Swaybar Quick Disconnects

My mate has the same model Outback as you and it is a great car for offroad touring. He has removed both swaybars. The differences both off and on road are noticeable. The front disconnected gained more then the rear disconnected, but we never actually measured the difference ourselves. Offroad it's very obvious that the Forester has more travel then the Outback. Probably easier if you measure for yourself. That's how I got the figures for my SG Forester.

1. Drive your car up some ramps or up somewhere that you can lift one wheel off the ground.
2. Measure the distance from the centre of your wheel to the wheel arch on both sides.
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3. Large distance subtract small distance give you the wheel travel.
4. Drive car off ramps and disconnect the swaybar.
5. Repeat experiment.

Then you will have wheel travel with and without swaybar. Plus you will have seen the difference for yourself and can go for a test drive to see if you can live with the handling.
 
Red XS said:
On a stock SG Forester you gain 35mm travel from disconnecting the rear and 56mm travel from disconnecting the front. .
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Has anyone attempted this kind of modification on an SH?
 
That travel is impressive. I have just been thinking about his 10 mins ago. The huge travel gain is very much needed. The dog bone link gets a lot of torture but the good side is that they are easy and cheap to replace. Although, if I do the mod of [MENTION=12952]Red XS[/MENTION], I may have to have the car certed, as well.
 
I am not aware of anyone else who has done this type of swaybar disconnect. I haven't measured, but looking visually at my mates cars, it looks like the SH gains more travel then the BH Outback, but not as much as the SG. Disconnecting swaybars in each of our cars did make a huge difference offroad.

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The SH without swaybars had slightly more flex then my SG did with swaybars back when it was stock suspension.
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I'm not sure how getting them certed will go, but very interested if you do!


Also I updated to thicker pins. Interestingly the original rear pin broke before the front one did. Thought it would have been the other way around. Would only have been a matter of time before the front broke so replaced both with highest tensile 10 mm bolts that I could find. Think it was 14.9, but would have to check.

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and then all depends what cars do when your 1 or 2 wheels are in air . if its just spin then freely you not going anywhere from there or if you have at least VDC and x mode even better , then you will go forward. and disconnected sway bars helps those systems just to find more grip
i have this with both sway bars removed. never missed any of them
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and in those both cases VDC was just stoping wheels that where in air and i moved forward.
and measured front arm still could go more down for about 5cm until it would reach limit . so longer shocks in front would work very well without sway bars.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but it looks as though you have cut and welded the sway bar. I'm wondering how this affects the tension on the bar as it is actually a spring acting as a torsion bar. How did you moderate the effects of heat on the bar itself?
 
i did thought about it too. its not same anymore if you just cut it and connected again. it should feel not same as with full sway bar but sure better then without.
 
Scalman: The VDC is a huge advantage. The SH in my pic was able to drive up that hill with the rear wheel in the air easily! My SG with out VDC really need to keep the wheels on the ground, which is why I've put so much effort with suspension to keep those wheels on the ground.


Beachworm: The pin mechanism, the thicker tube and the welding would all have effects on the torsion rates. Plus it's an aftermarket sway bar that is way stiff then the standard one. When I welded I had a hose at the ready and was regularly switching between weld and hose as there is a nylon sleeve inside that I did not want to melt. The amount of steel effected out of the entire length is relatively small. But I do not know how much it was effected over all. All I know is that the heavily modified aftermarket swaybar is way stiffer then the standard swaybar. I do not how the same modifications would go on a standard swaybar.
 
on the other hand maybe your disconnect is not that bad if rubicon are using that system
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maybe one could even adapt that stuff from rubicon somehow. but they need that more then we on road.i dont have problems on high speeds even with my bad steer column which have little free lift to sides.
 
Red XS said:
Scalman: The VDC is a huge advantage. The SH in my pic was able to drive up that hill with the rear wheel in the air easily! My SG with out VDC really need to keep the wheels on the ground, which is why I've put so much effort with suspension to keep those wheels on the ground.


Beachworm: The pin mechanism, the thicker tube and the welding would all have effects on the torsion rates. Plus it's an aftermarket sway bar that is way stiff then the standard one. When I welded I had a hose at the ready and was regularly switching between weld and hose as there is a nylon sleeve inside that I did not want to melt. The amount of steel effected out of the entire length is relatively small. But I do not know how much it was effected over all. All I know is that the heavily modified aftermarket swaybar is way stiffer then the standard swaybar. I do not how the same modifications would go on a standard swaybar.
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Thanks Red XS. The method you used would certainly minimise any changes to the spring rate. I have OCD about keeping mods legal so my insurance company can't pull the rug out from under me so this wouldn't work for me. Just cutting the bar, without welding would need certification. I'm not even sure that disconnecting the bar would keep me on the right side of the law as driving anywhere in national parks, state forests etc. requires vehicles to be registered and roadworthy and the driver appropriately licenced. I'm encouraged by your comment about the effect of VDC on the SH though as that makes me feel a little better. :)

I'm interested in the front bar on the SH in your photo. Do you know what it is and where it was purchased? Does it have a winch in it?
 
I like the design that Red used and if I am to do mine, I may have to consider such. I have concerns with certing and the insurance, as well. A warrant of fitness inspector will surely notice the difference in the look of the sway bars.
 
The Jeep Rubicon Swaybar (also found in the rear of Dodge Ram) is a good system. I would like to have used it, but they are bulky and there simply wasn't enough room to fit under my Forester. Patrols have an electronic disconnect in the endlink, but then you need longer endlinks then the Forester uses. That's why I came up with my compact system.


WA seems to be the most loosely policed in legalities. No inspections here. I'm pretty much just trying to make my car look legal from the outside amongst all the V8 6" lifted 4wd's with Xrox bars. I've already made 2 insurance claims, (Stolen and hit a tree offroad) and insurance were fine.


The SH with VDC is great offroad, I'll have to post videos sometime. Flex isn't as critical in the SH. I think the bullbar is a modified Ranger bullbar and someone else has a hilux one. No winch. There's a guy in WA who's modified a number of bullbars to fit including an Xrox onto an SG.
 
Anyone does this on fozie SJ, 14-18 year?
 
G'day & Welcome aboard [MENTION=16144]daklakfoto[/MENTION]
 
Thanks. Im new so trying to readup and learn.
 
The SJ Forester has a different type of rear swaybar endlink. All you need to do is unbolt both side & cable tie it up out of the way
 
i can do that too. just disconnect rear and tie it up. but i found that i dont need it anymore so removed . shame it cant be done in front . just not enough space there for anything. though just disconnecting one side helps some too. tired many things on mine in front. tried hang it on rubber while driving and such. my rubber would just snap. but in theory it could be done if you remove endlinks with something from rubber so it would allow it to flex when needed and would be up when driving.
 
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