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Street Driven K5 No Sway Bar

The sway bar is there to help transfer weight while on a curve from the outside to the inside of the vehicle. It really works when you are on a tight corner or need to swerve. Sure changing the springs changes the characteristics and may make up for some (possibly all?) of not having a sway bar but that is an unknown. If you do a lot of highway driving and need to swerve at 65mph it's kind of a poor time to test the roll over characteristics of your vehicle isn't it?:D

Just something to consider. Like standing on the top step of a ladder;)
 
Yeah, but remember in today's over lawsuited world some redneck flips his truck in a cornfield and dies after trying to make a 90 degree corner at 85mph...


...and his family sues the truck's maker because it didn't have electronic stability control or some crap.
There's a lot of safety stuff on cars now-a-days that many don't need and we got along fine without for decades.
 
i heard horror stories about grandpas old truck not having a cd player *shudder* thats just crazy!
 
It will see highway use. I do have another daily driver and I am not worried about that. And I won't be turning sharp at 85 mph in my k5 :doah: Good luck getting my k5 up to 85 mph :haha:
 
I am wondering if I should put the swaybar back on the Blazer I just bought. Have any of you with the swaybar off had to do any seriously evasive driving to avoid a wreck? Like xtrmjoe said, that could be pretty sketchy without a swaybar. Even the most careful drivers have to make high speed turns at times to avoid killing some idiot on the highway. Part of the reason for a swaybar is to ensure the vehicle understeers at all times. High Speed + Big Lift + Oversteer = Roll. If somebody has had to really crank the wheel at highway speeds in a moderately lifted K5 and lived to tell the tale, I'd feel better about leaving mine off.
 
Try this, After removing the sway bar get up on the front bumper and bounce it. If it moves alot then I would put it back on. If you have some really stiff springs like I have(4"ranchos) it will hardly bounce at all and I really tell much of a difference without it. By the way, I think that more than half of the guys here are not using swaybars, I would say more like the mojority.
 
BGKYK5 said:
I am wondering if I should put the swaybar back on the Blazer I just bought. Have any of you with the swaybar off had to do any seriously evasive driving to avoid a wreck? Like xtrmjoe said, that could be pretty sketchy without a swaybar. Even the most careful drivers have to make high speed turns at times to avoid killing some idiot on the highway. Part of the reason for a swaybar is to ensure the vehicle understeers at all times. High Speed + Big Lift + Oversteer = Roll. If somebody has had to really crank the wheel at highway speeds in a moderately lifted K5 and lived to tell the tale, I'd feel better about leaving mine off.
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Hows 60 mph on a interstate trailer falls off the hitch right to the side of me starts coming into my lane hit the brakes hard only to see the semi that had been following way too close locking everything up. Quick turn to the left and I am in the median, then a quick turn to the right to keep from going into oncoming traffic and i end up back on the road, backwards, behind the semi, but still upright.

I am guessing I was going about 60 when I headed for the median, I was doing 75 when the trailer came off ( no safety chains)

My blazer is very tall and had 38s on it at the time. The car that was behind us said is was very bizzare watching my blazer pitch over to one side then to the other and not turn over.
 
wow, woulda loved to see that. glad to know it didnt roll (or flip). ill be taking mine off this weekend.
 
That must have been quite a ride blazinzuk. I'm glad you kept the shiny (or not) side up. Since you ended up backwards you did have a bunch of oversteer, but I wouldn't be suprised if a stock K5 did a 180 in that situation. The springs probably have a significant effect as well. Were you running flexy or stiff springs F & R? How much lift? Just curious. I plan to keep the swaybar off for now and maybe do some donuts somehwere to get a feel for how it behaves.
 
BGKYK5 said:
Were you running flexy or stiff springs F & R? How much lift? Just curious. I plan to keep the swaybar off for now and maybe do some donuts somehwere to get a feel for how it behaves.
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My springs are way soft. I get a ton of body roll going around a corner. Nearly 10" of suspension lift. Its a tall truck.

I really dont' know why but everytime I have had to evade in this truck it seems to stay firmly planted on all fours. A motorbike ran a stopsign in front of my wife and while this was at lower speeds she cranked the wheel all the way to the left to keep from hitting him. She missed him by alot but a turn all the way to the left at 35 mph or so?!! Mabey I have angels for sway bars but I have been in a couple of other situations where I personally think I should have rolled and didn't.

Now I am not saying sway bars aren't worth it. I am running different springs than anyone else on this board. Its just kind of weird my body flops all over the place in quick manuvers like this but thankfully I haven't put it on its lid. BTW everytime I have had to do a quick turn like these it was another persons fault.
 
I have been considering taking my sway bar off. Right now my rather generous frame can't even get it to bounce, and turning corners that beast stays flat. It may not be much of an improvement, and I may put it back on when I lift it, but I have been around plenty of these types of vehicles, and never seen them roll without the driver making a really big mistake. Wider tires improve the center of gravity, and the stock 235's that would have been there, would definitely have required a sway bar to stabilize that much weight.

Of course all of this is just my opinion.
 
I have 6" BDS full spring kit. They are flexy. I removed my swaybar when I installed them and never put it back on. I really don't think I need to.
 
i ran mine on the highway at 70-75mph with 9" lift and 39.5s w/o a swaybar and it rode very smooth, no issues.
 
MattK said:
Drives fine. As it sits, it's too big to drive hard around corners safely sway-bar or not.
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Ditto for me. 6" lift and 35" tires.
 
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