How To Sway bar removal, DIY

Tonight was time for removal of the sway bar. I wanted to remove this for this weekends Raptor Run.

Removal of the sway bar will allow the L or R suspension components to operate individually instead of being tied together with the sway bar. In an off road environment this is what I want.

The sway bar is great for street driving and I'm not sure how it will feel on the street for the 4 days before his weekend, so we'll see.....

Removal is a 5-10 minute job and just requires basic metric hand tools.

This is the top of the sway bar end link, just stick your head inside the wheel well and you will have room to remove the nut.





For the rest of the removal jump on the ground and slide under the truck.

Now remove the lower sway bar end link:

On the passenger side you can loosen the sway bar nuts, don't remove them all the way, you don't want the sway bar to fall.


On the driver side remove both nuts, there is also a heat shield that must be removed too to revel another bolt to be removed.



Remove this heat shield bolt, it will help make the shield move around easier and not bind up.




Remove the heat shield or move to the side to reveal the last bolt that holds the sway bar on.



Re install the heat shield on the driver side and your all done.

You can also remove the sway bar bolts on the passenger side, they slide right out.

Now you have a pile of parts that look like this:

Thank you for taking pictures!

-Greg

I did this today and was planning on doing a writeup also, but yours is perfect.

Thanks!

so what is the benefit for doing this? will you leave them off?

fordandchevyman said:

so what is the benefit for doing this? will you leave them off?

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Improved off road performance.

(the independent front suspension isn't truly operating independently when you have a swaybar connecting the two lower control arms. Let's say you hit a series of ruts at an angle -say sliding through a turn- when you have the swaybar ON in that situation it will feel much rougher with more jolts... Do the exact same drift-through-ruts with the swaybar OFF and it will feel much more buttery smooth going through because each side is now allowed to operate truly independent of each other. People can argue otherwise all they want, it is a FACT that the swaybar limits your Raptor's potential off road. You'll feel a little more body roll on-road with it off, but it's not hugely significant and a welcome trade-off in my opinion. You can also easily re-install your swaybar at any time)

I've had mine off for almost 2 years (it came off about a month or two after I got the truck) its never going back on until I sell it. Some people here might give you grief about it because they're terrified of some Grim Reaper Insurance Adjuster scenario, but to each his own. I for one drastically prefer the feel of the truck with it off.

BOJANGLES said:

Improved off road performance.

(the independent front suspension isn't truly operating independently when you have a swaybar connecting the two lower control arms. Let's say you hit a series of ruts at an angle -say sliding through a turn- when you have the swaybar ON in that situation it will feel much rougher with more jolts... Do the exact same drift-through-ruts with the swaybar OFF and it will feel much more buttery smooth going through because each side is now allowed to operate truly independent of each other. People can argue otherwise all they want, it is a FACT that the swaybar limits your Raptor's potential off road. You'll feel a little more body roll on-road with it off, but it's not hugely significant and a welcome trade-off in my opinion. You can also easily re-install your swaybar at any time)

I've had mine off for almost 2 years (it came off about a month or two after I got the truck) its never going back on until I sell it. Some people here might give you grief about it because they're terrified of some Grim Reaper Insurance Adjuster scenario, but to each his own. I for one drastically prefer the feel of the truck with it off.

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What about the rear sway bar did you also remove it? what about high speed driving? any problems? just was wondering. Thanks.

fordandchevyman said:

What about the rear sway bar did you also remove it? what about high speed driving? any problems? just was wondering. Thanks.

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The rear of the Raptor is a solid axle, so it does not have independent suspension.

Having my swaybar removed does not bother me at all in high speed driving. I'm used to the feel. That being said every driver is different. Technically a swaybar could be considered safety equipment so keep that in mind. I chose to remove mine because I wanted to experience the difference.... Once I did there was no going back, but I would also say I value off-road performance more than the average Raptor driver. I'm in the desert very regularly. Really there is only one way to find out what is right for you, that being said, make sure you do any testing safely.

Does it give you more travel?

Humvee21 said:

Does it give you more travel?

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As a whole, No.

Independent of each other, yes.

Being that it's so easy to remove I'm going to drive with it off while off road and see how I like it, and then probably throw it back on and see the difference. This is the only real way to test and every driver prefers different driving characteristics.