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mq swaybars

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:45 pm
by macca81
ok iv done a search and its just not happening for me...

does an 81 mq have swaybars? if so, how do i dissconect them?

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:52 pm
by dromana7411
they have a front sway bar... mounts up behind the shock... just unblot the top bolt, and then the bits on the front off the diff.. and pull it out...

or someone might have taken it off before you...

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 5:48 pm
by badger
they are that commonly removed ive only ever seen one with sway bars in it
so if you cant find it chances are its gone

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 7:32 pm
by Patchy
how do they drive without them. very noticable on road? or off!

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:52 pm
by badger
they drive fine. and flex goodly

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 4:42 am
by mattstar
Drive is fine, hardly noticable... Off road, much of a muchness obviously it makes a difference, but it's not a massive difference

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 5:23 am
by Offroad-Events
What's a swaybar :silly: :fist:

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:13 pm
by Patchy
well i will take it off during my lunch break tomorrow. will see how it handles there prety stiff so i dont imagin much of a difference. prob head upto mundaring this sunday so we will see then :twisted:

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:21 pm
by Patchy
Offroad-Events wrote:What's a swaybar :silly: :fist:
the sway bar is a rod or bar of spring steel that connects between the springs/shocks/lower control arms, it is used to oppose uneven spring movement that ocures ussually when cornering. what would be most commonly be associated with body roll during cornering, generaly the stronger the sway bar the less body roll you should feel.

you can imagine if you have a bar trying to prvent uneven spring movment, it is going to prevent your 4b from flexing off road.

think tha just about covers it

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:22 am
by Offroad-Events
Patchy wrote:
Offroad-Events wrote:What's a swaybar :silly: :fist:
the sway bar is a rod or bar of spring steel that connects between the springs/shocks/lower control arms, it is used to oppose uneven spring movement that ocures ussually when cornering. what would be most commonly be associated with body roll during cornering, generaly the stronger the sway bar the less body roll you should feel.

you can imagine if you have a bar trying to prvent uneven spring movment, it is going to prevent your 4b from flexing off road.

think tha just about covers it
Thanks Patchy, but my question was more an ironic one since the swaybar is always the first thing that gets lost when a rig arrives at my place :D :D :D It pays no rent, ya know..

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:12 pm
by Patchy
Offroad-Events wrote:
Patchy wrote:
Offroad-Events wrote:What's a swaybar :silly: :fist:
the sway bar is a rod or bar of spring steel that connects between the springs/shocks/lower control arms, it is used to oppose uneven spring movement that ocures ussually when cornering. what would be most commonly be associated with body roll during cornering, generaly the stronger the sway bar the less body roll you should feel.

you can imagine if you have a bar trying to prvent uneven spring movment, it is going to prevent your 4b from flexing off road.

think tha just about covers it
Thanks Patchy, but my question was more an ironic one since the swaybar is always the first thing that gets lost when a rig arrives at my place :D :D :D It pays no rent, ya know..
my bad!! sorry for assuming that your a dumb fauk straight out.

Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:19 pm
by macca81
cheers guys, ill have a gander 2moz and if its on there still it will come off pretty darn quick!


im assuming its prob gone already coz i couldnt for the life of me find one the other day :D

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:37 pm
by Patchy
i took mine off for the weekends off road fun ;)
didnt go too bad,abit loose on moderate high speed corners fairly loose in the front and alot of roll. going about 80/95k's on a gravel road corner turned out to abit sharper than i thought (prob more my mistake than not having a sway bar) one thing i noticed that i was thinking about was my spring bushes would get flogged out alot quicker due to cornering. just a thought.

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:33 pm
by macca81
prehaps a preventative measure would be to slow down ever so slightly patchy :P

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:13 pm
by Patchy
i tried but i was already in the corner and just made things worse :silly:

a bit of af a battle between comonsence and testosteron was taking place, and testosterone always wins when your with mates

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:48 am
by David_S
I took mine off a year or two back. Didn't notice any real difference off-road. But I did break one of the "square" U-bolts shortly after. Thought it was just old age creeping up (200,000 km) so replaced it with Nissan part. Shortly after that broke too, and its replacement also broke. Replaced the sway bar and had no more trouble. Co-incidence? I think not. Taking the sway bar off allows the springs to flex and twist more (especially after-market springs) putting extra strain on these square bolts which are not as strong as the round ones on the other side. The square ones crack in the corners.

The first two broke off-road, the last when on a trip down south. I didn't hear it go but the steering felt a little odd but I could not find anything wrong when I checked. The bolt had in fact broken at the corner as usual but was still holding as a "hook" bolt. The next day the "hook" fell out as I was taking a corner on asphalt at 100km. Nearly lost control and would probably have hit anything coming the other way if there had been any other traffic.

So now I keep my sway bar on.

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:58 pm
by Patchy
David_S wrote:I took mine off a year or two back. Didn't notice any real difference off-road. But I did break one of the "square" U-bolts shortly after. Thought it was just old age creeping up (200,000 km) so replaced it with Nissan part. Shortly after that broke too, and its replacement also broke. Replaced the sway bar and had no more trouble. Co-incidence? I think not. Taking the sway bar off allows the springs to flex and twist more (especially after-market springs) putting extra strain on these square bolts which are not as strong as the round ones on the other side. The square ones crack in the corners.

The first two broke off-road, the last when on a trip down south. I didn't hear it go but the steering felt a little odd but I could not find anything wrong when I checked. The bolt had in fact broken at the corner as usual but was still holding as a "hook" bolt. The next day the "hook" fell out as I was taking a corner on asphalt at 100km. Nearly lost control and would probably have hit anything coming the other way if there had been any other traffic.

So now I keep my sway bar on.
this is the sort of thing i was considering might happen, the weight and sideways movment normally absorbed in the sway bar and exsurted onto the chassis has to go somewhere. i thought it would (and probably will) destroy the spring mount bushes or the mounts them selves (have already heard they are prone to crack on the mq/mk models at the chasis.

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:42 am
by David_S
Patchy wrote: this is the sort of thing i was considering might happen, the weight and sideways movment normally absorbed in the sway bar and exsurted onto the chassis has to go somewhere. i thought it would (and probably will) destroy the spring mount bushes or the mounts them selves (have already heard they are prone to crack on the mq/mk models at the chasis.
Now that you mention it my front left spring mount did crack too about the same time as I was messing around with swaybar and U-bolts. Was probably going anyway but accelerated by removal of the swaybar.

Incidentally when these U-bolts break they make a sharp crack which you can hear if you are attuned to it. I heard it on the third occasion and stopped to check and could not believe it when I saw a near new bolt broken. On the first occasion I had a mate drop me off for a week's hunting trip and when walking out later I came across the broken bit in the middle of the track - I recognised the paint. Was somewhat concerned over the safety of my truck (and Joe) but he had driven the 100km home without noticing anything.