Rear sway bar

[James Morse]

How do I know if I have rear sway bar(s)? Is it an elbow-looking ass'y on each side? (on the 97). I think I should have it/them I just don't know wtf I'm looking for.

 

[Curious Hound]

You probably have a rear anti-sway bar to prevent sway.

Anyway. It's a roughly u-shaped bar mounted to the axle. Ends of the "U" extend forward about a foot and attach to links that mount up on the frame on each side. Good thing to have for toad driving. It tries to inhibit sway or prevent the vehicle from leaning toward the outside of a turn at moderate to high speeds. Offroad, we often disconnect them to improve articulation so the tires stay on the ground better in rough terrain. You will often have one on both the front and rear of a vehicle.

 

[James Morse]

To me it looks like I don't have it. It's possible it didn't have the handling pkg (rear sway and diff shocks) which would have been standard on STX but optional on XLT.
But maybe that's a good thing since you disconnect them anyway. Which seems kind of backwards for the STX to have had them doesn't it
I won't be doing lots of high speed hard cornering so I don't think I'll miss it and one less thing to change right now for off road.
I do have the front stabilizer that's standard. But would I also disconnect the front? I'm thinking no?

 

[scotts90ranger]

You have one, that rod hanging down beside the leaf spring is the sway bar end link...

 

[lowspeedpursuit]

Red is your sway bar. Blue is the endlink. Yellow arrow points to where the bar mounts to the axle. Blue and yellow will be duplicated on the other side of the truck.

If you don't want it, feel free to send it over here. I was trying to adapt an Explorer bar, but it's a pain because the mounting surfaces are right where one shock wants to be.

 

[James Morse]

AH. Thanks. Then they got the handling package or it came as part of something else. Well, I'll leave it for the moment, although, certainly if I do take off to leave it off I'll think of you first.
You must have a non-off-road truck you want this for?
Seems like they would be common in junkyard or no? Plus lot of aftermarket stuff?
Nice markup on the pic btw.

 

[lowspeedpursuit]

Bahahaha, I appreciate that. Honestly, it's better to have it and not need it. Like the other guys said, you can always disconnect them, and the rear bar shouldn't limit your articulation as much as the front. Unless you're going completely off-road-only, keep it.

My junkyard doesn't have a lot of other folks who go in for much beyond simple parts like doors and trim. So I doubt anyone will grab the one I know of at my yard, and I'll pick it up eventually, unless winter sets in before I have time to get out there.

 

[don4331]

STX has them because with the lift it is more prone to leaning too much. Sway bar helps to keep rubber side down.

For real aggressive off-roading, you disconnect the front. But with TTB, you should always reconnect it before venturing back onto roads.

 

[Blmpkn]

If the rears are anything like the front, take that thing right out. It'll ride way better.

When I had my 2010 I purposely didn't replace its missing end link on one side because it rode soo much smoother.

Sort of different story with the '21 though.. driving that thing around with a disconnected front bar does smooth out bumps.. but would probably give someone seasickness... and absolutely feels like it would tip over if you jerked the wheel hard enough.

 

[James Morse]

This is a lot of add'l good info.
I don't think lift on STX is any diff lift than XLT with optional handling pkg (standard on STX) which was the rear sway, springs, shocks. I could be wrong...
Wheel/tire sizes available no diff between them.
It sounds like, if I'm doing occasional real tame off road, just leave the truck as-is. For more aggressive, take off the rear sway, and disconnect the front. Remembering to reconnect front after.
These are the things they don't tell you in the little "Off roading with Ford" booklet. It makes perfect sense though.
I think you could get manual xfr case optional. You could get manual hubs, but only with manual trans.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I have about 6" of lift on my '90, I have zero sway bars but have stiff front springs (it's what lift companies supply...) and I drive it aggressively and have no regrets... sure there's a ton of body roll but I also know what it will do since I know the limits... sure you can't just go willy nilly into anything but it'll surprise ya...

Without a bunch of weight in the bed I'm not sure of the advantage of a rear sway bar other than "feeling" more right with the road, I wish my F350 had more than just a rear sway bar but someone took the front off for some reason, it's annoying with the camper, especially when all the rear bar bushings and shocks were TOAST... that said on the SLA Ranger suspension I've heard it needs the sway bar up front and with two heavy sway bars on my '00 Explorer I'm surprised at how that stupid heavy thing handles...

 

[Blmpkn]

This is a lot of add'l good info.
I don't think lift on STX is any diff lift than XLT with optional handling pkg (standard on STX) which was the rear sway, springs, shocks. I could be wrong...
Wheel/tire sizes available no diff between them.
It sounds like, if I'm doing occasional real tame off road, just leave the truck as-is. For more aggressive, take off the rear sway, and disconnect the front. Remembering to reconnect front after.
These are the things they don't tell you in the little "Off roading with Ford" booklet. It makes perfect sense though.
I think you could get manual xfr case optional. You could get manual hubs, but only with manual trans.

Take the rear out regardless of if your gonna go off road or not is my opinion. The difference It makes in the front while ON road is absolutely staggering.. id imagine the rear would be the same.

The sway bar greatly reduces suspension travel. I never tested it on my old truck.. but the front of my new truck has its travel reduced by almost 25% with that stupid thing all connected. That's a huge figure.

 

[don4331]

STX was 1.5-2" lift, at least on certain years - it's why lift kits have caveats about installation on STX Rangers - you won't get the same lift as the truck started higher.

Stiffer springs go long ways to reducing (eliminating) need for sway bar. Disconnecting front bar on SLA Ranger makes it understeer even worse. After issues with BII and Firestone, Ford made sure the SLA Explorer didn't go shiny side down with some soccer mom driving.

 

[Curious Hound]

I wouldn't hesitate to remove the rear unless you're going to be heavily loaded at moderate to high speeds a significant amount of time. The front is good to have if you drive mostly on the road. Just disconnect as needed for offroad fun.

With that said, mine were both removed years ago. Available to anyone who wants them. The axle brackets for my rear one are messed up because I experimented with mounting it to my 8.8" axle. That required grinding the brackets to fit over the extensions on the differential.

 

[James Morse]

Where should I measure to know what is the lift on my truck? I know it's at least 1" or more higher than the B3000 (2wd). Even my other half saw that right away.

When you disconnect the front bar, I'd assume you take the bolt out of the connecting arm at the bottom. What does the bar do then just flop around? Or do you have to disconnect both sides? You leave the bar itself in there?

If you're doing that a lot can you put a pin through there and washer and split pin so you could do it fast? Or do you really need the bolts in there?

I do -not- have SLA as I understand it. But it still sounds like I don't want to drive on the highway with the front disconnected. Sounds like the rear I could take off and leave off unless I want to revert it to stock.