sway bars

I just saw this over on pirate http://www.skyjacker.com/products-new-rocklock.asp , and wanted to discuss how hard it would be to build your own currie antirock-like sway bar.

But first, let me make sure I understand how these things work. Basically its two arms connected by a torsion bar in the case of a bar like the one above, right? And the kind available as OEM on most vehicles, how do they work? I never have really payed attention to them before chunking them in the trash. Basically they're just a large rigid bar shaped like this |__| with bushings holding them to the frame, right? Or do they allow some torsion like the aftermarket kind above?

They function the same as the aftermarket ones. The only difference is that the rate of the aftermarket ones can effectively be changed by mounting the links in the different holes on the arms. It would not be very hard to do. You'd need to have a little machine work done to key the arms to the shaft.

now here is my wierd idea. First you would need a old D60 30 spline hub, and a rear D60 axle shaft that is long enough to go through your frame. Then you build some arms out of steel, with one drilled to match the holes in the axle shaft flange, the other drilled to match the hub. Then you basically set it up similar to the currie antirock, with some kind of bushing setup to hold it to the frame. Granted, you would loose the torsion effect the currie antirock gives you, and this could cause problems, but it may just make it stiff when the hub is locked, which may work well at controlling body roll on the road. Then when you need the flex offroad, you just unlock the hub. Would this possibly work or would it just be to rigid?

One word of caution here. I've had about 6 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours, so my mind is not functioning real well. I may look at this tommorow and realize how stupid of idea this is

You won't find a d60 shaft that long. I have some extra hubs and they do fit. Go to sleep.

no sleep, gotta work

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Originally Posted by eight

You won't find a d60 shaft that long. I have some extra hubs and they do fit. Go to sleep.

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it seems like you can find them in the 36-40 inch range, and aren't there a few vehicles with offset diffs that you may be able to find longer ones in? It seems like that would be enough for the front of some vehicles

edit: or, perhaps you can slightly offset the swaybar. If I remember correctly, the swaybars on the front of a straight axle toy are offset to one side. So, you put the end with the flange to the inside of the frame rail, and have the side with the hub sitting outside the frame rail, making it more accessible.

Interesting idea, but doesn't seem to feasable.

Seem like this would take up a lot of room. A D60 axleflange is what, 4" round? Then the hub on the other end would also use a lot of room. Also, I don't think there's enough give in an axle shaft for it to function as a sway bar on the road. It seems to me that without much give in the axle shaft, if you hit a bump with one tire, it would want to lift both tires off the ground since your front axle can't flex.

edit: on another note, if you're wanting to go through the trouble of building a cheap sway bar setup, why not just fab some mounts for a regular sway bar and then use disconnects. Seems like this would still be less trouble than working with the D60 axle.

I would think that the axles would be to brittle, rather than "twist" like the torsion bars do.