sway bar? steering dampers?

[eazenutz33]

ok, theres a thread by me above or below this one I'm sure about install on a lift kit. Heres a follow up question.

Whats everyones thoughts on when sway bars and/or steering dampers need to be used?

Steering Dampers, single and double, are priced fairly enough($300 less than the one on my motorcycle!) that if it was sizeably beneficial I would definately consider it!

I have no clue what a sway bar is or does, my expertise comes on two wheels, not four.

I'll most likely be putting the lift on tomorrow, and hopefully soon after 33's or 35's, which I've heard mixed opinions about as far as rubbing, mpg loss,......

So, if people could toss a few opinions from experience towards me I would really appreciate it. I'm trying not to start too many repetitve threads, or too many new threads either. So tell me what you think about sway bars, steering dampers, and tire sizes.

Hopefully once this is all done I'll post up some pics of everything thats done with the truck and have a finished look of it. I'll try to shoot pics at each stage of the suspension and tires (stock, lift, lift and tires) so that I can post them up so everyone can get an idea of the differences made.

If people have pics of a leveled truck with 33's and a leveled truck with 35's(same or similar truck...not 2 completely different ones) I would greatly appreciate it as it would help my tire decision making process exponentially.

Thanks again for all the help, pretty refreshing to actually get help and honest opinions when you have a serious question unlike a few other forums I've been on where people get "flamed" for asking "newbie" questions.

[bigcountrysg]

Sway Bar, what this does is prevent body roll, or limits body roll. You have one already on your truck trust me you do and I know you are happy with it working. Steering Damper I think you maybe thinking about a Steering Stabelizer, basically this is a shock absorber that attaches to the drag link and the frame, this prevents bump steer, which is what happens when your truck hits a bump. A steering stabelizer is around 100 dollars for a kit and if your running a lifted truck it is worth the money.


Now Tires a leveled out truck will fit 35's on it with out rubbing. But the problem is you need to stay with in a 35x11.50R? the rim size is up to you. Now some will argue that 35's rub at full lock when turned left or right. My buddies that have leveled out trucks running 35's have yet to experince any rubbing. By the way the rubbing comes from the tire hitting the frame. So if you go with aftermarket rims you can back space them and not have any problems running 35x12.50R. On a stock truck you can run 33's as it sits. I know because I have ran 33's at stock hieght with no mods to the suspension. But then again you have to stay with in the 33x11.50R size tire to prevent rubbing.

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Last edited by bigcountrysg : 11-14-2007 at 11:38 AM.

[eazenutz33]

I was lookin at 33/12.50/17 or 35/12.50/17 Nitto Mud Grapplers. Was really hoping to be able to use my stock 17's and still avoid any serious rubbing, and I'm rarely at full lock, so rubbing at full lock only wouldn't be too bad as long as my suspension travel wouldn't make it rub.

[eazenutz33]

is there typically a stock steering stabilizer (we call em dampers on sportbikes....same thing tho) When putting my leveling coils on we noticed one attached under there....it was all black tho, which made me think factory, which usually means weak/junk on sportbikes. I'm planning on replacing it with one from SkyJacker if its a weak factory unit.

Still lookin hard at 35-12.50's, just not sure if I wanna deal with a lil rub on the stock wheels, or buyin a set of 18's or 20's with more backspacing to avoid the rubbing issue.