Sway Bar collision

[J0RDY]

Hello
My Gu is in need of a QLD road worthy (recently purchaced, no sway bars)and im in the process of mounting the front sway bar. My ute has a 5" lift with snake racing drop radius arms underneath and a 3 inch exhaust. I have run into a problem where the sway bar wants to run straight through the front drive shaft due to the arms running horrizontal and then dropping the 5 inches right at the front of the arm, which then lowers the diff and the drive shaft aswell.
On the other side, where the sway bar bends for the stock exhaust, its not bent enough to clear the 3 inch exhaust at full compression of the suspension.

Now after trying to track down a set of sway bars for a while, I located a set from a wreckers 1200km away, told them the make and model, and had front and rear bars shipped my way to find this problem. Now i have heard that there are different sway bars for different years of GU's and am thinking maybe i have the wrong one (wishes) but considering all the interferences are with aftermarket parts, i guess its my problem.

I have taken the front drive shaft off just to see if the sway bar does fit and long and behold, it does. Now im wondering if it will somehow pass a road worthy without the drive shaft in place and then giving it the flick untill i find someone to make a custom one up.

Does someone here know anyone in townsville that would be able to make a bar up to dodge all my problems?
And will the ute make it though a road worthy without the front dirve shaft for now?

[its aford not a nissan]

with a 5 inch lift why do you think swaybars are going to be a problem ???

[J0RDY]

The stock sway bar will not clear the front drive shaft, partially because of the lift but mainly because of the dropped radius arms. Its hard to explain untill you see it in the flesh.

Here is something to try to explain better.
http://s783.photobucket.com/albums/yy12 ... t=1234.jpg

see if that works

[its aford not a nissan]

ok let me put it this way

you want to refit the sway bars to get the car legal for a road worthy right ??
you seem to think that fitting swaybars to a 4wd that has been lifted 5 inches will make it all hunky dory and will pass a roadworthy

to put it simply , the 5 inch lift will not be roadwothy in QLD

[*cruiser*]

Hi Jordy, This is correct You will find it hard to get a roady for a 5 inch lift !! 50mm or 2 inch max in QLD.

[THICKNICK]

put standard springs in and mount sway bars, get rwc.

[J0RDY]

I have a been to my mechanic for the roadworthy and he has given me the usual list as well as questioned the aftermarket arms and the lift. He said if he passes it and the DT has a look he will get his ass kicked, so he said go and get yourself an engineering cert for the lift and arms, put some sway bars on and it'll be honkey doorey. I have been and got myself the little expensive mod plate from an engineer and all that is pending is this front sway bar.

[grimbo]

how? you can't get 5" lift engineered in QLD if you have managed to do this legally there will lots of QLD people interested in your engineers number

[J0RDY]

how? you can't get 5" lift engineered in QLD if you have managed to do this legally there will lots of QLD people interested in your engineers number

I said "hi christian, can i get you to engineer my truck please?", he said "why yes i can jordan". the next day he gave me a certificate of modification with; after market locating arms fitted to the front and rear, suspension lift kit fitted, air bags fitted to the rear axle. Panard rods fitted. Vehicle complies with relevant ADRS. He then proceded to pop rivet a metal plate to my fire wall.

Can some one answer my question please....?

[THICKNICK]

please supply contact details.

[THICKNICK]

how? you can't get 5" lift engineered in QLD if you have managed to do this legally there will lots of QLD people interested in your engineers number

I said "hi christian, can i get you to engineer my truck please?", he said "why yes i can jordan". the next day he gave me a certificate of modification with; after market locating arms fitted to the front and rear, suspension lift kit fitted, air bags fitted to the rear axle. Panard rods fitted. Vehicle complies with relevant ADRS. He then proceded to pop rivet a metal plate to my fire wall.

Can some one answer my question please....?

i would say no one here would have swaybars on a 5" lift, so you may be outta luck on how to run swaybars with it. your radius arms wouldnt have the mounts for em either, so would have to be drilled and tapped, will not be easy.

[J0RDY]

snake racing have got mounts for sway bars drilled and threaded in them, i was luckey in that respect. i have the sway bar on, it just interferes with the drive shaft. I just wanted to know if it would pass without a drive shaft untill i can get a custom sway bar bade up.

[grimbo]

how? you can't get 5" lift engineered in QLD if you have managed to do this legally there will lots of QLD people interested in your engineers number

I said "hi christian, can i get you to engineer my truck please?", he said "why yes i can jordan". the next day he gave me a certificate of modification with; after market locating arms fitted to the front and rear, suspension lift kit fitted, air bags fitted to the rear axle. Panard rods fitted. Vehicle complies with relevant ADRS. He then proceded to pop rivet a metal plate to my fire wall.

Can some one answer my question please....?

still think you have just paid money for nothing as the QLD rules only allow for 50mm of lift including increased tyre size.

These restrictions apply to passenger and commercial vehicles.

TYRES:

You may only change the rolling DIAMETER of the wheel/tyre combo by a maximum of 15mm. That is increase or decrease!
There is no room for negotiation. If you have changed this diameter by more that 15mm your car is deemed to be UNROADWORTHY!!

SUSPENSION:

You may only increase/decrease your suspension by no more than 2in/50mm. (If decrease then lowest point must be more than 100mm from the road while vehicle is loaded.)

This measurement is supposed to coincide with a modification of no more than 1/3 of the standard bump stop height. Problem is no one knows (even the RTA/QLD Transport) exactly how to measure this.

[YNOT]

I had the same problem not being able to fit the front sway bar with drop arms. I changed to drop boxes with standard arms, sway bar now fits. Only way I can see you could fit sway bar to drop arms would be to fit drop blocks underneath the arms to drop the sway bar mounting points. Or get a custom sway bar as you suggested.

Tony

[bogged]

still think you have just paid money for nothing as the QLD rules only allow for 50mm of lift including increased tyre size.

I dont think he is listening to what he doesnt want to hear, no matter if its 100% correct or not..

[Bad JuJu]

A mod plate means its engineered, but does not mean it is legal.
Don't get the 2 confused.

[Dirty]

snake racing have got mounts for sway bars drilled and threaded in them, i was luckey in that respect. i have the sway bar on, it just interferes with the drive shaft. I just wanted to know if it would pass without a drive shaft untill i can get a custom sway bar bade up.

Run some spaces between the arms and the stock sway bar. Just get long Grade 8 bolts to bolt it all up.

You will also need to get some extended sway bar links to make up for the dropped swaybar locations.

I wouldn't have thought that it would be roadworthy without the front drive shaft.

- David.

[chimpboy]

I wouldn't have thought that it would be roadworthy without the front drive shaft.

x2 it would be a very rare RWC bloke who would pass that.

[YNOT]

That's a bit of a grey area. Given that the Patrol is part time 4WD, the front drive shaft is never used on road. It's not really a safety item, and it's a SAFETY certificate you're trying to get.
I used to have a certificate for issueing safety certificates, and I'm not sure what I would do if this had been presented to me?

Tony

[chimpboy]

I don't know about the safety cert but I am very sure you could be defected for it in Qld.

[luxoflex]

QLD law states that anything fitted to the vehicle be it factory or aftermarket MUST be in working order to comply with the state laws. when I find the act I will post the link.
So this means the front diff must have the driveshaft attached.

[Nelso]

snake racing have got mounts for sway bars drilled and threaded in them, i was luckey in that respect. i have the sway bar on, it just interferes with the drive shaft. I just wanted to know if it would pass without a drive shaft untill i can get a custom sway bar bade up.

Run some spaces between the arms and the stock sway bar. Just get long Grade 8 bolts to bolt it all up.

You will also need to get some extended sway bar links to make up for the dropped swaybar locations.

I wouldn't have thought that it would be roadworthy without the front drive shaft.

- David.

+1

The sway bar just rubs on the driveshaft from memory so (at a guess) you would only need a 10 or 15mm spacer block to drop it enough to clear. I think from memory the threads in the Snake arms are not metric either so you need new bolts to mount your swaybar regardless of how high you mount it.

[clm434]

Deleted in the interest of Grimbo's power hungry ego











Now back to Grimace's mum's place

[J0RDY]

snake racing have got mounts for sway bars drilled and threaded in them, i was luckey in that respect. i have the sway bar on, it just interferes with the drive shaft. I just wanted to know if it would pass without a drive shaft untill i can get a custom sway bar bade up.

Run some spaces between the arms and the stock sway bar. Just get long Grade 8 bolts to bolt it all up.

You will also need to get some extended sway bar links to make up for the dropped swaybar locations.

I wouldn't have thought that it would be roadworthy without the front drive shaft.

- David.

+1

The sway bar just rubs on the driveshaft from memory so (at a guess) you would only need a 10 or 15mm spacer block to drop it enough to clear. I think from memory the threads in the Snake arms are not metric either so you need new bolts to mount your swaybar regardless of how high you mount it.

I have 10mm by 1.25 bolts in my arms and the block will need to be 35mm to clear generously. getting that done tomorrow. Thanks anyway

On the drive shaft side of things, I called up my mechanic today and he said that he wants to see a drive shaft on the front. No big deal anymore as im getting the sway bar sorted.

As for a few people telling me im going to fail with trying to get the truck with the 5 inch lift registered, i can only try and from my recent talks with the engineer and the mechanic, i might be able to slip through hopefully. Otherwise, yes i am going to need to lower it.

[Nelso]

Just remembered mine rubbed so I took it back off and the bolts were not the same as standard so I had to replace them. It was that long ago I can't really remember what they were. Sound like you have it sorted though. Good luck with the rego.

[YNOT]

LUXOFLEX, you're right, factory or aftermarket, if it's on the car it has to be in good nick, but does it have to be on the car?
The more I think about it, the more I think if I was inspecting it for a safety certificate, and the front driveshaft was removed, I would have to put an X in the box for driveline components with the note "drive shaft missing".
As for Department of transport, I'm not an inspector so I don't know for sure, but they would probably want to see a mod plate for "vehicle converted to 2WD" to let it go without the shaft installed.

Just my opinion.

Tony

[grimbo]

Just a bit of info for guys here that I've been told by a major tyre chain, in QLD it has been possible for up to and including 6" lift to be engineered (of course, at the engineers discretion ) BUT, the government is in the process of outlawing anything over the magic 2 inches.

So don't go barking at me as it's only what I've been informed of. In the meantime I too would like an engineer garaunteed to pass a lift above 2". Serously, who likes running around for this shit???

of course a tyre chain are going to be the ones to trust about legal matters.

If it is true how come no one is doing it? No one has 6" of lift legally engineered. All the references that people keep finding is only 50mm of combined lift, all from QLD Roads. But hey if a tyre store says it's legal well go for it

[QLD4x4]

Re - 5" suspension lift, definitely "Not Legal" in QLD even with an engineer's report. 2" body + 2" suspension Lift or 1/3 of the manufacturers bump stop height is the max....

Note a blue "Mod Plate" is not an engineers report. I would also mention that their is no actual mod code for suspension mods.

Even if it manages to slip through, QT can order it off the road at any time.

Re - sway bar, if it came with one originally, it has to be fitted for a safety certificate.

Jeff

[CT]

2" suspension Lift or 1/3 of the manufacturers bump stop height is the max....

Where is it referenced on paper that 2" suspension lift is max in QLD? I can't track it down anywhere. Its the good old 1/3rd rule only which I suspect makes even a 2" lift technically illegal. Yes, its almost impossible to be caught but by the letter of the law 2" is likely no different to 5".

I agree that the 2" rule applies to body lift, which has a defined approval process.

[coxy321]

If you only need it to pass an inspection, why don't you just heat and bend the sway bar to clear the tailshaft?

Obviously doing this would render the bar's functionality useless, but like i said, if it is SOLEY to pass the test, and not actually going to be used for its intended purpose.....