anti-roll bar

[LRover74]

Hi Folks,
Has anyone been able to adapt an anti-roll bar from another vehicle for in the series? That would be a great improvment. What are the thoughts out there?

[rwollschlager]

have you tried stiffer bushings? Your current ones may be to soft, or just worn out. Keep in mind series rovers have never been renowned for their handling, but even in my 109 with a roof rack I've never felt uneasy going around a sharp curve with the rest of traffic.

A trick I picked up is that those handy lev-o-gauges for off-roading, also detect body roll when you go around corners. You can use those to gauge how fast or how slow is appropriate for a particular turn.

-Rob

[redmondrover]

We started down that path on our 109 rebuild because I was concerned that the combination of a chevy 250, an R380 5 speed and 3.54 diffs would result in driving and, therefore, cornering at higher speeds. We hit a couple of snags that have this mod on hold for now.

First, the rear fuel tank is in the way of the rear bar so Range Rover type mounting towers would have to be built to clear the tank. Second, the front springs we used on our rebuild are so stiff (we could barely install the shocks), we cannot get a good idea of where they will finally come to rest and so we don't know exactly where to weld on the mounting tabs.

So, for right now, we have the front hardware on the hubs but we took the front sway bar off. We are going to drive it around for a while and see if we think we still need them.

I have several pictures of the front assembly if you are interested.

[scott]

my ambulance 109 has stock anti-sway front and rear. for a big box it handles corners well. if you can find 'em they'd bolt right up

[PeterL]

anti-sway bar

I'm very interested in adding anti-sway bars to my 109SW. But I have not been able to confirm the ambulance bars would fit. If the rear bar only needs a RRC type rear mount to adapt, I would be interested in purchasing the pair.

Thanks, pjl

[yorker]

Ambulance antiroll bars can be made to work.

http://www.nickslandrover.co.uk/archives/1058

http://www.nickslandrover.co.uk/archives/1123

http://www.nickslandrover.co.uk/archives/1196

hopefully those links work for you. Nick does a pretty good job of explaining it.

[PeterL]

Thanks, I can see how from those links. Now I just need to find a pair to work with.

[JimCT]

Becareful

The body lean is a good warning you are going too fast. Anti sway bars hide the fact that you are about to roll over. They do not allow you to go around a turn any faster. Keep that in mind.

[PeterL]

being careful

Good point, I've often thought the RRC gave up something when sway bars were added in 1991. However, when towing at highway speeds, the anti-sway bar trucks are much more stable. Plus, I don't think we lost more drivers as a result of the reduced roll angles.

I already have this on parabolics and am less interested in cornering enhancement than in highway handling stability, especially when towing and in crosswinds. The parabolics give a nice ride, but on the highway feel very similar to a lifted RRC without sway bars. So, if I can locate a setup (front and rear,) I'd love to try them out.

PJL