- All right, guys, I want you to do me a favor.
I want you to imagine a wheelbarrow,
the ones with just the single wheel up front
and the two grab handles in the back.
Now, imagine you're holding up the wheelbarrow
off the ground.
And before we even begin
to throw anything into the wheelbarrow,
your job is to keep it as level to the ground as possible
without letting the legs touch the ground.
Now, I'm gonna start shoveling dirt
and throwing it into the wheelbarrow.
With every shovel full of dirt going into the wheelbarrow,
guess what's happening.
The weight from the dirt becomes increasingly heavier
and the more strength you'll need
to keep the wheelbarrow level with the ground
to offset or combat the additional forces from the weight.
And that's pretty much exactly how an anti-sway bar works,
well, I mean, not precisely exactly,
but the principle of this example gives a pretty good image
of what we're about to go through with you guys.
Also known as roll bars, anti-roll bars, stabilizers,
or sway bars, and anti-sway bar
reduces your vehicle's body roll and sway.
Anti-sway bars are an important component
of a vehicle's suspension
and not every vehicle has a sway bar,
but they can be extremely useful,
especially for lifted four-wheel drive vehicles.
Like my wheelbarrow example,
the more your vehicle is forced to turn
throughout a curve or a corner,
the more the gravitational forces are going to shift
towards the side of the vehicle
on the outside of the corner,
and the more the anti-sway bar is going to have to work
to counteract those forces
to keep the vehicle as level as possible,
just like when you were holding up the wheelbarrow
as more weight was thrown into it.
some of you out there watching this right now
who don't run any sway bars on your off-road vehicle,
well, you guys know exactly what I'm talking about.
Simply put, a sway bar is a torsional spring
that connects to both the left and right sides
of the suspension to reduce body roll.
When both wheels take a bump equally,
the wheels move the same amount
without twisting the anti-roll bar.
Individual wheel movement or body roll
will force the bar to twist as the lever arms are moved,
thereby adding the bar's own spring rate
to that of the vehicle springs.
Although an anti-roll bar's main function
is to reduce body roll in cornering,
it also influences your vehicle's overall handling
more than you would think.
And one major vehicle performance limitation
that a lot of us we either forget to think about,
or maybe we're just not even aware of it
is the overloading of our four by fours
with too much weight,
more than the vehicle is even designed to handle.
And then on top of that,
we increase the center of gravity by lifting our vehicles
and in return decrease the stability of our four by fours,
especially when it's windy or when we're off-roading
in situations where we might be sidehilling
and off-camber.
When we start adding more weight on
or in the vehicle itself, especially with a lifted vehicle,
the harder the sway bar has to work
when cornering or off-roading.
If we add more weight than what the threshold capacity
of the anti-sway bar is, the higher the chances are
that the vehicle may roll over.
This is where it's important
to know your vehicle's gross weight capacity rating,
and to not only make sure you're staying
within those weight carrying capacities,
but also to make sure you're not loading too much weight
too high up on the vehicle either.
This is where it makes the most sense
to try and keep as much cargo weight as possible,
as low on your vehicle as possible.
Because as much as we'd love to upgrade our anti-sway bars
to something stronger and more beefier,
and will keep your vehicle more stable
while carrying extra weight,
the truth of the matter is that
if we end up going that route,
then we end up sacrificing the suspension's capabilities
by limiting the amount of articulation we often need
when off-roading.
The stiffer the sway bar is the more it'll reduce
the full extension of our suspension
and the pressure of the tire contacting the ground
when the opposing tire is trying to climb up an obstacle.
And this is exactly why many avid off-road enthusiasts
will purchase quick disconnects
like the ones from JKS Manufacturing,
or why several automotive brands will include an option
for an electronically controlled disconnecting sway bar
or a hydraulically controlled sway bar disconnect
like on the new Ford horses, Broncos,
horse Broncos, Broncos.
Anyways, anti-sway bars were great for on-road handling,
but handicapped our vehicles off-road performance
by not allowing the suspension to work
at its maximum articulation potential.
Besides having factory sway bar disconnects
or the JKS quick disconnects,
there are also the off-road friendly anti-sway bars
that provide a balanced performance of the front
and rear suspension for rugged off-road conditions,
as well as a balanced on-road handling feel.
They distribute the weight and traction over all four tires.
The one from RockJock four by four,
the Antirock sway bar is an excellent example.
So to sum it all up,
to maintain your vehicles on-road performance handling
while cornering, try not to overload your vehicle
with too much weight or pack it up
too high up on your vehicle.
And to really optimize the full potential
of your vehicle's Off-road performance,
check into the JKS quick disconnects
or the RockJock anti-rock sway bar kits
if your vehicle isn't already equipped
with a factory sway bar disconnect option.
And guys, definitely make sure and let us know
if you guys have upgraded your sway bars, or removed them,
or have done any other modification to them
in order to try and get the best
of both the on-road
and off-road performance aspects of them.
Definitely make sure and let us know in the comments below.
Also keep in mind that we do offer free mounting,
free balancing, and free shipping to any state
in the lower 48 on all of our wheel and tire packages
and all can be found right on our website
at trailbuiltoffroad.
And guys, as always, we appreciate all of you for watching
and all of your support.
I'm Josh from TRAILBUILT
and we'll see you guys out on the trails.
(Josh patting laps)
(apes a muffled gunshot)
(enchanted music)