The problem with your drawing is you still envision a spherical joint at the top of the shackle(with shackle flip). That's where the instability comes from, because the shackle is allowed to shift. Deaver only uses them in the spring eyes, not at the shackle to frame connection. That's why theirs is stable on the street and in desert racing, which is kinda their specialty.
i thought a sway bar does affect lateral movement? maybe i don't know how they work. i was envisioning a "u" shaped tube that is attached to the frame and the axle tube, with pivoting points at the ends of the "u" as well as on the back of the "u". the legs of the "u" would be attached to the axle. of course, this wouldn't really allow for any articulation what so ever - how does a normal sway bar work? maybe instead of a "u" shape, you could have 2 "L's", one facing each way to look like a "u", but could allow each side to articulate a little bit to allow for a more comfortable street ride.The problem with this setup isn't sway, so a sway bar won't help the problem I'm suggesting.
With the joint at either end of the spring, you are relying on the spring only to provide lateral stability. The spring will twist and let the axle move side-to-side under the truck.
With bushings at each end, the bushings have to compress before the spring even thinks about twisting. This adds a lot of lateral stability compared to the jointed setup.
Here's a picture of what I'm talking about and what will happen when you take a turn:
You can see that with the flex joint there is nothing there keeping the spring from twisting and allows the axle to move all over the place. The bushing keeps the spring flat.
Replacing a bushing with a flex joint will make a negative impact on how the truck drives on the street. The severity of the change depends on the springs they are attached to; a shorter, thicker spring pack with all the leaves tied together will resist the twisting but it won't flex well and that was the point in this whole idea, right?
Its easy to get TONS of suspension travel out of leaf springs with bushings and IMO, the flex joints simply aren't worth the cost and hassle.
dammit, throttleissues!
now he'll not respond to my post... which is valid, i think.
asshole!
The sway bar is only to balance the vertical suspension movement by transferring some load to the unloaded side. Essentially it's a torsion bar linking the 2 sides of the axle. As one side rises(susp compression) the bar tries to lift the other side of the axle. The bar is not designed to control lateral movement of the axle, but the way it is set up stock on these trucks could inadvertently limit lateral movement because they have no links on the ends.
You know what? That was rude of me. It just seems like 38377K5 and I never agree on anything. I apologize.
dammit. i didn't feel like reading all the bs... now you're telling me i gotta go back and sift thru it all for my answer?? c'mon! where's the ck5 brotherly love? maybe i shoulda started my post with asking if you can fit 35's w/ 4" lift...
