sway or stability issues whatsoever. Remove it and forget it!

 

[glockholiday]

Yeah I'll at least zip tie it up out of the way for now. If it does do something I don't like I'll just get those disconnects from ORD.

Thanks guys!

 

[PrairieDrifter]

 

[theblindchicken]

I've got the ORD disconnect kit on my 74. With the swaybar up and out of the way allows for more flex versus with it still connected. With it disconnected on the highway, the truck tends to wander a little more than when it is connected.